My dresser is overflowing with tshirts. Designer tshirts. Road race tshirts. Promotional tshirts. And oh so many conference tshirts. I dig ’em, but the hard tshirt truth is: I don’t really need any more. (I could use some more socks, though, but that’s another post.)

So I was totally charmed and won over when I learned that Future of Web Design made tea towels instead of tshirts for conference attendees:

Mike Kus, has put together these awesome “Class of 2011″ tea towels! They feature our Main Stage line up in classic old school tea towel style (and we think they’d look as nice in a frame as they would hanging by your kitchen sink!)

FOWD tea towel closeup

Leveling with you: I couldn’t stop giggling when I saw my ugly mug on it. (It also has the far more alluring likenesses of fellow speakers Ethan Marcotte, Sarah Parmenter, Jeff Veen, Paul Boag, Dan Rubin, Elliot Jay Stocks, Aral Balkan, Molly Holzschlag, and many more of my internet heroes.) I mean come on: this thing is bound to be a hugely sought-after collectible, and I can’t wait to hang it alongside my velvet Elvis and Franklin Mint plate collection. Covet it for yourself? Think Vitamin is giving away a few of them.

And hey, speaking of FOWD, please do join us in London May 16–18. My talk, “Buttons Are a Hack: the New Rules of Designing for Touch,” will explain how to make the most of new touchscreen interactions:

Fingers and thumbs turn design conventions on their head. Touchscreen interfaces create ergonomic, contextual, and even emotional demands that are unfamiliar to desktop designers. Find out why our beloved desktop windows, buttons, and widgets are weak replacements for manipulating content directly, and learn practical principles for designing mobile interfaces that are both more fun and more intuitive. Along the way, discover why buttons are a hack, how to develop your gesture vocabulary, and why toys and toddlers provide eye-opening lessons in this new style of design.

Can’t wait. Also: tea towel!

FOWD tea towel

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