A research shows that t-shirt printing is expected to continue to rise in the future. What does this mean, exactly? Putting the economic aspect aside, this means that consumers will continuously wear t-shirts time after time and possibly forever! There would be an ever-increasing demand for custom t-shirts printing simply because people cannot have enough t-shirts in their wardrobe. We totally understand. After all, t-shirt is the most flexible and versatile piece of clothes there could ever be!
When it comes to team or group clothing, t-shirts remain the number one most requested items. It is among the first options one would think of to get for the members. Thus, if you are thinking of printing uniform t-shirts for the people you work or study with, we’ll gladly let you know that that is indeed a great idea!
Printing t-shirts is one thing, but designing it is another story. You may know how to pick the right material and which printing method to pair it with for the best outcome, but designing them can be a little bit trickier. More than practicality, t-shirts make a great fashionable clothing items. How to make sure yours is as best as can be when it comes to the design? For the most current styles, we’ve got you covered! Read up below!
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Dropped Shoulder Sleeves
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Lone Tiny Image
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Pocket-interactive Design
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‘beginner’ Hand-drawn Artwork
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Single-coloured Design
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One Phrase Or One Sentence
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Font Pairing
DROPPED SHOULDER SLEEVES
If you think set-in sleeves and raglan sleeves are your only options, think again! There is, in fact, one other type of sleeves that when styled correctly, can look incredibly attractive on a t-shirt. One particular sleeve trend that is gradually rising is the oversized, dropped shoulder type. As we have witnessed on every visuals-driven or fashion-based platforms everywhere, baggy looks are taking over. Baggy is back and this time it seems like it’s going to stay for a long time. Despite how it looks and sounds, it never fails to be the highlight of one’s whole look. And no, you do not necessarily have to opt for a bigger size to achieve this look. Many deem this to be unflattering because it hides the body underneath, but that could not be farther from reality. As a matter of fact, the loose-fitting cut is exactly what makes this particular design looks attractive.
Often paired with fitted, slim-fit, and tapered pants, this type of t-shirt is widely styled both by untucking or tucking it in. Unfortunately, squeezing the excess fabric of the t-shirt into unforgivingly tight pants can be as physically-draining of an activity as an extreme sport. For that very reason, opting for a bigger sized t-shirt is simply not the commonly-preferred way to go about it. Due to the rise of this trend, many clothing brands have taken the initiative to purposely create t-shirts with dropped shoulder sleeves that can fit different sizes perfectly. All in all, this type of t-shirt gives off real carefree and hip vibes, so if that’s what you’re going for, get that dropped shoulder sleeves!
LONE TINY IMAGE
One that says a lot without saying too much – that’s the kind of design you would want to go for. Nowadays, it is very common to see a plain t-shirt with a small illustration somewhere on the chest area. If your t-shirt is going to have a pocket, that is all the more reason to bring your design several notches down. You can have your design in the form of a single object and have it sketched to look like it is interacting with the pocket – think of it like the design is breaking the fourth wall. Placing a single image or design at only one area will drive all the attention to it so be careful to not make it too ‘crowded’ to be looked at.
This brings us to the next point;
POCKET-INTERACTIVE DESIGN
Design your t-shirt to be more interactive by giving your pocket a character! Literally, a character. If you don’t already have one, create a character that is unique to your brand image. Make the character interact with the pocket as if it is an actual hole the character can rest in or hop into. If getting an actual pocket goes over your budget, you may have the design of a pocket (plus the character) printed instead. It looks equally adorable and no one could tell it’s a fake pocket!
‘BEGINNER’ HAND-DRAWN ARTWORK
If you are making a t-shirt for a class or team that is not meant to be worn in formal settings, and your team has a fun voice that is casual and fun, go for a quirky sketch. This type of design appears like a hand drawing or simple sketch transferred onto a cloth. Imagine one of the characters from the Diary of A Wimpy Kid novel printed on a t-shirt. How cool would that look? You don’t even need other elements in your design as that simplistic sketch is more than enough to make it attractive! You may think it will look like an amateur’s work, but that is kind of the whole point of it. People react positively to such images because it is humane and does not give off corporate or formal feels. Hence, even if no one in your group is artistic, trust us when we say you still can come up with something that is good enough to be put on a t-shirt.
SINGLE-COLOURED DESIGN
Related to the previous point, if you do end up going with a hand-drawn design, you may want to use only one colour for it. Sure, when it comes to design, the sky’s the limit. You still have your creative freedom. This rule should in no way restrict what you can do with the design. However, it is very common for such designs to be in thinner shape than most so opting for too many colours may drown the actual design. In such cases, filling them with only one bright colour would highlight your design. Choosing only one colour for the design also makes it easier to match with the background colour. Plus, lesser colours mean lesser cost!
If your design is big and covers a huge surface of your t-shirt, you may use more colours without having to worry about one of them overpowering the rest. Pick colours that work harmoniously together and it will look as pleasing to the eyes as the single-coloured design does.
ONE PHRASE OR ONE SENTENCE
For a while, the trend has been to stick to single words or less than three words phrases. However, now, we are bringing back what used to be old-fashioned. A full sentence or longer phrase can look attractive, if done properly. Emphasis on that last part because poorly designed shirts with a sentence can still look bad. After all, that is the nature of fashion. Everything will eventually make a comeback. You can pick several words or one sentence, but the key is to make sure that it is readable by passers-by.
Going for a full sentence is not a complete no-no, but if not paired with a balanced design properly it can be easily ruined. Too many words can prevent getting more attention because no one wants to spend a long time reading a whole essay written on your chest. If you want to include, say, a quote with an above-average length, stick with thin fonts. Avoid cursive and emboldened fonts.
FONT PAIRING
There is no right or wrong with this one, but it can make or break the harmony of the design on your t-shirt. Not sure whether to choose the heavy, emboldened font or one that is slimmer? Guess what? You can have it all! You can pair bold, heavier font with lighter one when you are including a sentence. Use a sentence that can be divided into several phrases so you could separate them by lines. For instance, using the sentence ‘Prepare for The Best’, you can make it into three lines placed on top of each other. The first line being ‘Prepare’, the second ‘for’, and the most bottom line being ‘The Best’. This way, you can play around with the font styles and sizes. Increase the sizes for ‘Prepare’ and ‘The Best’ and keep words like helping verbs, prepositions, and conjunctions at smaller sizes. If the text is your only design on the whole t-shirt, you may enlarge the text and make it bold, cursive, in bright colours – anything to make it worth being on its own.
The best thing about designing t-shirts is that you can be as carefree as you want. It is, after all, the most fun tops compared to others like corporate shirts and sweaters. To get a free professional printing consultation for customise t-shirt printing singapore services, you may talk to us at Custom Prints!
