Everyone likes a good design T-shirt. I’ve spent 15 years in this business. That’s why I know what makes a good design? And how makes a good T-shirt that people want to wear again and again? Some of the best designs are simple. But to achieve that perfection, even the simplest designs need to do many things correctly and avoid the most common mistakes. This article will show you some of the 9 most common mistakes to avoid when designing a custom t-shirt!
1. Low-quality fabric
Quality matters no matter what reason or occasion you design the t-shirt. Would you wear a t-shirt that itches and feels uncomfortable? Ask yourself this question. The fact is, everybody knows the distinction between t-shirts of high quality and cheap quality. Plus, the industry is full of inexpensive, high-quality fabrics, leaving you without any reason to choose shoddy stuff.
2. Contrast
With Shirt, we see this error made all too much when many people get their bearings in the beautiful new world of fashion. This error, however, can be made even by experienced designers. Either way, it usually ends in tears when it comes to unboxing your awesome new concept. Avoid using dark colors on dark clothes. It’s still going to be hard to decipher the navy blue text on a brown shirt. On your costly IPS display, even if it does look fine.
3. Placement
Print placement is often conflated with the position, but it is just the precise measurement of where the template inside the location can be printed.
Your concept could be so good that it turns heads, but get the positioning wrong and, for the wrong reason, heads will turn. A prevalent mistake is the belly print, which is never flattering. In an upcoming column, I will be discussing this unfortunate placement in detail.
4. Quality of Image
Another common mistake that we see people make. When you take a tiny picture on a phone screen that looks okay and blows it up on a 5XL hoody, it’s more than ten times larger. Small images can look pixelized. Instead of leaving unsightly chunky pixels, Shirt makes up for this slightly by blurring the images for you, but it can only do so much. Photos from your phone or free stock photo sites do not have this problem, but please verify that they are at least 4mp (4000×4000) or greater if you have downloaded photos from Google search results.
5. Complex design
If you try to include in your design too many graphics, text truckloads, and numerous colors, your custom t-shirt would be the perfect example of ‘stuff has gone wrong!. Include in your design only relevant information; keep the graphics simple and carefully select colors. The idea should be to easily get the point across, without people having to rack their brains for what they have just seen.
6. Sizing
In life, there can be things where size does not matter. It matters a lot when it comes to t-shirt design. And still, most individuals prefer most of the time to go with regular sizing.
Here’s the thing: depending on the essence of the design, and the properties of the garment to be printed, size should be determined. Some thought should be put into it.
It can look much bigger than it should, depending upon the form of your design. For instance, when they are smaller than normal, square or circular shapes appear to look better, as in the image above with two Justin’s.
7. Poor Fonts
Did you know the fonts even have their characteristics? Many fonts are ‘professional’ and others are ‘informal! ‘The choice of fonts will depend on the purpose of the t-shirt.
Serif fonts perform well, for example, if it’s for a business case, but you can also have some fun with the font option for fun events. It’s not only about the font, though, but also the way it’s used, like the spacing of letters and lines. Sticking to three fonts and not more than that is a common rule of printing.
8. Composing
The composition is something from your high school art class that you can recall. In any design, some elements are arranged in relation to each other, and what forms the overall composition is this relationship. Oftentimes, a matter of opinion can be what makes for a well-designed composition. But there are basic composition principles that can significantly improve a design when followed. If you want to learn to enhance your composition game, there are plenty of resources online.
9. Outdated Styles
To be a success with the target audience, you want your custom t-shirts. So, to them, the style needs to appeal. Nobody wants to sport obsolete styles! Make sure that what’s trending is in tune with you. Not just the form of a trendy t-shirt, but the fonts, style, and colors as well! This helps you to come up with a custom t-shirt that will have the effect you need.
