Info for Designers – Outage Shirts

Hello and thanks for helping out!
Here you can find some examples of what we are looking for and guidelines for performing graphic design work with us.

First steps:

If you’ve been shortlisted on upwork, look over the content here and see if you want to work with us. Let us know what you think on upwork.
Send us the email address affiliated with your Trello account, or an email address that we can use to invite you to Trello.
Take a look at examples here and in our store. https://outageshirts.com/shop/

Guidelines:

Make sure to take a look at the Trello card for any additional plant specific information.
Work in Adobe Illustrator and provide final files as a saved project with all the source images embedded for our manipulation as needed.
We will use a full color printed DTF transfer that is applied to the shirt. The design can and should have void space in it so that the shirts are breathable. Consider how the shirt colors will look in void spaces. You can suggest general shirt colors that might work better than others. Designs with small islands have been ok but too much rough or small features around the edges can sometimes cause issues with peeling off the backing. For example, leaves on the trees on the 2R24 graphic below worked fine most of the time but the black thin features and dots in the 2R24 hat graphic were problematic sometimes. We can ID this in reviews if you aren’t sure.
All of our designs are for Nuclear Power Plants in the United States at this time. Most of the buyers are temporary construction workers and engineering staff. Your designs should be appealing to a 50 year old construction worker.
Generally southern state plants will want lighter color shirts and designs should accommodate that.
All graphics must be family friendly and in good taste, no nudity, lewd jokes, or similar things.
All designs will fit in an approximately 12 x 12 inch square. They do not need to be square, just need to fit. They will be produced at 12 by 12, and 10 by 10 to fit various shirt sizes.
Resolution- We need 300 dpi designs. For a 12 by 12 graphic this is about 3600 by 3600 pixels when exported. Please make sure to view your design at 100% and check for reasonable resolution of any images used in the design.
Each design also needs a coordinated pocket design that fits in a 3 x 3 inch area. This design will be used on mugs, koozies, tee pockets, potentially scaled for hats.
Design should be your unique work and not copied from elsewhere.
Design should not use material that will cause copyright issues. No brand placements or similar should be on the graphic.
All of these plants have specific names, you can find them with a google search of the plant name, unit number, and “NRC”. example: https://www.nrc.gov/info-finder/reactors/bru2.html
All designs will include text for: plant name including unit number, Outage number (use XRXX if we didn’t give the number to you and we will fix it), Season (like ‘Spring 2024’ or ‘Fall 2025’). Pocket designs should also contain this info but may use an abbreviation for the plant name.
If you put parts of the power plant on the graphic they should generally look like the subject plant. Not all plants have cooling towers for example, and putting them on a shirt for a plant without them would not be acceptable. Pictures of plants are generally available when you look them up on google maps, or on the website for the plant owner, or on the NRC site about the plant.
Graphic should have a muted “outageshirts.com” on the design somewhere and on the pocket design.

Details about designing for DTF:

Image Guidelines

Original image must be minimum 300 dpi and in PNG, SVG or JPEG format. Only PNG is accepted for gang sheet orders.
Note: enlarging a 300dpi image (i.e. from 3″ to 9″) and exporting it may cause pixelation and quality issues.
Color shifts can occur when converting to CMYK for DTF printing.
Do not mirror your image, and please use transparent or removed backgrounds (unless you want the background printed).
We recommend a minimum of 7.5px/0.25″ for small fonts or thin lines to ensure the ink and powder is applied properly.
Avoid neon glow, gradients, and soft edges. DTF printers can have issues printing these designs accurately.
We print what we receive. Spelling, placement, sizing, and image quality will not be fixed by our team.

What is DTF printing, and why should I choose it for my projects?

DTF, or Direct-to-Film, is an innovative printing technique that transfers vibrant designs onto a specialized film. This film is then heat-pressed onto various materials, allowing for seamless reproduction of vibrant colors and intricate details.

Unlike HTV, DTF prints don’t require time-consuming weeding. Applying DTF prints to apparel takes just seconds, significantly speeding up production times and boosting business growth.

DTF prints work well with a wide range of materials, including cotton, polyester, and blends. By adopting DTF printing, businesses gain the ability to create retail-quality products at premium price points and in high production volumes. This opens up new levels of growth and profitability for your business.

How can I achieve 300 DPI?

Achieving 300 DPI (dots per inch) ensures high-quality prints. To achieve 300 DPI with your image you need to multiply the print size (width and height in inches) by 300 to find the right pixel dimensions.

What design techniques should I avoid in my DTF prints to maximize quality?

We recommend ensuring your design is at the desired size, not mirrored, and without background parts. Additionally, avoid using grayscale gradients, transparency effects, neon effects, and glow effects for optimal results.

Examples:

Some of these are ours, others are not. All examples we have at this time are from Beaver Valley Power Station.

Also see the store: https://outageshirts.com/shop/

This is an older design that we did not make. This has been typical for the Beaver Valley plant in the past:

This was a sticker graphic for an outage team:

This design was a good seller when paired with dark grey shirts:

This pocket design peeled fine despite smaller features:

This hat design was difficult to manufacture because DTF doesn’t stick as well to hats and the black dots and small lines would peel up sometimes: