4 biggest mistakes people make when designing a custom t-shirt
As a professional screen printing business we get artwork from our clients in all types of formats. Everything from a professional vector file from a companies graphics department to a senior prom tank top designed on a napkin. When it comes to artwork as professional custom t-shirt printers we can pretty much make anything work. Believe it or not artwork is not the biggest mistake people make when designing their t-shirts. Yes, having viable camera ready artwork makes the process much smoother and the design print so much cleaner. However there are other mistakes aside from artwork.
Mistake #1
Using too many colors in the design. The more colors equals a higher cost. With smaller quantity shirt orders the less colors the better. Having a 5 color design on a 12 shirt order is always going to be cost prohibitive. The rule of thumb in screen printing is you want the screen charge to make up around $1 of the overall shirt cost. Screen charges, whether they are built into the final price of the shirt or a separate line item generally run around $20-$25 per screen. The shirt quantity and the number of colors in the design need to sync to get the most cost effective shirt possible.
Mistake #2
Choosing the wrong fabric. The 5oz preshrunk cotton t-shirt will always have it’s place. It is by far the most popular shirt on the planet and it’s the most budget friendly shirt. If you are investing in your brand then you want to look at different materials such as cotton poly blends or triblends. Softness is the key to getting somebody to wear your shirt. If you want your shirt to be a walking billboard for your brand, you have to invest in soft shirts people will actually wear. As a side note we recently printed 7,500 triblend t-shirts for a Univeristy. Triblends are among the most expensive t-shirts. However they are also the softest t-shirts on the market. This particular University understood the importance that if they are going to promote their University, they were going to need to invest in softness that people will wear. This particular University also was just giving these shirts away for FREE!. Talk about a big investsment. But there is a great chance there are 7,500 people are wearing that shirt out in public. It’s probably the softest shirt they own and people love soft.
Mistake #3
Poor placement & size of the design. If you logo is going to have 3mm tall text, then don’t have it printed on a left chest because nobody can read it. Designs that are busy or have a lot of small text are best served as a full front image being printed anywhere from 10-12 inches wide. Left chest prints are popular but they have to justify the size of the contents of the logo. T-shirt designs as a rule are best viewed from 3-5 feet away. If the text in your design is too small to read from that distance, you have to rethink your logo placement and size. Don’t invest in t-shirts and have a design people can’t read.
Mistake #4
Choosing the wrong shirt color to go with your print colors. From time to time we get someone who wants us to print black ink on a purple t-shirt. Sure it might look like there is contrast on a computer screen when they design it online. In reality when you’re talking ink and cotton and absorption, blank ink will not show up on purple colored shirts. The easiest rule of thumb is design dark shirts with light colors and light shirts with dark colors. You want the design to pop off that shirt, not be buried in color. Unless we are talking about a specific design that is meant to be tone on tone, design your shirts with the concept of the design popping off the t-shirt.
When it comes to marketing and brand recognition nothing beats the marketing and exposure of a custom t-shirt. No other products give you a bigger bang for your buck when it comes to exposure and creating a brand. Not every brand in the world has can holders make or keychains or hats made. But they all have t-shirts made because of cost positive dollar expsosure. If you are going to invest in custom t-shirts you want to do it correctly.
For a free quote on your next custom t-shirt order contact us online Online Quote Form