Learn how to create your own T-shirt with these helpful tips and 40+ examples.

Have you had the urge to design your own T-shirt? This article will give you a major heads-up on where to start.

In today’s fashion world, everybody wants to be unique. But this turns out to be particularly hard with the mass clothing design production the big brands are releasing on the market. Luckily, with a little (or more) knowledge in the design field, you can easily design your own T-shirt that’s fully custom and personalized according to your taste.

Before wasting any more time, let’s go through the best practices and tips from the industry first and then see what kind of software you need in order to make your dream T-shirt design a reality.

Article overview:
1. Best practices and tips from the industry
1.1. Hunting for ideas and inspiration
1.2. Images
1.3. Typography
1.4. Colors
1.5. Composition
1.6. Size and position on the garment
2. Resources and tools to design your own T-shirt

1. Best practices and tips from the industry

1.1. Hunting for ideas and inspiration

Great designs start with great ideas. If you already have a clear idea of a T-shirt design you’ll be making, that’s perfect. But if you find yourself staring at a blank canvas, not knowing where to start, you should probably have to look for inspiration more actively.

It’s pretty obvious that your first several stops would be the most famous design-based platforms, such as Pinterest, Instagram, and Behance. Such platforms are basically fountains of inspiration and will load your creative mind with amazing visual ideas. But sometimes, inspiration may strike when you least expect it. And it won’t necessarily come from the screen.

When browsing for inspiration, you will find out that there are actually many different visual design styles that are good for a T-shirt: cartoony, minimalist, typography-based, photograph-based, vintage, etc. Browsing many designs will help you clear up the concept and get a good idea on the visual style you will be pursuing for your own design.