Running a successful t-shirt business is an industry that completely depends on your ability to make a great design. Sure, some may argue that the marketing is the key to everything but seeing as how visual marketing trends play the key role in this field, making a quality design can make your job so much easier. In other words, no matter which way you decide to look at things, the design of the t-shirt is always a predominant factor in your ability to sell it. With that in mind, here are five epic ways to create an outstanding t-shirt design.
Pop Culture References
This may seem like a slippery slope, seeing as how some people are naturally afraid of the idea of slipping into the plagiarism or infringing on someone else’s intellectual property. Keep in mind, however, that by drawing these designs yourself may help you avoid this problem altogether. Nonetheless, this is something that you need to invest a fair amount of effort in. Still, there are some pointers you can adhere to.
The first thing you should do is explore different ways to achieve the same thing. Just think about it, the field is narrowing down when it comes to symbols, which means that more and more brands are forced to use the same shape, the same animal and even similar initials in their logo. For instance, both Porsche and Ferrari are using a stallion in their logo and even have a similar color scheme (yellow/gold and red). In order for this not to become a massive issue in the trademark battlefield, these laws are not nearly as strict as you may have assumed. Therefore, referencing might be simpler than you have assumed.
Humor Always Sells
Ingenuity in the field of humor is one of the simplest ways to boost the sales of your t-shirts through the roof. The best thing about t-shirt design, in this regard, lies in the fact that it’s the field that allows you to fully explore your creativity. A lot of people prefer to stay on the safe side, nonetheless, being offensive or, better yet, borderline offensive can cause your t-shirts to skyrocket in their popularity. Going for deliberately mispronounced pop-culture references like movie quotes (e.g. “You had me at tacos”) can be immensely helpful.
Try to Visualize It on A Shirt
The next thing you need to understand is the fact that a logo looks good on paper, or on a screen, doesn’t mean that it’ll be equally as good on a t-shirt. This is why you need to visualize it. Instead of text-printing, you could try to ask for some professional assistance in a form of an opinion. Experts behind specialized printing company like AllStar Graphics are willing to provide assistance and offer their thought on the subject matter. This is particularly useful for those interested in e-commerce t-shirt printing, seeing as how it helps them avoid the need to go to independent printing businesses that they won’t use afterward.
Follow All the Latest Trends
Another thing you need to understand is that while trends in the design itself may seem somewhat timeless and impossible to track, the same doesn’t go for design trends themselves. Namely, Adobe Illustrator or Photoshop will probably be your tools of choice, nonetheless, these tools are incredibly rich and are constantly getting upgraded with each new version offering several additional features.
This means that your job of learning all there is to learn about these design tools is never done. Fortunately, there are so many tutorials and guides out there, for each new version. Therefore, try to be on the lookout for new learning resources in order to provide your t-shirt designing efforts with an additional edge. Apart from this, you should also be on the lookout for various designs online in order to get new ideas.
Learn How to Work on A Budget and A Deadline
At the very end, you need to learn how to design a t-shirt on a budget and even do so on a tight deadline. Of course, some may say that in this business, it’s you who gets to decide the urgency, however, sometimes, you’ll have to respond to an event that you’ve just learned of. Naturally, seeing as how you didn’t have enough time to prepare, your budget won’t be as formidable.
For those who are skilled enough in this field, this is something that can be done in under an hour. You can start from a simple color, and look for resources like objects and splatters in some of the online databases. This will help you avoid the necessity to do it all from scratch, which, although it gives better results, takes much longer to execute.
Lastly, there are some t-shirt design trends that are wildly popular, yet, it seems as if we failed to mention them. Nonetheless, the so-called retro or vintage design is often under the category of pop-culture reference and can often be achieved by making a small alteration to your old design. A tad paler and more natural palette can create this impression on its own. In other words, by just following the above-listed five items, you stand a much better chance in this industry. Naturally, if you want to learn more, there’s no power in the universe that can stop you.
Nick is a blogger and a marketing expert currently engaged on projects for Media Gurus, an Australian business, and marketing resource. He is an aspiring street artist and does Audio/Video editing as a hobby.
