Follow our tips to print your own t-shirt with the right font

Font choice is an essential part of a design. The font needs to be appropriate to your design, message and context. Along with readability, nailing the typography helps to convey the values and style.

Choosing the right font can quickly become a time-consuming aspect of digital design and t-shirt printing. With an endless array at our fingertips, combined with typography trends and creating a distinct design or brand elements, the process can quickly become a trip down the rabbit hole.

To help you choose the best font for your personalised t-shirts, here are some helpful tips.

Display font versus body font

Body fonts are the suitable typefaces chosen for book, magazine, newspaper or web text – anything lengthy. They are selected to be read easily and allow skimming or scanning of text. You will be familiar with the likes of these body fonts:

• Futura
• Baskerville
• Georgia
• Helvetica
• and old faithful, Times New Roman

Display fonts are often decorative; designed to get attention like in headings or text that isn’t too dense. On their own or combined with other font types, it can look fantastic. The less is more approach applies when using display fonts. To give you an idea, take a look at these decorative fonts:

• Graffiti
• Impact
• Chalkboard
• Graphique
• Scrubby

What mood or aesthetic do you want to convey?

Before you start browsing for fonts, think about the qualities you want to communicate in your design. Are you going for beach party vibes or fit for a corporate boardroom? In other words, formal or elegant, playful or casual? Decide the personality first. It will help the most suitable fonts stand out when you’re scrolling through the options.

If you find yourself down the rabbit hole, take stock by asking yourself these questions:

• Does it match the core qualities of my brand or personality?
• Does it complement the overall design?

Who will be wearing this t-shirt?

Try not to get led astray by your preferences when it comes to creating personalised t-shirts for business and brands. What you find stylish may not be the same for others, so know who will be wearing it before you decide.

What type of person would wear this t-shirt? Where will they wear it? Will the typeface resonate with a younger or older demographic? Is it easy to read and within the context of the design?

Good designs pop and bad one’s flop. Your design has a job to do – to express a message and feel to the viewer.

Is it appropriate for the medium?

Some fonts may look good on screen, but may not translate well to a personalised t-shirt design, apparel or product. Good design must convey the message in a clear and concise way. Avoid making your design too busy or indecipherable. Because a t-shirt represents an instant display of your message, it’s useless if people have to squint to read it.

Finding the best font

This often comes up in the world of resume writing – the top ten font choices and which ones to avoid and the like. With design, it’s not as easy as providing a list of what fonts you should and shouldn’t use because of the other components that work together to create the overall look of a design.

We will often recognise a poor font choice when we come across it. Something doesn’t look right. The right font choices will resonate and immediately communicate the message, emotion and tone.

Deciding on your design

Create a minimum of two, preferably more, final design mock-ups to choose from before settling on ‘the one’. Show the t-shirt printing designs to people you trust, or who have a ‘design eye’ to get some first impression feels and honest feedback.

Explore, experiment, play. Save all your versions, even the ones you don’t think haven’t hit the mark. Then take a break and come back to it with fresh eyes.

What the font?

Typeface, fonts and typography are complex design areas and while it’s useful to read up on this and get some basics, learning by doing is the best way to find out what works.

We are fortunate these days to be able to click, drop and drag, then preview on screen compared to techniques from days gone by.

Use our tips, do your own research and importantly have fun playing around with lots of different designs.

Print your own t-shirt today

At Print Locker, we have an extensive range of fonts to suit every brand’s personality. Now that you know what to consider, you can start creating your very own personalised t-shirt design.

Your personalised t-shirt will be printed in Melbourne and shipped to any Australian capital city. We offer standard, express, and pronto delivery options, so you can get your order when you need it. Whether you want one t-shirt for yourself or bulk order, we’re happy to do your t-shirt printing.