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10 Elements of a really good t-shirt design
T Shirt Design Tips – Designing a great shirt every time is not hard if you employ some basic concepts. Although these concepts are pretty standard for any type of design work they are particularly important if you want to create an interesting shirt design that will sell. Whenever you to find a great t-shirt design it is very likely at least some of these concepts are utilized in its composition.
Ten T-shirt design concepts you should be utilizing.
- Contrast | Clearly defined elements on the page.
- Depth | Overlapping shapes and images creates a more interesting design.
- Texture | Creates more a visually pleasing experience.
- Movement | Helps direct the viewer through the design.
- Outlines | Defines and cleans up components of a design.
- Negative Space | Creates a more dynamic overall composition.
- Interesting Text | Fonts and text should not be an afterthought.
- Color | The color scheme defines the feeling of the design.
- Details | Help to make a design cohesive.
- Shape and Size | How the design interacts with the garment it is intended for.
Note: I use my own artwork below as examples but these concepts are universal and you can find them in virtually any t shirt design you think is particularly well done. Once you start looking for these design techniques you will see them everywhere.
Shirt Design Tips - Contrast
Concept #1) Contrast
Elements which are distinctly separated from each other will be easier to read from a distance.
For me this is the big one! You can do just about anything you want as long as you have good contrast between the elements in your design. Contrast allows your shirt design to be viewed from a distance and still be readable. Additionally, designs with a lot of contrast tend to be more interesting to look at.
Contrast is everything!
How do you add contrast to your designs? Simple, just make sure that you place light colors next to dark colors and vice versa. Avoid situations where two light colors or two dark colors will be touching unless there is a good reason for it.
T Shirt Design Secrets - Depth
Concept #2) Depth
Depth is as important as contrast for creating a really attractive t-shirt design. Overlapping the elements in your design creates the feeling that they are related to each other.
Layering your elements adds depth.
Creating a relationship between aspects of your design will make the whole concept more cohesive. Ultimately, incorporating depth into your design results in a stronger more developed result.
T Shirt Design Tips - Texture
Concept #3) Texture
Texture and movement kind of go hand in hand. In fact, I like to make extensive use of texture in my designs. In particular, Texture is an easy way to limit the colors and still create a fun and visually engaging final concept.
Add some flavor with texture.
The key to adding texture and having it look like it belongs is to be consistent throughout the entire design. Whenever you are adding strong textural elements, keep the style similar and avoid competing textures in the same design.
T Shirt Design Secrets - Movement
Concept #4) Movement
Creating interest with movement is certainly a great method to help a design more dynamic. Ultimately, movement can direct the viewer’s eye to the most important aspects of the composition.
Use movement to create focal points
Obviously, movement can be created by using texture but there are other ways to develop movement in a design. Pay attention to how your shapes interact with each other. These interactions will cause to viewer’s eyes to move through the design in specific ways. Make sure that you are pulling the viewer towards the most important parts of the design and not away from them.
T Shirt Design Tips - Outlines
Concept #5) Outlines
I am a big fan of outlines but I realize that this is a stylistic choice and not every designer will choose to use them. There are a number of reasons that I use outlines throughout my designs. For starters, outlines automatically create contrast.
Outlines clean up a design.
Additionally, outlines tend to clean up a printed design. Finally, outlines when done correctly make it much easier for my print staff which ultimately saves time and money.
Shirt Design Hints - Negative Space
Concept #6) Negative Space
The vintage tennis design is only 1 color and the fonts are pretty ordinary, but this design works because of the interesting negative space. Likewise the tennis silhouette image is made more interesting by the lack of background on either side of the tennis player.
Let empty spaces create interest.
Not filling up every open space is an art in itself. It is very tempting to make the entire design a recognizable shape such as a circle or a rectangle. Additionally it is human nature to strive for balance. However, very often breaking up these shapes with open space and a little asymmetry results in a much stronger design.
Resist the urge to over design by filling in every open area.
Design Secrets - Interesting Text
Concept #7) Text Treatments
Creating compelling text elements involves more than just picking “fun” fonts. Actually, fairly standard and seemingly boring fonts can make for some really interesting compositions. Come up with some creative ways to emphasize your text by adding details or texture.
Spice up your text.
Bringing the style of the design into your font elements will get them more involved in the overall architecture of the image.
Shirt Design Tips - Color
Concept #8) Color Palette
The softer and warmer colors in these two designs offer a more feminine feel associated with women’s events. Contrast these designs with some other examples shown in this article that have a more masculine color scheme.
Color choices are very personal to an individual artists style. Whats more much of the time the customer will dictate which colors need to be used in the project. However, this doesn’t mean that the designer can’t exercise quite a bit of influence on how the final color scheme will behave.
Color sets the tone of the design.
Remember colors with create a feeling in the design. Make sure that feeling matches the target audience.
Be sure to consider how all the colors (including the shirt color) will interact with each other and utilize the aspects of each color accordingly. This is particularly important when you are intending to use blends and halftones.
Design Secrets - Details
Concept #9) Details
Notice how simply adding some snowflakes and a bit of texture behind Santa Claus finished the design and pulled the entire image together.
I tend to think the difference between a good design and a really great one is about 2% (But probably not as much as 5-10%). It is that small amount of extra effort that will completely transform an otherwise fairly ordinary composition. Really good t shirt designs usually have that extra little something that sets them apart.
Finish your design with details.
Next time you create a design and you think it’s finished look for that extra 2% that will push the finished product to completion.
Be careful not to over-do it. Adding too much extra detail can make a design a mess. Learning when to stop is a skill in itself and like any discipline it takes practice.
Shirt Design Hints - Shape and Size
Concept #10) Shape and Size
Shape and location will determine size in many cases. Some layouts will need to be enlarged or shrunk to make them look appropriate for that particular location on the garment.
Shape in this context is the overall composition of the design. Very often this is determined by the location of the print. For example a wide thin design might work very well on the front of a hoody but might appear as sparse on the back of a t-shirt. Similarly a large vertical rectangle might be cumbersome on the front of a t-shirt whereas it might look completely appropriate on the back of the shirt.
Overall shape and size of the composition should be a consideration from the very beginning.
An easy way to see if the shape of your design works is by mocking it up on an actual garment image early in the design process. It’s better to figure out you are moving in the wrong direction early as opposed to spending hours on a beautiful design that turns out to be completely inappropriate.
T Shirt Design Tips
Secrets and tips that can help you design stronger better selling t-shirts. Check out my new series of articles on designing better t-shirts.
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