The USC Genetics Club approached me to design a t-shirt for their members—but I saw an opportunity to expand their vision into a full line of merchandise. With a majority of the club’s members identifying as women, they expressed a desire for merch that felt both cute and representative of the scientific work they’re passionate about. Through research, I discovered a gap in the market: science-themed apparel and accessories that cater to women are surprisingly rare. This insight shaped the direction of the project.
Before diving into the design process, I met with the club to clarify the project’s boundaries. They wanted to retain their existing logo and brand colors, so I began by recreating their logo as a clean vector file for consistency and scalability.
One design constraint was that the t-shirt had to be white, as the club planned a tie-dye event. To work with this, I designed a crest-style layout using soft, organic shapes—allowing the artwork to feel intentional and integrated rather than simply printed on. I created custom science-themed icons in Illustrator, some general and others specific to genetics, which were used throughout the collection: on the back of the t-shirt, in patterns for notebooks, and as standalone sticker designs.
For typography, we chose a groovy, organic typeface to balance the structure of science with a playful, natural feel—steering away from the overly clinical look that science merch often falls into. The final deliverables included white t-shirts, stickers, and notebooks—produced and printed by the club. To provide even more personality and choice, we created the notebooks in multiple colorways for members to choose from.
This project was not only a classroom success—it lives on through the USC Genetics Club, who continue to use and share the merch. You can see the designs in use on their Instagram.
