Another thing we can all agree on is that t-shirts are awesome and we all love them. Whether you rock your company t-shirt, promote a product, or simply love to express yourself with a tee of your favorite band, tv-show or a cool artwork that suits your aesthetics, you probably have a lot of special t-shirts you will never get rid of. Everyone does. With this in mind, if you are a designer looking for inspiration, or a starting business looking for cool ideas for brand merch, today I’ve got 85 t-shirt design ideas for you.
The examples come from Behance, Dribbble, 99designs, Instagram, and apparel businesses so there’s a lot of everything. By no means we are affiliated with any of the shops included in the article. Every design is featured based on its creativity for the sake of inspiration. Without further ado, let’s dive straight into these 85 fantastic t-shirt design ideas.
“Your best T-shirt should be like your bed; it just feels like you are home when you are in it.”
-Ashton Kutcher
T-Shirt Illustration Design Ideas
For this category, I gathered 26 creative t-shirt illustration designs in different art styles.
1. Custom Hand-Made Shirt Design Idea
@isthisreallife.studio ‘Paradise’ tees are liiiiiive baby. #screenprinting #illustration #tshirtdesign #graphictees #smallbusiness #foryou #fyp #tattoo #graphicdesign
Let’s start off with a video that shows the satisfying and mesmerizing process of screenprinting. It’s a great idea for small businesses and brings a personal touch. It’s the ultimate I-did-this-myself t-shirt design.
2. Japanese Style Shirt Design
Straight from Gigih Hasnantyo’s workshop on Instagram, we have a classic anime t-shirt with great detail and composition.
3. Cool T-Shirt Print with Aliens
According to the designer, no matter where you’re located in this world or outer space you can find a fellow Fi community member.
4. Vector Artwork T-Shirt Design
Something cool and Eldritch by Nguyen Hung Son on Instagram.
5. Neon Colors Custom Shirt Design
A lovely idea for a trippy t-shirt pattern with small creatures in neon colors.
6. Rider Tees Custom Vector Shirt Design
Drag Racing design with lots of detail, symmetry, and classic biker t-shirt style.
7. Samurai Demon Tshirt Design Idea
Nothing speaks of honor and strength like a cool demon samurai design.
8. Brand Tshirt Design Ideas
@willfinchdesign Blow this up so people can see! #artist #fyp #illustrator #branddesign #tshirtart
Another satisfying video of traditional design for t-shirts.
9. Kitsune Detailed Print T-Shirt Design
Beautifully detailed t-shirt design with a Kitsune creature and cherry blossoms.
10. Gothic Kali Tshirt Design Idea
The Hindu goddess of death and time gets a suiting gothic makeover.
11. Medieval Custom T-shirt Design
These designers create t-shirts for LARPers and fans of medieval history. The artwork is a piece with incredible detail suiting the art style of the time period.
12. Medieval Knight Design Shirt
Another incredible medieval design with a knight piercing a dragon.
13. Cool Tshirt Design with Pixels
Kill your television with a colorful pixel twist. Mixing styles gives more power to the concept.
14. Classic Tshirt Vector Design with a Wolf
Sports team style t-shirt design.
15. Flat Shapes Tshirt Illustration
Interesting gardening concept.
16. Abstract Tshirt Design Idea
Conceptual t-shirt illustration for designers.
17. Old School Tshirt Design Concept
A very detailed old-school t-shirt artwork with a limited color scheme.
18. Colorful Flat-Style T-Shirt Illustration
Why not a Mickey Mouse murder robot?
19. Synthwave Neon Ronin Tshirt Design
Ronin Machine by Fujhine std and Irfan Maulana on Behance
Classic Japanese demon samurai design but with neon colors and synthwave aesthetics.
20. Dark Humour Cool T-Shirt Idea
Simple t-shirt design with canned bones for your healthy nutrition. Nothing more, nothing less.
21. Golden Cat T-Shirt Print Idea
T-shirt artwork with a pretty cool grunge texture and limited color palette.
22. Abstract T-Shirt Print Design Idea
Surreal t-shirt illustration with great detail.
23. Adobe MAX USA T-Shirt Concept
These series are part of Adobe’s campaign to encourage designers from all over the world to share their stories.
24. Adobe MAX France T-Shirt Concept
They did so by commissioning specific artists to create these designs through Adobe’s CoCreate: MAX initiative.
25. Adobe MAX Spain T-Shirt Concept
You can find the full project on Behance here and learn more about the respective authors.
26. Adobe MAX Nigeria T-Shirt Concept
The full collection offers designs from India, Nigeria, Mexico, France, Spain, and the USA.
Typography T-Shirt Designs
In this part of the collection, you will see 21 inspirational t-shirt typography designs in different styles and for different purposes.
27. Colorful Street Art Style T-Shirt
Graffiti-style typography for t-shirts can’t possibly fail to grab attention.
28. Quote Typography T-Shirt Design
Or clever sassy messages.
29. Yoga Inspiration Custom T-Shirt Design
This is part of a cool project for yoga-related typography designs.
30. Personalized T-Shirt Concept Design
Niche personalized quotes for a specific group of people.
31. Spiral Typography T-Shirt Design
This design will make you stop and do the work of reading its message properly.
32. Cute T-Shirt Design Idea Tiny Hands
Cute t-shirt design for moms and dads.
33. Inspirational T-Shirt Design
In times where critics are the majority, why not beeing wholesome and motivate people?
34. Nurse Appreciation Custom T-Shirt
When you’re proud of your profession, t-shirts are a great way to show it.
35. T-Shirt Typography Design
@tshirt_design
Puns never go out of fashion and they work great for t-shirt design.
36. Custom Branding T-Shirt Design
Company t-shirts represent your business so making a great stylish design is crucial.
37. The Lucky Fishing Shirt Design
This tee is both personal and funny.
38. Cute Dad Appreciation Shirt Idea
A t-shirt can also help you show your appreciation for the people that mean the world to you.
39. Philosophical Quote T-Shirt Design
Putting typography design for favorite philosophical quotes that represent your views also never goes out of fashion.
40. Motivational T-Shirt Design Idea
Another motivational quote typography for people who live in the moment.
38. Cute Grandpa Appreciation Shirt Idea
Another heart-warming t-shirt idea.
38. Coffee Appreciation T-Shirt Typography
@tshirt_design
Let’s face it, if you don’t have many ideas for what messages you want to put on your shirt, you can always go for coffee appreciation. We all owe coffee a lot.
39. Conceptual Typography Clever T-Shirt Design
Another cool typography design idea for t-shirts is to fit the letters in a particular shape. You can tell it’s about beer before you even read the quote.
40. American Football Typography T-Shirt Design
Cool design for football fans.
41. Unfocused Letters Effect T-Shirt
Simple but very clever and effective. A perfect example of more thinking, less working with the design software.
42. The Answer to Life, Universe, and Everything
The answer! by Ledude on Design By Humans
The answer to the Ultimate Question was calculated by the supercomputer Deep Thought over a period of 7.5 million years.
43. Glitter Vinyl T-Shirt Print Idea
@100proofclothing
Another t-shirt print option is glitter vinyl. The best thing about is that you don’t need to produce dozen of t-shirt models and sizes. And it looks pretty cool.
Conceptual T-Shirt Design Inspiration
Here we have 26 t-shit design ideas that mix both typography and illustrations to create concepts.
44. Horror Popcorn Flick T-Shirt Design Idea
Sweet horror candy in 80s popcorn flick style with dripping elements and vibrant colors.
45. Arora Branding T-Shirt Design
A whole set of brand t-shirts.
46. Old School Tattoo Studio T-Shirt Concept
Lots of skulls and roses in a classic tattoo studio artwork style.
47. Psychedelic Neon Colors T-Shirt Idea
Both neon colors and distorted psychedelic design are very trendy and look incredible on t-shirts.
48. Classic Metal T-Shirt Style Design
This surreal artwork rocks the classic metal band t-shirt style. You can never be wrong with it.
49. T-Shirt Design with an Element of Surprise
More clever design ideas straight from the periodic table of puns.
50. Little Girl Dreams Inspirational T-Shirt Design
Cool colorful design for clever little girls.
51. Hell of a Cool Taco T-Shirt Design
Tacos are life and taco restaurants deserve mean t-shirt design.
52. Awesome Camping T-Shirt Design
Simple and effective caping gear t-shirt design.
53. Motocross Old Scool T-Shirt Design
Powerful dynamic artwork for motocross.
54. Geometric Custom Branding T-Shirt Design
Art Deco design for a brand t-shirt.
55. Men’s Summer Line T-Shirt Design
This is a case where the t-shirt colors play a huge role as a part of the artwork. Here the orange helps to visualize the sunrise.
56. Space Race Nostalgic T-Shirt Design
Nostalgic retro shirt idea with Juri Gagarin and Niel Armstrong, representing the Space Race.
57. Camping Enthusiasts’ T-Shirt Design
Vintage design for camping enthusiasts.
58. Bitcoin T-Shirt Idea
T-shirt design for cryptocurrency enthusiasts.
59. Custom T-Shirt Design
Typography design with a powerful sassy message.
60. Moisty Thanksgiving T-Shirt
Funny thanksgiving t-shirt that Gordon Ramsay would approve of.
61. Motivational Women’s T-Shirt Concept
An inspirational message with a retro illustration.
62. Dog Momma Appreciation T-Shirt Idea
A simple message with a lovely illustration.
63. Colorful Camping T-Shirt Concept
More camping t-shit ideas.
64. Awesome Veteran T-Shirt Design
Veteran t-shirt idea in classic biker’s style.
65. Powerlifting Motivational T-Shirt Idea
Motivational t-shirt for powerlifters.
66. Custom Vector T-Shirt Design
Beautiful retro design with texture.
67. Mechanic Old School Biker Style T-Shirt
Biker style works great on everything.
68. Gamer’s Birthday Colorful T-Shirt Design Ideas
This project shows cool t-shirt design ideas for the whole family of the birthday boy.
69. Old School Biker Style Hunting T-Shirt
And something for hunters to rock.
Other Creative T-Shirts
And even more amazing t-shirt design ideas.
70. Funny T-Shirt Print Design
Simple memetic t-shirt design.
71. Burger T-Shirt Design
Suitable 80s style design for an epic burger world tour.
72. African Style T-Shirt Design Idea
This illustrator creates a huge collection of amazing t-shirt designs inspired by Afrikan culture with suitable art styles and motives.
73. Symmetrical T-shirt Illustration Idea
Here’s another cool piece by the same creator.
74. 80s Style Colorful Anime T-Shirt Design
Retro-futuristic anime t-shirt design.
75. Rainbow Gradient T-Shirt Illustration
Symmetry, geometry and neon colors.
76. A Wreath with a Twist
At first glance, this is a simple Christmas wreath but if you take a closer look, it’s a collection of Pulp Fiction scenes. Smart and creative.
77. Dark T-Shirt Design Idea
T-shirts are also a great way to show appreciation for your favorite tv-show. This fanmade design captures the essence of Dark perfectly.
78. Player 456’s T-Shirt Reference
Although this isn’t an exact replica of the player’s t-shirts in the show, it captures the concept perfectly through the emblematic green color and the patch with the main character’s number.
79. Psychedelic T-Shirt Design
You don’t even have to like Rick and Morty to appreciate this psychedelic design. The colors and artwork are absolutely insane.
80. Distorted Conceptual Typography T-Shirt
Another great typography concept.
81. The Bad Guys Appreciation T-Shirt Design
Everybody speaks of Disney princesses, but the creator who designed this t-shirt decided to appreciate the villains instead.
82. Creative Full-Print T-Shirt Idea
As the blank t-shirt is your canvas, why not use all of it to your advantage. In this case, the original black color of the shirt takes part in the bigger picture.
83. Vivid Colors Cats Pattern T-Shirt Idea
Full prints are awesome when you can find the perfect pattern.
84. Creative T-shirt Print Concept
Not just the blank t-shirt’s color, you can use every element as well. In this case, the pocket helps the design.
85. Creative Street Style Fullprint T-Shirt Idea
And last, but not least, this design uses the entire upper part of the t-shirt to add a complementary pattern to the main artwork.
That’s it!
These were the 85 t-shirt design ideas to inspire you for your next project.
In the meantime, why not take a look at the related articles to get some more inspiration or grab a couple of freebies:
