T-shirt is a favourite apparel for people of all ages. Regardless of gender, nobody says no to a comfortable, perfect-fit t-shirt. It's an everlasting demand; hence apparel industry tends to come up with innovative design ideas to present a simple t-shirt in a new way for years. And creating personalized custom t-shirts is a fashion trend these days. If you are also up for it, whether it's for an apparel company or personal attire, I am going to address some of the great tips that will help you create an amazing design.
Casual to polo, all types of t-shirts are popular. However, a polo t-shirt can be worn in any environment. Therefore, here I will discuss some crucial tips to help you design custom polo shirts.
Without any further ado, let's get started.
1. Decide a standard size of the design to print
T-shirts come in different sizes, from small to double XL. As a polo shirt is accepted as corporate attire, size is an important factor. Hence, the design must be coherent with the shirt size. While choosing a design, whether it's a logo, slogan or text, make sure it's not too large or too small.
Here, it would be best if you also thought about the purpose of designing the shirt. If you are creating the polo for brand promotion, then it would be wise to keep it simple and stick to the brand logo. Choose a t-shirt colour that will accentuate the logo and brand name. If you want to add shapes like circles, dots or squares, keep them small-sized. You can learn some pro tips for designing t-shirts if you want.
Remember, less is more. So, while choosing the design size, think about the person wearing it will be the model to promote the brand. Therefore, the shirt design must be in a decent size so that people easily notice and feel the urge to wear it. To understand the design size, you can print the design on A4 paper and place it on a shirt to get some idea.
2. Design placement
The next important thing after the design is where to place it. So, when you decide on a design, think about where you want to put it to make it visible and complement the shirt simultaneously. As it's a polo shirt, the standard place to print the design is on the left chest area, about four inches away from the collar. You can print full front or full black as well. However, refrain from putting the design in the abdomen area.
3. Pay attention to font and typography
If your design includes text, then choosing the right font and typography will make or break the total appearance of the T-shirt. So, while you work on the fonts, pay additional attention to letter, word and line spacing. Moreover, the word and letter arrangement must be coherent and seem put together with the graphical elements.
For instance, for a corporate look on polo, you can choose Montserrat, Special Elite or Oswald. Also, remember not to arrange the letter in all upper cases. If you want to add versatility to the design, you can include different fonts. However, it's best to work with a maximum of three different fonts and in contrast styles altogether. Then, if you want to add an image with text, make sure to create a layout to see how compatible both look together.
4. Picture quality
Always remember the quality of a customized t-shirt print depends a lot on the image quality. Generally, clients submit their design files with low resolution. Low resolution means inadequate pixels, which impacts the image details and overall print quality. Our t-shirt printing guide also can help you ensure printing quality.
So, when you choose a design, the resolution must be 200 dpi or more when opened in full size. The best quality image has a 300 dpi resolution. To get the highest resolution, one way is to scan the image. The other forms, like a copy, downloaded or resaved files, tend to be resized. Another way to get the best quality image print is to use a vector file. These kinds of files are usually PDF files, ESPS, AI, and SVG, which are easy to print in any size, assuring maximum quality.
5. Choose the colour wisely
You will agree with me that colour is the key to any design. Amidst thousands of amazing colours, it's really a difficult challenge to choose the right one. And when it comes to print, the choice of colour also involves cost. It means the more colour your design contains, the costlier it will be. If you want to print solid colours and have a limited budget, t-shirts printing could be your ultimate choice.
However, if you have a good budget and decide to go for DTG, then you can easily print any design in full colour. There is no limitation on the number of colours to use. You can also print images, texts or both. Having said that, for polo shirts, it's highly recommended to go for a maximum of three colours to maintain the corporate appearance.
6. What to use in contrast
Colours work best when paired up with contrast. The combination of dark and light colour or the use of shade create a magical voice to any design. Moreover, it makes the design visible and attractive. Hence, you should also choose contrasting colours wisely. When you choose a light colour polo, you can contrast it with a dark colour design such as black or red on white. The design will be catchy, and everyone will certainly look at it. Nevertheless, if you want to create a subtle look, then you can go for low contrast, for instance, using black on cobalt blue.
7. Use of borders, shapes and edge
Printing a logo or image may look ordinary without borders. It looks effortless and monotonous. Since polo shirts are most suited as formal attire, it's recommended to use borders around the image or text. If you are unsure of which border to choose, simply put a thin line of white or black colour. You will instantly notice the difference. To add versatility, you can add round edges or use shapes. Nevertheless, you can add frames too that will look professional depending on the occasion you are custom designing the polo shirt for.
Final Thought
When it comes to the custom design of a shirt, the options and opinions are limitless. However, custom-designing apparel, especially polo, is a current trend which gives a sheer opportunity for the apparel industry. If you are planning to start your own t-shirt business, then the above-mentioned tips will help you create a great design to sustain in the market.
For any design assistance or printing need, you can contact Print Britannia anytime you want. Our service is available 24X7, and we assure the fastest delivery all over London.
Be the first to comment.