Keep it simple!
It’s best not to overcomplicate your logo design. We recommend opting for simple symbols and wordmarks as these are what make up a lot of the most recognisable logos.
More intricate / complicated details may help your logo to look more unique, but these can get lost when printed small. A simple logo will always look good, whether it’s blown up on a huge billboard or shrunk down to fit on a baseball cap.
Choose the right printing method.
When you're choosing how to customise to your branded clothing, consider what will work best for your logo and your chosen garment. The most common printing methods are:
- Screen printing – most often used for thin fabrics, e.g. T-shirts and lighter hoodies.
- Embroidery – tends to work best on thick fabrics, e.g. polo shirts and caps.
- Transfers – a temporary method of printing that uses a hot press to transfer your logo onto an object such as a tote bag.
Think about how the garment will be used.
Consider how people will actually wear your logo-branded clothing. If you think there’s a risk that the design may become stretched and misshapen over time, don’t design an intricate logo that would be ruined by normal wear and tear.
You should also try to choose a design that will remain more or less the same even if the fabric shrinks or expands with use or after washing.
Consider colours carefully.
You’ll need to think about the colour of your logo design as well as that of the fabric you’ll be printing on. For instance, if you’re printing your logo onto a coloured T-shirt rather than a plain white one, you’ll need to design an inverted (black and white) or an opaque version of your logo to ensure that it can still clearly be seen.
You also need to ensure that your logo will actually work in black and white. For this reason, most designers tend to design the logo in black and white first and add the colours afterwards.
Prioritise legibility.
Consider your font choice and size carefully, as this can hugely impact the legibility of your design. There’s no point using merchandise to grow brand awareness if no one can read your logo!
The key questions to ask yourself when designing your logo are…
- Will it remain legible when shrunk down?
- How might it look embroidered vs screen printed vs transferred?
The more versatile, the better!
Will your logo work in different applications, or different placements on different garments? You may need several different versions of the logo - for example, one that is more horizontal in length that can be printed across the back of a t-shirt vs a square version that will work well as an emblem on one side of the chest.
