When you decide to design a promotional T-shirt to give to loyal customers, associates and friends, in order to further promote your brand, you probably don't want their answer to be: "Great, thank you, I really needed one for football with my friends!" . So you will have to take design more seriously than simply thinking about where to print logo. We offer a couple of tips that you could consider when creating this type of promotional material.

Promotional material should definitely take its place in yours book of graphic standards, because it will further improve the recognition of your brand in the market. That is why it is very important that this marketing tool has a use value for the people to whom you give it, that is, that they often use it in everyday activities and thus additionally advertise you.

So, what at first glance should look like a gift, or a sign of attention, should actually be useful for associates and friends, but also for marketing your company. As the originality in the choice of the promotional material itself runs out, the unique and interesting design will motivate someone to write with a pencil with your logo or to hang a calendar that you gave them as a gift.

Advertising T-shirt design

So we go back to the beginning of the text. In addition to office supplies, probably one of the most effective gifts can be a T-shirt or some other piece of clothing.

If we start from the assumption that your brand is not primarily engaged in fashion, production of sports or protective equipment, you will probably, according to the offer on the market, still want to make something a little different and design an original T-shirt.

Contrary to many people's beliefs, the design process is not so simple. It is something that requires a little more knowledge and planning. That is why you will encounter a multitude of simple and ordinary T-shirts on the market, which do not leave any impression on the potential market. You need to make sure you are not one of them.

So before you start, you really should ask these questions…

Why?

As many times before, you need to ask yourself what exactly you want to achieve by designing a T-shirt. Are you trying to promote brand awareness? Do you start your own clothing line that will bring you some profit in addition to advertising? Or do you just want to leave a good impression that you will share with the public? Before you design, you must keep in mind the basic message you want to send.

For whom?

The design of your t-shirt should match with target group companies. Surely a t-shirt will not look the same if you are dealing with products or services for children, teenagers or older business people. Also, below you should ask yourself whether the message from the T-shirt will match the one for whom it is intended?

Who will you hire for this job?

Often market demands, and even more often a budget, will make you consider whether you can design a T-shirt yourself or you will this job requires someone more professional, and above all with more experience. Hiring an external associate on this project will certainly not be an unnecessary waste of money, on the contrary.

How?

With this question, the most important thing is to consider how current your T-shirt will be. Do you want to use the T-shirt as a uniform, so its design will be repeated from season to season, or do you simply want to tie it to a specific day or event. The technology with which you will print it depends on that. If the T-shirt needs to last longer and be more resistant to wear when washing, it is best to opt for embroidery. On the other hand, if the T-shirt needs to be up to date for a day or a shorter period of time, it is best to opt for screen printing or sublimation, which offers many more design options but is less resistant to wear when washing.

Design?

Tastes are different and trends are constantly changing. However, the design of the T-shirt is an extremely suitable place to express all your creativity without restrictions in the form of graphic rules. Whether you are an illustrator, graphic designer or typographer, t-shirt design "suffers" everything, at least everything that will attract attention.

Experience shows that what you see on the screen does not have to be the same in print. So do your best to find mock up on the internet and present as credibly as possible what your idea will look like on a T-shirt when printed. We've already said it is minimalism always a good solution. In addition to looking good, you will ensure that the motif stays on the T-shirt for as long as possible, ie that there is less wear.

If you decide on a funny t-shirt design, try not to make it "cheap". A good "trick" will surely come across an audience whose attention you will attract without looking frivolous or intrusive.

And of course color!! The choice of colors is desirable to be in line with the colors of your brand, but it is not necessary. It is much more important to choose a good contrast with the color of the T-shirt than to respect the graphic standards. Keep in mind that people will not stand in front of your T-shirt for too long trying to read what is written.

 Lastly, it is important to know that there are a number of examples where promotional material has turned into a product line primarily due to demand. In that case, you should plan in time how you will sell and distribute those products.

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