Longbrothers
T-Shirt Design
Client:
Personal Project
Role:
Product Designer
Year:
2024
Longbrothers T-shirt design — rescuing a lost logo.
Graphic Design · T-Shirt Design · Print
Story
Longbrothers started in 2014 in Colombia — a crew of friends united by downhill and longboard skating.
The name is a wordplay: longboarders, long brothers. David Calderon AKA Monx designed the original logo and t-shirt. We all had one.
Years later I wanted that shirt back. So I contacted Monx, But the digital file was gone.
Some things travel with you. Not physically — but in the way they remind you who you are and where you come from.
Challenge
No source file existed. The only reference was a low-quality photo of someone wearing the original shirt.
The goal:
reconstruct the logo in high-quality digital format — faithful to the original, but improved where it could be.
Approach
So how can i reconstruct something that no longer exists?
— Work backwards from what's left.
I used AI to vectorize from a low-quality reference image and identify the original typeface. Then refine manually in Illustrator and Procreate — not just recovering what was lost, but improving what the original had left unfinished.
Success criteria
Faithful to the original spirit and identity
High-quality vector — print-ready at any size
Typography matched to the original
Visual improvements where the original had gaps
Screen-print compatible
Key Decisions
AI as a reconstruction tool
Used AI to generate a vector from a low-quality photo and to identify the original typeface. Not as a creative shortcut — as a technical solution to a recovery problem.
Improving, not just copying
The skateboard was missing two wheels that affected perspective. The fingers lacked definition. The shadow and lighting didn't clearly distinguish the front hand from the back. Each was fixed in Procreate — adding depth and clarity the original didn't have.
Simplifying the layout
The original had additional text elements I decided to remove. Final design: logo large on the back, Longbrothers name on the left chest. Clean, bold, intentional.
Print production
Contacted a local screen printing workshop, sourced oversized-cut shirts, and managed production end-to-end — with screen printing constraints in mind from the start.
