Well, Lonely Vinyl was rejected. I'm rather upset about that. I thought it stood a decent chance in the submission round; and failing that it might have made a few of those that scored it smile - even if they didn't want it printed.

The two reasons were peculiar. The first was that the judges thought it was too simplistic; and recommended I used the critique system. The design had gone through the mill on that front twice, until no-one made any further recommendations and suggested I should submit.

The second reason was that it was mostly text. I don't buy that. Threadless approves text-only shirts via its slogans system; so why not text with an image? The image is integral to the pun. I had put the slogan (minus the image, of course) through the slogan system, which proved unpopular: it just doesn't work.

I don't think it's a bad t-shirt: it might not be top notch (so please do comment on the critique, which is still running) but I thought it deserved to be put through its paces. Where do I go from here?

Lonely Vinyl, my second critique, is nearing the end of its design cycle. It's almost ready for submission, but people are still suggesting there is something missing... that's a worry.

They've also said that "it's not a Threadless tee", and I can understand that to some extent. But I hope people would vote for it based on whether they would wear it or not, or even whether they like it or not, rather than on whether it is a design that is usually associated with Threadless.

There's my two cents... or pence in my case!

Not really sure what to put here really... I've submitted my first design for critique - called Caught in the Music. I'm quite pleased with it - it looks quite good on cream, but I've had some constructive comments so I must address those before going any further with it.

Aside from that, I'm thinking about that tricky "second design". I'm not really a graphics wizard by any means, so my designs will be more about the idea rather than the execution.