Get advice to help you create your t-shirt graphics. Discuss t-shirt design software, special effect techniques, or other topics related to creating a t-shirt design on your computer. If you'd rather hire a graphic designer to do the work for you, please post in our Referrals and Recommendations section here.
Don't fall into the trap of using a generic logo software that automatically produces a logo for you.
If you're serious about starting a business and don't have the ability to design yourself, hire someone to design it for you. Your logo is what defines your company at first glance. And you have to live with it for a long time. It's well worth spending a few bucks.
__________________ ScreenPrintH2O.com - An Online Community of Waterbased Screen Printers SignAmigo.com - An Online Community of Sign Makers.
I know the program you looked at. Do not buy it. There are a lot of software companies out there, the 2 that Solmu suggested are probably the best. Also a lot of them offer 15 day trials. One program that I use a lot is Xara.. if you go to www.xara.com you can view a lot of their product and download and play till your blue in the face.. A lot of programs are not that easy to learn and unless you have time and ability to learn they may prove difficult. I use Photoshop, illustrator, Xara, jasc (this one is like photoshop but about a third the price) Lou
I recommend finding a logo/logos that you like, and then modify the layout(s) to make one of your own. (i.e. circle logo, graphic logo, title logo) You definitely want to keep it simple though, and I would stay away from the logo software as well.
I think the usefulness of logo software depends on your skill with using more complicated graphics programs. I don't use photoshop because I just can't get it on my own and don't have the time to take a class - I do realize I need to and it's on the neverending "to do" list. For someone in my situation a logo program is great since I don't have the skills to do certain things any other way. Just my 2 cents...
Your 2 cents are very welcomed because it is true as I stated.. you don't know what you don't know and sometimes it things that are easy for others just are not for the rest of us.. I can not fly a jet plane.. but I can sit in one..
To extend your analogy though (and risk breaking it...) - because you can't fly a jet plane you pay someone else to do it for you, you don't jump into a Cessna (i.e. a cut down piece of software) and just give it a whirl.
I don't actually think there's anything wrong with just giving it a try, but a logo is an extremely important part of a company, so hypothetically if someone can't do a very good job designing it themself they should seriously consider paying someone else to do it for them.
Carefully consider your logo - if it's a sign or a neat graphic you are after that's one thing - a logo is all together different and should be part of an overall identity package - colors, layouts, letterhead, business cards, etc. Doing your own is probably the hardest logo you will design so it often is better to pay someone that specializes in the whole identity package. The major drawback to using the canned logo makers is that you will have a logo that will be very similar to a lot of logos out there as they take common elements that are in use for logos. Upside is it will probably create a better logo than someone with no experience can do themselves
Logo's are important, but I don't know that they're that important for a small business start-up. (In terms of everything else that's needed for a small buisiness start-up) I guess I just don't see spending hundreds of dollars, up front, on a logo when you don't even know if your brand will sell. And this is coming from a guy who spent a couple hundred dollars when he didn't know any better. I worked with an artist, for what will eventually become my hangtag graphic, and it took three goes for him to understand exactly what I wanted. Fortunately for me, the artist I was working with was a good dude.
At the time, I thought that the artwork he was providing would be a good logo. But then after more research I decided to take a piece of the artwork and roll with making my own logo for the brand, inspired by one that exists already.
In the end, I'm happy with it. I like the way it turned out... but I probably could have saved myself a couple hundred dollars if I would have been more patient.
One more note, if you're getting into T-shirts, then its a fair assumption that you must have some sort of love for graphic design. Take your time and you can come up with something yourself. Then spend the money you saved on inventory or equipment...
I think that Logo software CAN go both ways. In the hands of a good designer, they can use it for inspiration and really springboard into a killer design! On the other hand, no software can replace the skills it takes to come up with a logo design that works well graphically.
Someone mentioned that the Logo has to be simple. I think that it is more true that your Logo should be instantly recognizable. Whether completely simple and one color or a little fancier than that, if its not instantly recognizable, it doesn't do anything for your brand at all. That's the whole point of it, IMHO.
The top design software is Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Illustrator. They're not cheap but if you're going in this for the long haul, then you should make the investment in at least one of them. I would say PhotoShop but I may be a little biased because that is what I use .
Also, get a great book with a tutorial - it won't teach you everything but it will give you a basic overview of what you can do. Then just play with it - the only way to learn it is to figure it out .
Logos 
.
.
