Mug Design Tutorial - Printify Mug Tutorial 11oz & 15oz
Summary
TLDRIn this video, the creator shares a detailed guide on crafting mug design print files for Etsy shop products using Printify. They discuss the importance of understanding safe and bleed areas, demonstrate how to create print files for both landscape and portrait designs, and offer tips for adjusting designs for different mug sizes. Additionally, they highlight the utility of 3D views in Printful and Gelato for ensuring design alignment on mugs, providing a comprehensive resource for artists looking to expand their merchandise offerings.
Takeaways
- 🔍 The video discusses the process of creating mug design print files for an Etsy shop using Printify, with a brief comparison to Gelato and Printful.
- 📏 Understanding the 'safe area' and 'bleed area' is crucial for ensuring design elements are not cut off during the printing process.
- 🌈 The presenter demonstrates the use of a test pattern to show how different colors align with the safe and bleed areas on a mug.
- 💡 It's recommended to create the largest design file first, usually for t-shirts, and then scale down for other products like mugs to maintain quality.
- 🎨 Two methods for making mug print files are presented: using a template for landscape designs and trimming for portrait designs.
- 🖥️ The video provides a step-by-step guide on how to use Photoshop templates to size and center mug designs correctly.
- 🔄 For designs with a portrait orientation, a shortcut is shown where the design is trimmed and then centered on the mug without using a template.
- 📸 The importance of checking design alignment on mugs is emphasized, using both the 2D and 3D views in Printify and Gelato to ensure proper centering.
- 🔗 The video offers practical tips on how to adjust and optimize designs for both 11-ounce and 15-ounce mug sizes.
- 👍 The presenter encourages viewers to share their own methods for creating mug designs and to like and subscribe for more content.
Q & A
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic of the video is about the process of creating mug design print files for selling on platforms like Etsy, using print providers such as Printify, Gelato, and Printful.
Why is the safe area important when designing mugs?
-The safe area is important because it ensures that important design elements are kept within the area that will not be cut off during the printing process, maintaining the integrity of the design on the final product.
What does the term 'bleed area' refer to in the context of mug design?
-The 'bleed area' refers to the area outside the safe area where designers can extend their designs, but it's not guaranteed to be printed on the final product due to potential alignment issues during the printing process.
How does the speaker suggest handling designs that go outside the safe area?
-The speaker suggests that while it's okay to go slightly outside the safe area to maximize design, one should avoid going all the way to the bleed line, especially at the top edge of the mug, to prevent noticeable alignment issues or blurriness.
What are the two methods the speaker uses to create mug print files?
-The two methods the speaker uses to create mug print files are: 1) Using a template provided by the print provider to size the design correctly, and 2) Trimming down a larger design file, such as one made for a t-shirt, to fit the mug print area without using the template.
Why does the speaker recommend starting with the largest print file size for a design?
-The speaker recommends starting with the largest print file size to ensure quality when resizing the design for smaller products. Scaling down a design maintains quality, whereas scaling up can result in a loss of quality.
How does the speaker ensure the centering of the design on the mug template?
-The speaker ensures the centering of the design by using the guidelines provided in the template, adjusting the design's width to fit within the safe area, and aligning the design's center with the center of the mug's print area.
What is the advantage of using the 3D view feature in Gelato and Printful?
-The 3D view feature in Gelato and Printful allows for a more accurate visualization of how the design will appear on the mug, helping designers to better center their designs and ensure they look good from all angles.
How does the speaker handle designs with a portrait orientation for mugs?
-For portrait-oriented designs, the speaker trims the design to remove excess space and then sizes and positions it within the print area of the mug template, ensuring it is centered and does not exceed the safe area.
What is the speaker's advice for designing mugs with Printify, Gelato, and Printful?
-The speaker advises starting with the largest required design size, using templates for landscape designs, and manually adjusting and centering designs for portrait orientations. They also recommend using the 3D view feature in Gelato and Printful for better design placement.
Outlines
🎨 Creating Mug Designs for Etsy Shop
The speaker introduces a video tutorial on creating mug design print files, specifically for products sold on their Etsy shop. They discuss the process of designing using Printify and touch upon other platforms like Gelato and Printful. The tutorial aims to clarify the concept of safe and bleed areas, using a test mug to demonstrate the alignment and potential issues of design elements near the edge of the mug. The importance of staying within the safe area to avoid design cutoffs is emphasized, and the video promises to delve into the intricacies of mug design creation.
🖥️ Two Methods for Creating Mug Print Files
The speaker outlines two methods for creating mug print files, depending on the design's shape. They discuss the importance of using templates and guides to ensure proper alignment and sizing. The first method involves using a template from District Photo, which is downloaded and opened in Photoshop. The speaker explains how to use the template's layers and guides to position the design correctly. They also stress the importance of creating the largest possible design file first, typically based on t-shirt dimensions, to maintain quality when resizing for other products like mugs. The second method is hinted at but not detailed in this paragraph.
🖼️ Adjusting Design Aspect Ratio for Mugs
The speaker continues the discussion on creating mug designs, focusing on how to handle different aspect ratios. For landscape-oriented designs, they demonstrate how to use the template to resize and center the design on the mug. They explain the process of merging layers, using the 'Image Trim' feature in Photoshop to remove excess space, and then adjusting the design's width to ensure it is centered on the mug. The speaker also mentions that designs can extend slightly beyond the safe area but advises against pushing them to the maximum bleed line to avoid alignment issues. The process is illustrated with a practical example, showing how to manipulate the design within the template for optimal placement on the mug.
📈 Sizing and Placing Designs for Portrait-Oriented Mugs
The speaker describes a shortcut method for creating mug designs that are portrait-oriented, meaning taller than they are wide. Instead of using a template, they trim the design to remove blank spaces and export it as a separate file. The design is then uploaded to Printify and manually sized and positioned to fit the mug's curvature. The speaker shares tips on aligning the design to the center of the mug, using the 3D view feature in Printify for a more accurate placement. They also touch upon the process for creating designs for 15-ounce mugs, suggesting the use of a different template and adjusting the design to fit the taller and narrower aspect ratio of the larger mug.
🔍 Final Thoughts and Encouragement for Sharing
In the concluding part, the speaker summarizes the process of creating mug print files, reiterating the importance of starting with the largest required design size and adjusting down for other products. They also highlight the usefulness of the 3D view feature in Printify and Gelato for ensuring designs are centered on the mug. The speaker invites viewers to share their own methods for creating mug designs and encourages positive feedback by liking the video. They remind viewers to subscribe to the channel for future content and thank them for watching.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Mug Design
💡Print File
💡Safe Area
💡Bleed Area
💡Etsy Shop
💡Printify
💡Aspect Ratio
💡Template
💡3D View
💡Centering
Highlights
Introduction to the process of creating mug design print files for Etsy shop using Printify.
Explanation of safe area and bleed area in mug design to prevent design elements from being cut off.
Demonstration of the outcome of design when going outside the safe area using a test mug.
Importance of alignment and how it affects the final print on the mug.
Two methods for creating mug print files based on the shape of the design.
Use of templates for mug print files and how to download and utilize them.
Advice on creating the largest file size for designs to maintain quality when scaling down.
Technique for resizing and centering landscape-oriented designs using the template.
Method for adjusting and centering portrait-oriented designs without using a template.
Tips for naming and organizing print files for different product types and sizes.
Instructions on how to use the 3D view in Printify for accurate design placement.
Discussion on the differences in design requirements for 11 ounce and 15 ounce mugs.
Advice on when to create separate print files for different mug sizes.
Comparison of the 3D view feature in Printify, Gelato, and Printful for design accuracy.
Encouragement for viewers to share their own methods for creating mug designs in the comments.
Call to action for viewers to like, subscribe, and comment on the video for more content.
Transcripts
hey everybody in this video we're going
to talk about everything i do to make my
mug design print file so i'm going to
show you exactly how i make my design
print files for all of my mug designs
that i sell in my etsy shop using
printify and we'll also take a quick
look at gelato and printful so stick
around and let's talk about creating
those mug designs
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alright so i've been wanting to make
this video for a while and i've gotten
questions in the comments on some of my
other videos about this exact thing
about how i go about making my design
print files for
all of my mugs and the first thing we're
going to do is talk about the safe area
because i got a test mug to kind of show
you
the outcome for at least one of the
print providers just to give you an idea
of the whole safe area the bleed area
that kind of stuff because it can be a
little confusing so i created a test
pattern and i have it on the district
photo print provider's regular 11 ounce
white mug so if we open the designer
view of that you'll see this is a grid
pattern with different colored
vertical lines so the very bottom is a
purple line the very top is a blue line
and we've got some different colors in
between and i ordered a sample of this
to see exactly how it would come out
because the top lines the blue line on
top and the purple line on the bottom
are outside of what is outlined as the
the safe area the area where you know
they suggest that you keep all of your
important design elements in to make
sure that it doesn't get cut off so i'm
going to bring up on the screen now some
close-up shots of the sample that i
received and one thing that you'll
notice is
the alignment uh we did get the top blue
line on around the entire mug we got the
bottom blue line around
95 percent of the mug you can definitely
go outside of what they you know define
as the safe area but at the same time
it's not perfectly aligned the top blue
line is really up close getting cut off
at the top and in fact it's a little bit
blurry on the far left side when you go
outside the print area like this if you
go all the way to the top here's kind of
the main takeaway when you go all the
way to the absolute top edge of the mug
with your design and you go outside of
that safe area if it is slightly tilted
like this it's more noticeable so if
this blue line on top and the purple
line on the bottom were not there if all
we had were the center four lines it
would be much less obvious that the
design as a whole was slightly tilted
from left to right kind of leans
downward as you go from left to right so
if you don't go outside the print area
the safe area at least not too much you
can go a little bit outside if you need
to to maximize your design but if you
don't go all the way up to the bleed
line the absolute top it's going to be
less obvious when something comes out
just slightly tilted so keep that in
mind all right so now that we understand
the safe area and the bleed area the
maximum area let's talk about the two
ways that i make my mug print files and
i have two ways because it kind of
depends on the shape of the design and
this at first may sound like it's not
efficient to do it two different ways
but it works for me so this is just the
way i do it if you have tips or
efficiencies on how you make your mug
designs please share in the in the
comments for this video because i would
love to learn new ways to do things and
it's always helpful to share and learn
from others all right so we're going to
start with our 11 ounce standard mug and
i'm going to find the one that i use
most common so that's going to be the
one from district photo in general the
dimensions of the print file print areas
and templates is going to be the same
for the 11 ounce white mug and there are
multiple
providers of them but in general they're
all going to be the same dimensions so
we're going to start designing and the
first thing we're going to do is we're
going to download the template for this
because using the template is one of the
two ways that i make my mug print files
so it's in the bottom left corner of the
screen it's got this little kind of
download symbol so just click on that
and it will download a zip file i'm just
going to double click on the psd file
that's the one we're going to open in
photoshop and this is what it looks like
so it gives you a few layers here
it gives you the solid white background
you can turn on and off it gives you
some information layers and it gives you
a layer to place your design now the
first thing i like to do with this
because when you get rid of the info
layer it gets rid of some helpful stuff
that you actually want expand that layer
let me actually pop this out here so you
can see it since it was behind my head
so the guide layer you just want to
expand that
and i like to keep
the green line for the safe area and the
bleed lines and all that for now but i
like to hide the info but before i do
that what i like to do is use these
guides and i place them
over the left and right center lines
because those disappear once you get rid
of the info now i can get rid of the
info and now i'm using these guides
to know where the the dead center and
then the left and the right center of
the mug is all right so i'm not going to
make my design in here and the reason
for that probably the biggest suggestion
or tip i could give you is always make
the largest file
of your design based on any product that
you might be offering that design on i
hope that sentence made sense so what i
usually do
is
i start with the t-shirt whatever the
biggest thing is i'm going to be putting
this design on whatever the largest
print file is i make that one first
because you can always size a finished
design down without losing quality but
you cannot size a file up without losing
quality the only time that's not true is
if you work with vectors and i sell most
of my designs at least on t-shirt and
mug usually t-shirt sweatshirt hoodie
mug sometimes some other stuff so i
always start with the t-shirt size
design because that's the largest file
size i do 4 500 by 5400 because it's
usable across merch by amazon etsy
redbubble pretty much any site you want
to upload a t-shirt design to now here's
where i start to deviate into two
possible ways of making the actual mug
design once i've made the design that i
want to make for the t-shirt and then
i'm going to also offer on a mug i can
go in one of two directions if the
design is more of a landscape
aspect ratio if it's wider than it is
tall then i use the template to size it
correctly if it is a square or a
portrait aspect ratio so if it's taller
than it is wide then i just trim my
t-shirt file down to get rid of the
blank the large size of the t-shirt file
and i save it as a separate file and i
just add mug to the name and i don't use
the template so i'll show you using the
template first then we'll do it the
other way so i've made this file i've
already saved it as i've exported it as
a png for the t-shirt and this is just a
template file i have in photoshop it's a
psd and it's got you know a white layer
in the background and a black layer in
the background so i can quickly take a
look at that this one still has its
separate layers though i haven't merged
these layers so i'm going to do that
first
again let me pull the layers out here i
am going to
merge the layers and why do i do this
instead of just
taking the t-shirt file well the most
important thing when you're designing
for mugs and centering is to know
exactly where the center is of the
design
and you could be you know slightly off
when you save your t-shirt file and it's
got blank space on the right and the
left you know you would have done your
best to center it in the t-shirt design
but
sometimes it could be off just a little
bit and it is noticeable when something
is off a little bit on a mug so when you
merge the layers
and then use this image
trim
and then just hit ok it'll get rid of
all of the extra size of that t-shirt
file that we no longer need and i'm not
going to save this psd to overwrite the
template i had or anything i just needed
it to be trimmed down so that i know i
will know exactly where the center of
just
the design is all right now i can just
copy this layer so i can just do my
commander control c come over to my mug
template now and i can paste it in of
course i'm going to have to make it
quite a bit smaller and now we'll start
to bring it in now here's what i was
talking about this is why i use the
template for designs that look like they
might be a little bit wider than they
are tall because what we need is we need
the design to be as close to being
centered on each side of the mug as
possible the key is that the center of
your design needs to be
relatively close to where these
guidelines are and at the same time you
don't really want your design going
outside of the safe area too much it can
go outside a little bit and i do that
all the time but you don't want to have
it pushed way to the maximum
bleed line like this and you'll see
there's kind of a kind of a red border
around it here so what you don't want is
you don't want it looking like this now
this looks okay in terms of where the
center is but this is way too close to
the maximum bleed line on the edge we
don't want that what we want
is for this tire here the the farthest
left side to be pretty much right on the
safe line
but we want this centered it's not
working out that way so what do we do
we're going to grab the right bounding
box a cube here we're going to hold down
the shift key and we're going to drag
this in and it's just going to squeeze
the design and make it more narrow and
i'm going to do that until it gets
to be where it's centered if it doesn't
look really weird then you can let go
and we're gonna and we're gonna try this
okay if it did look really weird then
you might need to do a little bit more
tinkering you might need to make it
vertically a little smaller as well um
most designs i find that most designs i
can squish them like that a pretty good
amount before they start looking really
strange and keep in mind that on a
curved item like a mug it's not going to
be quite as noticeable that you squished
it in this case you know the longer you
look at this the less weird it looks but
in this case i'm happy with this i think
this looks good i'm going to make sure
it's vertically centered
there's kind of an assist pink line that
shows up there in photoshop so
vertically centered we're good and i'm
happy with the way it's centered on the
left side of the mug so now all we have
to do is copy this layer and do the same
thing over here on the right so we'll
just grab this and do a duplicate layer
all right now we'll grab that and move
it over and again we'll make sure it's
centered we'll make sure that it matches
up from a vertical standpoint we'll make
sure that it lines up as far as where
we've got there we go so now it's
showing me three three pink lines and so
i think we're good to save this print
file before you save it just make sure
you turn off all of the other layers so
turn off the background
turn off all of the assist layers looks
like we turned everything off so now we
can do an export as a png all right so
now we're back in printify and we're
going to add the design and when it
uploads it should default to the 100
scale because it is the exact size of
this print area and it should look
pretty much exactly like it looked in
photoshop so all we really need to do is
hit preview and make sure that what
we've got
looks good from a left and right
perspective all right so the left side
looks okay the right side let's take a
look there's a little bit of a
something to be aware of here so in this
view this looks like maybe it's a little
bit too far to the left but two things
to keep in mind one is that there's
another view of the right side of the
mug it's it's a context one it's this
one this one to me almost always looks
like it places the design a little
further to the right and i find that
it's a little bit more accurate to what
you actually receive at least in all the
samples i've gotten so i usually pay a
little more attention to this particular
mock-up when it comes to the right side
of the mug and the other thing to be
aware of is you know with our design
what was the actual center in the design
the actual center in the design if you
look at where the center bounding box is
the center
is
not really the peak of the first
avocado's head it's kind of like where
the where this one black line is on the
avocado and then if we come and look at
this one this one looks much more like
it matches up with what we saw in
photoshop as well as the edit view see
how this line is matching up to what we
saw in photoshop just something to
consider
i personally you know once i'm satisfied
that it comes out looking like this i
would go ahead and i'm comfortable with
the way this looks i would go ahead and
proceed to
make the rest of my listing so the
second way that i create my mug designs
is i take a little bit of a shortcut if
the design is more portrait orientation
more vertical it's taller than it is
wide so here's an example of that this
is a dad themed design in honor of
father's day uh so this is living the
dad life with a little silhouette of a
dad pushing a couple babies in a baby
carriage here now you could do this on
the 11 ounce black mug or the 11 ounce
white mug it might stand out a little
bit better on the black mug but we'll
just keep it to the white mug to keep it
simple here um so for this design
this is much taller than it is wide all
i do is i still do the trim so i'll go
to image trim and just hit ok and now i
don't have any extra blank space and now
i'll just go to file export i'll export
this and i'll give it the same name i'll
just add mug so it would be like
dad
life and then i put an underscore and
mug and that's that's how i name my file
so i know if
if the type of product is not in the
name i know it's for a t-shirt or a
sweatshirt and then if it's for
something else i add the name so i would
already have a file that's just called
dadlife.png
now i've got one that's dadlife mug now
the whole idea here is that i didn't
need to resize that design i didn't need
to change the width because i'll be able
to center it on both sides of the mug
easily right in the editor view and so
all i do is i'll upload my mug print
file alright and then i'm just going to
size it we'll make it a little bit
bigger here i'm just going to size it so
that it looks like it fits well and you
can pretty much max out you know the top
the safe area with a design like this
you could even go slightly
over the safe area line if you wanted to
but i'm just going to cap it right at
the safe area line to get the the most
width out of it as possible and now i'm
just going to place this so that it
lines up i'm going to go just a touch to
the left
or to the outside of the center line
because i find that the center line is
actually a little bit more like
just a hair
to the outside of it rather than right
dead on it so just look for that that
little
circle for the bounding box and i like
to place mine just uh just slightly to
the outside once i've got that all you
do is use the copy feature right here in
the editor so this uh little copy is
right next to the trash can on the right
side of the designer view so hit
duplicate gives you a second one of that
matches the exact size you just made and
then i just bring it over to the right
side
and i do the same thing i place it just
just to the
right
of that
center line so just about the same just
right about there and now we can hit
preview and so this is what the design
looks like now this looks like i might
need to shift the left side of the mug
over even a little bit more let's look
at the right side then we'll look at my
favorite one the context one
that doesn't look too bad that looks
pretty good actually see this one has it
more over to the right again so i'm
probably just going to leave this
because i think it looks pretty good on
both sides
after reviewing this one and this is the
one that in my experience tends to be
the more accurate all right so that's
that that is how i
size and and place my designs if they
are more of a portrait orientation i
don't even bother with the template now
let's just talk about the 15 ounce mug
size option that a couple print
providers have for example if you use my
locker as your print provider they have
the 11 ounce and 15 ounce size available
within the same listing so you can just
publish one listing that's got both
options if you go with district photo
they're separate in the catalog you can
still combine them in one listing by
copying sku numbers but they are listed
separately so if you do want to do a 15
ounce size i just wanted to show you
that it's not necessarily anything
different that you have to do the
template is different it's a different
size template um that looks like just
about what the center should be we'll
hit preview and it's going to look a
little bit funny because the 15 ounce
mug
is more
tall and narrow compared to the 11 ounce
mug different aspect ratio to the mug
itself so here's a good example of a
design where if you're going to sell
this on the 15 ounce size you probably
need to save a separate print file
and what i would personally do is
again i would i would just go to the
template there's a template for this one
too
so i would open this up and i would use
this template to then take
this i would just drag this right over
or copy and paste and i would do
something similar where i would resize
it and then i would probably push it a
little bit further to the left or to the
outside to the left or the right of the
center line
for your for your print area and you
might need to do that kind of like
squishing it a little bit more until
you've kind of maximized the height and
the width for getting it centered in
that print area and then just save this
as another file and add 15 to the name
so you can tell the difference and
upload it and you should be good to go
now if it was a design where you used
the individual separate layers where you
just had one print file that is again
even easier to adjust your 15 ounce size
by shrinking it to the print area again
i like to place a little outside of the
lines do the copy again match it up to
the other side and then look at your
preview so with 15 ounce mugs the more
portrait orientation your design is the
better it's going to look some print
files work just fine on both sizes and
some i find you know you need to you
need to go in and adjust it using the 15
ounce template so it's really just up to
your judgment on what's going to look
good and that's it that's my whole
process of creating my
mug print files always start with the
largest size that you need so if that's
a t-shirt then do that first and then
size it down and adjust i do want to
show you one other thing that is helpful
if you're using gelato or printful
because they both have this feature when
you are in the design
creation step for your listings with
mugs so once you click on start
designing and you're in the designer
view in gelato and the same thing is
going to be true in printful it's going
to look a little different of course but
the main thing i want to show you is so
you've uploaded your print file and you
make any adjustments you want to make
here once you do that you can click on
3d so they have a regular preview but
both printful and gelato also have a 3d
view which i think is the best i think
it's the best way to be able to see
where the center of your mug is so what
i like to do it's kind of like the hand
tool where you just grab it and move it
all around so what i like to do is i
like to i tip the mug
either down or up so like let's tip it
down and then just kind of find where
the center is actually you know let's
tip it up where is the center of this
side of the mug looks like maybe it's
like bearish that's about as good as i
can get it because it doesn't tip down
any further i think printfuls comes more
like completely horizontal and then just
rotate up try not to rotate to the side
just rotate up
to the point where now you feel like
you're looking at the side of the mug
dead on and this is the this is what it
will look like this is i think the best
way using the 3d view if you use gelato
or printful to really tell whether you
have centered your design on your mug
and yes i did chop that tire off
so i hope this video was helpful for you
if it was helpful let me know in the
comments if you have other ways of
making your mug designs as i said also
put that in the comments because i love
to learn from from all of you as well as
far as what you do to create your mug
designs if you did find it helpful do me
a favor hit that like button so that
youtube can get this video out to more
people and if you haven't subscribed to
the pod insights channel go ahead and
hit that subscribe button so you can get
notified of future videos that i have
coming out thanks everybody
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