LDS Youth Conference Shirt Ideas: From First Idea to Finished Shirt

Planning an LDS Youth Conference is already a big job.

There are schedules to build, speakers to coordinate, activities to plan, transportation to figure out, meals to organize, parents to communicate with, and a hundred details that seem to appear out of nowhere.

Then someone asks:

"What are we doing for the shirts?"

If you're the stake Young Women presidency member, stake youth council member, or other youth leader responsible for making that happen, the last thing you need is another complicated project.

Fortunately, creating a great Youth Conference shirt doesn't have to be complicated.

At WeakThings, we can take your basic idea and turn it into a custom LDS shirt—and we can involve the youth in the process along the way.

Start With the Message

Every great Youth Conference shirt starts somewhere.

Maybe your conference has a scripture.

Maybe it has a theme.

Maybe the stake youth council came up with a phrase.

Maybe you're building everything around the current youth theme.

Maybe you simply know that you want something the youth will actually want to wear.

You don't need a finished design.

Give us the idea.

We'll help turn it into one.

Let the Youth Have a Voice

This is one of the things we think makes custom group apparel especially valuable for youth events.

The adults may be responsible for organizing the conference, but the youth are the ones wearing the shirts.

So why not let them participate in the design?

Here's one way it can work.

The leader gives us the concept.

You tell us what you're trying to accomplish.

We create the first design.

We take your theme, ideas, colors, and other details and build the artwork.

You share it with the youth.

Send the design to your youth council or other youth involved in planning the conference.

They give feedback.

Maybe they love it.

Maybe they want the typography changed.

Maybe they want a different color.

Maybe they have an idea that makes the design better.

We revise it.

That's the point.

The first version doesn't have to be the final version.

The youth get a real voice in what they'll wear, while the leader doesn't have to learn Photoshop or spend hours trying to build the artwork.

The Youth Conference Shirt Questionnaire

Not sure where to begin?

Start here.

1. What's the conference theme?

Give us the official theme, scripture, phrase, or concept.

2. What message do you want the youth to remember?

This is often more important than the artwork.

What do you hope they'll think about when they see the shirt six months from now?

3. What should the shirt look like?

Give us a few adjectives.

Modern?

Vintage?

Bold?

Minimal?

Outdoorsy?

Funny?

Sporty?

Streetwear?

Traditional?

Something completely different?

We'll translate those ideas into design.

4. What colors should we use?

Give us your preferred colors, stake colors, or conference colors.

Or tell us what you don't want.

5. What words or images should be included?

You might want:

• The conference name

• Stake name

• Date

• Location

• Scripture

• Theme

• A symbol

• An illustration

• A phrase created by the youth

6. What should we avoid?

This is another useful question.

Sometimes knowing what you don't want is the fastest way to figure out what you do want.

7. Is there a WeakThings design you like?

Show us.

It doesn't mean we'll simply copy it.

It gives us a visual starting point.

One Message Can Have a Lot of Different Looks

Take Rejoice in Christ as an example.

The message can be presented in completely different visual styles.

A bright Smiley Rejoice in Christ design can feel youthful and playful.

A clean White Script Rejoice in Christ design can feel simple and timeless.

A Brush Stroke Rejoice in Christ design can feel artistic and energetic.

A Scripture Rejoice in the Lord design can put the emphasis directly on the message.

And Sunrise Rejoice in Christ can create a completely different outdoor feeling.

You can browse the Rejoice in Christ collection to see additional visual directions.

The point isn't that your Youth Conference needs to use one of those designs.

The point is that the same message can become many different kinds of shirts.

And if you have an idea that isn't represented by anything in our existing apparel, that's fine too.

We'll start from scratch.

What If the Youth Want Something Completely Different?

That's actually one of the best parts.

WeakThings isn't limited to one particular look.

Our LDS apparel ranges from meaningful scripture designs to humor, Church culture, missionary themes, youth designs, and plenty of things that are simply meant to make another Latter-day Saint laugh.

For example, Choose Your Own Adventure: Walk Boldly, Live Faithfully takes familiar adventure language and gives it a faith-centered twist.

Follow the Covenant Path turns a phrase familiar to Latter-day Saints into a visual concept.

And Choose the Right can take a familiar Church phrase and turn it into a piece of apparel with its own personality.

Those are just examples of the range of things we can do.

Your Youth Conference doesn't have to look like a generic Church event shirt.

It can have personality.

It can be bold.

It can be funny.

It can be understated.

It can look like a legitimate streetwear shirt.

It can look like a vintage outdoor shirt.

It can be whatever makes sense for your group.

The Design Doesn't Have to Be Serious

A Youth Conference can be spiritual and meaningful without making the shirt feel overly formal.

Sometimes a little humor is exactly what makes a shirt memorable.

WeakThings designs can take familiar Latter-day Saint ideas and turn them into unexpected apparel concepts.

That's part of what makes LDS apparel fun.

Make the Shirt Something the Youth Helped Create

Imagine a youth conference where the young people aren't simply handed a shirt on the first day.

They helped create it.

They discussed the theme.

They suggested ideas.

They reacted to the first design.

They requested changes.

They watched the final version come together.

That turns the shirt into a small part of the leadership experience.

And when they put it on at Youth Conference, it's something they had a hand in creating.

Custom LDS Youth Conference Shirts Without the Headache

We try to make the process simple for the person coordinating the order.

Step 1: Give us the idea.

You don't need to have artwork ready.

Step 2: Complete the questionnaire.

Tell us the theme, colors, words, style, audience, and anything else that matters.

Step 3: We design it.

We'll turn the concept into a real shirt design.

Step 4: Share it with the youth.

Give your youth council or planning group a chance to react.

Step 5: Revise it.

We can change the artwork, colors, wording, layout, or other elements.

Step 6: Approve it.

Once the group is happy, we'll prepare the final order.

Step 7: Order.

Custom group orders have a 12-shirt minimum.

That's it.

You don't have to become a graphic designer.

You don't have to find someone in your stake who "kind of knows Photoshop."

And you don't have to settle for a generic design because you're short on time.

How Much Can We Customize?

Pretty much everything.

You can start with an existing WeakThings design as inspiration.

You can ask us to change the concept.

You can provide your own idea.

Or you can give us nothing more than a theme and let us build from there.

Your shirt can include your:

• Stake

• Ward

• Youth Conference

• Date

• Theme

• Scripture

• Location

• Youth-created phrase

• Artwork

• Colors

Or it can simply be a really good shirt.

LDS Apparel Made by Latter-day Saints

WeakThings isn't a generic custom apparel company that occasionally makes Church shirts.

LDS apparel is what we do.

We're members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and WeakThings was created around the culture, humor, faith, scriptures, experiences, and everyday life of Latter-day Saints.

That matters when you're trying to create something for a Church youth group.

We understand why a phrase works.

We understand the difference between something that's meaningful and something that feels like a Church bulletin board.

And we understand that today's youth want shirts that look like shirts they'd actually choose to wear.

Your Youth Conference Shirt Should Feel Like Your Group

There isn't one perfect Youth Conference shirt.

There is only the shirt that fits your group.

Maybe that's a bold graphic.

Maybe it's a simple scripture.

Maybe it's an inside joke.

Maybe it's a vintage design.

Maybe it's something nobody has ever seen before.

Give us the idea.

We'll build from there.

And then let your youth have a say.

Because they're the ones who are going to wear it.

Ready to Start?

Explore the WeakThings LDS apparel collection for inspiration, browse the Rejoice in Christ collection, or start a custom group order.

12 shirts minimum. Custom artwork. Youth input encouraged.

You bring the idea.

We'll build the shirt.