THE WATER BOYS // TEAM MERCHANDISE DESIGN
TIMELINE
February - March 2026
ROLE
Designer
TEAM
1 Designer (me),
4 Reviewers
TOOLS
Procreate,
Affinity
CONTEXT
The Water Boys is one of the competitive a cappella groups at the University of Waterloo. We are a lower-voiced group, and we compete in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) competition every year. In 2026, we were the Quarterfinal champions — allowing us to advance to the international semifinal competition — awarded "Outstanding Choreography" and "Outstanding Soloist".
January to April 2026, this group consisted of 17 members that were all very dedicated and committed. We all cared a lot to create good work and a performance that we were proud of, especially for the international collegiate competition. With all the time spent on preparation, we also naturally became a very tight-knit group.
GOALS
Considering how the semifinal round is international (compared to the quarterfinals being regional, within Canada), I really wanted to create a piece of apparel for the group to represent us at the competition. I wanted something that represented the group well, and that can be easily recognized as "The Water Boys" without the design being too loud.
What does it mean to represent The Water Boys?
A cappella / singing
Water droplet (our group's logo)
Water droplet Jellycat (our group's mascot)
Tight-knit group of friends!
Takes competition very seriously, but all very playful people at the end of the day. (Every rehearsal always ends in dinner and board games together :))
A group that travels together (for competitions, bonding retreats)
INITIAL ITERATIONS
Although I was the main driver for the apparel, the main request from the rest of the executive team was to have a minimal design. Knowing that the water droplet Jellycat is our team's mascot, I used it as a starting point.
Jellycat mascot
Initial sketch of mascot
Refined illustration of mascot
Although it represented the group in the sense that it was an illustration of the mascot, I found that this design was a little too simple. It doesn't represent the other aspects of the group. There wasn't as much personality as I wanted in this simple design. A lot of what makes the group "The Water Boys" wasn't showcased. But, I expanded on this and came up with the following design instead (see left). The polished version of this ended up being the final design.
Updates:
Three water droplets instead of one. Maintaining the mascot, but showing more of a sense of community with multiple instances of the mascot.
Each water droplet is doing a different action. One is singing, one is happy, one is sleeping. This is to represent us as an a cappella group, but also as a group of friends that spend a lot of time together with all energy levels.
Simple outline design instead of filled colour. Because I decided to have three water droplets instead of one, I wanted to maintain simplicity by removing the colour.
"the water boys" is written with my handwriting, in lowercase. This is done intentionally to showcase the more playful nature of the group.
FINAL DESIGN
The final design was printed on t-shirts, hoodies, and sweatpants.
IMPACT
Within a month, the designs were initiated and finalized. Orders were placed and arrived right before the semifinal competition.
In total, 53 articles of clothes were sold. 46/53 of these items were sold just to the (17) members that were in the group from January to April. 7/53 of the items were sold to group alumni. Over 15+ non-members have also approached me, asking about the designs and the club.
Most importantly though, the group members were very happy with the design! They've been wearing the apparel frequently and proudly, and I'm just glad that I was able to create a physical piece of media attached to such a significant memory and experience.