Know your print areas
A product’s print area consists of all the areas that can be printed on. In the Design Tool, you can see a square that’s either black or white. That’s the print area. Sometimes a design or text can end up outside the square, e.g. if you change the product to choose a smaller one. Please drag your design back to the printable area.
Design frame is red: Design cannot be printed. Drag it into the print area.
Design frame is green: Perfect!
Placing designs correctly
These tips will get the best out of your designs, regardless of the product:
Big Design: A big design usually looks best on the front of the shirt. To help you hit the centre, you’ll find an aid line when your design hits the centre.
Small design:Small designs and logos come out great on the left or right chest area. But watch out that the design doesn’t get too close to the armpit. A third of the width is a fair measure for placement.
The design is too close to the armpit.
Drag it to the middle: Perfect!
Change print method
A suitable print method has been preselected for your design. In most cases, you can change the print method manually:
- Personalise a product
- Click on "Print method" in the panel on the right
- Choose another print method and continue to design
Tip: Check if the print type was changed successfully in the overview.
If changing the print method is possible, you’ll be able to click on "Print method" to make changes.
Some materials or file formats allow for just one type of printing. In this case, it is not possible to change the print method. When clicking on “Print method”, you will be shown no option to change the print method. If you still want to change the print type, it is best to switch to another product or design.
Choose contrasting design and product colours
A dark design on a dark product will not come out great, even if it may look okay on your monitor. The same is true for bright designs on bright products, as well as all other colour combinations that are too similar. Choose a contrasting colour and product combination to make your designs come out great.
Product and design colours don’t offer enough contrast
Perfect!
Adjust design size to product size
Our product image in the Design Tool shows you a standard size (i.e. M). Choose your design size in relation to the standard size. If you order the product in a different size, the design cannot automatically be adjusted to the product size. The absolute size of your design will remain, regardless of whether you order it in S or 4XL. This is why the design may appear somewhat bigger or smaller on the actual product you receive.
Tip:
- You’re ordering for a group:Order tops for kids and particularly small and big sizes separately, and adjust the design size manually. Make the design a bit smaller (i.e. for XS) and bigger (i.e. for XL) for favourable results.
- You’re ordering a product with a huge print area: Make sure that the design won’t look too small. Make it a bit bigger on products like aprons, blankets or pillows to achieve favourable results.
No design on zipper, fly or seams
Printing on the fly, seams, or zippers can’t be done. Never put your design, photos and text in these places. It may be possible to create a product this way (and to check out with the order), but we won’t be able to process the order.
No overlapping designs
Design overlaps can’t be printed. Don’t place several designs, images or text on top of each other. It may be possible to create a product with overlapping designs (and to check out with the order), but we won’t be able to process the order.
Same product, different personal touch
Got more designs to show, but want to put them on the same great products as usual? Here’s how:
- Open the Customize Tool
- Choose the first product
- Design the product, then upload your own graphic or choose one from our design gallery
- Add a text field. Personalise your product with e.g. a name or number
- Click on "Choose size & quantity" and add the product, choosing the right size, to your shopping basket
- Now click on "Design more products" to return to the Customize Tool. Now you can change the name or number in the text field
- Click on "Choose size & quantity" again and add the second personalised product to your shopping basket
- Repeat the process until you have personalised all the products you want
Same design on different products
You want to use the same design on different products? Simply:
- Open the Customize Tool
- Choose the first product
- Personalise the product by uploading your own design or place one from our design gallery on the product
- Click on "Choose size & quantity" and add the product, choosing the right size, to your shopping basket
- Now click on "Design more products" to return to the Customize Tool. Choose your next product now. Your design will be automatically placed on the new product. If necessary, adjust the size and orientation of the design on the new product
- Click on "Choose size & quantity" again and add the second product to your shopping basket
Problem solving
Design can’t be placed on product
Some of our products (i.e. breathable shirts or umbrellas) can only be personalised with flex or flock prints. These print methods require a vector file format such as SVG, AI, or CDR. If you’ve chosen such a product, you’ll receive an error message when trying to upload files such as JPG, PNG or GIF.
Tip:
- Change product colour to white. White products can be personalised with digital transfer, a print method for all formats.
- Choose a different product.
- Render your image to a vector graphics file.
Graphics’ size can’t be reduced
You’ve probably chosen a product that can only be personalised with flex or flock prints. This affects products such as breathable shirts or umbrellas. These print methods require a vector file format such as SVG, AI, or CDR. Vector graphics can’t be scaled down at will, though, because fine lines cannot be thinner than 1.5mm to prevent them from tearing later. This means that the design can only be scaled down until the smallest element is still as big as 1.5mm.
Tip:
- Choose a product suitable for digital direct printing. Vector graphics are automatically printed with digital direct. Line strength doesn’t matter here.
Pixel graphics can’t be enlarged
We print textiles with 200dpi. The dpi (dots per inch) value is an indicator for image pixel density. A pixel graphic with a width of 1000 pixels printed with 200dpi results in a 5-inch-wide (12.7cm) design. Our application doesn’t allow for making the file bigger since this would result in blurry print results.
Tip:
- Only upload designs with a high resolution, meaning with a high pixel number. A T-shirt design printed with 200dpi can have a maximum of 4000 x 4000 pixels.