Meet the designer behind the Andrew Yang X Donald Glover pop-up shop merch
The Yang campaign has gone hypebeast.
Andrew Yang’s campaign named actor-musician Donald Glover a creative consultant on December 19, and the pair teamed up for a pop-up shop in Los Angeles that day. Among the exclusive items on sale were a limited-edition poster, “$1K” hats and posters, and an actual $1,000 hoodie signed by Yang and Glover.
Much of the merch was designed by Christian Gonzalez, who’s worked with Glover this year on Childish Gambino items sold at festival appearances.
“That was the first time we did a political client,” Gonzalez told Yello. The entire process was only a few weeks, and “we were having revisions to the design two to three days before the pop-up.”
Gonzalez worked on several concepts, including designs in 8-bit and old English style, and concepts about Yang’s “Yang Gang” fandom name and “Math.” He also designed “The 46 Campaign” graphic that was used to tease the pop-up shop. The poster, which shows Yang inside a silhouette of Glover with the phrase “This is the simulation where we win,” was designed by Ivan Ehlers.
The concept Gonzalez gravitated towards most, though, was a hand-drawn “$1K” logo, referencing Yang’s universal basic income proposal to give every American adult $1,000 a month. It was the image that was used on the hoodies and hats.
“That’s the one thing that stuck out the most,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez got started as a designer by making mental health posters for himself when he was going through a dark period after relocating to Orlando. His work was eventually spotted by Emily Oberg of Sporty and Rich and he was tapped to design a sweatshirt for the brand. He connected with Glover through Glover’s footwear designer, and designed merch for Glover’s 2019 Lollapalooza and Coachella performances.
Gonzalez said Glover was “sweet” but he hasn’t met Yang.
“The whole time Yang was there [at the pop-up shop] I was working security,” he said.
The pop-up shop was Gonzalez’s first time seeing “drop” culture in person, and he called it “overwhelming.” Though the shop didn’t open till 12:30 p.m., people were lined up by 8 a.m., and just few blocks away, there was another line for a Supreme drop.
Some Yang X Glover items have made their way to eBay. In the past week, bids for the hat, which was originally sold for $50, start at more than $130, while one $1,000 signed sweatshirt was available to buy for $3,000.
As for whether another Yang X Glover collab is in the works, Gonzalez said there’s none he knows of now, but “I wouldn’t put it past him” because “this was such a huge success.”
The Yang campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
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