Design Guidelines for Better Prints

Artwork Guidelines for Custom T-Shirt Printing

To offer you the best prices and the fastest turnaround times, Teepig utilizes DTF (Direct-to-Film) printing. To ensure your custom apparel looks incredible, washes well, and lasts a long time, please follow these artwork guidelines before uploading your design.

The Characteristics of a Perfect Print

  • Optimal Resolution: Aim for good resolution (ideally 300 DPI) at the actual physical size you want it printed. This ensures crisp, professional results.

  • Bold, Solid Edges: Crisp, defined borders adhere best to the garment and produce the sharpest final look.

  • Sparse Printing Areas: You can have a large design, but designs that let the media (the garment) show through yield the best results. Aiming for around 60% garment visibility means the print will feel much better to wear, wash better, and last longer.

  • Optimized Colors via Halftoning: We offer free halftoning to remove unnecessary colors and break up solid ink blocks, making your print significantly softer and more breathable. [Learn more about our halftoning process here].

File Formats & Backgrounds

  • Preferred Format: PNG files are highly preferred.

  • Background Removal: We automatically remove white backgrounds to ensure you don’t end up with an unwanted solid white box printed on your shirt.

  • ⚠️ The Opacity Trap: Because we automatically remove white backgrounds, please be careful with images that have soft edges, fades, or semi-transparent effects (like drop shadows, glowing lights, or smoke). For example, if you have a design of a soft grey drop shadow fading into a white background, removing that white background will not make the shadow perfectly transparent. If you print that design on a black T-shirt, those faded edges will confuse the printer and result in a harsh, chalky white halo instead of smoothly blending into the fabric. For the absolute best results, build your artwork directly on a transparent background with solid colors.

Design Details to Avoid

  • Very Thin Lines: The DTF glue requires enough surface area to bond properly. Extremely fine, hair-like lines will not stick securely to the fabric!

  • Opacity Under 100% (Transparencies): DTF printers lay down a solid white base layer under the colored ink. Semi-transparent pixels (like see-through glass effects or fades) cannot be printed accurately and will usually print as a solid white or muddy patch. All colors must be 100% solid.

  • Poor Resolution: Small images pulled from the web and stretched to fit a T-shirt will look pixelated and blurry when printed.

  • Heavy Print Blocks on Thin Shirts: Try to avoid huge blocks of print where possible. A massive, solid photograph printed on a lightweight 150gsm T-shirt creates a heavy patch that is not going to feel too good against the skin.

Choosing the Right Garment for Heavy Ink

If your artwork is a significant cover—such as a full-color photograph with lots of dense colors—choose a garment type that will complement its heavy print area. Thick, heavier T-shirts, sweatshirts, or hoodies have the structure to comfortably support the weight of a solid print.

Additional Technical Details

  • Color Profile: Screen colors are illuminated (RGB) and physical ink is not (CMYK). Be aware that extremely bright, neon screen colors cannot be perfectly replicated in physical ink and will print slightly more muted.

  • Maximum Print Dimensions: Please note our maximum print area is [29.7cm x 40cm] so you know the physical constraints you are designing for.

  • Minimum Text Size: Similar to avoiding thin lines, we recommend a an absolute minimum text size of [14pt] to ensure smaller lettering remains completely legible and adheres properly to the garment. Consider thinner parts of the text too.