Wearable Canvas
Interactive merch, crafted to become a souvenir
As the founding designer at Elseplay, I set out to design a T-shirt that was interactive, imaginative, and made to be kept. We wanted to create something students wouldn’t just wear, but fight for. Something that felt like a canvas. Something they could transform and cherish as a lifelong souvenir.
Client:
Elseplay
My Role:
Founding Designer
Year:
2025
Service Provided:
Games and Interaction Design
When Rohaan and I began working together, even before Elseplay’s official launch at Sandbox Kolkata, we were clear: this wouldn’t be “just another merch drop.”
Rohaan said, “I want something students would fight for.”
My brain translated that into: this has to become a souvenir.
So the question became:
How do we turn a T-shirt into an invitation to play?
The Outcome
My approach was simple: every piece of merch should spark imagination. Slapping a logo on a cotton tee wasn’t going to cut it.
After rounds of brainstorming and moodboarding filled with modular, interactive, and unfinished concepts, we landed on a breakthrough idea:
A grid-based design with bold, imaginative elements
Intentionally left gaps
Students could fill in the blanks with sketch pens
It became a visual playground. A wearable sketchbook.
Moodboard
Before we touched pen to fabric, we asked a big question: What exactly do we want people to imagine?
We created a mind map to explore the Elseplay universe. Every element on the merch had to spark thought, curiosity, or creativity.
We divided our thinking into three core categories: System, Species, Spaces. These three themes became the scaffolding for every graphic, gap, and squiggle we put on the T-shirt.
Concept & Universe Map
With the concept locked in, it was time to design. We took inspiration from Tetris, a playful system of building blocks, and created a merch piece that felt alive.
The final T-shirt featured:
Empty grid blocks as creative prompts
Windows to the world, each window revealing a surreal scene and hinting at alternate realities
A giant, playful creature interacting with the building, intentionally drawn imperfectly to encourage creative freedom
Our tagline “The world is your playground” as a reminder that the world can be rebuilt and reimagined, one brick at a time
That’s how we at Elseplay built a canvas for students to draw their own worlds, their own logic, and their own stories. The T-shirt continues to evolve in the hands of the wearers. It isn’t just kept: it’s lived, altered, and reimagined. A souvenir of the brand. A memento of creativity.
