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Contrast | How to make shirt designs easier to read.
Shirt Design Tips – Contrast is arguably the most important design feature in creating a really good t-shirt design. Nearly every dynamic t-shirt design will implement contrast in one way or another. Ultimately, contrast is what makes a t shirt design readable and keep the composition from getting muddy. By separating the various design elements using contrast the result is a cleaner easier to read design. On the whole, paying attention to how the shades of fonts and other elements interact with each other will create a stronger better selling shirt.
Shirt Design Tips - Contrast
- Dark Versus Light | Basic principals of contrast
- Garment Color Matters | Shirt color will determine how ink colors are perceived
- Black and White | Some dark, some light, some mid tone
- Separate Layered Elements | Keep the layers distinct by creating very dark and very light areas.
- Outlines | A simple method to keep your shapes and elements distinct.
- Direct the Viewers Eye | Contrast can draw attention to the most important elements of the design.
Images that pop and read well from a distance sell better.
Contrast in color shades is a huge factor to consider throughout the entire design process. This article discusses how contrast can make a design stronger and easier to read.
If you are interested in more t shirt design tips like this one you might want to start here: 10 Elements of a really good t-shirt design.
Shirt Design Tips - Contrast
Concept #1) Dark Versus Light
The swatches in the top color bar tend to merge into a single rectangular shape, versus how they maintain their individual square shapes in the bottom color bar.
A simple method of creating contrast is by placing dark elements next to light elements and vice versa.
Ultimately, this should be one of the first considerations from the very beginning of the design process. It should help determine your color palette and how you will compose your overall design. Placing colors of similar darkness next to each other will cause those shapes to appear as one shape or come across as blurry. Whereas placing elements with contrasting darkness next to each other will allow those elements to maintain their respective shapes.
Separate your light and dark design elements.
Finally, notice how the background color affects how the colors relate to one another. In the text examples, I use the same color combinations but place them in different relationships. The result is text that is cleaner and more pleasant to read.
Shirt Design Tips - Contrast
Concept #2) Garment Color Matters
Garment color dramatically affects how the color palette will be perceived. Although each line utilizes the same 5 swatches the way they interact with each other changes based on the shirt color.
Pay attention to where the shirt color falls on the shade scale.
This will help determine the relative lightness or darkness of the other colors you choose. Spreading out your swatches across the entire spectrum of shades you can ensure that you will be able achieve a nice contrast between your design elements. Choosing a broad shape spectrum is particularly important when the design must work on multiple garment colors.
Select shades that are both considerably lighter and darker than your garment color.
Making some simple design adjustments and stretching the color palette results with the bulldogs in the second example being easier to see on all of the garment colors.
Shirt Design Tips - Contrast
Concept #3) Black and White
Removing the extreme lights and darks caused the entire image to merge into one muddy composition. The examples illustrate what happens visually when you use only mid tone colors.
Utilizing both ends of the shade spectrum is a very effective way to generate contrast.
The falcon images on the left use color schemes that also fall towards the middle of the spectrum. Notice how the images on the right are easier to look at because I pushed the color scheme by replacing some of the colors with black and white.
Very dark & light shapes create interest.
Obviously, there are instances where subtlety is desired. Ultimately, an awareness of how the various shades in color interact will allow you to maximize when and how you want to use contrasting colors.
Shirt Design Tips - Contrast
Concept #4) Separate the Layers
Strong contrasting colors make the second version of this design much more appealing and cohesive.
Contrast between layers is critical.
Depth is also essential for creating a really solidly designed t-shirt design. However, if you don’t implement contrast between the layered elements your design will lose cohesion and be difficult to view. In particular, notice how in the first example of the flaming lacrosse design I have implemented some contrast in the colors but not nearly enough. As a result this graphic is muddy and hard to read.
Use of very dark and very light areas pull a design together.
Conversely, the second design implements more black and white elements. Specifically, the white pulls away from the oranges and draws the viewer eyes to the name of the tournament and the helmet. Similarly, the pronounced use of black makes the entire design much easier to read.
Shirt Design Tips - Contrast
Concept #5) Outlines
Outlines are a very effective and simple way to separate design elements.
Outlines can build contrast.
Whenever color choices are limited or defined by the customer outlines are a particularly good solution. Even with a limited color palette outlines can be a great tool for creating contrast.
Shirt Design Tips - Contrast
Concept #6) Direct the Viewers Eye
Control the viewer's focus.
By placing the highest contrast on the most important aspect of the design will keep the focus where it belongs. Similarly, portions of the design that are less important can be de-emphasized by reducing contrast in those areas.
Contrast can also create movement.
This lacrosse design is a good example of movement through the design. The black triangle causes the eye to move clockwise through the design and circles back up to the tournament name.
Contrast can be used to draw attention to the most important portion of a design.
If you are interested in my clip art images and team logos they can be found on my vector artwork site. www.teamlogostyle.com
T Shirt Design Tips
Secrets and tips that can help you design stronger better selling t-shirts. Check out my new series of articles on designing better t-shirts.
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