Sublimation Customizer
Get a quick rundown on sublimation and how to design in the customizer…
Customization is easy with the help of this guide...
Table of Contents
Print Bleed
Sublimation is done by first printing on a paper and then transferring the ink by applying high heat and pressure to the item. In order to do this, we must print larger than the item to allow for alignment during the pressing process. The amount of bleed depends on the item being pressed. Why should you be concerned about this? For most prints you shouldn’t be. However, sometimes you may have a photo that is cropped too tightly, and faces may be too close to the edge and as a result potentially cut off. Logos, locations, and signatures are other things that often get added in the corners and you will need to be aware of print bleed to keep the full details on the print. Always fill the design area out completely. Any area left blank will be white (or wood grain in some cases).
You can visualize about 10% of the design area per side will be cut off. Always place logos and faces with a good buffer from the edge for safety.
Below is a luggage tag. Notice the amount of bleed around the item. Never design with text going edge to edge. Always provide a buffer space. Our team may slightly alter your design if they see a conflict but do not guarantee safety.
Changing Orientation
Items that can be mounted or displayed in different orientations will have a selector to rotate the design space. Start by selecting the customize button on the item to load the customizer. If the orientation can be changed you will see it on the toolbar on the left (PC) or bottom (mobile) under the tab called ‘Product’.
Changing Background Color With Shapes
Making a custom sign or design? Most items are white by default but you can change that with this trick. Go to the toolbar on the left (PC) or bottom (mobile) and select the Shapes tab. Choose any solid shape, we prefer the square. It will then appear in the design area. Next drag the bottom corner to expand the size of the shape to larger than the design area.
To change the color of the shape find the colored circle in the top toolbar on the left side. There are several colors ready to choose from or you can add the color code for a more unique color.
We provide a few background images. Check the Backgrounds tab or the Backgrounds category in clipart. In addition we have free AI generated images to choose from on our resources page.
Object Positioning & Alignment
Position objects vertically, horizontally and more using the Object Position tool. After selecting an object you can find the tool on the top toolbar at the top right. Please remember that this may position objects too close to the edge. Double check and ensure the entire object you want is still in the design space.
Some cliparts and shapes may appeared zoomed in and difficult to see. At the top right of each is an icon indicating information. Hovering over that will display the full object.
Adding images
Uploading images for customization is easy. Click on the Images tab located on the left (PC) or bottom (Mobile). New menus will appear labeled Library, Upload, and Free. Below we will go into more detail about each option.
• Library – We offer a few images to select from on this tab but it may cause crashing on mobile devices. It is difficult to see the full image here so we recommend checking our Resources page for free images you can download and upload instead of using this tab.
• Upload – Here you can upload a variety of file types such as JPEG, PNG, and SVGs. You may upload large image sizes (this will increase upload time after customization) but remember we typically print at 300 DPI. Transparent background PNGs and SVGs work beautifully for customization in combination with images. Images uploaded here will stay for future use on that device. This is useful for repeating orders for small businesses. Logged in users can also save designs combining all objects into a single file saving you the work of positioning everything again.
Upload those family, vacation and pet photos taken with your mobile device! Phones are evolving rapidly with impressive photo capabilities. While they may not produce commercial print ready 300+ DPI pictures they definitely produce a result that will bring a smile. Mobile phone pictures look good on large products like 12″ x 18″ panels but really shine on smaller products like fridge magnets and wall tiles.
Where to find images? Your phone, photographers in your area, online markets for creators such as Etsy, AI generated images (Adobe Firefly is our favorite), and public domain hosts such as Pixabay and Unsplash. Our ‘Resources’ page also has free AI generated images you may use.
• Free – These are public domain photos with a search engine. Incredibly useful for finding beautiful photos for free, quickly. However, you may receive a low PPI notice when placing these in the customizer. By default, it inserts the lowest resolution option from Pixabay. This may result in a less than desirable outcome. If you receive this notice mouse over the image and at the top right, there is an information icon. Mouse over this and it will show you the keywords used to find it. Go to Pixabay and search those keywords to find the desired image. Select the image and a page with a download option will appear. Click the arrow next to download and select the highest resolution available. Then go back to the customizer and upload it using the Upload tab in images.
Simply add your image and stretch it to fill out the design space. Refer to our bleed section above to ensure you do not have undesirable cutoff. Images may look blurry until you ‘Add To Cart’. This will finalize the image and upload it to our servers. Our team may edit photos on your behalf to make them their best for sublimation.
The top toolbar has additional tools like Crop, Mask, Remove Background and Filter.
• Crop – Square icon. Trim off some of the excess to make an image easier to handle in the customizer.
• Mask – Star Icon. Form an image into a shape. First add the desired image. Next, add any clipart or shape. Then select the image and look at the top toolbar for the ‘Star’ icon for masking. A list of available shapes for selection will popup. Choose the desired shape. The image will be cut by the outline of that shape. This is a useful tool for plaques, signage, and memorials which often put a face or product in a circle over a more decorative easy to read background.
• Remove Background – Flask icon. Sometimes the image you import may not have a true transparent background and a white border will show. This tool can assist with that with moderate success. Does not do advanced background removal of photos.
• Filter – Magic wand icon. Most commonly used to convert photos to Black & White. Tools to adjust saturation, contrast, and brightness can be found here as well as a few artistic color filters. Filters can be removed by pressing the Clear Filters button or CTRL Z after application.
Image Mask For Better Designs
Designing 2-Sided Products
2-Sided products and combo products may have multiple design pages. Most of the time the first page will be repeated unless the product description says otherwise. This can save you from designing the same thing multiple times. The tab to swap to the other design pages can be found on the right (PC) or bottom (Mobile) and looks like a triangle grid.
Putting It Together
The video above shows the use of multiple features to develop an attractive yet simple design. Perfect for keychains, mousepads, and signage. Combining multiple objects, changing the colors, and layering using the layers tab. Almost there! Customization is quite simple once you’ve learned these steps.
Templates & Layers
Get a quick start by choosing a template and modifying it. Templates are a collection of objects and text that can be individually edited in the layers tab. Delete or rearrange objects at will to customize a unique design. Some templates may include a background that is not selectable in the layers tab. Go to the ‘Background’ tab and tap the X to remove it.
In the ‘Layers’ tab you have multiple options such as reordering, hiding, locking, and deleting objects.
• Drag and drop to reorder objects
• Tap the eye icon to hide an object without deleting it
• Tap the lock button to prevent it from being moved or altered
• Tap the X button to delete it from the design
This process is not mobile friendly. We recommend using a PC for more complicated customization.
Text
The text tab offers a variety of effects to choose from at the top, and fonts below that. Don’t see a font you like? Scroll to the bottom and select ‘Load More Fonts’ to choose from 800+ google fonts. To edit text you have placed you must select it and a window will pop up with options to change the text itself or the font size. The top toolbar will have additional features for text. Most features are pretty standard for text but the 3 most important are Text Effects, and Fill Options, and the Font Family. The Font Family is the first option on the top toolbar and can change any selected texts font.
• Changing Font Color – Use the Fill Options tool located on the top toolbar to change the color of the text. It can be found on the right side and looks like a paint bucket dripping paint. There are a few colors available for selection or you can open the color picker for a wider variety of options. To open the color picker, click in the top field that shows the current color selection name and color. It will display a code like ‘#d81b60’. Clicking here will open the color picker below. This tool also allows you to also place a stroke around the text with another color. First select a color for the stroke and then move the slider for stroke width. This is useful for making text stand out from colorful backgrounds making them hard to read.
• Text Effects – These are preloaded designs for text that alters the way it is displayed. These effects are limited to 3 options after the text is placed in the design. For more options go back to the Text tab. The icon for this is a semi-circle with a line, located on the left side of the top toolbar near the font name. The effects are editable using the popup toolbar and can be removed by selecting ‘Normal Text’.
Image Mask For Text Designs
Conclusion
The customizer is a powerful tool to make your favorite gifts, decor and signage, or even products for your small business. We have covered most features of the customizer but not all. Hopefully this guide has helped you understand the basics. Most of our items are simple to customize, just upload an image and fit it on the product. However, utilizing some of the additional tools will allow you to create amazing designs for any occasion.
