Designing A Print For Home vs. Apparel

What makes a print for a home product different from one for apparel? Before switching to home textiles I designed for print studios tailoring to apparel industry clients. Recently I decided to revisit designs that haven't sold, like the one below on the left, and try to freshen up and rework some to be viable for the home industry (on the right).

Here are some ways a design for home is different:

• Colors are more muted and limited. Bright colors don't work well in large amounts.

• White grounds are more popular for regular skin-contact products like sheets. Printing large areas of ink can sometimes create a rough hand-feel and an inconsistent print per product.

• Larger width repeats and, in general, the standard repeat sizes are different.

• Often the motifs are designed larger in scale unless it's a sheet. Ditsies work well for sheets and duvet reverse designs.

• Subject matter and technique are limited. Florals are just as popular though.

• Color limitations and screen limitations for mass production. Watercolor or textured designs need to be indexed to max 75% dither. Lower percentages will not engrave into the screens. Colors for screen printing are usually limited to 12 colors/screens.

• Turnaround for a design is usually longer since in home there are less seasons to design into.

• Because the scale is usually larger, you have to paint larger, justifying a higher price per design.

Of course just like in apparel, the design needs to flow nicely and the repeat shouldn't be too visible. I must admit, I miss the experimentation and play of color that apparel allows for, but in reality there was never enough time to lean into the experiments when you had to crank out 4-5 designs a day. Designing for home allowed me time to solve interesting challenges like – how do you create a design that looks as close as possible to a handmade blockprint without requiring hours of woodcarving and manual printing?

Print designers, did I miss anything? Do you design for both industries? Which do you enjoy more?

P.S: I'll be freshening up a lot of these designs inspired by Portuguese tiles so stay tuned for a collection drop if you're a buyer!