Climate Change Merchandise
Client: Australian Youth Climate Coalition
The Australian Youth Climate Coalition (AYCC) is a youth organisation that was co-founded in November 2006 by Amanda McKenzie and Anna Rose. Its goal is to “build a movement of young people leading solutions to the climate crisis.” The AYCC’s headquarters is based in Melbourne, though the organisation also has groups of volunteers based all over Australia.
In May of 2011, the AYCC commissioned me to design them climate change-themed merchandise that they could sell to help raise funds for the organisation. They wanted designs for t-shirts and other products which featured climate change-themed messages that would appeal to a young audience, and that would be fashionable enough that people would want to wear them. And in doing so, help promote support for climate action to their peers. It was a completely open brief, which meant that I brainstormed to come up with a whole series of messaging ideas and then created a whole range of draft concept designs for them to choose between. The two messages/designs that were chosen were “I’m not as smart as a climate scientist, but I’m smart enough to listen to them” and “I want some action (on climate change).”
“…the design was intended to prompt the thought of wanting sex…so that people would find it amusing when it is discovered that the message is about wanting action on climate change, and not about wanting sex after all.”
The first message/design, “I want some action (on climate change),” is based on the idea that young people tend to find sexual humour quite funny. The “I want some action” part of the design was intended to prompt the thought of wanting sex. It was made quite large in contrast to the second bracketed part of the message “on climate change” so that people would find it amusing when it is discovered that the message is about wanting action on climate change, and not about wanting sex after all. Using humour in the message was intended to lower people’s defensive reactions to climate change messages, allowing it to be taken in. The typeface used is Univers Ultra-Condensed, a popular neo-grotesque sans-serif font, originally designed by the famous Swiss typeface designer Adrian Frutiger in 1957. It was chosen for its similar aesthetic to the typography used in the t-shirts designed by Katharine Hamnett. In particular, the iconic “choose life” design that was popularised in the 1980s by Wham!’s “Wake Me Up Before You Go Go” music video.
“The message…reminds them that we put our trust in the expertise of scientists every day, and that climate science should be no exception to that rule.”
The second message/design, “I’m not as smart as a climate scientist, but I’m smart enough to listen to them,” is based on the idea that climate science is complicated, and it’s unrealistic to expect young people (or anyone without expertise in the subject matter) to know all the finer details of the science. The message was designed to validate the experience of those who may lack confidence in asserting their acceptance of climate science due to a lack of detailed scientific knowledge. It reminds them that we put our trust in the expertise of scientists every day, and that climate science should be no exception to that rule. This is because there is a clear scientific consensus on the issue. I know this because I have taken several university courses on the fundamentals of climate science, where I was taught about the overwhelming amount of evidence from a wide variety of sources. The typeface used for the design is DIN, since it is widely used for technical applications and visually communicates a sense of being precise and scientific. The first half of the sentence is stacked on top of each other to create an abstract thermometer shape, where degrees are graduating up the side as a symbol of our warming planet.
The designs were printed by OCC Apparel on organic t-shirts and other merchandise just in time for a major climate rally that year, where they were being sold to the public and worn by attendees. In October of that year, AYCC organised a Power Shift 2011 conference in Brisbane, which is one of several similar conferences organised around the world by member organisations of the International Youth Climate Movement. The Brisbane Power Shift 2011 conference was held over three days and had speakers such as Bill McKibben, Kumi Naidoo, Anna Rose, Dick Smith, Dr Karl Kruszelnicki, along with many others. Over 1,000 young people attended, with the event culminating by the attendees travelling by train into Brisbane’s King George Square to perform a flash mob. You can watch a short video of highlights from the conference below.
“…it was thrilling to see hundreds of young people purchasing the designs and wearing them around...”
The t-shirts and other merchandise I had designed were being sold in a wide variety of colour and style options at the Power Shift 2011 conference stall. I attended the event and it was thrilling to see hundreds of young people purchasing the designs and wearing them around at the event.
“…Graham Perrett (Labor member for Moreton) announced to the audience that he was purchasing one of the…t-shirts to be passed onto Tony Abbott…”
A number of the keynote speakers also purchased some of the merchandise. During the conference, Graham Perrett (Labor member for Moreton) announced to the audience that he was purchasing one of the “I’m not as smart as a climate scientist, but I’m smart enough to listen to them” t-shirts to be passed onto Tony Abbott by Wyatt Roy (who was the LNP member for Longman at the time, and a fellow speaker at the conference) in jest. This is because Tony Abbott has been well-known as having an anti-climate stance, having called the scientific consensus on climate change “absolute crap” in 2009. He also went on to run a campaign against Australia’s carbon pricing mechanism, and eventually had it repealed when he was elected as prime minister in 2013, sadly undoing what had been widely applauded for being an effective mechanism for mitigating climate change.
Christine Milne, who at the time was deputy leader of The Australian Greens (and later became leader) was also in attendance. She purchased a green tote bag with the “I’m not as smart as a climate scientist, but I’m smart enough to listen to them” design on it for herself. I was lucky enough to get a photo of myself and her holding the bag (pictured below). Shortly after the conference, Don Henry (who was the CEO of the Australian Conservation Foundation at the time) contacted the AYCC and arranged for them to send one of the t-shirts over to Al Gore in the United States.
It was an honour to use my skills as a visual communicator to aid the AYCC and their mission of building a movement of young people to help solve the climate crisis. The merchandise was continued to be sold by the AYCC for many years, but are sadly no longer available. However, I’ve recently uploaded the designs to my Redbubble shop so that anyone who wants one can now acquire them there: designgood.redbubble.com
Find out more about the AYCC: aycc.org.au
Art Direction & Design: Jarren Nylund, Design Good Design Studio.
