I was checking out the stats from the shop to see what were the most popular shirts in the store.
As in January, most of the top shirts had a hand-drawn element to them. Tho the line up this month was slightly different from January. I think part of this was due to an ad campaign I ran in January for Valentine’s Day. Popular designs during the ad campaign, my first real one, seemed to skew towards designs that non-makers might be curious about.
So who were the winners in February?
Raspberry Pi 5
At the top, was my hand-illustrated Raspberry Pi 5. Indeed, this is one of my most viewed designs and is my best seller. This is the one I also show the build video for in a previous post on my process.
A commission
The next popular designs were two designs from a commission from the maker of the Amiga clone, Denise.
The maker had seen my other work, including the commission for the maker of a SID chiptune board, USBSID-Pico.
When the first commission came in, I was flattered. When the second one came in, I was shocked. Haha. Really impressed upon me that my style was resonating. Haha.
But can it run DOOM?
One popular design this month that surprised me was from my series “But can it run DOOM?” where I drew a few smart devices (toothbrush, vacuum, toilet) with the cheeky evergreen maker challenge to try to run DOOM on everything. I expected the toothbrush or vacuum to get some interest. But the toilet version? Yup. That was a popular one this past month.
My motto
The last one of the top 5 in February was not expected. This one is a simple text-only design of my own motto: “Aut viam inveniam aut faciam” – “Either I find a way or make one.”
I had started my store focused on designs with quotes but slowly gravitated to more visual, stylized, hand-drawn illustrations. Tho I still do the occasional quote design.
I’ve been seeing this quote get some attention every so often. I made the design, as this is my own motto, bestowed upon me almost 30 years ago, for myself. I am humbled by the attention the motto has received, and hope it can be an inspiration to makers and non-makers in these turbulent times.
That’s a wrap
The next 5 most popular designs in February included designs with a reference to Asimov’s Foundation series; three hand-drawn designs – a collection of famous historical chips, the Raspberry Pi Pico, and the ESP32; and a cheeky reference to life, lemon, and LED circuits.
I look forward to see what are the popular ones in March. I’m gonna keep promoting my store on the socials, especially as new designs come out. My next promoted push on Etsy will come in May as we approach Father’s Day here in the US. By then, I should have an idea of the best sellers to promote to folks buying for maker and hacker fathers.
Lemme know what you think of these popular designs, if there are others you prefer, or if there’s a design you are wondering why I haven’t made yet (as in, another commission!).
🙏🏽
Leave a Reply