10 T-Shirt Design Tips for Better Results

T-shirts are the best material to fit any style for fashion enthusiasts and marketing purposes. However, the designing process requires proper planning and struggle. In this article, I’ll outline the top 10 t-shirt designing tricks you find helpful when starting your own business.

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01- Think of the Client’s Interest

The best practice is to look around the clients and their clothing styles. As we can wear T-shirts to carry any look. So think about how you can provide a better t-shirt design to them.

As T-shirts are the best options for spring and summer, people look to wear seasonal and themed shirts. So, you can use typography, logo, vintage, or any vector graphic to design t-shirts. For example, you can print a shadowy evening scene of a sunny day on your t-shirt to give summer vibes and vice versa.

Think of the Client's Interest

Additionally, check out our blog tips for t-shirt embroidery with all the steps.

02- Try different design techniques

Most t-shirts feature a logo for bending and graphics with typography to make them more functional. There is no restriction for being creative with t-shirts but it requires skills. Keep in mind who is your client for which you are making shirts, the teenager or kids, then choose which technique works well with the style you want.

The first design tip is to add stylish fonts and typography:

The first design tip is to add stylish fonts and typography

Whenever thinking of adding text, make sure to choose the right font and typeface. You often see the text featured t-shirts which are enough to tell the tale to the audience. But the pro tip is keeping the spacing of lines and text right. Your text should not be too large or small but must be readable. You can use more than one font in one t-shirt design but it must look like a part of the design other than a separate element. Adding text with graphics also makes your design look cool and more catchy than simple typographic shirts. Sans serif and script fonts for t-shirts including Allura, Avenir, shrikhand, Monserrate, copper black, and Helvetica are highly recommended. 

Check out the list of printing fonts for custom t-shirts here.

Start selling printed t-shirts:

Start selling printed t-shirts

Printing, a common way of customization, helps in making fashionable and marketing-featured shirts for various brands. The sale rate of t-shirts goes high when printed with contrasting colors and patterns.

Let me clarify the concept of printing type and their uses. Screen printing, (top of the list) suits best to print text or image quickly.

DTG on the other hand, works well to imprint the design as it looks the part of the fabric. If your client requests to add the silhouette of their favorite artist, heat transfer is the only printing type made for this purpose.

You can also review the comparison of DTG vs Screen printing for making a final choice.

03- Shirt material and color combination

Shirt material and color combination

If you want to make long-lasting designs, make sure to purchase good-quality polyester and cotton shirts. The T-shirt must be breathable to wear rather than just stylish. So for athletic groups, use polyester or blend t-shirts for seasonal games.

In addition, keep in mind the target customers for which you are creating shirts. Use vibrant hues like royal blue, red, orange, and yellow while designing sports t-shirts.

As well as for branding and printing, choose light-colored t-shirts since printing colors are more vibrant and look best against a light-colored fabric foundation. For summer, utilize neutral-colored t-shirts for individuals who want to go camping and summer adventure.

04- The size of the design matters

If your company sells printed or embroidered t-shirts, you must select the appropriate design size. It should not be excessively small or large.

The size of the design depends on two factors: the nature of the design (simple or complex) and the size of the t-shirt. Users may associate a design’s size solely with its height and width, but the shirt’s surface area is equally important. These are some common mistakes that should be avoided while selecting the appropriate design size.

Consider the T-shirt Length

A common mistake the user made was creating a one-size design to replicate it over t-shirts of varying sizes. Be sure to adjust the design to fit the shirt length.

Don’t weigh down your t-shirt with heavy print/artwork

People desire clothes that are not just fashionable but also breathable and comfy. So, only print some of the shirt area, which makes the shirts bulky and hard to wear for a long time.

05- Placement Of Design

Placement Of Design

Along with the size of the design, proper design placement in the specific area is essential. You have to take extra care when determining the design position.

Nowadays, clients do not demand a whole front design. The front, back, left chest, and sleeves are the greatest design positions for them since they desire a more distinctive appeal. The shirt’s style has an impact as well.

It is important to specify that your design must be in the center of the shirts. But place it a few inches away from your collarbone and the bottom. To ensure perfect positioning, measure the length and width with a ruler. Consider the following general design size standards.

Left chest: 2.5 – 5 inch width and same height for design

Center chest: 6-10 inches wide, 6-8 inches high

Full front: 10-12 inches wide, 10-14 inches high

Back side: 10-14 inches wide, 6-15 inches high

Sleeves: 1-4 inch wide, 1-4 inch high

Note: You can change the design height and width according to the shirt size.

Keep in mind that the position of design is different for every technique. For more details, review our blog for embroidery placement.

06- Maintain Composition

Maintain Composition

A good design provides pleasing looks from all angles, and this is what a composition is. If you combine fonts and styles, their size must be correct.

Do not crowd all of the characters together, as this creates a cluttered appearance and confuses customers. They should not be placed too far away, which provides a terrible impression. As you create t-shirts to convey certain thoughts and feelings, bad composition will make it impossible to convey the intended objective.

07- Make use of borders and shapes

Make use of borders and shapes

To make your design more bright and readable, try adding borders around the corners. Though it comes in a variety of shapes, attempt to keep the border simple like in black or white surrounding the text. It allows customers to appear exactly how they want and makes selecting a t-shirt easier.

Have you heard of the masking technique?

It’s a pretty innovative way to add a transparent background that users can see behind the bold text. If you’re making shirts to sell, this text mask feature boosts your earnings potential.

If you are planning for embroidered t-shirts in the future, here are the suggestions for the best machine embroidery script fonts.

08- Invest in high-quality printing

Invest in high-quality printing

Printing is the most cost-effective way to customize clothing. We at times followed all of the steps, from picking appropriate materials to designing, but still didn’t attain the ideal t-shirt look. It’s due to a lack of information about printing procedures and ink application.

Your client’s top priority is design quality. So invest extra in achieving the correct print, and screen printing can take care of that. Do research and select printing firms that specialize in generating high-quality prints.

For better understanding, make sure to review our detailed blogs about:

Best inks for screen printing

Best screen printing-based ink

09- Try mock-up and test design before finalizing

Try mock-up and test design before finalizing

Previewing your design or testing it on an extra piece is a great way to avoid regret later. Mock-up is the best way to check that your design is properly placed and fits which shirt style. It also ensures that the color scheme will function as planned for prints and garments.

Keep things basic and avoid extremely complex patterns and phrases that result in poor quality. You can also get guidance from your printer regarding the optimal print and ink options. If you are designing shirts in stock, you must first test the settings before moving on to the outcomes.

For your ease, I have mentioned top t-shirt designing programs that assist in giving a final look to your projects.

10- Personalized t-shirts sell the most

The best way to self-design t-shirts is to print your picture or signature over t-shirts of different styles. People highly prefer personalized t-shirts and pay a handsome amount for getting it done right. You can print the first letter or a whole name of your client to their t-shirts that no one can beat and in return, get more profit due to repeated sales.

Conclusion

Whether you want to create t-shirts for a casual, bold style or promotional objectives, follow these ten tips for the best results. This is not a spontaneous procedure, as you may still need to make last-minute tweaks before finishing the design.

In conclusion, choose the shirt material carefully and strive to be unique with varied designs and colors. Use eye-catching fonts, quotations, or characters. Never compromise on quality if you want your brands to survive for a long time. Follow the procedures outlined above, build your masterpiece, and remember to leave us a review.

  1. Observe local interest and popular t-shirts.
  2. Create designs on paper using creativity.
  3. Consider ideas from other niches and select the most popular designs.
  4. Use vector designs for future editing.
  5. Gather materials, and set design composition and size.
  6. Hire printers or do home printing.
  7. Create an online store and start marketing.
  8. Ensure maximum response to demonstrate effectiveness.

It comprises sans serif and script t-shirt typefaces such as Allura, Avenier, Shrikhand, Monserrate, Copper Black, and Helvetica. You can choose based on whether the client prefers a bold or sophisticated typeface to deliver their intended message.

There are various factors to consider such as t-shirt material cost, printing cost, and labor cost. But make sure to search for the latest trends and add versatility and quality to your t-shirts. You can set 2-5$ for shirts featuring more than 1 or 2 colors. Then your customer doesn’t hesitate to pay you.

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