It’s simple enough to make large images with a lot of pixels smaller. However, resizing a small image to a large image is where you’ll run into some trouble.

Believe it or not, it actually is possible to successfully take a low-resolution image and enlarge it to a higher resolution. So, don’t go anywhere because we’re about to fill you in on how to resize an image without losing quality.

Option 1: Perfect Resize

Perfect Resize is a software that allows users to transform images with resolution optimization. The software ranges between $50 and $150 depending on your package, but there’s a good chance you’ll be sold after the 30-day free trial. Once you’ve downloaded the application or the Photoshop plugin, then it’s smooth sailing through the rest of the process.

Simply open the image you wish to resize (if you’re using the Photoshop plugin, just click “File” then Automate”), then populate the dimensions of your desired document size. Click “apply” to save your changes, and voila, you’re clean, crisp image is ready to go!

Compatibility:
Mac
Windows
Photoshop Integration

Option 2: Gimp

We’ve previously mentioned the desktop application called Gimp in our post about 5 Free Alternatives to Adobe Photoshop, but what we didn’t mention, is that Gimp can be used to enlarge images without the loss of quality too. Now, Gimp’s resolution capabilities aren’t as advanced as Perfect Resize’s but there will still be a noticeable difference between your starting image and the finished product.

Start by opening your desired image in Gimp. Next, go to “image” then “scale image” and enter the size you wish the enlarged image to be. Finally, select “Sinc Lanczos3” as your interpolation selection. Finish by clicking “scale” and watch the magic happen!

Compatibility:
Mac
Windows

 Option 3: AKVIS Magnifier

AKVIS Magnifier is another wonderful software that allows image resizing with minimal to no quality loss. Its unique algorithm takes low-resolution images and transforms them into intricate, quality photos with just a few simple clicks.

Like Perfect Resize, the AKVIS Magnifier tool can be used as a standalone software or it can be found under “File” then “Automate” in Photoshop after downloading. Simply open your low-resolution image, set the height, width and resolution to your desired size and click “save”! AKVIS Magnifier offers many additional settings and parameters for resizing purposes, but for basic use, the standard setting will be perfect. Because this program is intricate and used by many professional photographers, it’s $89 cost is understandable. However, there is a free trial, so you can test drive this software before making any permanent decisions.

Compatibility:
Mac
Windows
Photoshop Integration

So, now that you know the secret to resizing images, give any of the mentioned applications a try and see the transformation first-hand. It’s hard to deny the amazing results.

The post Resize Images without Losing Quality appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

Now, content gives you full bragging rights. Talk your brand up, reveal your values, your industry knowledge, even your plans for the future. Prove that you’re the best and why you should be their go-to brand. Consumers have become deaf to advertising, so the world of content marketing is where you need to exist.

The following platforms are a good place to start as far as content marketing goes. Give them a try and see how they can improve your eCommerce content strategy.

Medium

Many well-known brands and influencers use Medium as the backbone to their content marketing strategy. The platform takes informational and educational content and gives users an opportunity to add their own personality and meaning. Medium isn’t about sharing facts, it’s about sharing your voice and ideas. If you want your thoughts to be heard, then Medium is the place for you.

Tumblr

While Tumblr has been under the radar for the past couple years, it’s officially made a groundbreaking comeback. To make it simple, Tumbler is blogging made easy. The platform allows users to post anything imaginable. Stories, photos, facts, GIF’s, links, literally anything. You’ll never run out of interesting things to share! Now that Tumblr’s acquiring users at a record-setting pace, don’t pass up the content opportunities that it has to offer.

Pinterest

There’s a good chance you’re already familiar with the power of Pinterest. However, you may not realize that Pinterest isn’t a social media platform. It’s a search engine, just like Google and just like YouTube. Pinterest takes the functionality and engagement of social media and implements it into a search engine environment, filled with SEO opportunities. By producing content on Pinterest, you’re inspiring and educating your audience while driving traffic to your website. Pinterest offers a lot of possibilities for your brand, so be sure to use the platform to its full potential.

Flipboard

If you haven’t already explored the idea of implementing Flipboard into your eCommerce content strategy, then now is the perfect time. While Flipboard is similar to a social network, it’s more of a magazine staring your brand and other relevant content. You can feature new content created by you or “flip” articles into your magazine! Invite people to read your content, invite people to contribute content, whatever you want to produce, Flipboard has the tools to make it happen.

Reddit

Reddit is a creative social platform allowing users to hold discussions and connect with others on certain topics. Now, Reddit is unique in a way where it creates smaller groups within the platform to bring people with similar interests together. By utilizing Reddit for your brand, you’ll be able to broaden the reach of your content and support a community of people that love your brand as well.

Quora

Quora is a user-friendly question-and-answer platform, used by millions of professionals in various markets. From a content perspective, Quora is vital for building brand awareness. There’s thousands of consumers asking for help, recommendations and suggestions from the public. This is a place where your brand can become a solution. Share your industry knowledge and build a presence until you become the go-to, reliable source for relevant information.

The list doesn’t end here. There are many wonderful content marketing platforms that will do amazing things for your business. Try out a couple, see which feel right and hammer away at content marketing plan.

The post Content Marketing for eCommerce Stores appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

When you’re producing new designs for the merchandise in your online print on demand shop, a lot of the creative work can get tedious. Well, you’re in luck because we’re about to share ten of the most useful apps for designers.

1. Wunderlist

If you’re one for organization, then this is the app for you. Wunderlist is a free application offering a clean and organized way to create and maintain multiple to-do lists. You have the ability to set due dates, reminders and even add subtasks. Between shop promotions, content marketing, and design planning, you’ll never miss a note with Wunderlist.

Compatible with:
Windows
Mac
Android
iOS

2. Fontil

If you have a passion for typography, then Fontil has the inspiration you need. This application fuels your creativity by presenting inspirational fonts used in everyday life. As a social network for typography ideas, the design process becomes simplified and stimulating. If you’re ever looking for a great t-shirt font, then this is the app for you.

Compatible with:
iOS

3. Copaso

Copaso is a powerful color palate software helping designers develop amazing color combinations. The platform offers basic, advanced, and photo-based palate builders, so color creations are limitless. Additionally, Copaso has the ability to sync your palates to your phone! Your designs will be balanced and aesthetically pleasing with this app by your side.

Compatible with:
Web devices

4. Coolors

Coolors is yet another amazing color palate tool. It’s fast, effective and easy-to-use. Coolors offers a variety of handy features that will make designing as easy as possible. Whether you want to store your colors in the cloud, export and share your palates, or adjust and refine your combinations, this app can do it all. Simplify the palate creation process and give Coolors a try!

Compatible with:
Web devices
iOS

5. Paper

Have you ever had an amazing design idea, and completely drew a blank when you were ready to execute it? We know, it’s the worst. With Paper, this problem will never happen to you again. Right when inspiration hits, power up the Paper app and sketch, type and brainstorm away. Paper is like your idea chamber. Keep your ideas to yourself or share your creations on social media. Don’t let your ideas go to waste and download the Paper app!

Compatible with:
iOS

6. IFTTT

IFTTT takes technology to a whole new level. Instead of toggling between commonly used applications, IFTTT offers an automation service for all your favorite web and mobile apps. The platform is compatible with smart devices, so you can even integrate IFTTT with your Google Home or Alexa. Pretty cool, huh? Don’t waste any more time managing all of your apps separately, all you need is IFTT to make your life easier.

Compatible with:
Web App
iOS
Android

7. PicLab

Spice up your photos with PicLab. This platform has the capacity to bring your photos to the next level by adding eye-popping fonts and unique effects. Perfect your creation by tweaking the color, position and opacity of your graphics and share them on your favorite social media platform! Give your photos the recognition they deserve by firing up PicLab.

Compatible with:
iOS
Android

8. Adobe Illustrator Draw

Okay, when your see the word Adobe, you know it’s going to be an essential app for design. Adobe Illustrator Draw has officially made vector art creation mobile. With a variety of pen tips, merging options and stencils, creating a masterpiece will become second nature. Plus, with PDF export, your art will always be ready for upload!

Compatible with:
iOS
Android

9. ArtFlow

ArtFlow alone has the power to create intricate artwork with ease. When it comes to it’s features, there are too many to count, but all easy-to-use. Whether you’re at home, in the car, at work or anywhere else, ArtFlow’s Photoshop-like functionality will be by your side and ready for creation. In short, ArtFlow is a solid, go-to option for designers of all levels.

Compatible with:
Android

10. Snapseed

Snapseed is an essential photo app from Google. It’s considered a professional photo editor offering 20+ tools for photo optimization. Plus, the apps offer useful tip and trick about the app and photography in general. If you’re looking to give your photos a little something extra, Snapseed is what you need for photo perfection.

Compatible with:
iOS
Android

What apps do you use? Share your favorite apps with us!

The post 10 Most Useful Apps for Designers appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

Why Create Buyer Personas?

Creating buyer personas was once a marketing tactic that mostly large, developed companies used. However, now that it’s incredibly easy to open your own online shop, it’s become more and more common for smaller business to create buyer personas to properly claim their position in the market.

Targeting a large group of consumers may sound like a good idea, when in reality, you’re just aimlessly targeting an indefinite group of people. By creating detailed buyer personas, targeting your ideal customer will be simplified, hassle-free and most of all, effective. You’ll be able to use your time more efficiently and can provide a strong, authentic value to the right consumers.

How to Create Buyer Personas?

Let’s say there’s 1 million people shopping online for t-shirts at this very minute. Now, within that million, there will be impulsive shoppers, discount shoppers, parents shopping for kids, even kids shopping for parents. It’s impossible to target such a broad range of people. It’s imperative to consider all parameters when developing your buyer personas, so your voice, message and content meets their needs. Contemplate what kind of shoppers will be entering your shop and identify their spending habits. Most buyer personas include the following characteristics.

• General location
• Age
• Gender
• Education Level
• Income
• Social media platforms
• Interests
• Frequently visited websites
• Lingo
• Interests and hobbies
• Relationship statuses
• Purchase habits
• Needs
• Concerns

Brand Persona Examples

So, your t-shirt shop is up and running. Now, you’re looking to create detailed buyer personas, so you can produce content that speaks to your target audience. Here we’ve drawn up some examples to help inspire your ideal customer.

Last Minute Shopper

Name:                                 Sam
Age:                                    27 years old
Gender:                              Male
Location:                            San Francisco, CA
Education:                          Bachelor’s degree
Occupation:                        Sales Manager
Interests:                            Sports, outdoors, fitness and health
Behavior:                            Buys online last minute before holidays, usually shops online
Needs:                                A quick and easy gift for family or friends, fast delivery
Concerns:                           Receiving products on time, products in stock
Common Device:                Mobile

Strategy:                             Social media post on “last minute holiday gifts”

The Bargain Hunter

Name:                                  Jessica
Age:                                     35 years old
Gender:                                Female
Location:                              Ft Lauderdale, FL
Education:                            Master’s Degree
Occupation:                          Finance

Interests:                              Budgeting, shopping, dining
Behavior:                             Rarely buys full price items, searches products by price
Needs:                                 Discounts, deals, quality
Concerns:                            Not spending too much
Common Device:                 Computer

Strategy:                              Promote monthly shop discounts and free shipping when applicable

It’s not effective to target everyone when you’re promoting products in your shop. Know who your audience is and understand their needs, so your shop becomes their solution.

The post Detailed Buyer Personas for Your Merch appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

The Profile

Let’s start with the basics, your profile. Since you’re promoting your brand, it’s vital to create a business account. Pinterest’s business profile enables access to analytics and insights, so you know what’s working and what’s not. If you already have a personal account for your brand, it can easily be converted to a business account as well.

Now, it’s time to jump into your profile’s SEO. Consider a username that not only represents your brand, but is also SEO friendly. Your username will be incorporated into your profile’s URL, so it’s important to make sure it’s fitting for your brand.

The Boards

Pinterest boards are more than a way to organize your pins, they’re opportunities for SEO. While creating your Pinterest boards, the most important thing to keep in mind, is to think like your audience. Optimize your titles in a way that makes sense from a search engine perspective. Consider how your target groups would come across your products and which keywords they would use in the search bar. Between board titles and board descriptions, you’ll effectively and efficiently get the right consumers to the right place in your profile.

The Pins

Pinterest is flooded with blog posts, articles, products and just about everything else. So, how can you make it to the top of the search results? Simply by keeping some trending keywords handy. Use these keywords wisely, and your relevance can only grow. There are three SEO must-haves when it comes to creating pins.

1. A keyword-rich title
2. A keyword-rich description
3. Link every pin to your website

Keep in mind that the titles of your pins don’t need to be too catchy or original, it’s a lot more effective to use popular keywords. By working these three points into every single pin, you’re cultivating more and more of a presence throughout the platform.

In conclusion

Remember, don’t neglect the aesthetics of your profile. Pinterest will always be an image-based platform, so your brand’s page should be neat, organized and clean. The better your pins look, the more likely users will share them.

Now, there’s no such thing as too much content. Create as many relevant board and pins for your Pinterest profile, and you’ll continue to grow.

Are you a social influencer? Want to make money with your creativity? Monetize on your designs by opening a 100% FREE online shop today!

Open your own shop

The post Pinterest SEO: Optimize your Pins appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

Create a marketing plan

Every successful business has a marketing plan. It’s important to outline your goals so you can drive your brand to success. A marketing plan doesn’t have to be extensive or drawn-out. It could even be jotted down on a piece of notebook paper. As long as it’s guiding your efforts and keep your business on track, then you will be A-OK!

Be your own brand

While competitive analysis is important, there’s a difference between being your own brand and copying other brands. Consumers will naturally buy from the original, not the trying contestants. By solidifying your visual identity and your niche in the industry, your brand will be recognized as the new exciting brand, the one that unlike any other. This is your merchandise shop, so stick with it and make it as unique and memorable as you are!

Focus on the awareness, not the sales

Sales are what keep a business alive, but sales are non-existent if nobody knows about you. Buyers won’t give into the occasional sales pitch anymore. They look for personality, validity and confidence in a brand. Make your presence known. Whether it’s on social media, on a blog or even offline marketing, make sure it’s in front of the right people so your products remain relevant.  Once you’ve cultivated a dedicated following, sales will come in before you know it.

Consider using Facebook advertising

A small investment can go a long way with Facebook advertising. Facebook’s targeting capabilities are simply remarkable, and the results are fast. Your brand will literally be exposed to thousands of people for under $10. While it’s rewarding to raise awareness organically, you can’t doubt the power of Facebook Ads.

Remember, success doesn’t happen overnight. It’s may even take some trial and error, but as long as you focus on what’s important, then success will be sure to come.

The post What to do When Merch Sales Are Slow appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

Turn your handwriting into a font

Creating your own font is as easy as writing the alphabet. There are free online tools and resources that will bring your handwriting from paper to the screen with ease. Calligraphr can do this in three easy steps.

1. Print the Calligraphr font template
2. Populate the template using the pen and handwriting of your choice
3. Take a snapshot and upload it to Calligraphr’s interface.

Voila! Your font is generated. Easy enough, right? Never again will you have to spend hours searching for that one special font for your t-shirt design! Of course, practice makes perfect, but with a bit of patience and imagination, you’ll soon create an amazing typeface that will make your customers’ jaws drop!

Why create your own fonts?

Have you ever imagined the perfect t-shirt font, but had trouble finding the right typeface to match your vision? We know the feeling. Creating your own font doesn’t only solve that problem, it gives you the power to bring an idea to life.  Plus, it’s nice to use your own crafty font freely! You’ll no long have to worry about licensing and legal issues, it’s 100% yours. You can…

• WOW your friends and customers
• Show off your design skills
• Create AMAZING t-shirt designs
• Improve your brand’s visual identity
• Create amazing header images for social media and your Spreadshirt shop

And there you have it! Creating corporate, professional fonts can be a little more complex, but if you’re looking to try something new and have fun with your creativity, give Calligraphr or another free font tool a try!

The post How to Create Your Own Fonts appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

Pinterest effectively combines attributes of both impulsive consumers and practical consumers through images on its aesthetically pleasing platform. Even just one simple pin has the power to improve your brand’s visual identity, SEO and website traffic. To make the most of your Pinterest account, here are some tips and tricks to effectively sell on Pinterest.

Link Your Website to Every Pin

You’re not going to reap the benefits of Pinterest if your pins aren’t directing your audience anywhere. Whether you’re trying to drive traffic to your website, your Spreadshirt shop or your social media profiles, be sure to include the URL in each pin. That way, when someone wants to learn more about one of your pins, they have a direct passage to further information.

Highlight the Benefits

As an entrepreneur, nobody knows your brand like you do. It’s your prerogative to brag about all the benefits of your business, and Pinterest is the perfect platform to do this. If consumers are aware of your strongest selling points, they’ll be a lot more willing to learn more.

Verify Your Website

Nothing gives a consumer more trust and reassurance than that little verification symbol. Luckily, with Pinterest, you don’t have a bunch of requirements to make this happen. All you need to do is verify your website, and voila, you’re official.

Share Success Stories

When a consumer can witness customer satisfaction, they automatically associate your business with success. Use Pinterest to share brand-related content produced by your customers. Dedicate a Pinterest board to customer success and your audience will want to experience that feeling as well!

Provide Inspiration

Many people use Pinterest for finding vacation destinations, recipes, car reviews and everything in between. Why? Because people want to feel inspired. Share exciting and inspirational images related to your brand. If you’re promoting your Spreadshirt shop, some inspiring images might be outfit ideas or design ideas. Link these pins to your website, and your products could make someone’s inspiration a reality.

Add Discounts and Pricing

Product rich pins reveal real-time pricing and discounts. By sharing rich pins that feature your products, consumers can easily make a purchase from your shop with just a few clicks. This is when Pinterest basically does the selling for you, so don’t wait any longer to take advantage of this powerful tool.

Use Trending Keywords

Using keywords on Pinterest doesn’t only give you more visibility on the platform, it also can improve your organic search ranking on Google as well. Populating your pins with trending, relevant keywords will help give your pins the exposure that they deserve. In order to properly use keywords in Pinterest account, try implementing some of our tricks below:

• Incorporate keywords in the description of your pin
• Incorporate keywords in the title of your pin
• Use Pinterest Analytics to gain insight on your most effective pins
• Use the Pinterest search bar to help nail down long tail keywords
• Incorporate keywords in title of each pin board

So, there you have it, some helpful hints to make the most of your Pinterest profile.  Now, are you ready to start selling with Pinterest?

The post How to Sell on Pinterest appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

How to Win the Viewers

Uploading a video to YouTube is a lot more complex than just uploading a picture to Instagram or posting something on Facebook. There are certain components to be aware of before a video is published.

• Title: The title is what reels your audience in. Try composing a title with a cliffhanger so there’s an element of mystery behind your video. Be sure to research trending keywords as well so it’s your video that’s at the top of the search results.
• Video descriptions: As mentioned before in our blog post, SEO for YouTube, SEO algorithms can’t listen to videos, but they can read them. This is where the importance of video descriptions come into play. Fill your video description with relevant keywords and catchy copy, so YouTube can bump your channel up in search results.
• YouTube cards: Cards on YouTube do the work for you. They encourage viewers to make the next move by adding a bit of interactivity. Experience the effect of YouTube cards by driving traffic to your shop. You’ll be happy with the results.

How to Edit Fast and Easy

If you’re new to video editing, don’t get discouraged, because it’s easy for anybody to edit videos nowadays. Both the internet and app stores offer a plethora of video editing tools that can polish your content in minutes.

Mobile Software

• iMovie: iMovie is a solid starting place as far as mobile editing goes. While there are many free apps available, iMovie’s low price of $4.99 is completely worth it considering its endless capabilities. Not to mention, it’s easy to use!
• Splice: Splice was developed by GoPro Inc., so you know it means business. The platform is filled with effects, transitions, and filters, so every video is as unique as the next. Oh, not to mention, Splice is 100% free without ads!

Online Software

• YouTube Editor: Ah, old reliable. YouTube itself has an editor for transitions and text. While it’s capabilities are limited, it’s perfect for editing standard videos with ease.
• Lightworks: Lightworks is an advanced and intuitive video editing tool. It’s even been used to editing some of the top Hollywood films! Lightworks offers both free and pro versions to best fit the needs of its users. For standard YouTube editing, the free version will be more than suitable.

How to Monitor the Performance of Your Videos

Analyzing video growth is vital for any YouTube channel. It’s important to know what’s working and what elements are the cause for success. To properly monitor your channel’s performance, here are some points to pay attention to.

• Video Views
• Subscriber Growth
• Traffic Sources
• Demographics
• Retention
• Video Shares
• Review Comments

Whether you’re new to YouTube or posting videos every day, it’s important to keep these selling points in mind to optimize the productivity of your channel and to boost your sales.

Are you a social influencer? Want to make money with your creativity? Monetize on your designs by opening a 100% FREE online shop today!

Open your own shop

The post How to Sell on YouTube appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.

Selling designs and opening your own shop is easier than ever thanks to print on-demand. But with the freedom to create and sell in such an efficient way, potential legal risks might arise.

Most shop owners have presumably heard of copyright laws, but many might uninformed about what these laws entail. So, how can you be completely sure you’re not going to end up in the middle of a legal disaster and make designs your audience will love?

Here at Spreadshop, we’ve got you covered. We’ll jump into the most important copyright FAQs that will allow you to continue designing without any legal worries!

What Does Copyright Mean?

Let’s start with the obvious question: what exactly is copyright?  To give a broad, technical definition, it’s the proprietorship of a specific piece work; the proprietor(s) owns the right to distribute, commercialize, replicate and profit from it in any other way.

In short, if a design is copyrighted, you shouldn’t start selling it or something similar in your shop. Only the owner of that exclusive design has the authorization to monetize it. This doesn’t just go for t-shirt designs either. Any written, visual, or even verbal content, has the potential to fall under the copyright law.

Now, if you love a design that’s proprietary, you don’t need to trash the idea completely. Use the copyrighted design as inspiration to come up with an even better concept for your shop!

Off-limits Designs

• Logos of sports teams, schools and universities, organizations, clubs, movies, books, games, and bands.
• Pictures or artwork of sports teams, schools and universities, organizations, clubs, movies, books, games, and bands.
• Characters from movies, books, comics, and television shows.
• Viral Content such a memes and YouTube videos.
• Images found on search engines or any other image that is not listed for commercial use.
• Trademark companies and their logos, names, and content.
• Celebrities exploited in any way, even if it’s original content.

It seems like there’s so many limitations when you’re simply trying to come up with a design for your shop. Don’t let these limitations hold you back. There is still plenty of room for creative opportunity. You just need to think outside of the box!

What Designs can I Legally Use

While certain designs are off-limits, there are countless designs that are available for commercial use as well. We recommend using any of the following methods when designing gear for your Shop.

• Royalty free images that are for commercial use
• Public Domain images
• Your original designs

What is the Public Domain?

The public domain is a collection of creative material that is not protected under the copyright law. Everything is available for public use. Content existing in the public domain is either donated content, expired copyright content, or content that has been forfeited in some way. There are thousands of great t-shirt design ideas within the public domain. If you have an idea that you want to bring to life, start looking there!

Although the public domain is a helpful resource, all public content has the potential to become copyrighted.  Yes, everything is fair-game, but that doesn’t mean content can’t become copyrighted down the road. It’s unlikely that one of your Shop’s public domain t-shirt designs will suddenly fall under the copyright law, but it’s important to be aware of the possibility.

How can I check to see if something is copyrighted online?

You found the perfect graphic for your Shop, but you’re not sure if it’s copyrighted. How do you know what to do? Here are a few simple tricks to help determine whether an image falls under the copyright law.

Look for the signs

• There is the © symbol. The copyright symbol is usually tiny and located somewhere around the perimeter of an image or graphic.
• There is a watermark.
• There is a note representing ownership sourcing.

Do a little research

• Visit the copyright office to browse through copyrighted files.
• Check an image copyright online. Perform a reverse image search to reveal the original source of an image.

The obvious

• • It’s not yours and you didn’t create it.
  • Just ask! The best way to get copyright information is from the source itself.

It’s also helpful to be informed on how fair-use is assessed. Each copyright license is different, so it’s important to consider the restrictions and guidelines that follow. Just remember, until you’re certain an image isn’t copyrighted, don’t take the risk of adding it to your Shop.

Are quotes protected by copyright?

People are attracted to quotes and sayings because they affect us on an emotional level. That’s why t-shirt designs with quotes are often top sellers among those with Shops. Quotes are free to be used commercially when you think of them yourself. However, things get a bit tricky when using quotes from copyrighted pieces of work.

We don’t want to bore you with the complicated legal details, so we’ve put together a list of do’s and don’ts for t-shirt quotes.

Do Quote:

• Anything from the public domain
• Authors who have been dead for over 70 years
• Common sayings
• Sayings that are too short to be protected by the copyright law
• Parodies
• Your own thoughts and sayings

Don’t Quote

• Anything from a living author
• Anything from an author who’s been deceased for less than 70 years
• Trademarked material
• Corporate slogans
• Scripted or literary works of art

How to copyright a design for t-shirts

Shop owners automatically maintain the rights to any designs submitted to the Spreadshop platform. Once your design is available for purchase, you’re not required to do anything further for ownership. However, there are many advantages to copyrighting your t-shirt designs though the copyright office.  You’ll not only have a public record of proprietorship, but it will also confirm the copyright source to anyone seeking to purchase your design.

To achieve a copyright for a t-shirt design, an application and fee will need to be submitted to the copyright office. This can be done electronically or through mail.

How much does it cost to copyright a design?

Electronic US copyright registration currently costs $35 (fees are subject change). This fee consists of one form and doesn’t require any lawyers. The current forms can be found on the US Copyright website, www.copyright.gov.

In Conclusion

Copyright laws may seem like a lot to take in, but it’s important to know the basics. Don’t let the thought of legal matters keep you from expressing your ideas. As long as you’re creating something new for your Spreadshop, then only good things will follow!

Did you know, you can make money with that creativity of yours? See how you can monetize your designs by opening a FREE Spreadshop today!

Open your own shop

The post Copyright Basics for T-Shirt Design appeared first on The Spreadshop Blog.