How to Succeed In POD Industry With No Design Skills

Have you ever thought about starting your own print on demand business? The print on demand industry is seeing a huge revenue growth of 44% in 2021. So, if you think about it, now is the time to start your own POD business.

However, many people have the same concern: how can I open a POD business if I have no design skills? In this article, we will show you why you do not need design skills to launch a successful print on demand store.

We will start with an analysis of the best ways to create unique print on demand products without any graphic design experience. By the end of this 5-minute read, you’ll know all the tools you need to quickly create a design. Let’s dive deeper into it.

How to Easily Create Awesome POD Designs

If you do not want to spend hours designing your print on demand products, there is a very profitable type of design for you: text-only designs. Let us take a look at the tools and elements you can use to create unique text-only designs for your POD business.

Creating Text-Only Designs

Text-only designs are always in fashion. That’s one of the main reasons why they are among the best-selling print-on-demand designs. Best of all, you do not need any design knowledge to create one.

There are many types of text-only designs. From jokes and phrases to puns, slogans, and inspirational quotes, your options are simply endless. 

But how can you create a text-only design? Well, the process is pretty simple:

1. Use Pinterest and Marketplaces For Inspiration

The first thing you need to do is research. Even if you know exactly what your designs will be about, research is crucial to the success of your business. Pinterest is one of the most popular platforms for graphic designers.

You can take a look at your competitors and find out what you like or dislike about their designs. Accordingly, you can also explore some major marketplaces like Etsy. 

Of course, you should not copy any design and use it for your business. But looking at the best-selling products, such as t-shirts, mugs, wall art, and hoodies will give you the inspiration you need to create your own designs.

Once you know exactly what you want your design to look like, you can start thinking about the design software and tools you’ll use.

2. Use Beginner-Friendly Design Software/Tools

Since you are a beginner and don’t have any experience with graphic design, using advanced software like Photoshop or Illustrator probably isn’t the best way to go. 

Thankfully, there are numerous beginner-friendly tools that can help you create awesome POD designs in minutes.

The best design software for new POD business owners are:

1. Canva: Canva is an online platform that allows you to quickly create unique designs without any skills. With one of the easiest drag-and-drop builders out there, Canva helps you learn how to manipulate lettering, graphics, and photos. You can use your own photos, graphics, and fonts or use the app’s extended collection. 

2. Gimp: Gimp is a free alternative to Photoshop. If you need an open-source image editor that also lets you create and edit graphics, this is the best choice. Even though Gimp is not as beginner-friendly as Canva, it is very popular among POD business owners.

3. Pixlr: Like Canva, Pixlr is an online editor that lets you create designs in minutes. Pixlr is the best choice for those who prefer to work with templates and layers. You can create a design, add it to the product and start selling. 

With all the above programs, you can create designs even if you have no experience. These platforms will also help you import public domain elements and edit them.

So even if you do not have your own graphic elements (images, photos, vectors, and graphics), you can easily download some and manipulate them with Canva, Gimp, or Pixlr.

3. Use Free Resources (Images, Photos, Vectors, Graphics)

No matter what software you opt for, you will need some free resources for your designs. Even if you choose a text-only design, you can sparkle it with a free graphic or photo you found online. If you work with Canva, you’ll find that the app has numerous elements (photos, graphics, and fonts) that you can use. 

However, if you need more graphics for your designs, you can visit a public domain like Publicdomainvectors or Pexels. There you can easily find and download the graphics you need for your POD designs. Awkward Styles Print on Demand provides a design library as well, with hundreds of free text only designs proven to sell well.

4. Choose the Right Font 

Choosing the right font is critical to the success of your designs. As a rule, the font you choose should always match the main message of your design. You want your design to be easy to understand, right? For this reason, you should always choose readable fonts.

All the software suggested above has advanced font collections that you can experiment with. But what if you need to create a special Christmas design and need a great display font to frame it with?

In that case, you can visit one of the following websites:

• DaFont (Free and premium font collection)
• Font Squirrel (Free and premium font collection)
• Creative Market (Marketplace for fonts, graphics, templates, and more)

5. Create Variations of the Same Design

Once you have created a design, you should start over and create a new one, right? Well, not necessarily. In most cases, you should create different variations of your design. By experimenting with the fonts, graphics, and colors of a design, you can choose its best version. This proves to be a very effective tactic for print on demand businesses. 

Wrap Up

You do not have to be a graphic designer to open a merch store! If you use the software and tools mentioned above, you can create unique designs without any design skills.

Of course, creating unique designs is not the only step to building a successful print on demand business. For example, you should choose your niche and products carefully and customize your designs accordingly.

But now that you know design skills are not required, maybe it’s time to start your own business!