Alright gang, we’ve got more words for you this month. This is a shirt by yours truly. It’s simple, but every detail was slaved over. This is a shirt I’ve always wanted, so I’m finally printing it. It didn’t take me very long once I got down to it, but it’s been at least 4 years in the making. Let me explain…
I had a self-made 11×17″ poster of this hanging my cubicle for the last 8 months I was a Marketing Assistant at a construction company. I’d had it printed on the expensive paper at Kinkos when I was broke because my wife was in Dental School. For those of you not “getting” it, this is a wink and a nudge to all the typography geeks, programmers and art history majors out there…
You see, in the 1920’s René Magritte painted a picture of a pipe with the words Ceci n’est pas une pipe. scrawled underneath it. Ceci n’est pas une pipe literally means, “This is not a pipe.” It’s contradictory at first, but then you realize it’s not actually a pipe. It’s just a representation of a pipe. This was all very self-referential and clever, and made people think about art and talk about art at a time when art was mostly about how it made you feel. I’m being snarky here, but René Magritte was a genius and stuff like this was exactly why. (Side note: if you like Magritte watch the movie Toys. It’s perfectly surreal and most of the imagery in that movie is based on Magritte. If you can stomach the Robin Williams all over it, it’s fantastic.)
Moving on… that poster I made for myself was to remind me of the reason I went into marketing and design. (I landed in SEO and usability, but that’s another story.) It’s a reminder that communication is an art, utility can be beautiful and that written characters, are just as real as a pipe you can smoke.
This ” | ” is a semi-obscure glyph called a pipe or vertical bar. In math it can indicate absolute value, it is also used in computing, programming and in general typography as a separator. Much like Magritte’s pipe, it’s a representation of an idea, but since glyphs themselves are representations of ideas, it actually is a pipe.
I digress. Call it recursive pop art if you like. (Call it bullshit for all I care, my last foray into being clever with words and type was ill-received, so I’m steeling myself for backlash.)
This is a shirt I’ve held off on for the better part of two years. It was one of the original concepts I had before we’d even started coding the site. I didn’t print it, though, because I wasn’t sure if anyone else would think all this obscure typography and philosophy of communication & the written word was as cool as I think it is. This is also a composition that has been very personally dear to me for a long time and I didn’t want to hear anything negative said about it, but damn the torpedoes! I want one of these desperately, as do a couple of my programmer and designer friends, so here it is.
This is a pipe design detail
This is a pipe goes on sale October 1st at midnight (US CST). Enjoy…
If you like this design, let us know in the comments. If you hate it, tell us why. The more feedback we get, the better.
UPDATE 10/08/09: I’ve had my French corrected (not surprising) in the comments here and in real life, so I’ve updated the design to reflect a more accurate translation of “This is a pipe.”
31 Comments
hehe nice description…
your taking it to another level
This shirt contains great meaning. This shirt does not contain great art.
I think it’s good though, you will definitely learn a lot about your audience with this shirt.
That’s a very clever idea. I completely got it at first glance, but you gave a great explanation of the meaning. I also agree very much with Brian’s comment above.
Brian said it best. Sorry this one’s not for me.
To those who criticize: Stuff it, until you do better.
I think this is brilliant. I got it right away, and, the description is pretty darn good. (Jeezus, hasn’t anyone learned that no one can say what is, or is not, great art?)
If I’m awake at midnight, I’m grabbing one.
love, love, love the shirt – hate the font.
my .02¢
Ooh, I want this! But I want it with the pipe centered in the front. I usually wear some sort of shirt or jacket over my t-shirts. Any chance?
Grr. I want to like this and in theory I do but in execution it is challenging. I would like it better if it truly said “This is a pipe” instead of “It’s a pipe”
I SO want to like this. It’s an excellent inside joke…and if I were on the inside, I would grab it right up.
Love, love, love.
I forwarded this to my 29yo editor brother and asked, “Please tell me, on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being ‘I get it on all levels and I really want this shirt,’ and 1 being ‘wtf?’what you think of this shirt.
He replied, “7…i get it on all levels and even appreciate the reference, but the shirt itself is kinda boring…cool though.”
So I guess this is not going to be his birthday present this year.
So far I gotta say, congrats!
I love this shirt, awesome idea. Just wish I had money.
“Ceci est une pipe” would work better; it references Magritte’s text more exactly. And sounds better, too. Awesome tshirt, in either case.
Congrats. Cool idea. I agree that Ceci would be a little better than C’est.
How about a bar over each nipple to give it all a certain je ne sais quoi?
I would buy one if the text was “Ceci est une pipe” instead.
Agree with DALE.
“Ceci c’est une pipe” would be better.
But I really liked the explanation and everything.
Can I has one?
Love the shirt!
I would buy one if it had a picture of a dog on it instead.
“To those who criticize: Stuff it, until you do better.”
This is utterly asinine. People have opinions, and the fact that you don’t like them doesn’t make them invalid. Ever read a book you didn’t particularly like and mention it to someone? Ever hear a song you didn’t like and roll your eyes? Well stuff it until you’re on the best seller list or the top 40, genius. Give me a break.
Anyway… as a programmer, I want to like the shirt… but the reference is so obscure that it kind of ruins it for me.
I love how both your existential bs shirts are also thinly veiled blowjob gags, (for all the non francophiles “pipe” is french slang for blowjob) well done!
Where’s the link to buy one? It’ll be the first t-shirt purchase in many years.
Gravy! Very nice.
’specially like the thinky thoughts associated with it!
Keep ‘er lit.
It is art, but that’s not saying much because most art is garbage.
It’s a mildly amusing idea. Yes, there is some meaning behind it – but there is meaning behind any amusing idea; that’s what makes it amusing. And, while I’m sure it’s important to you, I believe your description here is pretentious.
“To those who criticize: Stuff it, until you do better.”
What? Make a T-shirt?
I’ve had two different, unrelated coworkers make this exact joke to me on independant occasions.
“Where’s the link to buy one? It’ll be the first t-shirt purchase in many years.”
LOL
Unfortunately the translation of that kind of “pipe” in French is « tube ».
+1 for « Ceci est une pipe »
pipe can also mean blowjob but it’s out of context here.
I understood the reference immediately, but I would never pay for this shirt. Weak design and on top of it, the shirt is white!?
Being an artist and designer, I get the reference on both fronts. But I can’t figure out any real reason for the placement of the design. That’s really the only reason why I didn’t jump on this.
Thanks for all the feedback. It’s always appreciated. I’ve updated the text of the shirt so it more accurately translates to “This is a pipe”.
-Wade
Cool T-shirt…
However its sad you made a mistake…
In french we say:
“ceci est une pipe” not “ceci c’est une pipe”…
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