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Shakeel Mohamed

MFA in Graphic Design - 3 Yr Path — Graduate Graphic Design

Inclusion Tee

When: 2018 (2 months). Client: Self-directed/entrepreneurial. Tools: Illustrator, Photoshop. Goal: Through apparel, express one’s responsibility for creating an inclusive environment. In 2018 I started a clothing brand called ntrsct (in•ter•sect), which evolved into an independent design business.
Learning Outcomes:
Working with photographers and screen printers was an eye-opening process, communication was essential to ensure I got the right things from those vendors. This was the first project I was open to serendipity while designing. Over the years since this project, I’ve learned to embrace the design process, allowing new ideas to emerge as I began working.
The Inclüsion Tee in white. Photo credit: Ed Rosas.
Inclusion Tee was one of three projects I presented live (remotely) to Louise Sandhaus and festival attendees at the 2022 AIGA Portfolio Festival. The full video is available here, including brief feedback and a conversation with Louise at the end: https://youtu.be/HtRtGYQx480?t=104
Rest in peace: Virgil Abloh. He tragically passed away while working on my ArtCenter application, and I will never have the opportunity to thank him for initiating my career transition into design. His lecture about design principles at Harvard Graduate School of Design changed the way I see the world. One person can change your whole life.
Virgil’s brand Off-White was a key inspiration at the beginning of my design journey.
In 2018 I started a clothing brand called ntrsct (in•ter•sect), which evolved into an independent design business. The logomark emerged from my fascination with the numerous aspects of one’s identity and finding ways to embrace them. An X is the simplest expression of an intersection, symbolizing the point where the many elements of our identity meet.
Black and white in the graphic symbolize the (illusion of) maximum contrast of our differences. While Virgil Abloh’s brand Off-White stands for the grey area between black and white, I see it differently. To me, black is white. I chose the German character, ü (u-umlaut), to symbolize the viewer (you) being the source of an inclusive environment—an ode to the reunification of East and West Germany after WWII. It also looks like a smiley face! This graphic resonated with me at a time when political and social issues were polarizing the American people. The Inclüsion Tee was the best-selling product while running the clothing brand.
From sketch to reality. The figure-ground ambiguity of the X was a happy accident while working in Adobe Illustrator.
I had the opportunity to art direct photoshoots with a few photographers. DJ Accia wore one of the shirts during a performance at Trinity Nightclub in Seattle. Photo credits: Ed Rosas (left), Jon Lily (middle), Trinity Nightclub (top right), Christian Sysa (bottom right).