ethana2/vilem: Are we still on the t-shirt topic, or veering into the slogan one? Just curious; there will be a natural overlap of course. I do feel that too much text kills the efficiency of a good t-shirt motif though, but people will feel differently I suppose. I'm just thinking about how much time I get to spend reading the average  shirt as its wearer walks by, and it isn't many seconds. (There's also the issue of not spending a conspicous amount of time ogling some persons' chest areas for instance!) I'd prefer a short but strong hook over a detailed message, myself. As kalixiri says, the details will follow if someone dares to ask.

Kalixiri, I think you got me all wrong, and furthermore I feel you have a very quirky sales pitch there. I see that keyboard samurai gets and likes your suggestion, and maybe many others do too? I didn't, but that shouldn't detain you I hope.  :)

Don't think that I'm after a quirky novelty/trophy only, that's insulting of my intellect. My dream shirt would be fun to wear and stimulate the eyes for sure, but of course I want it to be "selling" Colemak as well! These benefits can be combined you know.

The thing is, I think you overestimate the curiosity factor generated by pointing a question mark (or a WTF for that matter) at a QWERTY semicolon, as well as the clarity of that message.

For one, it's a negative message ("something is strange/bad") instead of a positive message ("Colemak is cool/good") and while that may feel right to you it's often a less effective marketing ploy. I know it's used in many commercials but that's still what I've been told by ad people. I do know that I personally tend to be put off those negative/annoying/tiresome commercials and prefer the nice/fun/positive ones (if they're done right that is; a plain overenthusiastic/"hallelujah" one won't work with me for instance).

I believe that the people who haven't noticed anything strange about their keyboard their entire life won't be much jarred by your semicolon either. To them, your ASDFJKL; line probably won't say "layout" at all, but simply "typing". And then your message will be something like "typing?" which won't raise many eyebrows I'm afraid. Asking of the passersby that they draw conclusions about the placements of keys from your graphic is asking a lot in my (unprofessional) opinion.

I don't think your line of thinking is any less prone to the weird looks and shuffling away than an "unprepared" encounter over a keyboard is. If anything, I'd feel a bit uncomfortable that I've been outgeeked by someone who thinks the placement of a blasted semicolon is a big issue. Maybe I wouldn't get around to considering that you have similar feelings for more important keys at all, before I made my escape.

As mentioned before, the semicolon on a weak and hard working pinky is among the least problems of the QWERTY home row (the A and S aren't in trouble so the semicolon would be more trouble than them at least - but not that much). Again, you may be attempting to convey a negative message: That the position could be put to better use. But nothing in your design shows me that you're talking about positions and not the letters themselves (apart from the ASDFetc itself; but as mentioned most people will probably think "typing" rather than "position" when seeing that).

Anecdote: Not long ago I saw some espresso cups that had a type-esque design on them. But there was something unsettling about it: Most of it was QWERTY wrapped around the cups, but some keys stood out and those weren't QWERTY. Another layout maybe? No, they were badly out of place and there were even doublets. Then I noticed that those odd keys spelled a word (I've forgotten what) together. To this design, QWERTY wasn't a layout at all! It was simply a graphical element that said "typing" and could be used as a backdrop, nothing more. Since I've been so focused on keyboard layouts for quite a while now, it took me a while to figure that one out. I think that most commoners would've gotten it immediately because they generally don't think about layouts.

Finally, I think that your design is plain. It doesn't tickle my eye. Remember how many weird and wonderful t-shirt designs are out there these days, and you'll have to make an effort if you want to be noticed at all by anyone else than your mother (mine always seems to notice everything, hehe). Maybe it wouldn't take more than using a Courier font or something - it doesn't have to take a lot.

I think that a good design might tell people "typing" through showing key caps and/or staggered rows, while also showing the Colemak design to get them thinking about layouts. That might get the attention of some, if it's done well and stylish. I'd like something that catches the eye and at the same time shows people that it's about a keyboard layout that's different. My ideal would be to show at least part of the Colemak in that design, too. Vilem's reflection graphic modified to show Colemak/QWERTY reflections would be a good example of showing just a little Colemak to get things started.

About the 130-year thing: This morning I thought of a graphic showing a vintage typewriter on the left hand, morphed into a modern keyboard with Colemak on the right hand. It could be done in such a way that only the QWAZXCVB keys that are common of both layouts were left on the old machine. I'll see if I can pull it off and whether it can look good. Or maybe NeoMenlo or someone else with the skill thinks it's an interesting idea? Feel free to try. It may be risky, messagewise, to tell people that the Colemak still has an "old" part at the left since they'd be given to wonder whether that may be a bad thing, but I feel it could be worth a try.