Third Revolution

The two photos shown below, are of the same model shoe that I own, however this pair I customized using nikeid.com. While designing this pair of shoes, my very “L-brain” tried to incorporate some the tips mentioned in Daniel Pink’s A Whole New Mind. The main technique I incorporated was, “C-R-A-P-ify Your Graphic Design,” an idea coined by Robin Williams that is found in Pink’s book. Another unique aspect of my design is my decision to add Whitworth symbols to the shoe. I'll start with the red Nike swoosh. A Whitworth education is one of “mind and heart,” so I chose red for the Nike swoosh to represent the heart aspect of a Whitworth education.  I intentionally chose red for the swoosh (Nike’s well known logo) to indicate that educating your heart is essential for you to obtain a respectable reputation. Additionally, the swoosh’s primary objective is to distinguish Nike shoes from other shoes, similar to how one’s heart can distinguish one individual from others. While the heart is an important symbol of Whitworth, the mind is one as well. On the shoe, I chose to have the laces be gray to represent the mind. I think the laces represent the mind due to their shared ability to hold things together and enable them to serve their purpose. Without laces, the shoes would fall off; without a mind, humans would be nothing. The final touch on my shoe is the customized “mind” and “heart” words printed on the tongue of the shoe. These words will be printed in red to further the symbols of the heart, a symbol that is vital to the Whitworth education. By challenging my standard R-brain thinking, I designed a Nike shoe that incorporated two of Whitworth’s most established symbols and school colors to appeal to those that have been exposed to a mind and heart education.

-Brett Thomas