#+title: S02|LO4 - how to create free print on demand designs
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* Links
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- [[../../toc.org][TOC - ecomm clubhouse]]
- [[../../_share/data/video/step_02/mp4/lesson_04.mp4][video]]

- [[https://wholesaleted.com/go/printify][printify link]]
- [[https://wholesaleted.com/go/canva][canva link]]

* Notes

* Description
** intro
In this video, I’m going to teach  you how to create your free designs and how to create custom products for FREE by creating your own design yourself. I’m going to teach how to make simple typography designs that you can place on the tshirts, and to mugs.

Typography designs usually works well when printed on tshirts and mugs but you can experiment and try them to different products as well. These designs are unlikely to be the big sellers in your store but they are great to have for other reasons. For example, I recommended that you should have at least 20 products in your store. If you have less than 20 then you risk making your store look unprofessional and lose customers that don’t trust you.

Big epic galaxy picture like this works well on sneakers and hooded blankets. So you can use one design to create one two different products.

#+caption: example of shoe with design
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex01a.png]]

So you buy one professional design and fill your store with typography designs. But please note typography designs are not a replacement to professional designs. If you can stretch your budget to buy five professional designs and then go ahead and create another five using the method that I’m going to teach you here.

Even if the typography designs are not going to be your big sellers that you’re going to advertise, there’s another reason why I want to you to put them in your store. That’s because I’m going to teach you how to get traffic from Google.

** creating a coffee mug design
If you go type, doctor mugs in Google you’ll see that they are recommending this store Mugdom. They dropship some products from Aliexpress but primarily they make their own print on demand products using mostly typography designs.

#+caption: mugdom landing
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex02a.png]]

First, you need to find a quote or a saying that you want to add to your tshirt or mug. It can be funny or inspirational or it can be whatever you like. I found this quote in Instagram.

#+caption: example design
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[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex02b.png]]


Now, you have to go to Canva. Canva has a free account but also have a paid account if you want to save your images with transparent background. And the subscription is really worth it. With Canva, even if you are not a graphic designer,  you can easily create graphics using it. They have a free 30 day trial which a huge amount of time to try and make lots of designs. So go ahead and make an account in Canva and then you can follow along with me.

*** create a design in canva

Once you’re logged in to your account, you want to click on Create a design button.

#+caption: logging to canva
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[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex03a.png]]

*** custom dimensions

Then click on Custom Dimension. To figure out the dimensions you have to go to Printify and find the shirt that you want to use. For example, the Unisex Heavy Cotton Tee, click on Start Designing Button. Then you can see what the dimension of our design should be. It’s 4500 x 5700 px.

#+caption: look at printify to see what the dimensions have to be
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex03b.png]]

You can try to use that in Canva but Canva won’t allow to create a design that big because it’s a very large file.

#+caption: canva wont allow it
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex03c.png]]

*** set the dimensions and hit 'new design'

So let’s try 4500 x 5500, this is very close to that size and you won’t notice the difference. This is the maximum dimension that you can use when you’re designing a tshirt like that. Click on Create New Design button.

#+caption: new design in canva
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex03d.png]]

This is the area that we are going to be working on. If we are going to look at the quote that we are going to copy, you will notice that one thing that makes it funny is that fonts are not the same, some are large and some are small. With Canva, you’ve got so many things that you can use and add. If you’re a great designer, you can create some fantastic looking designs with them.

Once you’ve chosen the template that you want to use, click on that template and it will automatically appear on your blank canvas. You can edit the text according to the quote you’re copying.

*** templates
Canva also has some preset templates that you can utilize. For this design, we want to use a simple text based design. If you click on the Text button on the left menu, you can see lots of interesting templates. Choose the template that you think will look good with the quote that you are going to use.

#+caption: adjust the template
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[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex04a.png]]

You can then adjust the font size if the words look off or if some look too large. Now you have a nice, simple, clean design.

#+caption: change font and save
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex04b.png]]

*** back to printify
You can put this design into other color of shirts like yellow, blue and green but this won’t look good against any type of color. I’ll show you what I mean. In Printify, if you go back to the designing dashboard, click on Add Your Design.

Name your design. Then click on Publish and click Download. Make sure to have PNG selected because you want to have a transparent background. That’s why you need a pro account in Canva. Then click on the Download button again. Then wait for it to download.

#+caption: upload to printify
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex05a.png]]

Upload the design that you have made. Make sure that it’s 300 dpi.

#+caption: set to 300 DPI
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex05b.png]]

Then click on the Preview button on the top left. You can see the design on an actual shirt. A black text looks great against a distressed color like Gray, Dark Heather, Sport Gray and Ash. You will also that it doesn’t look good on some colors like this in a Gold-colored shirt.

#+caption: hit preview button with different shirt colors
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex05c.png]]

As you can see it’s very simple to create a design in Canva. Now that we’re able to create a simple and trendy tshirt, let’s take that design and put it into a mug. The simple way to do this is to put a black text into a white mug. But one thing that you can do to make your mug more trendy is to put a white text on a black mug.

** new design

So go back to Canva, click on Create a new design then Custom Dimension. Same with the shirt, you have to go to Printify and check what the dimensions are. Select the black mug in Printify, then click on Start designing. Our dimension should be 2421 x 1098 px.

#+caption: new rectangle design
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[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex06a.png]]

Once you’ve got the dimensions, go back to Canva, input the dimensions then click on Create new design button. This time we have a rectangle canvas to work on. Find the same text style that you’ve used for the shirt design. Type the text of the quote then adjust according to what looks best.

*** make the text white

Next, you want to make the text white. Highlight the text then click on the color palette button then choose the white color. Do that with all the text.

#+caption: make the text white
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex06b.png]]

Name you design, then click publish then Download. Make sure that it’s in PNG so that it has a white background. Then click on the Download button again.

*** upload to printify
Now upload your design to the Printify mug in the same process as the shirt. You will nt see any design as the mug is white same with the text. But if you click on the Preview button in the top left, we will able to see the design on a black mug. It looks fantastic!

#+caption: new rectangle design
#+attr_html: :width 800px
[[../../_share/media/img/step_02/lesson_04/ex06c.png]]
