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S02|LO9 - how to get custom designs created using fiverr
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Tutorial Notes
contact template
Here is the template used in the video:
Hi {{NAME OF DESIGNER}},
I am looking for a designer to create an image for [INSERT PRODUCTS HERE – e.g. T-Shirt/Sweatshirt/Hoodie] I am going to be producing and selling.
This design is going to be printed onto actual merchandise. It’s very important then that before I place an order that your offer includes the legal rights to use them for commercial use. I do not want to risk infringing on your copyrights.
SPECIFICATIONS:
I would like it to be similar to the example design I have uploaded. I don’t want to copy it, I would like you to make a better but different version of it (images/text sizing/fonts) so that I don’t infringe on copyrights.
I would like it to feature this text: [INSERT TEXT HERE]
I would also like it to feature an image of [INSERT WHAT IMAGE/ICON YOU WANT]
FORMAT: It needs to be PNG with no interlacing.
SIZE: [INSERT SIZE HERE]
The due date for this project is [INSERT DATE HERE] or sooner.
PRICE: I can pay up to $25 for the design.
Can you take this project on? If so, please reply ASAP with a custom offer so that we can get started. Thank you!purchase from commericial sites
If you want to create your own Print On Demand products, you’ve got two choices. The first is that you can purchase stock images on websites like Shutterstock. Artists create images and put the licenses to use them up for sale on there. I’ll teach you how to buy these and yes, when you do buy them, you’ll also purchase the legal rights to use these commercially as well. This is the easiest and fastest way to get pictures.
hire freelancers
The second way is you can purchase unique, original designs that have been custom made for you directly from freelancers on websites like Fiverr. If you don’t know what Fiverr is, it is an amazing website where talented freelancers let you purchase projects from them. On Fiverr, there are a LOT of fantastic graph designers specializing in creating graphics for merchandise.
The advantage of purchasing stock images is that you can get the artwork RIGHT NOW, no waiting around, and you can know EXACTLY what you’re getting. This can be especially good if you want to create quick upsells for top-performing products. The downside is of course that anyone else can purchase that image & the rights to use that same artwork.
If your product performs well, chances are, competitors will come in, buy the rights and try to sell the same products as you. Purchasing a custom design then means that there will be an extra barrier in place for your competitors to try and copy you.
In addition, having a custom design made also gives you a lot more flexibility. For example,
This product is a regular seller on Etsy. It’s perfect for people who are both bunny owners & introverts. The phrase choice is quite funny. However, it’s very niche specific isn’t it! It’s unlikely you’d find anything saying this exact phrase on a stock image site. But if you purchase a custom design from Fiverr, you can use it!
Fiverr is a website I use a LOT. I spend thousands of dollars each year hiring talented freelancers. I believe it’s the easiest platform for beginners to use to hire custom designers.
In fact, I use Fiverr so much I’m a part of a secret, invitation-only VIP group for Fiverr called VID – which stands for Very Important Doers. Once you reach VID level, you get your own Fiverr rep who’ll search out the perfect freelancers for you, which is nice. But yes, basically, to become a part of this, I had to use Fiverr a lot. So I know quite a lot about hiring the best designers on there!
payment scale on fiverr
On Fiverr, you can usually expect to pay $10-30 per design if you are willing to wait up to a week, and $30-100 per design if you need it made in 1-2 days. So, obviously, if you want to save money, I recommend not being in a rush and be willing to wait a few more days to get your designs made.
This also means it’s cheaper than purchasing pre-made designs on Shutterstock. On Shutterstock, it costs just under $100 per design and you have to buy at minimum 2 pictures at a time. So believe it or not, custom ones are cheaper!
how to start
When it comes to hiring designers, I recommend that you start with ONE product, and that you hire 3-5 designers to start, however many are in your budget.
You see, I gained my VID status not from hiring LOTS of freelancers, but by forming a relationship with a handful of really great ones. I come back regularly to them. We’ve formed a relationship over time. They know what I want and can design it for me.
And so your goal here is to ideally find 1 designer whose work you really connect with, so that you can work with them regularly. Now something else you’ll also discover is that some designers are particularly good at certain styles, or specialize in certain styles. For example, this seller is very good at creating typography t-shirts. You might find that you want different types of art styles for different products. You might want typography graphics, AND you might want cartoony graphics. That’s absolutely fine. In that case, you’ll then want to go through this same process, and find the designer who specializes in that type of style that you connect with the most.
Overtime, the number of freelancers you work with will grow. But for now, I recommend as a beginner you focus on finding just 1 to start with, so that you don’t get overwhelmed.
Of course, it’s entirely up to you if you want to find lots of different types of artists to get products made faster, go for it.
But honestly: business isn’t a sprint, it’s a marathon. My advice to most new ecommerce owners is to take things slowly and focus initially on just 1 designer. The first thing you want to do, is pick what 1 design you’d like to have made for you.
example of fiverr process
product
So perhaps you’ve seen this sweatshirt. You know the design and phrase has been successful. So you want to use this as inspiration for your own design. Awesome!
contact designers
What we want to do is now go onto Fiverr and look up top freelancers that make that style of design – in this case word art – and contact between 5-10 freelancers.
What we’re going to do is we will email them directly, telling them what we want exactly.
template for email
Here is an example of an email template that you could send out. I’ve included very important specifications here. In particular, I’ve noted the size of the design. You should of course insert your own specifications into where I’ve written the square brackets.
<<designer-template>>determine size of design
The way to figure out what size you want your design to be is to come to Printify.
Click on the product you want to create, such as a sweatshirt, and to start designing it. In the bottom right on the design mockup page you’ll see Printify’s suggested sizing. As a beginner it’s great to stick to this initially.
You’ll also want to include a picture of what design you would like the designer to get inspiration from. Again, we don’t want to copy it exactly, we want them to make their own similar but different version of it. So for this design, you could keep the same font, but change up the sizing, and change the image of the bunny. So, let’s do this!
go back to fiverr
OK, so come to Fiverr. I’ll have a link to Fiverr on this page. Please note that this is an affiliate link. Using it is optional but it’s always appreciated!
search for style of artwork
In the search bar, type in what style of artwork you want made. From the dropdown suggested menu, you might find a search phrase that more specifically defines what you want, if so select that. For me, I’m going to type typography design.
modify search filters for commerical product sellers
Next, we want to come to the search filters and change it so that we are only seeing sellers that produce designs for commercial products.
find rated sellers
Next, we want to set it so that we are only seeing sellers that have been rated by other customers, we don’t want to work with new sellers.
browse through final list of sellers
And now you’ve got a big list of sellers to browse through. If possible, try and work with sellers that have 4.8 plus star ratings with at least 50 reviews, the more the better.
find designer you like
When you see a designer than you like, open up their listings and browse through their designs. Check over their portfolio and see if they are right for you. If you like the look of a design, and the pricing is within your range, then click the Contact Me button.
You can then send them a message explaining what you want. Be sure to upload the photo of the example product image or images you want them to get inspiration from.
Again I recommend contacting between 5 to 10 freelancers. See who responds within 24 hours.
Freelancers on Fiverr live all around the world and the best ones are busy working on projects, so it’s normal for them to not respond immediately. But good communication between you and your freelancer is key to having a great relationship in the future, so that they can keep making you money-making designs!
So do prioritize freelancers that get back in touch with you quickly. Now, you might find more freelancers get back in-touch within 24 hours than you can afford to hire for your first project.
That is OK. Take the ones that did reply and browse through their portfolios. Pick the best 3-5 designers you like the most, and hire them.
As part of our message, we asked them to send us a custom offer. This is how we’ll be ordering our design from them. I’ll show you now how to accept this custom offer & start the project.
reply to designer
Click Messages, then Inbox. Next, click the message from the designer. To start, simply click ‘order now.’
Scroll down to the custom offer message and click ‘Continue’.
You can either pay through Paypal or by using your credit card. Type in your credit card details if you’re using one. Then click ‘Confirm and Pay’.
go through designer creations
Once your 3-5 designers have created your image, see which designer you like the most and which one you connected the best with. And order more designs from them!
Once you’ve chosen your preferred freelancer, in the future, you don’t necessarily have to email them and get them to send them a custom order.
Instead, you can order directly from their seller page. I’ll show you now how simple it is to do this.
Going back to the designers page, select the package you want. Then click the green ‘Continue’ button here to proceed to your order.
make order
On the checkout page, you can tick off the Add Extras boxes, these are not entirely necessary if you know exactly what design you want created. To checkout, click ‘Order Now’.
Enter your card details so you can start this job. Then click ‘Confirm & Pay.’
On your order page, you’ll need to send them a note letting them know your specifications.
Remember to include the file type you want, which is a PNG file without interlacing, as this is what Print-On-Demand providers, such as Printify, need from you.
And be sure to include the image size. And, again, if you don’t know what this should be, it’s a great idea to use Printify to help you.
And include an example image of the design you want them to get inspiration from, along with any notes about changes you want them to make, such as color variations or additional images. And boom – you are ready to go. So head on over to Fiverr now, and start finding your perfect designer now!
Review
Summary
This lesson explains how to get custom designs made using Fiverr, and how to choose between stock images and custom freelance work.
Core Idea
You have two main ways to get designs:
- stock images (fast, but not unique)
- custom designs (slower, but exclusive and flexible)
Best approach: Use custom designs for differentiation and long-term advantage.
Design Sources
Stock Images
- purchased from sites like Shutterstock
- instant access
- known quality upfront
Downside:
- non-exclusive
- competitors can use the same design
Custom Designs (Fiverr)
- created specifically for you
- exclusive usage
- more flexible
Advantages:
- unique designs
- better protection from competitors
- can use niche-specific phrases and ideas
Cost Expectations
- $10–$30 → slower delivery (about 1 week)
- $30–$100 → faster delivery (1–2 days)
Insight: Custom designs are often cheaper than stock images.
Strategy: Finding Designers
Step 1: Choose ONE Design
- pick a single design idea
- based on previous research (Etsy, etc.)
Step 2: Search Fiverr
Search for style, not product:
- typography design
- cartoon illustration
- t-shirt design
Step 3: Apply Filters
- commercial use allowed
- rated sellers only
- avoid new/unrated sellers
Step 4: Evaluate Designers
Look for:
- 4.8+ rating
- 50+ reviews (minimum)
- strong portfolio in your style
Contact Strategy
Message Multiple Designers
- contact 5–10 designers
- send same request
Include:
- design description
- image inspiration
- required size
- file type (PNG)
Response Filter
- prioritize designers who reply within 24 hours
- communication quality matters
Selection
- choose 3–5 designers to test
- order same design from all
Goal: Find best designer for long-term use.
Order Process
Custom Offer Flow
- receive custom offer
- click “order now”
- complete payment
Direct Order (later)
- use saved designer
- order directly from their page
Design Specifications
Always include:
- file type: PNG
- transparent background
- correct dimensions (from Printify)
- no interlacing
Provide:
- reference image
- clear instructions
- desired changes (not copies)
Key Principle
Do NOT copy designs exactly. Instead:
- use as inspiration
- modify layout, font, visuals
- create a new version
Designer Strategy
Long-Term Approach
- build relationship with 1–2 designers
- reuse them consistently
Benefits:
- faster work
- better understanding
- higher quality over time
Style Specialization
Different designers excel at different styles:
- typography
- cartoon
- illustration
You may need multiple designers over time.
Workflow Summary
Fiverr Workflow [0/7]
- choose one design idea
- search Fiverr by style
- filter for quality sellers
- contact 5–10 designers
- select 3–5 to test
- order designs
- choose best designer
Design Brief Checklist [0/6]
- include inspiration image
- specify dimensions
- request PNG format
- explain desired changes
- avoid exact copying
- confirm commercial use
Common Mistakes
- hiring only one designer
- choosing cheapest option blindly
- unclear instructions
- copying designs directly
- ignoring communication speed
Key Insight
This is NOT just about getting designs. This is about:
- building a reliable design pipeline
- finding long-term collaborators
My Take
Treat designers as partners, not one-time hires. The goal is not just one good design, but a repeatable system for producing many.
Bottom Line
Test multiple designers → choose the best → build a relationship → scale design production.
Transcript
00:00 Welcome to the next video in our print on demand 00:02 video tutorial series, and this is where I'm gonna teach 00:04 you how to get custom designs made using Fiverr. Now 00:07 you see, if you wanna create your own custom print 00:09 on demand products using professional designed images, you've usually got 00:14 2 choices. 00:15 The first is that you can purchase stock images on 00:17 websites like Shutterstock. 00:18 Artists create professional images and put the licenses to use 00:21 them up for sale on there. I'll teach you how 00:24 to buy these. And yes, when you do buy them, 00:26 you'll also be able to purchase the legal rights to 00:29 use them commercially as well. This is the easiest and 00:32 fastest way to get pictures. The second way is you 00:34 can purchase unique original designs that have been custom made 00:37 for you directly from freelancers on websites like Fiverr. If 00:41 you don't know what Fiverr is, it is an amazing 00:43 website where talented freelancers let you purchase projects from them. 00:46 On Fiverr, there are a lot of fantastic graphic designers 00:49 specializing in creating graphics for merchandise. 00:52 The advantage, of course, to using stock images is that 00:54 you can purchase them and get them right now, and 00:57 you will know exactly what you are buying. The downside 01:01 though, of course, is that anyone else can come in 01:03 and purchase the license to use the exact same pictures 01:07 and to copy your products. 01:09 The chances are if you have a top selling product, 01:11 your competitors are probably going to come in and try 01:13 to sell the exact same product that you are. And 01:16 so by purchasing a custom design, your design will be 01:19 copyrighted and only you will be able to use it, 01:21 and so that puts up an extra barrier of protection 01:25 between you and your competitors. 01:27 In addition, having custom made designs gives you a lot 01:30 more flexibility. 01:31 For example, this product is a regular seller on Etsy. 01:34 It's perfect for people who are both bunny owners and 01:36 introverts. 01:37 The phrase choice is quite funny. However, it's very niche 01:40 specific, isn't it? It's unlikely you'd find anything saying this 01:44 exact same phrase on a stock image site. But if 01:47 you purchase a custom design from Fiverr, you can use 01:50 this phrase yourself. 01:51 Fiverr is a website that I use a lot. I 01:53 spend thousands of dollars every year hiring talented freelancers, 01:58 including 01:59 artists, graphic designers. 02:01 It's a website that I truly think is the easiest 02:03 for beginners to use when initially hiring freelancers. 02:07 In fact, I use Fiverr so much that I'm a 02:10 part of a secret invitation only VIP group for Fiverr 02:13 called vid, which stands for very important doers. 02:16 Once you reach your vid level, you get your own 02:18 Fiverr rep who'll search out the perfect freelancers for you, 02:21 which is nice. But yes, basically to become a part 02:24 of this, I've had to use Fiverr a lot. So 02:27 I know quite a lot about hiring the best designers 02:30 on there. On Fiverr, you can usually expect to pay 02:32 between 10 dollars to 30 dollars if you're willing to 02:34 wait up for a week for a design, and if 02:36 you need a design fast within 1 to 2 days, 02:39 you can expect to pay between 30 dollars and 100 02:41 dollars And so yes, if you want to save some 02:44 money, then I highly recommend that you be a little 02:46 bit patient and you wait a few extra days for 02:49 your design. This also means it's cheaper than purchasing premade 02:52 designs on Shutterstock. On Shutterstock, it costs just under 100 02:55 dollars per design and you have to buy at minimum 02:58 2 licenses at a time. So believe it or not, 03:01 custom ones are cheaper. When it's your first time hiring 03:04 a designer, I recommend that you start out by focusing 03:06 on just 1 product design and that you hire 3 03:10 to 5 designers for that 1 product. And I recommend 03:13 that you hire as many as you can afford. You 03:16 see, I gain my vid status not from hiring lots 03:18 of freelancers, 03:19 but by forming a relationship with a handful of really 03:22 great ones. I come back to them regularly. We've formed 03:25 a relationship over time. They know what I want and 03:28 can design it for me. And so your goal here 03:30 is to find 1, maybe 2 designers that you truly 03:33 connect with so that you can use them regularly 03:35 when designing your products. Now something else you'll also discover 03:38 is that some designers are particularly good at certain styles 03:41 or specialize in certain styles. For example, this seller here 03:45 is very good at creating typography t shirts. You might 03:48 find that you want different types of styles for different 03:50 types of products. You might want some designs to be 03:53 typography designs and you might want some designs to be 03:55 cartoony. 03:56 That's absolutely fine. When you wanna hire an artist for 03:59 a particular type of style, I recommend that you go 04:02 through the same process we're about to do and that 04:04 you use it to find the best artist that specializes 04:08 in the style you are looking for. Over time, the 04:10 number of freelancers that you will work with will grow 04:13 and grow. For now though, it's a great idea to 04:15 just focus on finding 1 great freelancer to work with. 04:19 Of course, it's entirely up to you. If you would 04:21 like to work with lots of different freelancers and lots 04:24 of different artists to get products made faster, then go 04:27 ahead. 04:28 But honestly, I don't think business should be a sprint. 04:31 I think business is a marathon. I think it's a 04:34 lot better to take things slower and to find 1 04:36 great freelancer to work with and to form a relationship 04:39 with them. But again, it's entirely up to you. 04:42 Anyway, back to the tutorial. The first thing you want 04:45 to do is pick which 1 product and design that 04:49 you want made for you. So perhaps you've seen this 04:51 sweatshirt. You know that this design and phrase has been 04:54 successful, so you want to use this as inspiration for 04:56 your own design. 04:58 Awesome. What we now want to do is we want 05:00 to go on to Fiverr and we want to find 05:02 freelancers that are really good at this particular style, 05:05 I. E. Word art or typography designs, and we ideally 05:08 want to find between 5 to 10 freelancers if we 05:11 can that are good at the style. And what we're 05:14 gonna do is we're gonna take those 5 to 10 05:16 freelancers and we're going to message them directly 05:19 and tell them what we want them to make. Here 05:22 is an example of an email template that you could 05:24 send out. I will post this template on this video 05:27 lesson page. I've included very important specifications on here. In 05:30 particular, I've noted the size of the design. You should, 05:33 of course, insert your own specifications into here where I've 05:36 written the square brackets. The way you figure out what 05:38 size you want your design to be is to come 05:40 to Printify and click on the product you want to 05:42 create, such as a sweatshirt, and to start designing it. 05:45 In the bottom right of the design mock up page, 05:47 you'll see Printify's suggested sizing. As a beginner, it's great 05:50 to stick to this initially. You'll also want to include 05:53 a picture of what design you would like the designer 05:55 to get inspiration from. Again, we don't want to copy 05:58 it exactly. We want them to make their own similar 06:00 but different version of it. So for this design, you 06:03 could keep a similar font, but change up the sizing 06:06 and change the image of the bunny. 06:08 So let's do this. 06:09 Okay. So come to Fiverr. I'll have a link to 06:12 Fiverr on this page. Please note that it is an 06:14 affiliate link. Using it is optional, but it is always 06:17 appreciated. In the search bar, type in what style of 06:19 artwork you want made. From the drop down suggested menu, 06:22 you might find a search phrase that more specifically defines 06:25 what you want. If so, select that. For me, I'm 06:28 going to type typography design. Next, we want to come 06:31 to the search filters and change it so that we 06:33 are only seeing sellers that produce designs for commercial products. 06:37 Next, we want to set it so that we are 06:38 only seeing sellers that have been rated by other customers. 06:42 We don't want to work with new sellers. And now 06:44 you've got a big list of sellers to browse through. 06:46 If possible, try and work with sellers that have 4.8 06:49 plus star ratings with at least 50 reviews. The more, 06:52 the better. When you see a designer that you like, 06:55 open up their listing and browse through their designs. Check 06:58 over their portfolio and see if they are right for 07:00 you. 07:01 If you like the look of the design and the 07:03 pricing is within your range, then click the contact me 07:05 button. You can then send them a message explaining what 07:08 you want. Be sure to upload the photo of the 07:10 example product image or images you want them to get 07:13 inspiration from. Again, I recommend that you contact between 5 07:16 to 10 freelancers and that you see who responds within 07:20 24 hours. 07:21 Freelancers on Fiverr live all around the world, and they're 07:24 often busy on projects, so it's normal for them not 07:27 to respond to you immediately. But having good communication between 07:31 you and your chosen freelancer is important when forming a 07:34 great relationship so that they can keep making you great 07:37 money making designs. So when choosing which 3 to 5 07:40 freelancers that you're ultimately going to work with, prioritize the 07:43 ones that get back to you within 24 hours. Now 07:46 you may find that more freelancers get back to you 07:48 within 24 hours than you can afford to hire for 07:51 a project and that's absolutely fine. Take the ones that 07:54 did reply within 24 hours and browse through their portfolios 07:58 and pick the 3 to 5 freelancers 08:00 whose portfolios 08:01 you like the best. As part of our message, we 08:04 ask them to send us a custom offer. This is 08:06 how we'll be ordering our design from them. I'll show 08:09 you now how to accept this custom offer and start 08:11 the project. 08:12 Click messages. 08:16 Click inbox. 08:17 Next, click the message from the designer. 08:20 To start, simply click order now. 08:22 Scroll down to the custom offer message and click continue. 08:26 You can either pay through PayPal or by using your 08:29 credit card. Type in your credit card details if you're 08:31 using 1, 08:33 then click confirm and pay. 08:35 And that's it. Now that you've hired your 3 to 08:37 5 designers, you just got to wait for them to 08:40 come back with your design, choose which 1 you like 08:42 the best, and then pick which freelancer you're going to 08:45 form an ongoing relationship with. Once you've chosen your freelancer, 08:49 in the future, you don't necessarily have to message them 08:52 to get a custom order going. Instead, you can order 08:55 directly from their seller page. Let me switch over to 08:57 my computer and show you how to do this. 09:00 Go back to the designers page, select the package you 09:02 want, then click the green continue button here to proceed 09:06 to your order. On the checkout page, you can tick 09:08 any of these extras, though these are not entirely necessary 09:11 if you know exactly what design you want created. 09:15 To checkout, click order now. Enter your card details so 09:19 that you can start this job, then click confirm and 09:22 pay. 09:23 Once you order from your freelancer though, you will need 09:26 to let them know on the order page what specifications 09:28 you want. When you're doing this, remember to include the 09:31 file type that you want which is a PNG file 09:34 without interlacing 09:35 as this is what print on demand providers such as 09:37 Printify 09:38 need from you. And you'll need to let them know 09:40 what the image size should be, and of course you 09:42 can find that information on Printify. 09:44 And as always, include an example image of another successful 09:48 product that you want them to use as inspiration 09:51 for creating your own custom design. 09:54 And boom, you are ready to go. So head on 09:57 over to 5 for now, and I will see you 09:59 on the next video.