Feedback for my shirt design?

[Mr. Detective]

Hello guys,

Recently, I have been playing with Photoshop to try to create my own graphic design. I have very little experience with Photoshop so I can barely use its basic features. I can handle editing texts, though. I was able to create this design for a shirt, which I would like to use to sell. Take a look:

Spoiler

Yeah, I was inspired by Devil May Cry. I did what I could to kind of make it look similar to the official logo, but not to the point of being a copycat. My aim was to create something that's somewhat hip, funny and cool, gives the wearer a sense of badassery. Target audience? I guess gamers and guys who like shirts with texts? XD

So how does it look? Decent enough? Or maybe too boring and uninteresting?

Also, what are the risks of me getting sued by Capcom for this design?

 

[Poryg]

It's a lie. Even men can cry.

 

[Warpmind]

Unfortunately, that sounds less like badassery and more like toxic masculinity.
I'd scrap it and come up with something else, personally.

 

[onipunk]

Eesh, that's some toxic stuff right enough. Men do cry, and men should cry. Reinforcing the idea that men need to bottle up any "non-manly" emotions leads to them thinking they can only express themselves in extremes of joy or anger, and that can lead to some awful consequences societally. It doesn't sound badass to me, it sounds emotionally unavailable and childish.

As for the design, it's just text with a pretty generic looking glow effect. There's not much to the actual design itself to give feedback on, and the content is rife with unfortunate implications, so yeah, I'd agree with Warpmind and do something totally different.

 

[OnslaughtSupply]

As a joke, I think it is a little funny, because it plays on the stereotype that men aren't supposed to cry. Why is everyone taking this so serious? *sobI've never *sob cried a day *sobbing intensifies a day in my life. Waaahhh Its just a T-shirt. What? I wasn't crying, there was something in my eye.

 

[mlogan]

I feel like a lot of the negative feedback comes from not having experience with the game. I don't, but I googled and can see the similarity between your design and the game logo. Also, does the "men never cry" part have something to do with the game that those who've played it would understand? I can get why some are bothered by that stereotype, but if it's a thing that those who have played the game would understand, it makes the context different.

 

[Leanne]

Maybe change it to... "Devils may cry so don't be deceived by their smile." Or "Devils may cry. Beware if their smile." (Not sure if that even made sense. XD)
Or "Devils may cry. *insert a scary image here if possible* Hiding is futile."
Just some random suggestions. XD
For the font, I guess, more scarier or messier goth style would fit those lines you got there.
Scratch or smoke overlays would even be a nice touch. *u* Though, do this if you're familiar with Photoshop na. >u< Someday. *_*

 

[Mr. Detective]

It's a lie. Even men can cry.

Unfortunately, that sounds less like badassery and more like toxic masculinity.
I'd scrap it and come up with something else, personally.

Eesh, that's some toxic stuff right enough. Men do cry, and men should cry. Reinforcing the idea that men need to bottle up any "non-manly" emotions leads to them thinking they can only express themselves in extremes of joy or anger, and that can lead to some awful consequences societally. It doesn't sound badass to me, it sounds emotionally unavailable and childish.

As for the design, it's just text with a pretty generic looking glow effect. There's not much to the actual design itself to give feedback on, and the content is rife with unfortunate implications, so yeah, I'd agree with Warpmind and do something totally different.

I was more concerned about the design itself, and not the text content. Can you guys be anymore overly sensitive?

I feel like a lot of the negative feedback comes from not having experience with the game. I don't, but I googled and can see the similarity between your design and the game logo. Also, does the "men never cry" part have something to do with the game that those who've played it would understand? I can get why some are bothered by that stereotype, but if it's a thing that those who have played the game would understand, it makes the context different.

To a certain extent, yes. It's probably easier to understand if you are a fan. But even if you aren't, I don't think it should cause any confusion, either.

Anyway, I uploaded the design already.

Thanks, folks!

 

[Sanct]

Why even ask for feedback if you're going to deflect it by saying people are overly sensitive.

 

[Warpmind]

I was more concerned about the design itself, and not the text content. Can you guys be anymore overly sensitive?

Yes. Yes, we can be a LOt more overly sensitive.
The design is a simple three lines of text - monkeys and typewriters stuff, really - so the only really important thing here IS the text content.
And this content... was really not particularly good.

 

[Poryg]

I did not get sensitive over that. I'm not the type to bother with clothes too much or even with aesthetics. I prefer useful value instead. So the text captured my attention way more than the looks of that t-shirt.

 

[Mr. Detective]

Why even ask for feedback if you're going to deflect it by saying people are overly sensitive.

I asked for feedback about the design style. Not a lesson on masculinity.
I don't mind taking criticism and the likes, but I don't like overreaction.

Yes. Yes, we can be a LOt more overly sensitive.
The design is a simple three lines of text - monkeys and typewriters stuff, really - so the only really important thing here IS the text content.
And this content... was really not particularly good.

Yes. Yes, we can be a LOt more overly sensitive.
The design is a simple three lines of text - monkeys and typewriters stuff, really - so the only really important thing here IS the text content.
And this content... was really not particularly good.

It's meant to be just that. Simple and to the point. Just some amateurish stuff.
I would like to see how much more sensitive you can get before you implode, but that might get me a ban so I'll refrain from doing that. I'll save you the displeasure of seeing something so "offensive", though.

 

[OnslaughtSupply]

Wow, I made a shirt that sold a few copies that had a picture of General Mad Dog Mattis and a pretty nasty quote from him on it and it didn't get near as much blowback as this thread.

 

[Warpmind]

It's meant to be just that. Simple and to the point. Just some amateurish stuff.
I would like to see how much more sensitive you can get before you implode, but that might get me a ban so I'll refrain from doing that. I'll save you the displeasure of seeing something so "offensive", though.

It's not about my being offended. I work in an advertising company, and one of the things I've done there over the past decade-and-a-half is print a LOT of t-shirts, to a large extent one-offs, and one of the things I've picked up on during that time is whether or not a design is liable to cause offense, and for what context said design is to be worn.
If that shirt was for, say, a specific DMC-related event, such as a show booth at E3 or something, it could work as an eye-catcher and get away with it within the context of such an event. On the street, however, it would be a fair bet that the majority of those who see it will neither get the DMC reference nor, subsequently, recognize the font used. As a direct consequence, a fair share of the ones who don't get the reference are liable to either be offended or simply write the wearer off as an MRA jerk or something of that sort, about as carefully considered as going to a Democratic rally in full MAGA gear.

Wow, I made a shirt that sold a few copies that had a picture of General Mad Dog Mattis and a pretty nasty quote from him on it and it didn't get near as much blowback as this thread.

Again, context is everything. The Mattis quote without his picture might well have received as much blowback, if not more, if it weren't clear that the quote was from an identifiable individual. Pure text is tricky like that; if there's no immediately obvious context, it's liable to be misinterpreted, often in the worst way possible. Having a specific font is not sufficient as clarification, since that still requires an intimate familiarity with the subject matter.

 

[Ellie Jane]

I'm going to skip past the whole men never cry issue, there's a fatal flaw in your image unfortunately and that's the blur. It's not going to work for screen printing. It's better to stick to block colours because of how the process works. Depends on the service you're going with, of course, but any I've gone with wouldn't have been able to do a blur like that, especially on a black background.