Once you have your list of quotes, it’s time to create designs using the quotes you’ve gathered.

You don’t have to be a graphic designer to get this done. But if you’re skilled in using Canva or Photoshop, you have an advantage.

A lot of people think that a good design has to be shiny and flashy.

No! It doesn’t work that way.

Your design doesn’t have to be complex.

A simple text-based design can sell well!

All of my winning coffee mugs have black text on a transparent background.

That’s it.

Many people buy print-on-demand products because of the message. They’re looking for a gift with a message that they want to convey to the people who will receive the gift.

This is one of the major things you must understand about the POD business. Most designs that sell well are simple text-based designs.

All you need is to ensure that the design is clean and made with beautiful font(s).

You should also keep the arrangement elegant and easy to read. Many people buy print-on-demand products because of the message. When it comes to designs, one thing that I’ve found is that ‘legibility’ sometimes trumps ‘creativity.’

Let me put it this way. A design stops being functional when the people it’s intended for can barely read what it says.

This is why I often prefer simple, text-based designs.

Also, these products don’t have much real estate compared to an open canvas. Often, because of space constraints, only a simple text design will work.

A simple text design doesn’t take much time to build, but it’s boring to do it all by yourself.

Designs can be easily created using self-help apps like Canva. You can create simple designs on your mobile phone while sipping hot coffee on your couch. It’s that easy! If you have a basic knowledge of Photoshop, that’s a plus!

But if you need to create hundreds of designs, you might need help, regardless of how easy they are to create. I hire a graphic designer to do this for me. (I’ll tell you how to go about all of this in the next chapter, so stay with me.)

But here’s the takeaway from this section: simple designs sell best!

You’ll need at least one graphic designer on your team to build a successful print- on-demand business. It boosts your productivity and helps you to maintain a sustainable, long-term workflow. This will help you maintain consistency in business and posting.

When you have time at your disposal, you can pay more attention to your SEO, advertising, social media, and other business areas. I’ve been using an independent designer for years now. Hiring one is not too expensive and worth every penny of the investment.

It might start out as a notable cost, but once you realize how many products you can crank out within a short time, you’ll find that it’s worth it.

Also, the print-on-demand business requires consistency in creating and uploading products. So, it’s much better to hire a graphic designer for your team. This will keep your uploads steady and consistent. You can focus on exploring new niches and other business opportunities while rest assured that your work is being done.