Cutting it as a successful t-shirt designer can take many years of hard work and continuous exploration of ideas and concepts, some of your fans will love what you do and others might not. Not only have you got the task of getting your name out there but getting your t-shirt ideas in front of people can be another struggle. Your designs need to be captivating and ultimately look awesome on t-shirts before you can start telling everyone you know about your latest t-shirt design. But here are a few things you can do to make the journey easier and make you more successful.
We’ll outline 5 critical designer tips that you need to know to help you sell more t-shirts through Graphic Tide, your own site and offline!
Design For Both Men And Women
Your fan base will always contain a mixture of both males and females so it’s important not to forget this when designing your next t-shirt. You need to make sure your designs appeal to both genders or make sure you have a healthy balance of male and female only targeted designs. You don’t have to make each design suitable for everyone – just try to avoid having strictly female or male based designs.
Don’t Alienate Your Audience
This links in well with the above as your fan base, (or whatever you like to call them) will have an interest in you and what you have designed before. It can be harmful to adjust your creative style or ideas unless your well established. If you have a respectable amount of followers it’s important to remember you don’t break away from what they already love. Examples of this could be changing from handwritten style illustrations to a blocky graphic style.
Get Market Feedback
It doesn’t require a team of people to go out and get market research on what people like about your work. Ask your family and friends for honest and critical advice on your designs. You can ask just about anyone, as everyone is your audience. Please be aware if you ask your family, that they give you the advice that is truthful, sometimes their advice is nice but not always honest.
Set The Trends – Don’t Follow Them
Here on Graphic Tide we post weekly design inspiration to fuel your next art project. Even though inspiration is a valuable tool, don’t try to copy your favourite artist because they are popular. See what others do, and do something which is different! Even though this may not be liked to begin with, after time you will get noticed for doing something which is different, and ultimately get popular yourself!
Showcase Your Work
Finally it’s essential to get your work seen by other people. Make sure that your work is on your website, blog and you engage in social networks. You need to make sure your work is accessible and easy to find. For many of you it’s likely you are already doing this. Graphic Tide allows you to get your work out there, that is seen by a vast amount of people, showcasing your work for the world to see! Submit your design to Graphic Tide for free.
