Have you played around with artificial intelligence for print-on-demand? Maybe you’ve dabbled with ChatGPT to generate an image, but experienced loading issues or it produced an image that didn't exactly match what you envisioned. That is more common than you might think.
Generative AI has been around for a relatively short time, but its impact is getting deeper by the day. From advertising to biomedical research, the AI train doesn’t seem to be slowing down. To encourage you to hop on the train and explore what's best for you, we wanted to show you some invaluable AI tools and how you can incorporate them into your print-on-demand strategy.
Article Highlights
- AI is changing the landscape for printing on demand, and it’s only the beginning;
- There are various tools you can explore, including Midjourney, DALL-E, Remove.bg, DreamStudio, and Printify;
- Be mindful of best practices such as copyright laws and other ethical concerns;
- Square Signs offers its own unique AI feature in our sign design tool.
Benefits of using generative AI for printing on demand:
Love it or lump it, AI offers several benefits. These include, but are not limited to:
- Generating images;
- Automating tasks;
- Simplifying operations;
- Helping with printing accuracy;
- Reducing costs.
Tools you should check out:
Not all generative AI is the same. Nor do they all serve the same function. That’s why we wanted to give you the rundown on the most popular tools for printing on demand.
- Midjourney: If you’re looking to make realistic art with AI, look no further than Midjourney. The cheapest plan is $10 a month, and you must have a Discord account to use it. Despite these small setbacks, most consider it to be the leading AI image generator.
- DALL-E: This program by OpenAI helps with text-to-image conversion. Although the cheapest subscription starts at $15 a month and a limited style choice, it is user-friendly and gives you four images per prompt.
- Remove.bg: Tired of seeing people or animals in the background of your photo? Remove.bg removes anything you want from the background of your image. It’s based on a pay-as-you-go model and can work with various image formats.
- DreamStudio: This image generator gives users more creative control compared to other AI tools. It also offers a free trial. However, more creative freedom means that there is a steeper learning curve.
- Printify: Printify stands out from the other AI tools listed in this article because it is a company with an existing design tool that incorporates an AI feature. The feature offers over 10 distinct styles, and you can use it up to 15 times a day for free. The one downside is that it’s in its beta phase, but it is set to be open to the public soon.
- Square Signs: Square Signs is an online print on demand store with an intuitive design tool. The tool offers thousands of templates and photos that users can enhance with AI. It also includes a text-to-image generator. There is no subscription fee and users can enjoy unlimited image generation.
We encourage you to explore all these tools to see which one is right for you. Depending on the size and scope of your project, as well as your budget, one might be more suitable than the other.
Best Practices
We also encourage you to learn as much as you can about generative AI and how to use these tools on ethical grounds. When it comes to printing on demand, you should know copyright laws. Indeed, you should know the copyright laws for anything you make related to generative AI. While some of these tools use copyright-safe images, it’s best to alter the image enough to make it unique. Other considerations include working with a professional designer. They will help perfect your image, spot potential mistakes, and confirm that the image is consistent with your brand.
Using AI Tools for POD with Square Signs
At Square Signs, we have integrated several AI features into our intuitive sign design tool. All of which are free, simple to use, and fun.
These AI features have come about at the same time we've incorporated Pixabay's API. Now you can access millions of royalty-free images at the click of a button and without needing to leave the design tool or search for images in a separate browser.
One of the key new AI features is our image generator. Simply click on the "Images" tab and type in what you want to create. You can further adjust your image by choosing between 20 animation styles and narrowing down the specifics up to nearly twenty keywords you can add to your text description.
It also includes an AI feature that allows you to overlay images, enhance them, and remove any unwanted background details. This will save you hours you would have spent in the editing process. This feature also works for any upload, whether it's AI-generated, a provided image, or an upload from your personal files.
Since there is no limit to your design, you have endless possibilities. All you need to do in order to save your image is create an account with us.
Want to use AI with the Square Signs design tool?