Print on Demand Challenge: 1 Graphic, 6 Designs

Today’s post is the first chapter of our POD Challenge. The dynamic is straightforward: for every article, we’ll select a Graphic from Creative Fabrica with a Full POD License. With that graphic, we’ll design six different items for an imaginary POD store.

The goal of this post is to demonstrate that the same graphic resource can have different creative possibilities. You can use Full POD assets without modifying them. That saves you a lot of time, but it’s way less fun. By editing the designs, you will be able to differentiate your Print on Demand store from others.

There is no need to have in-depth Graphic Design knowledge to follow this article. We have used Canva and Printify’s Mockup Generator.

On this article:

Design tips for Print on Demand projects
Floral Print on Demand T-Shirt
Print on Demand Bib with Flamingos
Flamingo Print on Demand Phone Case
Floral Print on Demand Totebag
Print on Demand hoodie with a leaf
Colorful Print on Demand Mug

 

We are going to work with our Flamingo Paradise Clipart set. You can purchase this Full POD Graphic on Creative Fabrica.

 

 

In the image above, you can see all the illustrations you can find on the set.

 

Design tips for Print on Demand projects

 

• Structure your design in layers, even if you are not working with Photoshop or Illustrator. Try to send some elements to the background. Bring some other parts upfront. Multilayer compositions allow you to combine different ingredients.
• Flip the elements. Design software allows you to flip the clipart illustrations. Take advantage of this. You can flip them horizontally or vertically. They will look completely different!
• Resize the illustrations. By making the elements bigger or smaller, you can establish hierarchy. This resource will help you when composing your designs.
• Add Fonts. Did you know that all the fonts in Creative Fabrica have a Full POD license? This means that you can use them as a complement for your POD designs. You’ll see some good examples later in this article.
• Be aware of the principles of Graphic Design. Creating beautiful compositions is easy if you know the rules. If you have never heard about the principles of Graphic Design, don’t worry. You can read about them in this article. 

 

Floral POD T-Shirt

 

Our first design is a colorful T-shirt with a big flower and a message.

 

 

We have layered the different elements. The flower is on top, as the protagonist of the composition. Remember to save your design with a transparent background.

For the lettering, we have used a font called Baby Giovani Script.

 

We have placed our design in a T-shirt using the product editor by Printful.

When we pressed “Preview,” the app automatically generated a mockup.

 

 

And here’s our first design! 01/06. Let’s continue with our challenge.

 

POD Bib with Flamingos

 

Our second design is a bib with three cute flamingos.

 

 

By copying the same item three times, we have created a new composition. Of course, you can create a design by adding a flamingo. But that would be too easy, don’t you think so?

 

In the image above, you can see how we placed the design in the Printify editor.

In the image below, you’ll find the mockup that we have generated with the software.

 

And that’s it! Our second design is ready. 02/06.

Flamingo POD Phone Case

 

Our third design is a cute phone case with two flamingos.

 

 

In the original clipart, these flamingos are not interacting. We have placed them together, and now their heads create a heart shape.

To complete our design, we added lettering under the figures.

 

 

As you can see in the image above, we created a 3D effect by overlapping two layers.

The font that we’ve used is called Ginóra Sans.

 

 

In the image above, you can see how did we place the graphic in the design interface.

And this is how the mockup looks like. Amazing, right?

 

 

That was all for our third design. We are halfway our challenge! 03/06

 

Floral POD Totebag

 

The next design is a floral tote bag. Once again, overlapping different elements is key.

 

 

For this composition, we have used some leaves from the pack. As you can see in the left panel, the original clipart with a flower is more simple than our design.

 

 

Once again, it’s time to place our design in the editing software. Look at the beautiful mockup that Printtify generated for us!

 

 

Our fourth design is ready to post. 04/06!

 

 

POD Hoodie with a Leaf

 

It’s time to create a hoodie. This time, we’ll only use one element; let’s see how to make a change by adding some lettering.

 

 

To make our leaf more personal, we are going to add a word in a cute serif font. The font that we’ve chosen is called Gilden.

 

Remember: you have to place your design within the printing area’s limits. In the case of the image above, the grey line sets those limits.

Once again, the automatic mockup generator has created a nice preview. Look at this stunning hoodie!

 

 

Our fifth creation is ready to start selling. Let’s finish our challenge in style! 05/06

 

Colorful POD Mug

 

The last design of this challenge is going to be a cute mug. The main element will be a beautiful yellow flower.

 

 

As you can see in the uploads panel, our design is composed by several elements. By twisting and overlapping them, we have created this beautiful composition.

 

 

The design interface allows you to decide where do you want to place your design in the mug. We have decided to put it in the front side, so it’s completely visible.

And here’s the mockup for this beautiful mug. It looks great, doesn’t it?

 

 

06/06. Our Print on Demand Challenge is complete! We hope you have found this post inspiring.

If you repeat the same exercise (1 graphic, 6 or more designs), we would love to see it! Let us know at [email protected]