If you're going for a humorous T-shirt design, you want to make sure it doesn't come across as a cheap, low-cost joke shirt. The most successful T-shirts to use humour do so in a subtle, clever way – even in the case of the loudest and most in-your-face designs.
A lot of humorous tees grow tired quickly, but done correctly and with an original idea, humour can turn heads and raise a smile. Brad McGinty(opens in new tab) tends to strike a good balance in his designs.
T-shirt design: close up of a skeleton on a T-shirt
Try choosing complementary colours in your design
Use the T-shirt colour effectively and try choosing complementary colours. If you're using Adobe Illustrator, turn on Global Colours. This can be an absolute lifesaver and will save you so much time. (You can get Adobe Creative Cloud here(opens in new tab).)
You can also use Halftones to make the most of the restricted colours you're allowed to use.
Use Pantone Colours(opens in new tab) for screen-printing – your printer will love you for it. They'll also love you if you outline any text and expand any strokes you may have. There are plenty of good tutorials out there, both for Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop to take the time to get familiar with the process and you're print will be happy working with you.
T-shirt design: T-shirt being printed
It's important to learn about what type of T-shirt you want to print on
You can have your design finished and properly artworked, but your tee will only ever be as good as your printer. Try a reputable company like White Duck(opens in new tab) in the UK or Hey Monkey(opens in new tab) in the US. You could also give your local screenprinter a call. But it's important to take time to learn about the type of tee you want to print on.
The weight, sizes, labelling options, cost and so on all affect the end product that you'll produce. This takes a while to learn about, and it will require speaking to various companies, but one stick with one rule: deal with a company that wants to treat your tee as an end retail product and will handle your work with care. Screenprinting is an art.
T-shirt design: a book called 'Vintage T-shirts'
To have a good understanding of anything, you need to study and understand its context
To have a good understanding of anything, you need to study it and understand its context. Tees have emerged from every subculture phenomenon that has ever existed, whether it's music, skateboarding, street art, sport or general pop culture.
Do some reading, find out about T-shirt history and learn to appreciate it. Even designs that you don't like yourself can provide inspiration and insight into what people like to wear. One good book for reference is Vintage T-shirts(opens in new tab) by Lisa Kidner.
10. Stay ahead of the game
It's fine to take inspiration from the latest trends, but to keep one step ahead you want to avoid copying them. Chances are that by the time any given T-shirt's been produced, its designers are already moving onto something else. Keep abreast of what's happening in fashion and elsewhere in pop culture, but try to forge your own path.
Do you have a great design in mind, but only a vague idea of where it’d look best on a t-shirt?
If that’s the case, then you’ve come to the right place.
Artisticimage.netIn this guide, you’ll learn about 7 different t-shirt design placements in detail. You’ll also find out which placements work best for logos, artwork, and text-based designs.
By the end, you’ll be able to pick the best t-shirt placements for your designs!
The front of a shirt is a classic—one of the most popular design placements you’ll see out there.
Why? Wearing a custom-designed t-shirt with the artwork front and center is an excellent way to show off beloved art or rep a band, team, or favorite brand.
T-shirts with front placements are great when paired with outerwear that shows off the design. Think layering pieces like a zip-up hoodie that can be left open or tied around your waist to let your tee speak for itself.
Want to get even more specific? Enter: the center chest design placement—it’s one of the most commonly used spots for blank t-shirts. And it’s no secret why: this placement is in a highly visible location that grabs attention right away.
For embroidery, the centered placement size is 4” × 4”.
For embroidery, the centered placement size is 4” × 4”.
The center embroidery placement is best for smaller embroidery designs, like logos, text, quotes, or small artwork.
If you want to embroider a bigger design on the front of the shirt, use the large center placement. Take advantage of the extra space to add more details (but don’t forget that it has less surface area than the DTG front placement).
Pro tip: Check your product’s File guidelines tab to see the maximum placement size for your chosen front design placement.
Left chest design placement
The left chest design placement is an all around win: classic yet versatile, understated yet dressed up—and it’s been popular for decades. This placement doesn’t offer a lot of room for detailed art but works great for logos, symbols, smaller designs, and text.
Using the left chest placement for your logo or branding helps give a regular t-shirt a more polished look.
The minimalist layout also makes this placement easier for shoppers to pair your t-shirt with other clothing. After all, offering t-shirt designs that you can wear with anything increases the chances customers will choose your t-shirts over other brands.
At Printful, the standard size of an embroidered left chest placement is around 4” x 4”. The smaller size and left chest location also make this spot a good choice for work uniforms or branded clothing.
Pro tip: We use different embroidery stitches for different shapes or text thicknesses. Learn more about embroidery at Printful and check out what works best for your design.