Whether you want to fulfill your entrepreneurial ambition by selling custom printed T-shirts or use the apparel for promoting your business, wholesale T-shirt printing is for you. Even if you want to showcase your creativity by designing unique T-shirts for yourself, you can get it done at wholesale rates, which are most affordable because the wholesale printer does not impose any minimum order quantity. They are ready to print even a single piece of T-shirt for you at the same low price applicable for bigger orders.
How you make the use of T-shirts makes all the difference in its appeals, but the fundamentals of T-shirt design remain the same. Indeed, the design must suit the occasion you want to use the T-shirt unless it is just for casual wear to show off your style and unique sense of fashion.
This article should help you take a systematic approach to design T-shirts to become much easy.
Consider the Need
It is interesting to note that designing T-shirts always has some underlying element of branding. Although this aspect is obvious when designing T-shirts for some promotional purposes, even when you design it as merchandise then also you need to create consistent brand themes that make your products easily identifiable with their creator. You are then actually creating your brand. The concept of themes for T-shirt design applies to T-shirts used for commemorating some events.
On knowing the purpose of using T-shirts, you should write down the list of key styles, themes, and personality traits you want to convey through the designs of your T-shirts. The design themes can be anything from serious to playful, conservative or edgy, and even affordable or luxurious. You must have a focus on the T-shirt design.
Design Goals for T-shirts
When you design T-shirts for other people, you must shed your personal preference and rely on data that point to customer expectations. The better you know your customers, their taste and style, and sense of fashion, the easier it will be to create designs accordingly. Sometimes, your understanding of customers might be so accurate that the designs you create could even surpass their expectations.
Here are some design goals that T-shirt designers need to take care of.
Promotional Gifts –
Printed T-shirts have extensive use in branding and marketing, and many companies print T-shirts with custom designs for brand promotion. The companies that use the T-shirts for business promotion would prefer to create designs with food acceptance among the prospective customers/ clients. Normally, companies distribute such T-shirts free at conventions, conferences, business meetings, or other promotional events.
Internal Use for Companies –
Companies often use printed T-shirts to recognize employees’ contributions or express solidarity. T-shirts can even be useful as company uniforms. Here too, there is a strong need for branding.
Merchandise –
To sell T-shirts as merchandise, you must consider the style and the business strategy, and marketability. Researching the market will help you understand how to position the T-shirts in the market.
Event Souvenirs –
T-shirts for special events have a more casual and less restrictive design as they must match the event’s spirit.
Budget and Quantity
The budget and quantity influence T-shirt design because the quality of the material and the quantity impacts the number of colors that you can use. Additional colors would cost more, and the printing method impacts the cost. Keep these factors in mind when creating designs for T-shirts. Using fewer colors is always cost-effective, and the choice of printing method would depend on the quantity. Some printing methods suit bulk quantities, while some others are good for printing just a few T-shirts.
Think About the Design Concept
Start by choosing the type of T-shirt that your audience would like by considering the manner of use, whether promotional or recreational and the type of organization and business. Use an 18″x18″ canvas to sketch your design ideas and place them physically on the T-shirt to see the effect. Consider how it will look like on larger and smaller sizes of T-shirts.
The brand and the market, as well as the purpose of the T-shirt, drive the style and imagery. By joining the dots, you arrive at the right design for the T-shirts. Choose the fonts of the text in the design to have enough relevance for the brand and uphold the looks, whether it is classic or modern.
Choose the colors of the design by keeping in mind the kind of emotion it generates among the viewers so that it is easy to connect with them. Both the fabric color and the print colors are important for the design. Ensure that the colors complement each other and choose fewer printing colors to avoid complications during printing.
Whether to hire a designer or doing it on your own is a decision that is not at all hard to take.