The Bird Shirt is celebrating its 15th anniversary, and Olivia Meitz, a recent 2021 Illinois State University graphic design graduate is the talented artist behind this year’s design.
Event Management, Dining, and Hospitality worked with ten graphic design students from the Design Streak Studio under the leadership of their creative director and faculty, Archana Shekara, to create ten options for the 2021 Fear the Bird Shirt. The students’ designs were narrowed down to three and then voted on by the student population.
Meitz spent time looking at previous Bird Shirt designs and noticed that a full-body and full-color Reggie Redbird hadn’t been part of the winning design for a few years. Knowing that the silhouette of Reggie’s head is often popular, she thought adding both the silhouette and the full-body Reggie would create a strong design and offer something unique.
Meitz knew she wanted to use a bold font and shape the text to fill the Reggie head. She spent time sketching and utilized her fellow designers and classmates to provide feedback during their collaboration sessions.
One obstacle Meitz did not anticipate was contracting COVID-19 during the design process. Despite the additional challenge, she was still able to work on her design and collaborate with her class virtually while recovering and quarantining at home.
“I am very excited and honored to be the designer of the 2021 Fear the Bird Shirt. Creating a design that the Illinois State community was drawn to and voted for is a really cool way to wrap up my time at ISU,” Meitz said.
For more information about the Fear the Bird program, including Bird Shirt incentives, giveaways, and 15th-anniversary celebrations throughout the 2021–2022 school year, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter or visit the Fear the Bird website.
To purchase your 15th anniversary Bird Shirt, visit Barnes and Noble at Illinois State University, inside the Bone Student Center, or order online. The shirt will be available later this summer.
