New T Shirt Designs Showcase MechE Creativity, Spirit
Last Spring we invited the MechE community to showcase their creativity in a T-shirt design contest, encouraging participants to capture the spirit of Course 2 through original artwork. The winning designs highlight both individual creativity and the shared identity of the community merging tradition, innovation, and personal inspiration into wearable art.
The idea started with MechE undergraduate Seth Robles and graduate student Nathan Phipps. Robles and Phipps approached the department about creating new merchandise for the online shop, with the goal of creating a few fun, new offerings for anyone who wants to show their MechE pride.
Ten designs were submitted, with two emerging as the winners. MechE Program Manager Theresa Werth, who was responsible for organizing the competition, tells us how the winning designs were chosen.
“The designs were judged by a panel of faculty, staff, and students, who rated the designs on six criteria; creativity and originality, relevance to MechE’s theme, aesthetic appeal, scalability and printability, inclusivity and broad appeal, and adherence to guidelines,” says Werth. “Based on their ratings, out of ten submissions, five finalists were selected. Two winners were selected after a community vote and final approval from our department head, Professor John Hart.”
The winning entries, created by graduate students Paola Romero and Nada Aiouche, represent MechE’s creativity and spirit.
Romero’s design features a likeness of MIT’s iconic Great Dome supported by seven pillars, each representing one the department’s seven research areas: mechanics, design, controls, energy, ocean, biology, and nanotechnology. “Almost everyone is involved in research at MIT in some way, so I thought that using the symbols for each research area as the pillars of the dome could represent how each research area—and therefore each person—supports the Mechanical Engineering department, and MIT as a whole,” Romero explains.
Aiouche’s design incorporates MIT’s motto and Course 2 in a modern, hand sketched style. Her illustration shows a caliper measuring the height of the MechE logo, with a length scale that reads “est. 1874.” Mechanical engineering classes have been offered at MIT since the Institute was founded in 1861 and was originally Course 1. In the early 1870s MechE swapped course numbers with Civil and Environmental Engineering, officially becoming Course 2. 1874 is the year MechE’s first lab was founded and has been celebrated as an anniversary year for the department.
“When I started thinking about the design, I wanted to create something that could include everyone,” Aiouche says. “I’ve always been drawn to designs that have small hidden details within a larger image, which is why I incorporated Course 2 and MIT’s motto into the lines that form the angles. I also wanted the shirt to feel modern, with a handwritten style and have the design on the back to make it more dynamic.”
The winners each received shirts with the winning designs. Romero and Aiouche’s designs, along with other MechE merchandise, are available for purchase in the online store. All merchandise is sold at cost and does not generate profit for the department.