T-Shirt Design Tips: Avoid These 5 Most Common Mistakes | T-Shirt Designs That SELL Faster in 2022

About this video

Martinez lists the five most common t-shirt design mistakes. (1) Sizing: a design that is too small cannot be read in an Amazon search thumbnail, so shoppers scrolling will not click; strong designs take up most of the shirt space. (2) Placement: designs placed around the stomach/belly look wrong on a worn shirt — place them up on the chest, using as much of the Merch by Amazon canvas as possible; the exception is pregnancy shirts, where a lower, stomach placement is intentional. Because some platforms cannot adjust placement, it may need to be fixed in Photoshop or other design software first. (3) Typography and fonts: the font must work hand-in-hand with the graphic element; a mismatched font ruins an otherwise good design, and typography is ’the soul’ of the design. (4) Image quality: low-resolution graphics print blurry and pixelated, leading to returns; he recommends saving at 300 DPI for Merch by Amazon, warns against stretching images, and notes that stolen designs circulating on platforms are often pixelated because they were ripped rather than saved from the original file. (5) Contrast: black elements on a black shirt (or red text on a red shirt) blend in and cannot be read; all-white text/designs on black shirts stand out, get clicks and sell. His closing test: if it is hard for you to read, it is hard for the customer to read.

Key takeaways

• Size designs to be readable in a small search thumbnail — if shoppers cannot read it while scrolling, they will not click
• Place designs on the chest, not the belly (pregnancy shirts excepted), and use as much of the design canvas as possible
• Match typography to the graphic element; font choice can make or break an otherwise sellable design
• Save high-resolution files — he cites 300 DPI for Merch by Amazon — and never stretch a low-res image
• Ensure contrast against the shirt color: white on black works; same-color-on-same-color designs are effectively invisible

Episode details: published February 24, 2022 · 8:28 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are RJ Martinez’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

← Previous: Why Keyword Research Is So Important For Merch by Amazon Success | Rank Your Products in Search · Next: How to Come Up With A Profitable Shirt Idea In 5 Easy Steps | Print On Demand T-shirt Business →

All RJ Martinez videos · RJ Martinez profile · RJ Martinez on YouTube