InterVarsity San Diego Merch Line (2025)

Brand Identity, Visual Design, Art Direction

April–July 2025

Designing community-first apparel that unifies leaders, strengthens identity, and reflects shared purpose.

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01 — Overview

In Spring and Summer 2025, I served as the Lead Designer for InterVarsity at UC San Diego, tasked with creating a new merch line that would represent our ministry’s identity, unify our leaders, and offer something the whole InterVarsity San Diego region would be proud to wear.


The result:
A leadership sweater and community T-shirt that quickly became beloved across the region — worn by leaders across multiple UCSD ministries and adopted by the entire InterVarsity San Diego Region as the official 2025 merch.

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02 — The Challenge

InterVarsity merch in previous years was:

  • inconsistent across campuses

  • outdated in style

  • not unified under a shared visual identity

  • something students wore out of obligation, not excitement


The core challenge:

How can we design merch that people are genuinely proud to wear — not just because it’s InterVarsity, but because it looks and feels good?


As a student leader and member myself, I wanted it to feel:

  • relevant

  • warm

  • expressive

  • communal

  • AND, especially, rooted in our shared faith and mission


Without being “Christian merch cliché.”

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03 — My Role

As Design Lead, I handled:

  • Concept development

  • Visual direction & moodboards

  • Typography decisions

  • Color palette exploration

  • Iterative refinement with leadership

  • Preparing production files

  • Vendor coordination & print specs

  • Ensuring designs worked for both leaders and the broader community


This project reflected the blending of design skills with ministry context — serving people through creativity.

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04 — Research & Insights

I conducted lightweight but targeted research through:


1. Leader feedback

I asked:

  • “What would you actually wear?”

  • “What styles feel most like ‘us’?”

  • “What colors represent our community?”

  • “How do we visually represent our mission in a subtle, modern way?”

This revealed:

  • students prefer bold, stylistic typography

  • muted, coastal tones match UCSD + San Diego identity

  • oversized, clean streetwear silhouettes feel on-trend

  • faith-based messaging needs to be warm, not preachy


2. Community observation

I looked at:

  • what students wear on campus

  • what sells in Christian apparel ecosystems

  • what aesthetics feel timeless rather than trendy


3. Regional identity

We wanted something that could work across multiple campuses, not just UCSD.

This meant:

  • clean symbols

  • non-location-specific designs

  • a universal message of mission + community

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05 — The Design Process

1. Moodboarding

I explored four visual directions:

  • minimal streetwear

  • retro collegiate

  • coastal / San Diego inspired

  • typographic scripture-led design

We aligned on a blend: clean streetwear + warm faith cues.

2. Concept Development

Leadership Sweater & Community T-Shirt

Values reflected:

  • freedom

  • hope

  • servant-leadership

  • a call to embody the mission


The design features:

  • refined typography & visual hierarchy

  • Christian cues

  • Synergizing colorways that felt "San Diego"

  • professional yet casual tone

  • something leaders could wear confidently at training, outreach, and everyday life


I opted for:

  • bold yet minimal graphic structure

  • a message that invited people into community

  • comfortable, durable fabric

3. Iteration

I cycled through multiple rounds of refinement:

  • adjusting typographic weight

  • experimenting with scriptural references

  • exploring composition layouts

  • finding the right balance of subtlety vs intentionality

  • working with leadership for clarity on messaging

  • ensuring designs reproduced cleanly on screen-print


I virtually tested mockups on:

  • sweaters

  • comfort color tees

  • unisex cuts

4. Production

I prepared:

  • print-ready vector files

  • color-separated layers

  • sizing guides

  • standardized margins

  • brand-aligned color palettes


Then worked with leadership to lock in:

  • apparel choice

  • vendor pricing

  • style variations

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06 — Results & Impact

Community Response

The merch was an immediate hit:

  • leaders loved it

  • new students wanted it

  • returning students wore it proudly


Regional Adoption

The design was so well-received that:


InterVarsity San Diego adopted it as the official 2025 merch for the entire region.

That means:

  • multiple campuses

  • multiple ministries

  • dozens of leaders

  • hundreds of students


…all wearing the same unified visual identity.


Cultural Impact

The merch:

  • strengthened identity

  • built unity across campuses

  • gave leaders a visual expression of their commitment

  • offered students something they genuinely enjoyed wearing

One leader said:

“I love wearing this merch everywhere!”

07 — What I Learned

This project taught me how to:

  • design for identity, not just aesthetics

  • balance personal creativity with community values

  • translate faith into design in a way that’s warm, not performative

  • adapt typography + design systems to physical products

  • work with real constraints: budgets, screenprinting, fabric, scaling

  • co-design with a ministry team

  • craft something people love wearing


More than anything, it reminded me:

Design is a tool for building belonging.

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