Students Create Ducks T-Shirts in Samueli Academy Design Contest

For fans looking to add to their hockey wardrobe this spring, the Ducks Team Store is now featuring some new t-shirt offerings designed by local high school students.

As part of the fourth annual Samueli Academy T-Shirt Design Contest, seniors from the school's Design 4 class got a taste of real world experience as they were given the opportunity to create the graphics for an Anaheim Ducks branded t-shirt.
In collaboration with the project-based learning approach that is at the core of the free public charter high school in Santa Ana, the Samueli Academy students began by researching their audience and the needs of their client, which gave them an understanding of the club's current and past graphics and colors, as well as their connection with the community.
Utilizing the principles of design, such as scale, emphasis and balance, the students produced preliminary hand-sketched concepts and then progressed to computer-generated images made through the use of Adobe Creative Cloud software, including Photoshop and Illustrator.
Several Ducks staff members from a wide range of departments visited the classroom part way through the design process to not only review the students' projects and offer feedback, but to give some insight on the workings of a professional sports team. After honing their concepts, the seniors presented their submissions to Ducks management.
Several preferred choices made by the Ducks organization were then narrowed down to three final selections. The winning students met with the club's graphic design staff to make refinements to their artwork in preparation for printing, and the t-shirts are now for sale at the Anaheim Ducks Team Store as well as online at AnaheimTeamStore.com. All proceeds from sales of the shirts will go to support Samueli Academy.
"I think the designs are fabulous," said Ducks owner and founder of Samueli Academy, Susan Samueli. "I love them, and I think they are going to be big sellers in the store. These kids are so talented. Every year they get better and better."
On Monday night prior to the Ducks game versus the St. Louis Blues, the three students chosen for their designs were honored during a pregame on-ice ceremony in which the t-shirts were revealed. Samueli Academy design teacher, Patricia Vining, was impressed with the level of creativity seen in the winning students' submissions.
"There were a lot of remarkable designs," Vining said. "With these three students, there was a lot of conceptual work, and all three spent time learning new skills. They were highly motivated. They did beautiful work, and I'm glad they were rewarded."
Samueli Academy senior German Vega went "California vintage" with his t-shirt design, including a nod to the team's original colors and logo.
"I was inspired by California vintage tees that were from the 90's and the 80's, and I wanted to replicate that," Vega said. "I thought that the colors they had before, the plum, teal and white, mimicked that whole vibe, and I wanted to recreate that in a tee."
The emotion behind seeing his creation come to life as a product sold in a store is something Vega had a hard time expressing.
"It seems unreal," Vega said. "I never thought that I would have any of my designs printed on anything. And to be down there on the ice, it was pretty cool having that whole experience."
Senior Leilah Doran developed her design during American Heart Month in February and was inspired by the illustration of a heart rhythm EKG.
"I came across the heartbeat and saw that people made it into the shape of a heart," Doran said. "And I thought maybe I can do something with the Ducks logo."
Doran described the moment she found out she had a winning design as "surreal" and is excited about what this will mean for her future as a designer.
"It's crazy. I'm only 18 and my shirt design is being sold," Doran said. "This whole experience definitely opens up so many opportunities. This is a real world scenario that I may be facing as a future designer. It makes me thankful for our school because we had this opportunity."
The idea behind Luis Torres' diagonal graphic featuring Ducks captain Ryan Getzlaf came to him during one of his favorite pastimes-listening to music.
"My real inspiration was my music," Torres said. "It's been really exciting. I feel it's a statement of my progress as a designer. I've been able to improve my technique, do different styles and come up with something new. It's not every day that a huge sports company chooses your design, the one you made. It's really rewarding. I'm really happy."
All three seniors are heading to college next fall with career aspirations in the areas of design, marketing, computer engineering and digital media. And with project experience like this under their belts, these students are well on their way.
"It's a project-based learning school, so we want to give them authentic experiences," Samueli said. "For them to be able to design something, know that it's going to be sold in a store, and then see their designs, it's got to give them so much confidence. And it gives them a little bit of reality about what it could be like if they get into this profession.
"The kids are so excited," Samueli continued. "To have an experience where you're appreciated and recognized…what could be better than this?"
T-shirts with the winning designs are currently on sale in the Ducks Team Store at Honda Center as well as online at
AnaheimTeamStore.com
. All proceeds from sales of the t-shirts will go to support Samueli Academy. For more information about Samueli Academy, visit
samueliacademy.org
.