Storytelling Through Design: Elevating Branded Merch with Keith McLeod
Keith Mcleod
Graphic Designer / Rightsleeve
At Rightsleeve, we get to flex our creative muscles every day. Who better to tell that story than our graphic designer, Keith McLeod? Keith has been interested in design and the power of merch from a young age. From his first t-shirt creation at age 12 for his friend’s band to his work today with a wide array of clients that love his unique style, Keith aims to tell stories through his designs. Here, Keith fills us in on his origin story, favourite projects, and what he works on daily.
You’ve been interested in the world of merch for quite some time. Tell us about your origin story.
The first time I ever screen-printed a shirt was when I was 12, for a friend who had a band. I bought something called a “speedball screenprinting kit”; We cut the graphic out of thick paper (I remember the graphic was of a castle being hit with lightning with a bunch of bats everywhere), exposed the screen in my closet, and washed the screen out in my bathtub. Shortly after, I created a small skateboarding brand and printed shirts for my friends and me. Skateboarding opened my mind up to a subculture that perfectly entwined music, art, and style, and I wanted to participate in that culture at that age.
When did you know that you wanted to make this a career?
I took the only screenprinting class that NSCAD University in Halifax offered and finally got a taste of what screenprinting could be. For the first time, I wasn't DIY’ing it, and I was using a professional setup. I was able to team up with my best friend and collectively build our first clothing brand. This was the first time I noticed I could make a creative career in the screenprinting industry. We had some great ideas and wanted to make clothes that were conceptual. We had a vision, and it was received well.
T-shirts were a way for us to make art that people would buy. What we made was more affordable to our supporters than most art. Making those designs and curating each collection made me realize that I had developed everything I needed to build a career as a creative.
Tell me about what you do at Rightsleeve. What is your favourite part of your job and why?
I am the graphic designer at Rightsleeve. I was brought on mainly to work with creative projects requiring in-house design but have also worked closely alongside the Marketing team for the last two years or so.
My favourite part of the job is working on design problems. Finding ways of connecting problems with visual solutions is what design is all about. Successfully conveying emotions, metaphors, or stories through design is what I love to work on.
What is your favourite type of merch project to work on?
My favourite merch projects usually require lots of art direction and world-building. I also love illustrative work, so any illustration-heavy projects are fun challenges. Design work for summer camp clients is usually a perfect blend of all these concepts. These clients typically have so much personality, requiring a fun aesthetic and illustrative design.
