Denise Büker

I set myself the task for my project of bringing Otl Aicher’s name into the mainstream and, above all, of bringing it to the attention of younger generations.

As a means of achieving this I came up with the idea of myself silkscreen-printing a number of T-shirts devoted to various aspects of Aicher.

Rather than focusing on his design work, however, I was more intent in the process on transplanting his anecdotes and singular mindset into the present age. To this end, I initially addressed myself in depth to Aicher as a person and to his works.

Our target group comprises persons of all genders aged between 16 and 30. All body types are to be represented, making it important to select a wide variety of heights.

Many people in the target group are at quite an early stage in their professional careers, which is accordingly reflected in their salaries and buying power, too. Some of those in the target group still live with their parents, though the majority live alone or in shared accommodation.

The target group’s buying motive is the urge to own clothing that is both cool and special and only in a few cases also to acknowledge and celebrate the designer Otl Aicher. Their purchasing decisions are made independently, with friends and peers exerting the greatest influence. Parents also exert some influence where younger members of the target group are concerned.

Most purchases are made online, some possibly during campaigns such as Design Week. Buying patterns vary considerably.

Some only buy when they really need something new whilst others tend to collect things. Items ought not to be too expensive given that the target group is made up of individuals earning little or no money such as schoolchildren, students or career newcomers.

I ran a group survey on the topics of brands, fits and designs in order to find out what my target group regards as being important. Brands didn’t seem to matter much to the respondents, who set greater store by design and fit.

A standard regular fit appeared to be most popular. With regard to the design, it transpired that a somewhat minimalist imprint is preferred on the front of the T-shirt. Large, all-over material was popular on the back, by contrast.

The respondents were of one opinion regarding presentation of the finished T-shirt: seemingly spontaneous images that look as though they had been taken with a mobile-phone or disposable camera scored most highly. The extent to which such solutions found application was revealed in the further course of the design process.

The survey helped me define final values that were subsequently to be reflected in the project:

• Generally adopt a positive tone in the project
• Draw on good properties and narratives and conduct thorough research
• Choose climate-neutral materials and work in a climate-friendly way
• Offer inclusive sizes and keep to a uniform style and cut
• Produce motifs that also work for those not cognisant with the theme
• Follow/be familiar with, address trends

I wanted to develop a uniform brand with matching branding for my T-shirts. I hit on the name OTL Apparel and first made a few sketches.

It was important to me that the logo should be simple and catchy, as I was also planning to embroider it onto the labels by hand so as to give the T-shirts a more professional touch. I consulted the palettes from Otl’s projects when selecting colours for the T-shirts and recombined some colours he had used.

I didn’t want to adopt any complete palette such as that for the 1972 Olympic Games but did find the idea of citing one or two of the colours involved as a quite engaging prospect.

Seeing as I wanted to work sustainably, I thought a lot about the materials for my T-shirts. There was, of course, the option of using second-hand gear. I planned to acquire and decorate a number of different second-hand T-shirts.

This would have had the advantage of being able to minimise the impact on the environment. I was taken by the idea of slightly differing cuts, moreover. Finding white basic T-shirts on second-hand platforms proved difficult, however, and I also realised that proceeding in this way would necessitate allowing a considerable period of time for procurement.

This was compounded by the fact that such T-shirts always have to be ordered individually, which would, in turn, have a negative impact on my ecological footprint.

The alternative option was to buy new T-shirts. I accordingly searched for online shops selling basics produced in an environmentally sound way and came across grundstoff.net. My survey findings led me to buy two regular-fit T-shirts in each of the sizes S to XL.

I originally planned to use the college’s silkscreen printer. That would have involved buying a screen and hence exceeding my budget. So I looked for a beginner’s set at a website for silkscreen printing products recommended by the college and duly found one. That in turn meant carrying out all the routines myself, from preparing and exposing the screen to the actual act of printing. In order to waste as little as possible, I also decided to mix my own colours using cyan, magenta, yellow and black.

I conducted research into Otl Aicher’s life’s work and his personality as a means of arriving at print motifs. I aimed to transpose both points into a modern design idiom. I was intent on appealing to people unfamiliar with the subject, so it was important not to get too specialised. I first produced a large number of different sketches and drew finished images of my favourites. I ended up printing three motifs.

Once I had established which motifs I wished to use, I set to work getting to grips with the printing process. I used the literature and videos supplied with the silkscreen printing set for this purpose. I established a kind of routine after initial trials that took the following course:

10 PM
Grease screen and let it dry.

11 PM
Coat both sides of the dry screen with a photosensitive emulsion in a darkroom (a.k.a. my brother’s old room). Leave to dry overnight.

5 AM
Print the motif on a film. Place the printed motif in reverse on the dry screen and expose this for around 5 minutes with the halogen lamp. Wash the screen again to remove any non-hardened areas. Leave the screen to dry again.

7 AM
Briefly expose the finished screen again. Use the screen to print the T-shirts and subsequently rinse them out. Remove the photo-emulsion with the aid of a decoater and leave to dry.

8 AM
Recoat the screen and leave it to dry during working time until the afternoon. The process can then be repeated.

I proceeded in this way for several days so as to make the best use of periods spent waiting. I made virtually all the mistakes a beginner can make, including large blotches of colour on my T-shirt, photo-emulsion that wasn’t quite dry and a screen exposed in reverse.

Looking back, I can say I’m very happy with the approach I adopted for this project: it learnt me a thing or two not only about this interesting personality but also about conducting target-group surveys and, last but not least, about this very singular printing technique. I committed a range of mistakes in the process and the results left a lot to be desired, but I’m satisfied nevertheless.

Working by hand was generally great fun and my zest for experimentation grew steadily. One example of this is that, strictly speaking, I exposed my “the great is in the ordinary” motif the wrong way round. I decided to print it in reverse nonetheless and to overprint the resulting image the right way round.

The outcome strikes me as being even cooler than my original plan for the motif. Such mistakes were thus an aid to my creativity. Likewise, photographing my results with various friends as models showed me that my designs actually work quite well.