Give Cancer the Finger
A passion project for a friend: I designed both logos, the hat, and the website that sold 122 hats and raised money for St. Jude.
- ForPassion project
- Drew, a friend, for St. Jude
- Role
- Designer
- Year
- 2026
- Result
- 122 hats sold and $1,166 raised for St. Jude
- Scope
The brief
My friend Drew is fighting a rare bone cancer, and he wanted something good to come from it: a hat to sell for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, with every dollar of profit donated. He came with the ideas. My part was getting them into a finished design and putting up a website to sell the hats.
The approach
Drew knew what he wanted on the hat: the bracelet his wife gave him after his diagnosis, and a doodle of his initials from his high school notebooks. I kept both true to the originals and made them work as embroidered logos. The site carries the same warm, handmade feel: cream, navy, ribbon yellow, and Drew's own words.
The bracelet
Drew has worn this bracelet every day since his diagnosis and wanted it on the front of the hat. I turned its letter beads and smiley face into a clean, stitchable logo, and twisted the bead strands on each side into the loop of a cancer awareness ribbon. The beads are yellow, the awareness color for sarcoma and bone cancer, the kind Drew is fighting.
The doodle
The ATS is Drew's initials, a doodle he drew all over his high school notebooks. He brought the doodle; I redrew it as the side mark and set it on the same yellow ribbon.
The hat
A cream crown with a washed navy brim: the beaded logo across the front, the ribbon mark on the side.
The website
I designed and launched givecancerthefinger.com to tell Drew's story in his own words and take preorders, with a countdown to the order cutoff and a donate-only option for anyone who doesn't wear hats. It works just as well on a phone, where most people found it.
The outcome
The preorder ran from late September to October 30, 2026. It sold 122 hats, with the profit from every one going to St. Jude, and the site's donate link raised another $1,166 straight to Drew's St. Jude campaign. It's the same thing I do for clients: take what they bring and make it real.