Print-on-demand shirts live and die on the graphic. Campers, gardeners, preppers, teachers and dog people all buy shirts that say something about them, and a clean badge design is one of the easiest looks to sell.

The trick is getting art you can actually print, meaning bold flat shapes on a plain background and not a photo of a shirt.

Here’s the prompt from my toolbox.

THE PLR SHOP

Done-for-you content you can put your name on

PLR articles and ebooks you can rebrand and sell as your own (or hand out as a lead magnet).

Browse the PLR Shop →

A t-shirt graphic design centered on a plain white background, isolated with nothing else in the frame. A vintage badge-style emblem of a cast iron skillet over a campfire, with crossed spatulas behind it. The words "CAMP COOK" in bold block letters arched across the top, and "EST. AROUND THE FIRE" in small letters across the bottom. Limited palette of 3 colors: rust orange, mustard and charcoal. Flat screen-print style with a slightly distressed texture, bold clean shapes, no gradients, no photo, no shirt or mockup.

Skillet, campfire, crossed spatulas, and both lines of text spelled right. It looks like something you’d buy at a campground store.

Make It Yours!

Swap the brackets and go.

A t-shirt graphic design centered on a plain white background, isolated with nothing else in the frame. A [BADGE, RETRO SUNSET, MASCOT or TYPE-ONLY] design of [YOUR SUBJECT]. The words "[MAIN TEXT]" in bold block letters arched across the top, and "[SMALL TEXT]" in small letters across the bottom. Limited palette of [2-3] colors: [COLORS]. Flat screen-print style with a slightly distressed texture, bold clean shapes, no gradients, no photo, no shirt or mockup.

A few ideas to get you started:

• A retro sunset with a chicken silhouette and “CRAZY CHICKEN LADY”
• A mascot-style tomato with “GROW YOUR OWN”
• A type-only design reading “I’D RATHER BE CANNING”
• A badge of a bug out bag with “ALWAYS READY”

The Line You Should Not Touch!

“No gradients, no photo, no shirt or mockup.”

Leave that one alone. Gradients and photo textures are what make a design print muddy, and without the mockup line you’ll get a picture of a model wearing the shirt instead of art you can upload.

Full Disclosure

I asked for 3 colors and got 5. It slipped in a light gray and a cream for the highlights. That’s fine for a lot of print-on-demand shops, but if you’re screen printing and paying per color, count them and clean it up in an editor.

You’ll also need to knock out the white background before you upload, since a lot of shops want a transparent PNG. Most editors have a one-click background remover, and check your shop’s file size and resolution rules before you list.

Selling These?

A shirt shop sells better with content behind it, like listings, blog posts and emails. That’s where my PLR shop comes in: done-for-you content you can put your name on and use as your own.

Browse the PLR Shop →

Go design a shirt. Then buy one for yourself, because you know you want to.