Never break a pinky promise
Alessandra Sangermano
This project uses photography and abstract design to transform a hand gesture—the pinky promise—into vibrant, meaningful T-shirt graphics, encouraging people to notice and value small, personal connections in everyday life.
Design Problem
My problem statement was to design a T-shirt that visually reclaims the childhood gesture of a pinky promise, a rhyme and gesture that means so much to children, to celebrate trust, connection, and emotional storytelling through wearable design.
This project explores the beauty and storytelling power of our hands, those everyday tools we often overlook, through photography, abstract composition, and T-shirt design. Beginning with careful observation of hand gestures, textures, and personal connections, I photographed key moments like a pinky promise with my child or playing the piano. These images became the foundation for a series of abstract compositions using principles such as symmetry, repetition, dominance, and unity.
Drawing inspiration from fingerprint lines and hand gestures, I developed layered, meaningful designs in Illustrator, using colour, proportion, and texture to add emotional depth. The colours were carefully chosen to feel youthful and vibrant, reinforcing the energy of the design. The final intervention, a bold, youthful T-shirt, blends graphic expression with personal narrative. A bold handprint, where the finger forms the letter “P,” pairs with the word “PROMISE” to symbolise trust, creativity, and human connection.
The project celebrates the process of making, experimenting, and learning. It highlights how design can be both personal and communicative, and how even a simple T-shirt can tell a story that connects art, life, and identity.
Description of the Project
My proposed intervention is a T-shirt design that uses visual storytelling to turn the pinky promise or pinky swear, a small, often overlooked childhood gesture, into a meaningful graphic composition. The project works by transforming hand photography into abstract illustrations, applied to clothing as a wearable reminder of trust and emotional connection.
The benefit lies in encouraging people to value the subtle, everyday signals from others, especially those from loved ones in a world where so many are glued to their phones and these quiet gestures are easily missed. It’s a reminder to slow down, look up, and connect on a more human level.
My process began with observing and photographing my own hand in different contexts. I experimented with lighting, focus, and emotion, refining the compositions both by hand and digitally.
To select the strongest idea, I reviewed my images for emotional impact and design potential, then narrowed down concepts that best conveyed connection and narrative. I explored design principles like the Rule of Thirds, dominance, and unity to enhance visual interest.
Through testing print placements and colours, I refined my ideas into a striking, final T-shirt design. Along the way, I drew from course materials and peer feedback, adjusting and iterating as I went.
Process
About me
I’m a creative visual thinker passionate about storytelling and problem-solving through design, aiming to grow technically and conceptually to advance in my career.