amishshah

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SXSW: A Review In T-Shirts

Just got done with some laundry and realized that one of the lasting benefits of going to SXSW Interactive this year is all of the free t-shirts I came home with. All told, I probably came home with a dozen new shirts, most of which I actually wear (a couple were off-sized, including one women’s size…woops).

My shirts came in a variety of colors and designs, some fantastic, some less so. Without further ado, my review of SXSW t-shirts.

Yikes!

Credit for my least favorite shirt goes to the hot mess that is Hot Potato. Like many others in this set, they went with a solid quality American Apparel tee, but in the least appealing color ever: an odd, earthy, sandy, tanny brown that just looks weird. Throw in a logo that looks like zombie hot dogs and you’ve got a shirt I’m not keen on wearing out of the house.

Also - I don’t really know what Hot Potato is. It seems like a check-in/location-based service more around experiences than physical locations, but I haven’t had the desire to try another one of those services out.

Sure I’ll Take One

Simple and inexpensive, this WePay t-shirt isn’t trying to be anything special. Its no American Apparel, but the simple color and logo scheme make it great for wearing out of the house and not looking like a geek. Added bonus: the CEO is also responsible for this piece of magic (which I have, in fact, ordered and am expecting any day now).

WePay is an awesome service focused on group collection/management of money (think student clubs, travel groups, etc). Hope to see these guys take off!

Sure I’ll Take One - 2

Got this one at a Facebook event targeted for app/game developers. Though it looks blue, it’s actually a nice American Apparel charcoal (I love charcoal). This shirt screams geek, but it gets bonus points for aesthetics and its Austin callout, which is funny only because the actual location-based services seemed to miss that opportunity.

Second Place

This isn’t really my second favorite shirt, but rather the shirt of the second place winner of SXSW. Location wars were the big theme at Interactive this year, with Foursquare and Gowalla being the two main services battling it out. Unfortunately for Gowalla, Foursquare won (for me at least).

That said, this shirt is not terrible. The green is a bit much, but the logo and branding aren’t obnoxious. My guess is most ‘normals’ don’t even know about this service (yet) so the shirt will be more of a mystery than a badge of nerdery.

Very Punny

Dailybooth locks up the award for punniest shirt. Great white on black execution for a photo-based service. (Though I’m not sure if I’m keen on taking a daily webcam pic of myself.)

They also had versions of the shirts  that said “we put the pic in epic”, though I wasn’t able to snag one in my size.

Awesome Potential, Awesome T-Shirt Demonstration of that Potential

Stickybits is a service that lets you tag and attach digital content to real world objects using the simple and established standard of bar codes. I think this is an amazing opportunity to attach a cool layer of digital data to the physical stuff that’s already around us in every part of our life. Use their free app to scan barcodes and see what people are tagging/attaching.

While the white-on-red tshirt is beautiful on its own, I love how they implemented their service on it, attaching a bar code to the back that you can tag & scan. I’m not sure if they created unique bar codes for every shirt (that seems like a logistical nightmare), but I was the first to tag the one on mine. Their service bridges digital and physical, and their marketing does the same. LOVE IT.

The Conversation Starter(s)

Some would say I’m obligated to love this shirt (Bump’s founders include two friends and ex-classmates from bschool). And that’s somewhat true. But I love these shirts not because of my connection to the company, love for the service, or because THEY GAVE ME TWO (!), but because of the conversations they start.

Every time I wear this shirt, people approach and talk to me about the app. At SXSW, people thought I was a part of the company, and talked to me at length even when they found out I wasn’t (it helped that I said I knew the founders). But the effect is global. I was recently in Cabo San Lucas for spring break, and wore my Bump shirt out the day we went scuba-diving. Within seconds of seeing me, my divemaster commented that she had the app installed on her iPhone and loves using it. She was about to take me on a potentially dangerous trip underwater and wanted to instead talk about Bump, instead of, you know, asking for my name.

So Hip

I just love Brizzly’s shirt. American Apparel, charcoal, interesting logo, no branding. This is a shirt I can rock out anywhere. It’s got enough color and design to stand out, but not so much that it seems obnoxious or awkward. I haven’t quite figured out if the service - basically a social web aggregator - has much value to me yet. But the shirt? Abso-fucking-lutely.

First Place

Like its win in the location wars (to me, at least), foursquare won in the t-shirt wars as well. I’ve become a huge fan of the service and don’t feel nerdy when I wear it. I love the pale yellow color (perfect for spring!), incorporation of badges into the design, and the heart shape, which makes it seem sort of cool and hipster-y (or at least that’s what I tell myself).

The coolest thing about this shirt, though, is that unlike the others I had to actually earn this one. The foursquare team set up a real-life foursquare game outside the convention center that people were lined up to play. The only way to get a t-shirt was if you won your way into the “Mayor” square. It took me a few tries but I eventually got one!

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