Some people wear their hearts on their sleeves; others wear their news on their chests. Swedish T-shirt magazine T-post allows readers to keep abreast of the latest news of the weird while keeping their backs warm.
Every six weeks, T-post's four-person staff puts together an issue - that is, a topical T-shirt with a news story printed inside and a clever artistic adaptation on the outside - and send it out to their 2,500 subscribers worldwide. The magazine's news editor gathers stories of note and the editorial board deliberates. Often what they come up with is a combination of several different stories they see connections between.
"Our stories usually ends up living somewhere in between a news story and a column," T-post Editor in Chief Peter Lundgren said in an e-mail interview with The Eagle.
January's issue, the magazine's 42nd, discusses two scientists' independent development of quintessential honest and evil faces. The story begins with a quick run-down of the two stories and moves on to the practical applications of the discoveries, whatever those might be.
After choosing a topic, the editorial staff reaches out to a designer they believe can best interpret the story visually. The December 2006 issue played with sociology professor Nigel Gilbert's assertion that by 2011 the Internet will contain enough information that it could be used to survey the movements of countless individuals. The editorial staff singled out designer Patrik S?derstam to interpret this story in cotton. What he came up with takes the creepiness of this possibility to heart: "1984" is printed in enormous block letters on the back of the shirt.
More than a fashion statement, T-post strives to be a conversation starter.
"Nobody asks you about the article you just read in the bathroom," Lundgren said. "But if you're wearing an issue of T-post, people tend to ask what it's about. The next thing you know, you're talking about the ethical treatment of robots or some bank robbers in Brazil who got away with 45 million bucks, you're forming your own opinion, getting someone else to think about the topic and it just keeps going. That's what's magic about this media, it gives everyone a chance to interpret a news story and communicate it in their own way."
Lundgren said printing the story on the inside is an important part of the concept. A visual representation of the story will start a conversation, but without the printed story directly accessible, the subscriber has to make the story his or her own.
"It's all part of our experiment to try to re-wire the structures of news communication," he said.
More information about T-post is available on their Web site, www.t-post.se. Shirts are 26 euro each for a subscription.
You can reach this staff writer at kpowell@theeagleonline.com.
