Make Free T-Shirt Designs on Your Phone. Here’s How!

Making your own free t-shirt designs is now easier than ever! Create t-shirt designs for FREE right from your phone thanks to the GoDaddy Studio app. And you don’t even need to be a pro-level artist.

GoDaddy Studio (formally known as Over) is the go-to option for beginner or novice designers. The FREE version of their app gives you everything you need to make print-ready t-shirt designs in minutes. These designs not only work for t-shirts, but every item in your merch shop: stickers, mugs, and more.

Don’t delay your Spreadshop launch. The excuse that you’re “not an artist” doesn’t work anymore. Learn more about how you can create your merch designs for FREE!

Starting From Scratch

GoDaddy Studio’s navigation allows you to build free t-shirt designs easily. You’re not overwhelmed when you open the app – you’re inspired. Once you’re in the app, you’ll see a PLUS icon in the bottom center menu. You can click on that to choose transparent, white or black backgrounds for your design. We would go for the transparent option, especially if your design is text-based.

You can now enter in a custom size for your design based on pixel dimensions. For optimal print results, your design should have a high resolution and size. Our recommendation: set up the longest side of your design with at least 4000 pixels. This allows your design to be scaled razor-sharp on any print area – regardless of the product, without losing quality.

If your design is 4000 px by 4000 px, you can still alter how big the design will appear on your t-shirts in Spreadshop.

Uploading Images and Graphics

Once you have your background and dimensions set up, take note of the different icons on the bottom tab. The one at the very left – IMAGES – allows you to upload photos from your camera roll or pick from options in select libraries. Search for whatever type of image you want in the Unsplash and Pixabay tabs: bikes, ice cream, ferris wheel, etc. Images that have a FREE banner are fine to use. Anything with a PRO button requires a Pro Plan ($14.99/Month or $99.99/Year).

An image is allowed to be used on commercial products like merch 400 times before copyright comes into play. If you reach that amount, contact GoDaddy Studio and ask them how you can purchase the license for that image. You can also upload logos, but that falls under the Pro plan package. Graphics are another fun thing to play around with and look great on t-shirts.

The GRAPHICS tab is broken down into categories that make it easy for you to find what you’re looking for. Use the search bar at the top or pick one of their quick search options, like patterns or gradients. A lot of these graphics fall into the pro category. Try a 7-day FREE trial to see if it’s worth it before subscribing. Images and graphics look great on their own and are also complementary with text.

Text Options

When you select the TEXT icon, a text scroll bar appears with preselected FREE fonts for you free t-shirt design. The Get More button at the end of the bar unlocks more fonts in a wide range of categories. Their library is organized into fonts of different styles and types.

Find themed fonts that speak to holidays like Halloween and Valentine’s Day. Or fonts that capture different aesthetics like Editorial and Rock n Roll. Since their fonts are named fairly accurately, GoDaddy Studio also makes it easy to search for specific fonts. Just browsing these fonts is enough to unleash some merch ideas. Once you have your font selected, you can start to make design adjustments.

Certain fonts have different styles within them that can affect boldness and look of your letters. Check to make sure that you have the best option for your design. Double-click to add your text. The STYLE section allows you to alter and enhance the look if you want. Allign your text to the left, right or center. Adjust the spacing between letters or the spacing between lines if your text is larger.

If you want a bolder design, consider putting it in all CAPS. You can also alter the curve of the text in the CURVE section. This looks great when you’re working with other images or just want to show movement with your text. Change the color of your text by scrolling through a color wheel. And give your text impact by adding a shadow.

Decide how severe and what angle you want the shadow to be at. GoDaddy Studio even lets you change the color of the shadow. This helps bring a whole new dynamic to your design.

Combining Images and Text

After you have your text laid out, click the checkmark button on the top right to get back to the main menu. This will allow you to add images, graphics and even other text if you wish. Once you have an image/graphic next to your text, you’ll be able to see what you want to change to get a cohesive design.

The ADJUST area holds a lot of different options. Make your image look warmer, change the tone and the impact of contrast and saturation. Crop out areas of your image to unlock a new perspective. Mask (erase) instead of cropping if it’s easier with the design. You can also layer images/graphics on top of one another to create your own unique free t-shirt designs.

People aren’t going to be able to get this design anywhere else but on your merch.

Themes

If you need some design inspiration or don’t want to start from scratch, GoDaddy Studio also has templates. Unfortunately, you can’t add template elements to your designs. But it’s nice to see how they are coordinating text and graphics to create layouts. Find templates for categories like Fashion and Beauty that use identifiable colors and images to translate their message. You can even build your own logo. This could be specific to your merch brand or for another side hustle.

Swap the placement text and put in your own. Change the font. Alter the size of the image. Throw a filter on it. Even if you’re not going to use themes for your merch, they’re great for promotion. Make Instagram Story templates and Facebook posts you can share with your finalized merch designs.

But first, you’ve got to launch your shop.

Upload Designs to Spreadshop

Save your design to your camera roll. You can export it as a JPG or PNG. If you have a transparent design, PNGs are the only file that support that background. Now you’re ready to upload the final free mobile t-shirt designs to your shop. Enter a shop name (you can always change it later), email and password to create an account.

Browse for the files in your library or drag and drop them into the designs tab of your shop. Once your design pops up, you can start to put it on merch and customize the fit for each item. Make it larger on t-shirts and hoodies, and smaller on mugs and stickers. You now have FREE merch from your FREE designs!

Bring your vision to life when you launch your Spreadshop today.

Check out this tutorial if you still have questions about how to use GoDaddy Studio!

*This video was made when the app was still named Over, but the layout is exactly the same.