How Not to Design a T-Shirt: Five Common Problems You May Run Into With Your Custom T-Shirt Design

row of t-shirts on hangers

We recently spoke about how to design your t-shirt. And maybe you followed our advice to the letter. But the design is still not what you were expecting. What went wrong?

Like most design products, creating a custom t-shirt design can be an art form. So if it’s your first time designing a shirt for your business or fundraiser, here’s a few things you should avoid before sending us your design.

Proof Your Work!

You got a great design and you’re ready to hit that send button. But before you do, take a moment to look over your work or ask someone to proofread. Remember, our shirts are permanent and the last thing you want is hundreds of shirts with your business name misspelled!

Our designers will provide you with a mockup of your shirt prior to production so you get a chance to see how the shirt will look once printed. Pay very close attention to this mockup. Not only do you want to check the design, but double check your spelling and grammar. Again, it’s always good to have someone else look at the mockup too — a fresh set of eyes can usually see something missing!

Choosing the Wrong Font

Hey, that font might look good on paper, but that doesn’t necessarily translate well to your shirt! Think of how your font choice will translate to the viewer. Is full of bold, all caps letters that screams your message? Or does it have a script, frilly font that is hard to read?

You may want to make the font memorable and attractive — but in reality, a plain, sans serif font works perfectly. If you want to use more than one font, that’s great! But try not to do more more than three — it looks weird.

It’s the Wrong Size

We know, it can be difficult to figure out how big or small the design is going to look when staring at a computer monitor. But it can be very easy to have your design dominate your shirt or not even show up. Especially if your logo is a circular or square image; these logos tend to look better when they’re shrunk down. So resist the urge to size up!

Also consider the shirt you’re using. For example, youth and ladies shirts tend to run small, so it may be easier to use a reduced print size on these shirts as compared to a men or unisex shirt.

Placement Matters

When designing your shirt, you may think that putting the design square in the middle of the shirt is the best option. But when you finally get the shirt, you’ll soon realize that design is on your stomach and not on the chest.

When working with our designers, we can recommend the best placement of your design so it looks right every time!

Poor Resolution Images are Poor

And finally, the most important piece of advice we can give is make sure your design or image is high quality. The lower resolution the image is, the more likely it will come out blurry, pixelated, or rough around the edges. So make sure the resolution is at 300 DPI.

You also want to make sure you’re using the right file type for your image. Your best choice is a vector format. A vector file will allow us to stretch the graphic across your tee without losing any of the quality. Some file formats that fit this bill include:

  • .EPS (Vector file)
  • .AI (Adobe Illustrator)
  • .PDF (Portable Document Format)
  • .PSD (Photoshop Document)

TShirts in 24 Can Make Your Custom T-Shirt Design Shine

If you’re thinking of creating a t-shirt for either your business, your fundraiser, or for your family, we’re here to help! With quick turnaround times, high quality products, and no minimums, we’re your go-to direct to garment printing partner. Contact us today to get the ball rolling.