This is the thirteenth Nottingham Parkour [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] t-shirt to be created. I hadn’t realised how much time had passed since the last Jumpin’ one was created, which was back in 2012. I wanted to have a new t-shirt design, something fresh now I was back out training after a few nightmare years of being unable to. I also wanted something with more of a general apparel to it and what better way, than to create something summery. At least that was the concept for this next shirt, I had no idea how I would portray that on a design though. So it was to be a long and slow process over the next few months of creating it.
I had the blueprints for the Npk letters on the left, which I had used within the slant design, as well as using it on the corner of recent Nottingham Parkour videos. I have always enjoyed the simplicity of that logo. So I started from there with the design, creating a mirror of the letters, keeping them slanted and finally added a slight boarder too. Then I created the block white and the tag line ‘creating movement’. Then I added the three lines above the NPK. The rest of the design came together very slowly, lots of experimenting with things, doing a bit, then coming back to it at a later date. There was lots of having the design open on Photoshop and just staring endlessly at the screen with not much being altered, wondering if I would ever be happy and finish it.
Creating Movement Design.
Now, obviously the buildings were a given to represent Parkour, like many t-shirts have these days. You may notice they aren’t Nottingham’s skyline, which I would have used if they was half decent like other countries out there. What else could I use that represents Nottingham famously instead? The plant vines and general shrubbery added a nice feel to the design and then allowed me to start to add other things like other summer-eske things; rain clouds, the moon, birds, butterflies, drinks, palm trees and all the other small fiddly details. I always liked the idea of a heartbeat rhythm line as an idea to represent something which changes as we train due to adrenaline, fear etc. However, the original heartbeat didn’t fit with the design, so I turned it upside down looked and worked better. There are some four leaf clovers in the design too, meaning we make our own luck.
Believe it or not the tic tac cat silhouette came near the end of designing, when I felt it needed a Parkour movement to be thrown in there to give it the pk stamp on the design. The Pokéball was an extra and last minute thing due to PokémonGO being so popular this year. I think this t-shirt is pretty complex in many ways, not as bad as the Roadkill design as that had lots of fiddly bits in it. But, in the sense of it being well thought out and having lots to the acctual design in look and meaning. I’m really pleased with how it looks in person after being printed, more than I was expecting and I hope in time it will become a new community favourite. Below are some images of the design on a navy, purple and azure blue t-shirt.
Zade's Training Blog. 
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