Have you ever seen a photo of someone wearing a simple-looking t-shirt online or elsewhere and you thought to yourself, ‘Man, I wish I have that shirt!’. You do? So do millions of other people! In fact, other people may also think the same way towards the exact same outfit you thought was cool. When we go out, not everyone’s outfit looks good. BUT, there is one or two pieces that you spot that instantly catch your attention. Trust me, you’re not the only one whose eyes linger on that exact garment.
So of course, the only question is ‘how to make yours that intriguing?’ There is always a way! Of course, it has to start with a brainstorming process. Even brainstorming – you do not have to do alone. We will do it together in this very article! Without putting it off any further, let’s dive right into it!
- Purpose
- Message
- Key
- Colours
- Basics
- Cost
- Distribution
Purpose
The purpose of the t-shirt can affect many things from the material to the design. What is the t-shirt for? Is it ever going to be used for communal activities? If you are getting one for your colleagues, consider where you work. Is it places like restaurants or cafes?
If you are making it so they can wear for an event you organise or join, it can be more ‘commercial-looking’. The same can be applied to it too if you are giving them away to a team of representatives who will wear them at events. However, if the shirts are meant to be worn at any time and anywhere, you can tone down the ‘branding’ and ‘marketing’ aspects/elements of them. We’ll touch more on this in the next point.
Message
What is your main message going to be about? No one prints just for the fun of it (well, someone probably does, but we doubt it is you). Nonetheless, there has to be a message that you are trying to get across through this piece of clothing. If you haven’t discovered it, find out what your message is.
Even an almost plain t-shirt can be making a strong fashion statement. How? Perhaps through the cutting. Some shirts have a certain cutting or element to it that says it is up-to-date, trendy, and edgy – and those same shirts can have almost no design printed at all. As you may have seen somewhere before, for some t-shirts, the message can be pretty clear – they are trying to sell certain products or services.
For instance, a masseuse’s t-shirt possibly has a huge ‘Massage Therapy for Everyone’ on its front. Who knows, perhaps it works as a marketing strategy – who’s to say, really. However, would that masseuse wear it elsewhere when they are not on duty or at work? Most possibly not.
That is why a work-oriented design does not have to be that straightforward. You can be more subtle in branding and marketing. Even if you are printing a t-shirt for the people in your company or organisation, you can make the message more humane. Your company may have a slogan and motto that you work by. Use that instead of advertising the kinds of products or services you sell.
In the end, your audience will respond more positively if your message carries a ‘human’s voice’ rather than a corporate one.
Key
This is closely related to the previous point, but still deserves its own paragraph. What is going to be the key point of your t-shirt? If it is the design, which part of it? Is it the combination of colours? Overall, good t-shirt design is one that catches the idea of the intended target so much that they would actually want to wear it often.
Of course, the best idea is to use the design as its key element. The design probably matters the most to most wearers, except for those who particularly look for certain cutting or plain-coloured tees. Nevertheless, pick one thing to be the key to your design and you will be surprised by how much people can be attracted to it.
Colours
Colour is the king of any t-shirt design. Colours play a role not only to bring out the design but also the printing method and the cost. The toughest printing method, of course, embroidery, can only be applied if your design has lesser colours and little to no gradient tones.
If you still want to have more colours with tones or gradient, keep in mind that the cost will increase regardless of which printing mode you are going for. But what colours should you go for? Can’t it just be the same colours as the ones in your logo? Sure it can! But if your logo is made up of only two colours, you are free to use more of other colours.
Basics
This should go without saying, but we’ll still say it because it is crucial. Learn a bit about apparel printing – just a thing or two of the basics. On the off chance that you will liaise with a printing consultant who cannot make it clear to you, at least you already have a bit of knowledge as to what is going to happen. This hinders any unwanted outcome.
You may also be saving cost since you already know the kind of material that will suit your uses. No need to pay more when you already know more than they thought.
Cost
The math is simple. The more you buy, the less it would cost per piece. This applies to pretty much everything that can be bought in bulk – your t-shirts included. Even if you would like to have your t-shirts personalised or customised, this calculation still applies.
Therefore, always consult the printing team you are dealing with regarding this matter to find out more. The prices can always go lower as long as you are ordering a lot.
Distribution
This is possibly one of the first things you have to consider before even contacting any printing services. How will you give the t-shirt to the wearers? At work? At an event? No matter how it is going to go, make sure to set a timeline so the printing process will not end too close to the deadline or the date of your event. Or are you posting it out to receiver’s place?
Regardless of how each tee will meet its wearer, it is always better to have them all delivered to your place. This will save a lot of costs. Plus, you can inspect the t-shirts one by one to identify any sewing malfunction. If there is any, at least it won’t reach the hands of the future owner and you could perhaps get a refund!
What does not matter?
Not so much does not matter as matters less, so you should still take all of these into account. The cost normally has nothing to do with the base colour of your t-shirt. Size is one of them. Not that it does not matter at all, but rather it matters less. Most printing services would leave the sizes for the last part of the discussion as well.
As a general rule of thumb, put yourself in the wearer’s shoes. Ask yourself ‘would I be intrigued to wear this?’. Of course, if you are a man in his 40s trying to understand the interest of 13-year-old girls, ‘putting yourself in their shoes’ can be a tad bit challenging. You could have the people that are categorised as your intended audience fill you in with what’s in. You can present your ideas to them as well and see if the spark any interest in them.
Want to spare yourself the hassle and headaches accompanying the process of getting your apparels printed? Let us at Custom Prints & Apparels help you with our top-quality custom t shirt printing singapore services! You can learn a ton from our free-of-charge professional printing consultation. Plus, you will get personalised design mockups created by our creative team members!
