When you decide to design a promotional t-shirt to give away to loyal clients, colleagues and friends, with the aim of further promoting your brand, you probably don’t want their response to be: “Great, thanks, I just needed one like that for football with my friends!” . Therefore, you will have to devote yourself more seriously to the design than simply thinking about where you will print the logo . We offer a few tips that you might consider when creating this type of promotional material.

Promotional material should definitely take a place in your 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 useful value for the people to whom you give it, that is, that they often use it in their daily activities and thus additionally advertise you.

So, what at first glance should look like a gift, i.e. a sign of attention, should actually be useful for colleagues and friends, but also for your company’s marketing. Since originality is running out in the selection of the promotional material itself, it is the unique and interesting design that will motivate someone to write with a pen with your logo or to hang up the calendar that you gave him.

Advertising t-shirt design

So we return 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 concerned with fashion, the production of sports or protective equipment, you will probably, according to the offer on the market, still want to do something a little different and design an original T-shirt.

Contrary to what many people seem to believe, the design process is not that simple a process. This is something that requires a bit more knowledge and planning. That’s why you will come across a lot of simple and ordinary t-shirts on the market, which do not leave any impression on the potential market. You must make sure you are not one of them.

So before you get started, you should really ask these questions…

Why?

As many times before you need to ask yourself what exactly you want to achieve with the t-shirt design. Are you trying to promote brand awareness? Are you starting your own clothing line that will bring you some profit in addition to advertising? Or just want to make a good impression to share with the public? Before you design, you need to have in mind the basic message you want to send.

For whom?

The design of your t-shirt should match the company’s target group . Surely the t-shirt will not look the same if you deal with products or services for children, teenagers or senior business people. Also below, you should ask yourself whether the message from the t-shirt will suit the person for whom it is intended?

Who will you hire for this job?

Often the demands of the market, and even more often the budget, will force you to consider whether you can design the shirt yourself or if you will need someone more professional, and above all with more experience, for this job . Hiring an external collaborator 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 shirt will be. Do you want to use the t-shirt as a uniform, so that its design will be repeated from season to season, or you simply want to tie it to a specific day or event. The technology you will use to print it depends on that. If the shirt should last longer and be more resistant to wear and tear when washing, it is best to opt for embroidery. On the other hand, if the t-shirt needs to be current for one day or a shorter period of time, it is best to opt for screen printing or sublimation, which offers many more possibilities in terms of design but is less resistant to wear and tear during washing.

Design?

Tastes are different and trends are constantly changing. However, t-shirt design is an extremely suitable place to express all your creativity without restrictions in the form of graphic rules. Whether you’re an illustrator, graphic designer or typographer, t-shirt design “puts up” with anything, at least anything that will attract attention.

Experience tells us that what you see on the screen is not necessarily the same in print. So make an effort to find a mock up on the Internet and present as faithfully as possible how your idea will look on a t-shirt when it is printed. We have already said that minimalism is always a good solution. In addition to looking good, you will ensure that the motif stays on the shirt as long as possible, that is, there is less wear and tear.

If you decide on a funny t-shirt design, try not to make it “cheap”. A good “fora” will certainly find an audience whose attention you will attract without looking frivolous or offensive.

And of course colors ! The choice of colors is preferably in line with your brand colors, but it is not necessary. It is much more important to choose a good contrast with the color of the shirt than to respect graphic standards. Keep in mind that people won’t spend too much time standing in front of your shirt trying to read what it says.

Finally, 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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