The following is a guest post by Romibello – the first in a series of guest posts by our partners.
Spreadshirt asked me to write a little something about “vector designs with style”. And because I think we should counter the flood of hearts, crowns and smiles on the Marketplace, I was happy to do so.
The important thing with a new design is the idea behind it.
Shirts without a message don’t really rock. Since Spreadshirt primarily provides designs that customers can use to create their own message, you should try and serve both sides. The customer that’s only looking for a great design and the “I’m-making-my-own-shirt-customer”. I’ll cover that latter one later on.
Back to the idea. Where to take and not steal? Open your eyes and get some inspiration!
Have you seen a great film recently or come across something really funny? Maybe you have a song stuck in your head and want to illustrate it? Or, maybe you’ve heard a cool saying and want to put that into a design? Whatever it is, that’s a great starting point and best would be a mix of them all: create something that’s never been done before. It’s not easy – but it’s also not impossible.
Of course, I’ve got something prepared for you:
I’ve had a song stuck in my head the past couple of days. You probably know the song and I’m actually afraid of saying the name, because I know I will get the song stuck in my head again for another few days! But, there’s not really much I can do:
Surfin’ bird – and here we go again!
Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-ooma-mow-mow
Papa-ooma-mow-mow
And since I like surfing music anyways, the song’s title is now on a shirt.
What’s better than a surfing bird and with the text bubble “Bird is the word” * I will create the design as a vector, simply because I know the value of this format: scaling without quality loss and the customer can choose their own design colours.
Off to Illustrator, I’ll be back when the design is finished:
Finished – the bird is on board. The style you use is of course up to you. I like taking the opportunity to use three colours. Planning what shirt colour you use can be helpful, and that actually let’s you use four colours. It’s also helpful to think how big the design will appear on the shirt and start 1:1 with this size when you begin designing. It’s important to always keep the Spreadshirt Manifesto in mind:
The most important one is the 1.5mm rule so that the design can be scaled later on and can fit on to as many products as possible. Keep your eyes trained on those pointed corners, contours and letters. If you’ve paid attention to these points, your design will usually be approved quickly.
Now we get to the point about personalisation that I wrote about at the beginning. Most customers don’t want finished designs. At least, that’s what my years of experience has shown.
They come to Spreadshirt because they have their own idea or text and want to have it printed on a shirt. And then there should be something funny and colourful in the corner or simply something that highlights the text. That’s why the “I Love” design is so loved. You can personalise just about anything with it. “I love birds on boards.” Ha!
So, in order to serve this group, I decided to change the design a little. Perhaps I’ll reduce the colours because a design with three colours for a “fun shirt” can get expensive fast. The chances that such a design makes it into the basket is much lower than with a one-coloured design.
In this case I’ll be throwing the board (watch out – corny joke!) overboard and change the bird and speech bubble a little. The speech bubble doesn’t have to be part of the design, but I think it fits well with the birdy.
Now anyone can write their own text into the speech bubble and has a nice extra eye-catcher which highlights the text. This design is of course perfect for ornithologists (the study of birds) which I would also put in the keyword list. Under ornithology there are 5 designs on the Marketplace – the chances are good for a sale.
You should also keep something else in mind: create space fillers or new designs which get attention because they have something special. That means no hearts, stars, smilies as single designs, but a mix of popular and new designs. The customers will thank you.
Oh and one more thing.This is just an example that the mixing from old and new can and will become a bestseller – that’s the story of the song “surfin’ bird”. Everyone knows the version by the Trashmen which was made popular for the younger generation in Full Metal Jacket, or perhaps the cover version by the Ramones.
And the original is actually two originals, a mash-up of two songs.
The Rivingtones: “Papa-Oom-Mow-Mow” and “The Bird’s The Word” and the Trashmen simply discovered these two songs and made their own version of it which made it to 4 on the American billboard charts. The originals were much farther behind in the rankings.
Thanks for your attention.
*Granted, the idea isn’t the newest, but sometimes that’s unavoidable and you first see similar results when googling it. Personally, I don’t find that bad – ideas are free as long as they are interpreted in your own way.
Romibello is a graphic designer and actually doesn’t really understand anything about fashion – some even claim he doesn’t know anything about graphic design.
He used to like spraying trains and walls with colourful paint until he was rehabilitated by the State and now lets his creativity out on shirts.
