3 Easy Steps to Come Up With Custom T-Shirt Design Ideas

Do you want to launch your own online store? That’s brilliant if it’s so! If you have your vision in place, all you need is the right tools to get your ideas off the ground.  Besides ideas, you also need a platform that takes care of printing on your behalf. 

Why t-shirts, and not other products? T-shirts are extremely popular domains for creative people like you. Whether you’re a graphic designer, typographer, illustrator, or logo designer, putting your artwork on tshirts can be incredibly appealing. 

But finding the right tshirt design ideas can be daunting. So, we have created a list of three steps to help you come up with custom t-shirt design ideas. Let’s take a look —

1. Have a thorough understanding of your niche 

Before you start with tshirt design, there are certain things that you need to consider first. Think of your target audience to whom you’re going to sell. Whatever designs you create should appeal to your customers. 

In case you’re unable to find your niche, think of the things you’re involved with. Are you into communities? It’s easier to sell into a niche that you know than a segment that you don’t know or is completely new.

You can turn anything into your niche markets such as groups, events, hobbies, and more. Consider these fields to choose your niche —

• Businesses

• Sports

• Family

• Pets

• Food

• Nature

• Entertainment 

• Social movements

• Fantasy 

• Couples

You want to hit the right spot, isn't it? If you have chosen a broad niche, it would be troublesome to target customers effectively. But if it's a pretty small niche, you won't get enough customers as well. So, always think whether the niche you've chosen can get you a fair profit margin.

So, the bottom line is, you need to know who you’re going to sell to. 

For example, you’re passionate about pets and want to target pet lovers. It’s a good start. With it, here are some questions that you should consider as well —

• Is there a particular pet that’s popular among people?

• What is trending on Pinterest and Instagram?

• Is there a specific quote that your audience would like?

• What kind of pet-themed shirts are already present in the market? 

Have an understanding of things taking place in your community. Also, find out things that resonate with them. 

2. Look for design inspiration 

With different ideas popping up in your mind, it's time to give them a direction. Creating a tshirt design is easier said than done. So, to begin with the process, ask yourself what's in and what's out on the trend's radar. After all, you want your store to have fresh and current products, right? 

Here are some tips to take inspiration from — 

Get inspiration from the 80s and 90s patterns: With series like the Stranger Things coming out, people are getting more and more nostalgic. Aesthetics from the 80s and 90s era are making a comeback. Consider intricate shapes, pastel colors, and bold contrasts to include in your design. 

Add typography: When it comes to tshirt design, you can never go wrong with typography art. Play around with the typography style and feature it on any niche. 

Although there is no dearth of ways to create stunning typography designs, you can pick from isometric and hand-drawn types in vogue. 

Isometric typography carries a geometric feel. It often comes in stylized 3D and bold lettering art.

The hand-drawn lettering feels more rustic and original as compared to the isometric type. 

Before picking anyone, always consider your audience’s choice. Do they like bold, rustic, or geometric styles? Or, they are more drawn to the message than the aesthetics? If that’s the case, a simple font would just look fine!

Feature hand-drawn illustration: Hand-drawn illustrations are in trend. You can pick illustrations of an animal, plant, or something else and add a witty text just below it. 

3. Leverage online resources

If you are a designer, you already know how to design your tshirts. You can either use Photoshop or online tools. But if you’re a non-designer, bringing your ideas into reality might be challenging. But that won’t happen. Luckily, you have online resources for your help. 

Use Designhill’s t-shirt maker: Designhill has a robust and click-based t-shirt maker with sample illustrations, graphics, fonts, symbols, and other elements that you can use for free. 

If your idea is simple, you’re most likely to find everything to bring your ideas into life. 

Visit sites that provide free images and fonts:  There is no need to create everything from scratch. Many websites offer images, designs, and fonts for free. They are also available for commercial use; hence, you can take a sigh of relief. So, do proper research to find sites like that. 

Conclusion 

Now, it’s time to start creating your tshirt design! Follow the steps mentioned earlier to come up with unique design ideas!