Choosing the garment colour, and choosing it first

The shirt colour is part of the design, not a decision to leave until checkout. How to pick one that flatters the artwork and still sells to a group.

Most people design on white and pick a colour at the end. That is the wrong way round, because the garment is the largest area of colour in the finished thing. It is the background of the design whether you treat it as one or not.

Start from the artwork

• Artwork with a lot of light tones needs a dark garment, or it fades into the fabric
• Artwork that is mostly dark lines needs a light garment for the same reason
• Artwork with one strong colour usually looks best on something neutral, so the colour stays the loudest thing

Black is easy and not always right

Black hides marks, suits nearly every ink colour and photographs well. It is also warm to wear in summer, and a whole group in black can look like staff rather than guests. For a party, a mid colour often looks friendlier and still holds bright ink.

Buying for other people

When the shirts are for a group, colour is a compromise rather than a preference. A few things reduce the number of people who will quietly never wear it:

1. Avoid very light colours for children, for obvious reasons
2. Avoid colours that clash with a specific event dress code
3. Prefer one colour for everybody. Mixed colours look like a mistake in photographs unless it is clearly deliberate

On this site the design is re-checked every time you switch colour, so you can try three or four and see the real result rather than imagining it.

Print the colour you photograph

If the shirts exist for a photograph, a birthday or a team or a launch, pick the colour that will sit best against the place you will be standing. A dark shirt in a dim hall disappears. A white shirt outdoors at midday blows out.