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T-Shirt Design 101
For those who are new to the world of t-shirt graphic design and decoration, we would like to open your eyes to the many design possibilities available here at Design By Humans and help get your creativity flowing. Along with standard plastisol inks, below are a few of the other techniques and processes we are currently offering to our designers. Keep checking back as this list will continue to grow and evolve.
Printing Techniques
8-Color Designs / Gradients / Half-tones
Designs can be submitted using up to 8 colors per design and may contain gradients and half-tones. You design it. We’ll print it.
High Density Inks
High density ink is used to give a design a dimensional appearance or texture. This type of ink can also be used to give a look similar to stitching. High density inks are available in virtually any color.
Flock
Flock is a technique that gives the design a fuzzy feel. It has a similar look and feel to felt and can be applied in many colors.
Foil
Foil is used to give a design a shiny metallic look. Foils are great for adding highlights to a design.
Suede
This type of ink, as the name indicates, has the look and feel of suede. When applied to a t-shirt it adds texture and dimension.
Metallic Inks
Metallic inks are used to give the design a metallic shimmer. The shine is not as strong as a foil and is great for subtle highlights.
Gel
Clear gel can be applied over a print to give it a glass-like look. Gel is also available as a high density gel for an even thicker appearance and rubbery feel.
Water-based Inks
Water-based inks are used to give a design a soft-hand feel and almost no-hand feel after wash. The result is a design that looks and feels like it is almost part of the fibers of the shirt as opposed to a plastisol print that sits more on the surface of the fabric. Water-based inks are often used to achieve a vintage look.
Burnout
The burnout process removes the cotton fibers from a shirt, leaving only the synthetic fibers (usually polyester) intact. This gives the shirt a see-through mesh look and works best on 70% cotton and 30% poly shirts.
Discharge
Discharge is basically a bleaching agent that is used to take the color out of the shirt. Discharge can be applied as raw discharge or tinted discharge. Raw discharge will give a dark-colored shirt a bleached look, and tinted discharge results in a more muted tone of the ink color that is used.
Appliqué
Simply put, an appliqué is a piece of fabric that is cut out and sewn onto the shirt. The most common fabric used as an appliqué is jersey cotton (t-shirt fabric) but other types of fabrics can be used. Appliqués are cut out using a die cutting process or a laser cutter. Appliqués can be printed on before they are cut out and sewn onto the shirt, or they can receive an overprint after they have been sewn on. An overprint allows for the design to run off of the appliqué and onto the shirt. The use of an appliqué is known as a type of mixed media.
Jumbo Prints
With our jumbo printing capabilities we are able to print a design up to 20” wide by 24” long.
Embroidery
With dozens of different stitches and hundreds of thread colors, embroidery adds a unique element to a design.
