Make the Browns Great Again Shirt
It'south stained, it's ripped, information technology'southward total of holes… But you simply can't seem to throw information technology out. For a lot of us, our favorite t-shirts are a fashion to express who we are. (And for others, they're free ad!) Only how to design a t-shirt that ticks all the boxes? You'll discover out beneath.
Do you accept an killer t-shirt idea and doubtable others will experience the aforementioned fashion? Are you looking for an alternative ways of promoting your business, or making some side income with merch? Do yous desire to commemorate a special consequence, like a family reunion or bachelorette political party?
We've but sent you your complimentary t-shirt design ebook.
Whatever your reasons, the fundamentals of t-shirt design remain the same; it's what y'all do with them that counts.
In this Ultimate Guide to T-Shirt Design, we'll run through the each step of the design process, from the inception of an idea to getting your shirt mass-produced. No matter how much (or how little) feel you lot have, these t-shirt design tips will give you everything you need to know.
How to design a t-shirt in 7 steps
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- Effigy out why y'all need a shirt
- Define your budget at quantity
- Know your printing options
- Screen printing
- Vinyl graphics
- Direct-to-garment
- Begin your design concept
- T-shirt types
- Style and imagery
- Typography
- Colour
- Specialty printing
- Observe a designer
- Evaluate your design
- Become the right files
- Find a kick-ass printer
one. Figure out why y'all need a shirt
No affair your reason for designing a t-shirt, it'll always involve a little bit of branding. If you lot're using t-shirts for promotional purposes, branding is your main goal. Even if information technology's strictly fashion, you'll still need to weave consistent brand themes into all your products. For personal employ—like commemorating an result, for instance—yous want to make sure your t-shirt design communicates clearly.
If you haven't already, write out a list of the primal themes, styles, and personality traits you want your brand and shirts to convey. Is your brand playful or serious? Edgy or bourgeois? Luxurious or affordable? A focused t-shirt blueprint tin can answer all of these questions at a glance.
Take a quick peek at the example above. What does information technology tell you nearly the Brewmasters company? For starters, they don't take themselves besides seriously, and the wooden instruments propose a more traditional brewing style that hints at a classic taste. That's a lot of data from a cartoon.
To get the nearly effective pattern, move away from your personal preference and rely more on existent, quantifiable information. Who are your target clients/customers? What make traits do they want to do business with?
Here are four goals to help guide your t-shirt design process past helping you sympathize why you need a shirt and what you want it to practice.
Promotional gifts
Your t-shirts are something you give away for gratuitous to keep your brand in the minds of prospective clients/customers.
This could exist something given abroad at conventions, conferences, other promotional events or even a get out-backside at a concern meeting.
Internal visitor usage
Employees get shirts for solidarity, appreciation or peradventure fifty-fifty a company compatible.
The goals are like to promotional gifts considering there'southward a strong need for branding.
Merchandise
Your t-shirts are a production you plan on selling, so brand sure to gene in way, marketability and business organisation strategy.
You'll need to sympathize your shirt's place in the market, so consider conducting inquiry to observe the tastes of your customers. Your own personal tastes are a good showtime, but when information technology comes down to selling to the masses, quantifiable information always beats guesswork.
Event souvenirs
Special events need special souvenirs, and t-shirts are always a swell option.
These share many of the same goals as shirts for internal company usage (solidarity, appreciation) but for a more casual, less restrictive audience.
Regardless of their utilize, about t-shirts are promotional in some way. Even if you're designing t-shirts every bit merchandise, include your brand logo and then observers know who made the shirt if they want something similar. It should have a potent, fifty-fifty dominant, presence on the shirt.
Apply the same design quality and cleverness equally you would a billboard advertisement. More than than merely clothes, t-shirts provide exposure every time a person wears them in public, especially if the owner likes the shirt and wears it often.
Once yous've determined your goals, you tin then prioritize the different aspects of your t-shirt design. For example, fashion might exist a high priority for merchandise tees, only non for employee gifts. Y'all want to tailor your pattern in a way that best suits your needs.
2. Ascertain your budget and quantity
You're anxious to go to the actual t-shirt designing. We get it. But let'south settle some details kickoff so yous tin focus your design better: namely, your budget and quantity. How much you lot can spend and how many t-shirts you need will impact your design.
For example, budget and quantity will aid determine how many colors you lot tin can use. Depending on your printing method, additional colors may cost more money. If your budget is tight, a expert style to save is conserving colors.
The number of shirts you need will also influence your printing method. Some methods are ideal for printing in bulk. Others have a higher toll per shirt and are ameliorate for minor orders.
Before y'all begin to recollect about designing or printing, program your budget and quantity accordingly.
3. Know your printing options
There are a lot of things to consider when y'all're looking for the all-time t-shirt press method for you. Toll, appearance, production time, materials—they're all important. The more y'all know about each method, the easier it volition be to make up one's mind which ane is best for you.
Screen press
This is the gilded standard for t-shirt printing. Your printer makes original screens of your blueprint (one for each color) so you can impress in bulk.
Pros : Reliable standard for printing. Affordable and high quality. Ideal for large orders over 20.
Cons: New screen required for every new color or design revision (which gets costly). Colorful designs finish up beingness expensive.
Vinyl graphics
Another method of heated transfer, vinyl printing uses more than durable vinyl instead of only ink.
Pros: Extremely durable and high quality. Ideal for when you lot want your design to stand out (literally).
Cons: Additional colors cost more, then complicated designs get expensive. Not great for large orders.
Directly-to-garment (or impress-on-demand)
A newer choice, DTG press uses the liberty of inkjet printing, but prints directly on fabric.
Pros : Highly customizable designs with maximum particular and extensive colour choices.
Cons : Utilize for small batches or perchance a single sample. The more you're printing, the less viable it becomes. Doesn't work well on dark-colored garments.
Take a await at our guide to t-shirt printing for more than data.
four. Brainstorm your design concept
Hither comes the fun stuff… Now you get to start figuring out what'south actually going on your t-shirt! Brand certain you don't jump to this footstep first. The more than time and effort you put into preparing for this, the better.
Your design could go in a 1000000 dissimilar directions. Equally you're brainstorming, here are some tips to assist focus your creativity.
T-shirt types
All this talk about t-shirts, and it's easy to forget that there are lots of different types of shirts. Just to proper name a few…
Think well-nigh your audience and intended goals before deciding the correct type of t-shirt. A revealing crop top might non be the all-time promotion for a law firm.
As you lot starting time sketching out t-shirt design ideas, brand sure it will interpret to the actual size. Design using an 18"x18" canvas and physically place your designs on a shirt. That doesn't hateful you have to fill the whole space (like if you're keeping it minimal with a minor logo), simply a realistically sized canvass will help yous become the proportions correct.
Once yous have your design, consider how it volition wait on larger and smaller shirt sizes. If yous choose a screen printing process, unlike sizes may require unlike screens, which means additional costs.
Style and imagery
At this stage, you have to rely on your creative and artistic instincts to communicate the letters you want to say. Don't forget these questions nosotros talked virtually before:
- What is your make?
- Who is your market?
- Why are you designing a shirt in the first place?
Put all of that together, and you're prepare to start designing a t-shirt that's perfect for yous.
For instance, accept a look at Prim's dinosaur t-shirt design. This is a child's merchandise brand, so the way is cute and cartoony, highly-seasoned to its market place.
Compare that to the winning entry for the Pumpkin t-shirt design contest, by 99designs creator DiditRed.
This German hardcore music festival is definitely non marketed to kids. That opens upwards their designs to edgier material, which suits their prospective clients better.
Of grade, there are more than options than beingness terrifying or sugary sweet.
Alex Lalove shows us how to design a professional, risk-gratuitous t-shirt without being boring. His winning entry promotes the Datafinity brand with its logo front and center, but spices up the look and feel so it seems more fashionable than a standard business tee.
Also, remember that your design is being displayed on bodies. Lumpy, bumpy bodies that aren't always as symmetrical every bit we'd like. Recall nigh flat, simple designs since there'south no telling where the nooks and crannies will land on your image.
For like reasons, you also want to avoid detailed imagery, such as subtle color gradients and intricate linework. Always err on the side of simple.
T-shirt typography
The fonts you cull say a lot about your brand. Serif fonts (the ones with piddling artillery) or script fonts look more classic. Sans-serif fonts make it more modern. T-shirts offer more than of an opportunity than other areas of graphic pattern to play with fun, crazy display fonts, just do keep readability in mind. If the words on your shirt are important to communicating your message, make sure they don't go overshadowed by swirly, grungy, loopy typography.
Colour in t-shirt design
The element of design that is all-time at instantly communicating personality is color. Each shade, hue and tint evokes an emotion, interim every bit a shortcut for you lot to portray something about your make at merely a glance.
T-shirt designs have two sets of colors to keep in mind: the cloth color(southward) and the print color(s).To brand sure that these two complement each other, always use your material color as the background of your pattern ideas. (And also note that a colored sheet tin can take an bear on on what inks await like, so make sure you talk to your printer about that!)
Because of the way t-shirt inks piece of work, printing colors tin can get a little catchy. The to the lowest degree expensive way to print your blueprint will be to approximate the colors. Simply know that your "teal" might non lucifer your printer's "teal."
Exact color matches are possible with Pantone (PMS) or custom composite CMYK inks—but they're more expensive. PMS uses predefined, exact ink tones that your printers tin can buy. CMYK printing creates virtually any color by combining Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (blackness) inks. Check with your printer to determine what's available.
Specialty printing techniques
We've merely sent you lot your free t-shirt design ebook.
Like any other printing medium, t-shirts have their own set unique ink options.
- Plastisol— The standard ink used in screen-printing
- Foil — Shiny and reflective
- Novelty — Glitter, hologram or fifty-fifty a fuzzy feel
- High-density — For a dimensional appearance that pops out from the shirt
- Gel — Like high-density, but with a "wetter" look
- Water-based — No feeling at all; ingrained in the textile
v. Find a designer
Got design skills? Get crackin'! If you don't, d on't worry. In that location are tons of pros out in that location ready to plow your design concept into a reality.
The DIY road
The main advantage of designing a t-shirt yourself is the price. If your budget is tight, the decision is already fabricated for you. Design liberty is a huge advantage, but don't forget that professionals know the technical concerns of t-shirt design (plus a whole lot more). If you broke out into a cold sweat when nosotros mentioned acronyms like CMYK, you might sleep better handing this off to a pro.
Hiring a pro
Rather than teaching yourself marketing, branding and graphic blueprint, why not pay someone who knows all them already?
Collaborating with a freelancer can exist tricky, but too a lot of fun. Do your best to notice a designer that thinks like you lot and understands what you're looking for. Consider the designer's personality, design style and expertise. You can likewise try working with multiple designers at once by launching a T-Shirt Design Competition on 99designs.
Once you've found your designer(southward), y'all have to clearly communicate your vision. Tell them what about your pattern ideas, messaging, and intended audition. Include details virtually colors, logos, visual style, t-shirt type and printing specifications. Ship them images of designs that match the style you're looking for. Give them everything they need to know so yous can get the perfect t-shirt design.
6. Evaluate your pattern
As your design options showtime rolling in, browse through every version and select your favorites. Don't forget your marketing and technical requirements. Will your design fit on a tank superlative? Is the amount of color within your budget? Is the messaging right? This isn't just an art contest, but a business organisation decision. Communicate your feedback conspicuously to your designer to make sure your next set of options look fifty-fifty meliorate.
And then, brand sure to run it by both key stakeholders and people who don't have any connection to what yous're doing. Even if it's simply your neighbor across the street, people not closely associated with your t-shirt design will find things you lot never did.
Consider asking them:
- What is the one cardinal message you lot get when you look at this shirt?
- Who is this shirt for?
Their answers to these questions will aid you determine if the t-shirt is communicating what you lot desire information technology to. If it's not, go back to your designer and figure out what you can change.
7. Become the right files from your designer
Y'all've got the perfect t-shirt pattern. Hell yes! Now go back to that information you got from your printer and cheque to make sure you have the right files.
Y'all probably need:
- Your t-shirt design in vector format. This volition likely exist an Adobe Illustrator (AI), PDF, or EPS file. You'll demand ane for each different t-shirt design you're creating.
- Color codes. If your printer does custom colors, make certain you take the Pantone or CMYK color codes so that everything turns out looking similar you want.
8. Detect a kick-donkey printer
Once your pattern's fix, information technology's printing fourth dimension! Find one that offers the method you lot need at a price you can afford. Of course, extra features and discounts to sweeten the deal are great, too. Sifting through press options to find the best one for your particular project usually requires experience and time… but nosotros're going to fast-track it for you!
- Find out if the printer has an in-house art department. Non just does this mean the printer does in-firm prints, merely it ordinarily means these folks do good work. Merely successful printers can sustain an in-business firm art section.
- Request samples of finished shirts, not design images. Most printing companies dear visitors! Stop by their shop to see and touch their shirts. Think: a printer'due south job is to translate blueprint to an actual print, and only a finished product reveals that.
- Get-go building a working human relationship with a printer y'all tin can grow with. Find a printer who prints six or more than colors. Even if yous don't demand that many for your first project, you might demand them later.
- If y'all're doing a larger order, make certain your printer offers pre-press proofs. You lot won't know for sure how the blueprint fits on the shirts until you run into a sample.
- Beware hidden charges, specially with screens, films or Pantone color matching. Just like any other industry, there are a few rotten eggs. Go over all the charges earlier payment to make sure they're existence up forepart.
Fourth dimension to design an amazing t-shirt!
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Every year t-shirt design and press are becoming more and more accessible. They're something every business can take advantage of… as long as they know what they're doing. We hope this guide on how to pattern a t-shirt gave yous everything you need to break into the world of making t-shirts. Got questions? Ask them in the comments below.
Looking for the perfect custom t-shirt pattern?
Work with our talented designers to brand it happen.
Source: https://99designs.com/blog/design-other/how-to-design-t-shirts/
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