T-shirt designs that won't take forever...

[Dochertyscott]

Hey Guys,

So i have recently... well about 6 months ago or so employed a graphic designer with the intent of doing more T-shirt designs for clients.
I personally am also a trained graphic designer but no longer had the time to spend doing such.
I employed her at a time where things were getting really busy, to be honest she spends a lot of the time answering emails,
doing ordering, mock ups, invoicing and seperations. (which i outlined could be the case before employing her)
The problem is that when it comes to designs for clients (the design work which i would usually do in the evenings) it is taking far too long with average results that i don't feel comfortable charging for.
At her latest review we went through systems and approaches of how to come up with good t-shirt design.
I think if someone wants a t-shirt design we should be known as the place to come first rather than to a graphic design company... we know t-shirts best.
I see some of the stuff that is being posted up here and it exceeds what we could create within an acceptable time frame.
We started using Pinterest to gather ideas and layouts that we think the client might like, which has been good, but recreating is still a time muncher.
Last night i was reading through a thread on Creative Market... What a brilliant resource!
How many of you use templates and stock images such as whats available online??
I mean surely you cant be creating indervidual 3D Rendors from scratch for clients right?
Resources such as this have got me all excited about the time and quality of which we can do t-shirt design thats are worth charging for.
I'm hoping that people can help me find more sites where i can download clip art, vectors, templates, etc to build a collection or art that can be worked with for quick quality design work.

Thanks all in advance.

Scott

[Frog]

What clipart do you have presently?
I started with the stuff included in CorelDRAW back in version 4, and then a couple of those 10,000 designs type CDs which even had one offering a free subscription to Clip Art.com once upon a time.
Those kept me in business for a long time. Add all of the additional stuff in newer Corel versions, an occasional purchase of a single piece online, and I usually have what I need.
 
We have listed some internet resources in this old thread http://www.theshirtboard.com/index.php/topic,44.0.html

[Dochertyscott]

Awesome!
We have no clipart...
I'll look through that thread tonight and start bookmarking!
Cheers,

Scott

[Screened Gear]

I do all my customer stuff from scratch when they pay for it. Other wise its a bunch of simple layouts and quick vertorizing. Nothing mind blowing but it usually only takes 20 to 30 mins to do. Client loves it and we move on to the shirts were I make the money. Places like Creative market and designers out side the US have all but killed the good money in the design field (unless you want to be a production house). If I still did design I would use sites like this also for a starting point and then modify from there. I don't want to do the design work for my clients. Its a step backwards for me. I like printing because I know how long it will take and how much I will make for that time. Design your at the mercy of the client and your always trying to please the unpleaseable. Printing is easy. It looks like the proof and the registration is dead nuts, job done, pay me.

[Dochertyscott]

I do all my customer stuff from scratch when they pay for it. Other wise its a bunch of simple layouts and quick vertorizing. Nothing mind blowing but it usually only takes 20 to 30 mins to do. Client loves it and we move on to the shirts were I make the money. Places like Creative market and designers out side the US have all but killed the good money in the design field (unless you want to be a production house). If I still did design I would use sites like this also for a starting point and then modify from there. I don't want to do the design work for my clients. Its a step backwards for me. I like printing because I know how long it will take and how much I will make for that time. Design your at the mercy of the client and your always trying to please the unpleaseable. Printing is easy. It looks like the proof and the registration is dead nuts, job done, pay me.

Kinda agree... but its a service, if something good can be busted out quickly. 20 minute concept, 20 minute developments, 20 minute finals. It's $100 bucka extra with something cool to print at the end of it and a happier client.

[Screened Gear]

I do all my customer stuff from scratch when they pay for it. Other wise its a bunch of simple layouts and quick vertorizing. Nothing mind blowing but it usually only takes 20 to 30 mins to do. Client loves it and we move on to the shirts were I make the money. Places like Creative market and designers out side the US have all but killed the good money in the design field (unless you want to be a production house). If I still did design I would use sites like this also for a starting point and then modify from there. I don't want to do the design work for my clients. Its a step backwards for me. I like printing because I know how long it will take and how much I will make for that time. Design your at the mercy of the client and your always trying to please the unpleaseable. Printing is easy. It looks like the proof and the registration is dead nuts, job done, pay me.

Kinda agree... but its a service, if something good can be busted out quickly. 20 minute concept, 20 minute developments, 20 minute finals. It's $100 bucka extra with something cool to print at the end of it and a happier client.

I do agree with you but it really goes more like this.

20 mins talking to the customer about the design (after 3 missed appointments by the busy customer)
20 mins telling the customer you don't understand what a" blow you away" design is and you need them to explain.
10 mins telling them you need to know what they want it to say
20 mins nodding your head and waiting for them just to leave.
20 minute concept,
20 minute developments,
20 minute finals
20 mins talking on the phone about 3 of the concepts they want rolled all in to one.
20 mins telling them it will never work and be way to busy for a one color t-shirt design
20 mins just trying to get off the phone so you don't tell them to go f...themselves
5 mins making changes
20 mins more for round after round of changes that just make the design look stupid
15 mins explaining the color on the screen is not the color it will print
10 mins telling them that you will have to start charging for all these phone calls
5 mins jumping up and down because its finally over.

Wait... 20 mins after the shirts are printed you get to explain why you charged more that an hour for the design.


Design is only a money maker if you change enough and the customer is easy to deal with.

[Dochertyscott]

Haha too true.

[Screened Gear]

Haha too true.

Then you have all the normal stuff we deal with...

10 mins explaining what a underbase is.
10 mins explaining why you can't just print one as a proof
10 mins telling them its more work for you to print your logo on the sleeve so why would you give them a discount for it.
15 mins telling them what 7 business days is and that the 2 weeks you have been working on the design does not count.
20 mins telling them your sorry but you can't wave the rush fees. Only to wave them to get this customer away from you.
15 mins slamming your head against the wall thinking why did I ever take on this $100 design job only to way a $150 rush fee at the end of the job so the customer didn't write a bad Google review on your company...