What on earth is POD and what can it do for me?

Thanks to the advent of Print On Demand (POD) technology, the creative world has opened its doors wider than ever before, creating previously unheard of opportunities for artistic people everywhere. POD service providers host online platforms, which allow individuals to create and buy their own-design products. (The POD companies stock a range of ‘blank’ products, onto which they print your images, thereby creating a product featuring your own unique designs or photographs.) Using similar methods, authors can now even publish their own books! For those who want to take it a step further, many POD sites also offer you the opportunity to open your own online stores. Because no stock is produced before an order is actually placed, there is little or no upfront investment required. We think that the opportunities offered by POD technology are really exciting! Please scroll down to learn more...

Creating your Products, and Publishing your own Books: The Procedure

What takes your fancy today? Would you like to create your own mugs? Publish your own book, calendars and photographs? Design your own T-shirt? Create your own tote bag? Design stickers, create ornaments, design a trinket box or a decorative tile? Create coasters to match your home decor? Or perhaps even design some magnets to use as gifts for birthdays and Christmas? Imagine designing your own mousepads and creating your own clock to match your office decor. You can even add some spice to your car by designing your own license plate frame! Or why not design your own note books, journals and greeting cards for special occasions? Create your own Christmas cards this year! Turn your photographs and artworks into framed, museum quality prints! If you're really keen, you can even create your own online store and earn money from your creativity...

Designing and creating your own products, gifts and merchandise is much easier than you might think!

While the exact procedure varies from one company to the next, the basic principle of creating products using a POD supplier is very simple:

Step 1: Create and choose the image (or take the photograph) you want to use on your products, and store it as a digital file. Your digital file may be an image you’ve created on your computer using a graphics program, or a photo taken with a digital camera. It might also be an image or photograph, which you have scanned into your computer. Sorry guys, but if you're planning to publish a book, now is the time to do the really hard work and write it!

Step 2: Make sure your digital file is the correct format and size to comply with the requirements of whichever POD service provider you have chosen to use. (The file formats and file sizes recommended and accepted by each service provider vary. Mostly you will find they recommend either PNG, GIF or JPEG files, of between 150-300dpi for apparel & other merchandise designs, while TIFF (or JPEG) files are recommended for printing artworks & photographs for framing.) Even if you're publishing a book, the pages will have to be saved as image files, not as Word documents...but don't worry: converting your Word documents to image files is very simple - just follow the instructions and advice offered by the POD service provider you have chosen to use.

Step 3: Upload your image to the POD supplier’s secure server. (This is easily done in a few simple steps by following instructions on the POD supplier’s website.)

Step 4: Choose which product(s) you want your image/design to appear on. (You’ll be able to see a preview of each product you’ve chosen, with your design on it, so you’ll know what the final product will look like before you place your order.) Below, you’ll see a list of different product types you can try. Just click on your chosen product and we’ll show you which POD service providers can help you turn your creative vision into a reality!

Office & Housewares (Mugs, Mousepads, Table Mats, Ornaments, etc)

Paper Goods (Greeting Cards, Postcards, Calendars, Journals & Notebooks)

Fun Stuff (Stickers, Magnets, License Plate Frames, Key Chains, Teddy Bears, Buttons & Badges)

Step 5: Place and pay for your order online (or by phone).

Step 6: Wait in great excitement for the postman to deliver your very own, self-designed products to your front door!

Honestly, it’s as easy as that!

Feeling Inspired? Click on any of the product types listed above for advice and tips on how to get started!

Want to earn money from your creativity? A lot of the POD sites enable you to open your own online stores and sell to the general public - there is little or no investment required up front, so why not give it a go? Click the relevant category below for more information about the POD suppliers offering this opportunity!
* Open Your Own Apparel & Merchandise Store
* Open Your Own Printing & Framing Gallery
* Publish & Sell Your Own Books

Have fun and enjoy becoming the world’s newest designer, or the latest author to see their work published!

Need some Inspiration & Guidance to Get You Started?

Be sure to check out our Teach Yourself page for advice, inspiration and lots of creative ideas about design, photography, writing & more!

Want To Skip the Advice and Jump Right In?

Want to skip our advice sections and jump straight to some POD suppliers? Each icon below represents a different POD supplier, each offering a variety of different products - just click on whichever one you want to take a look at first!* (You can always come back here for advice later if you need it!)

Zazzle (USA): Apparel & Merchandise

ImageKind (USA): Museum Quality Printing & Framing

Spreadshirt Designer
SpreadShirt (USA): Apparel & Merchandise

Spreadshirt Designer
SpreadShirt (France): Apparel & Merchandise

Spreadshirt Designer
SpreadShirt (UK): Apparel

SpreadShirt (Sweden): Apparel & Merchandise

Shirts selbst gestalten und bestellen
SpreadShirt (Germany, Austria & Switzerland): Apparel & Merchandise

SpreadShirt (Norway): Apparel & Merchandise

T-Shirt Me: Apparel (UK & USA)

Comboutique £3 OFF your custom t-shirt
ComBoutique (France, UK & Germany): Apparel & Merchandise

Shirtcity - design your own shirt!
Shirt City (USA): Apparel & Merchandise

shirtcity.com - click your shirt
Shirt City (France): Apparel & Merchandise

shirtcity.co.uk - click your shirt
Shirt City (UK): Apparel & Merchandise

Design-A-Shirt (USA): Apparel & Merchandise

If, after all those, you STILL want more options for creating your own apparel & merchandise, you can also check out:

Lulu (USA): Books, Brochures, Calendars, Prints, Music & Image Downloads, CDs & DVDs.
PrintFection (USA).
Simply Icons (UK).
Equisto (Germany & the rest of continental Europe).

And finally...Just for fun, try out these novel ideas!

Turn Your Photos into Mosaics!

Get a professional artist to turn your photos into oil paintings! Great gift ideas for weddings, birthdays, Valentine's Day, you name it... The sites highlighted below all offer this service, but some offer a wider range of media, including pencil sketches, watercolors, oil on canvas paintings, pastel drawings and more...they assure us that REAL artists do the work, not computer programs... Click on the banners below for more details about each site and what they offer, and then make your own selection...

Have you used any of these sites? How did you find their service? Please email us with any feedback! Thanks - we look forward to hearing from you.

Need some Inspiration & Guidance to Get You Started?

Be sure to check out our Teach Yourself page for advice, inspiration and lots of creative ideas about design, photography, writing & more!