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.
In 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.
https://carabushirts.com/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”.
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.
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.
To make sure you get your left chest placement design right on the first try, stick to the tips we’ve listed below.
Make sure detail thickness is at least 0.05” (4pt)
You can also use the center chest placement to show off your carefully-crafted text designs.
Pro tip: Take your branding to the next level by adding your logo on an outside label for a more professional look.
A full front placement means even more space for your art. Since the pattern or design takes up a large part of the front of the t-shirt, it’s awesome for bold looks and max visibility.
Plus, since t-shirts lay flat against the back, your design is more likely to look the same as your mockup. There are fewer chances your design will crease.
For direct-to-garment printing, the maximum placement size is 10” × 12” to 12” × 16” depending on the product. You can’t exceed the size limit or your design will get cut off. If you want to design something larger, consider a seam-to-seam placement!
Create and sell custom products online
Sleeve placements are a relatively newer (yet equally exciting!) design choice that’s been growing in popularity over the past few years.
Not every print-on-demand provider allows you to design on the sleeve, but it’s an attention-grabbing spot that’ll help your designs stand out. It’s a cool option to use with other design placements or on its own for a more minimalist style.
For example, combining a front center chest design with a related sleeve design placement helps make your product look put together and professional.
You can also use this spot to drop your branding symbols or logo.
Something to think about, though, is that sleeves don’t usually have a lot of room for design flexibility. At Printful, the standard max sleeve placement size is usually 4” × 3.5”, but some all-over print products have a maximum size of around 20” × 12”.
Since sleeve sizes vary greatly depending on the t-shirt size and the manufacturer, before you start designing, make sure to figure out:
If your desired product offers a sleeve design placement
At Printful, we also offer all-over print (AOP) products that allow you to design the entire front, back, and sleeves of a t-shirt. AOP gives you absolute control over your entire design, allowing you to create a distinctive product with interesting patterns.
A seam-to-seam design placement works best with AOP sublimation because the ink soaks into the fabric’s fibers. That means the material stays breathable and soft to the touch, even after printing.
Why does it matter? Breathable fabric and designs keep your shoppers comfortable while wearing your clothing.
Since there’s no standard limit to the max placement size, the world tee is your oyster. Your main design won’t get cut off as long as it fits in the safe area of the Design Maker.
To avoid cut-offs for design placements outside of the safe area, don’t let your design:
Finally, plan time to test your design on each size you offer. You’ll be able to ensure your final looks are correct and will rest easy once you launch your products!
Pro tip: Use AOP to make a really big full front design by leaving the back and sleeves blank. Prefer a seam-to-seam back placement? You can do that too.
Need ideas for AOP designs? Check out this handy video.
Inside labels leave a lasting impression on shoppers, helping you to build brand loyalty.
Artisticimage.netLabels also help you grow long-term brand recognition by making your products stand out from competitors.
After all, it’s hard to forget where a product came from if the brand name is right on the collar!
To find out if your desired product’s page listing on the Printful site offers an inside label, follow these steps:
Go to the product page on the Printful website
Scroll down to Customization options
If the product shows the tag, you can add a custom inside label with your brand logo.
We can’t offer inside labels on every product in our catalog because the original manufacturer’s tag has to be removable.
We can’t offer inside labels on every product in our catalog because the original manufacturer’s tag has to be removable.
printful inside label customization option
Almost all products at Printful have a max inside label placement size of 3” × 3”.
Other products may have max placement sizes of 2” × 2” or 2.5” × 2.5”, but you should check the information in your product’s File guidelines tab before designing.
Just keep in mind that your max logo placement size is 3” × 1.13” on the inside label. Check out the image below to get the gist of how your logo would look.
printful inside label template
Great! Now you know the basics of inside label placement and where your logo fits. So let’s talk templates.
You can pick one of Printful’s premade inside label templates in the Design Maker and drop your logo design file in the editor.
Select Inside label from the options on the top bar above the editor
The editor will show you various inside label template options on the left side of your screen. Click on one you like and upload your brand logo on the part in the template that says ‘Drop your design here.’
