Tips on How to Design T-Shirts For Beginners
There are many reasons custom T-shirts have become so popular. They are used by schools, businesses, sports teams, etc. The possibilities are endless when it comes to T-Shirt design. When you're designing your first T-shirt, it can seem daunting. These are our top recommendations for designing a custom shirt:
Explore Different Ideas
Take your time with the design process. You need to take your time and really think about the design. Make mockups to show how the design will look. Then, experiment with other ideas.
Keep It Simple
Although your design may contain many vital details, it is best to keep it simple. Too much detail can overwhelm your initial concept. Make sure that every aspect of your design is purposeful.
Printing/Branding Process.
There are several different branding processes that you can use for your t-shirts, including silkscreen, heat press, embroidery, etc. Each one of these wil have a different effect on the end product. Consider your options and choose the one that best suits your business’s needs.
Select Your Design Location
There are several available design placements for T-shirt designs, dependindent on the branding process you use. Wrong placement can ruin a great design. Be sure to maintain consistency across all T-shirts within an order. You can test design placements by printing out your design in different sizes and holding them up against plain t-shirts.
Font Choice and Typography
Be mindful of how you select the font and what arrangement you use to add words to your design. These guidelines will assist you in designing your project.
- The text at the top should be the most crucial information and should stand out from the rest.
- Avoid large blocks of content that can look overwhelming and hard to read.
- Contrasting fonts can create visual interest, but too many may look unattractive and hard to read.
- When adding line breaks in your text, do it intently to maintain balance.
- Plan out how your text will be placed in relation to other elements, such as images.
- Avoid putting text on top of images with lots of detail. This can make the text more challenging to read.
- Avoid too many drop shadows.
Think About Composition
Each design is composed of elements placed in relation to one another. Good design hinges on its composition. Common mistakes include too many elements or too few. Sometimes the whole arrangement needs to be balanced enough to draw attention in the right direction. This is why you must be careful about how your designs are constructed.
Ensure Image Quality
T-shirt design can suffer from low-resolution photos. They may become blurred or pixelated. You should display the image at its maximum size with at least 200 dots per inch. Ideal image resolutions should be 300 dpi and higher.
Research Size Options
Would you like to offer your design in different t-shirt sizes? You can create your shirts with a variety of size options. Remember that the size of the shirt might affect how the design looks; it might look different on a small than an extra-large.
You must also select the right printing and branding agency for your shirts— Contact Minuteman Press Hatfield for more information. We’d love to help!