Custom Commissioned Shirt - Design & Concept Feedback

Hey everyone! I hope that you are doing well and that your holiday season is off to a great start. Since the vinyls wrapped up, it's time to get moving on the Fall/Winter 2023 Patreon merch item - a Custom Commissioned Shirt.

While packing and shipping the vinyls, I was thinking about the type of design we should commission. I've put together some concepts and I'd like to get your feedback.

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Thoughts on the Design

In my mind, there are 2 directions to go with this design:

1. A focus around the logo or "Approaching Nirvana" text - like the hoodie we did on Patreon and similar to most of the previous merch designs in the past.
2. A more general design that fits vaguely within the brand vibe/feel of Approaching Nirvana - similar to album art or video backgrounds.

The first option is much more brand oriented and would feature the logo or "Approaching Nirvana" text very prominently. The second option will open up a lot of flexibility to do something more unique and still fit within the Approaching Nirvana brand identity, but not be immediately recognizable as the AN brand.

Originally, I had a poll for these 2 options but it didn't really make sense that way. Instead, I think it's best to get general feedback. So please give me your thoughts on the design direction in the comments!

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Concepts

I've also put together some design concepts of both directions. I'd love some specific feedback about the logo ideas as well as the designs in general. And if you have any suggestions, feel free to give them!

And to be transparent - I've used some AI generated images alongside a lot of Photoshop editing for these concepts. The final design will commissioned from an artist and created from scratch specifically for this shirt.

Images are below - please let me know your thoughts in comments!

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Concept Images

New Logo Ideas - I don't want to abandon the logo I have now, but I would like a new take on it or some imagery that hints at the logo that I could use for different things:

Forest & Fiery Sunset with New Logo Concept - The content & colors of the imagery here could be different, but I like the idea of something nature-y and primal combined with a new take on the logo:

Original Logo Inside Fire and Ice - If we used the original logo, it could be cool to have it "punched out" of a design like this. And I like the idea of continuing the fire & ice/smoke themes I had in the vinyl design:

New Logo Concept Embedded into Mountains - This one could be very cool to have some natural element (like mountains) that evoke the lines of the logo. The artist I commission would have to do a lot of legwork to make this one look good:

New Logo Concept Inside an Eclipse - I like this idea, but this image below isn't exactly the best execution. Having the logo embedded in some space imagery would be very cool:

Image Embedded into the shape of the logo - It would be very cool to feature an image in the shape of the logo. This one looks like a diamond but the shape of the logo fits exactly inside and could be a cool idea on a shirt:

Extra Concept Imagery - Here are a couple more images that play off some themes that I think Approaching Nirvana represents well (nature, weather, elements, landscapes, fantasy, sci fi, etc). Colors and content of the image could be different:

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Lastly...

I am adjusting the cutoff to qualify for this item because the timing for the vinyls pushed this one back. You must be ANimal tier or higher to qualify for this item by 11:59pm Dec 17 US mountain time.

I want to thank you for being patient with me during this whole merch process. I aim to get the design concept finalized and commissioned by the end of this month. Once that's done we'll move onto the next item in January!

As always - I appreciate your support here on Patreon. I would not still be here without you and merch items like this wouldn't be possible without you. Have a great weekend and I'll see you on stream!

- Andrew