It’s All About the Merch!
As a designer and educator I get to go to a fair few events, particularly in the US. Whenever I travel I like to either have stuff to hand out that’s memorable, e.g stickers as they are simple to carry and people love stickers, or I like to wear a tee that will make people ask, maybe, where I got it from. Often, if I can’t find a tee I want, I will use my design skills to make something. That’s the easy part!
The same goes for stickers to give out, like all designers, we have a hundred ideas but can’t afford to do all of them. So, after whittling it down to two of three favourites, the next part is deciding where to get them printed.
This is where my ‘go to’ service comes into play. I personally prefer Stickermule, why?, because they have always been recommended by my peers, that counts for a lot, but also because they are always doing great deals. Back in the day we’d have to order 100 Tees, 1000 stickers etc and that can start to get really expensive and also having a lot of physical stock. Sometimes all I need are 50 stickers of one design and maybe a couple of tees for a specific event. Obviously, trying to keep an evergreen design helps something from dating very quickly but these days, having a short run option is much preferable, especially when quality comes with that.
I have lost count of how many different sticker designs I have made for events, for when I swap Field Notes books, for my kids and just for fun. Being able to have short runs, even as small as just 10 stickers with one of Stickermule’s sample deals, means I can try lots of different designs and sticker styles. I have done round, square, cutout, glitter, labels and sheets, even beer mats and magnets, and sticker swapping is so much fun at events like Creative South where they are almost currency!
More lately I started to design for t-shirts. I keep a folder for t-shirt design ideas and once Stickermule (I hasten to add that other services are available) started doing tshirts as a one off order, usually around $15 per shirt, bolstered by frequent deals in their newsletters, I started getting these design printed out and wearing at events. These are great conversation starters too, especially my DUNDER MIFFLIN one done in the style of Field Notes, or my BEARS, BEETS, BATTLESTAR GALACTICA one, both for The Office fans amongst us. They always get people talking or just smiling when they recognise something. I think I know have around 20 different t-shirt designs from my logo, to pop culture references and even recreating designs from very old t-shirts I had from around 20 years ago that are too small for me now.
I can’t stress enough how much fun it is to design something and then see it in print on a sticker, a t-shirt, a fridge magnet, a beer mat and even pin badges and keychains can be ordered via Stickermule. I will always champion a service I find good quality, whether it be a sticker company, an on demand service, places like Field Notes or Dapper Notes, and companies that sell design resources such as RetroSupply that I use all the time. Every cent I spend means I get to somehow enjoy what I love to do and that’s design cool stuff (well, cool to me at least).
So the next time you open up Illustrator, spend an extra half hour designing something for a sticker or a t-shirt and proudly show off your work, you never know, once you’ve tested it out you can always go for a larger quantity to sell, you might make a new friend or even get hired.
