Interpreting the future, inspired by play
- Year2024 — 2025
- Disciplineillustration, apparel
- TypeUTGP 2025 Competition
Last October, we decided to enter the UTGP 2025 T-shirt design competition out of sheer curiosity. The brief was "Create The Future: Inspired by Play", an intriguing albeit difficult one. What we definitely wanted to avoid was designing t-shirts of flying cars, VR headsets, and random Matrix-esque grids. We are living in the future of the past and it does not look like that just yet.
Our main approach for this brief was to take a subtler approach while being mindful of creating attractive, sellable designs fit for Uniqlo lovers. We came up with four vastly different approaches of the future: 1) future of humanity; 2) future of tech in terms of its positive consequences; 3) how play governs our innovations; and lastly 4) some flying boxes and hands because we know that's what you're thinking of!
The fact that we're posting this now means we didn't win which, honestly, is a bit defeating. Not gonna lie, we are a bit salty about it still (haha), but did we have fun? Definitely. We love these designs all the same, win or lose. And we hope you like them too!
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Made For All
Instead of focusing on a future made of fantasy tech and flying cars, we wanted to focus our concept on the humanity involved in making those advancements happen - the people behind the world we can look forward to. “Made For All” is a simple yet hopeful message about the beauty of human connections and how it is simply in our nature to play and create - the very epicenter of the innovations to come. Play, to us, means a safe space to explore, create, and experiment - a space made for all to be themselves despite age, identity, and beliefs. When we can all play together, there’s no limit to what the future can bring.
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No Future Like Today
“No Future Like Today” is a light-hearted snapshot into the lives of Rob and his electric sheepdog, Rufus, in year 3000. It’s our playful take on what the future might look like if people (and dogs!) can live forever. Rob and Rufus’ lives are the product of our present, thanks to the people who are playing, experimenting, and innovating today in 2025. It captures a wishful moment in time where science and technology has finally solved most of humanity’s biggest problems so they can play all day. When your days are fueled by fun, you’d be too busy staying in the present to worry about the future. For Rob and Rufus, there’s no future like today.
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Survival of the Silliest
What if the Wright Brothers stopped building a plane because they thought it was too silly? What if Nikola Tesla thought it was silly there could be more to a candle? What if Steve Jobs thought a touchscreen phone was just too absurd? Where will we be if none of them dared to ask “Why not?“. We believe most innovations start from the seed of a silly idea. The silliest, in fact. And our survival has depended on it. “Survival of the Silliest” is our expression of the child-like innocence of play where anything goes. Pants with a face? Why not? Daikon with chubby arms? Why not! We hope this can be our constant reminder of the “Why nots” that colour our life today and hopefully our tomorrows. May the silliest win!
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Shape Your Future
The exciting thing about the future is it hasn’t happened yet, which means the possibilities are endless. How do you want it to look like? What shape should it take? It’s up to you to define it! “Shape Your Future” is inspired by the act of crafting and creating with our hands, building the future we want pixel-by-pixel, block-by-block, stroke-by-stroke - whichever your preferred medium. And we hope whoever wears this T-shirt is reminded to also have fun with it!
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