The Designer is an easy to use tool that allows you to customise your own product. You can select a product to decorate with your logo, design, stock art, photos and text.

To add text to a product:

1. Select a location on the garment
2. Click on the Add Text button in the Designer Toolbar.

3. Select the type of process to be used for the text in the Select Type of Text popup. Only options that are supported by the product being decorated will appear.

Enter the text, and click ADD TEXT.

The text will appear inside the decoration area with editable size dimension, resize and rotate handles and delete control available.

To adjust text properties:

1. Click the text object you wish to adjust the properties of.
   • Text Shape: lets you alter the shape of the text. The options indicate the shape that they will apply.
   • Effect: lets you add a shadow or glow effect to the text.
     • None: no effect is applied.
     • Shadow: applies a drop shadow to the text.
       • Offset: lets you set the position that the shadow will be offset from the text.
       • Blur: lets you set the level of blurring effect that will be applied to the shadow.
     • Glow: applies the appearance of a glow around the text.
       • Strength: lets you set the intensity of the glow.
       • Blur: lets you set the level of blurring effect that will be applied to the glow.
   • Effect Colour: lets you set the colour of the Effect via the colour popup.
   • Gradient: sets a horizontal or vertical gradient of colour between the selected font colour and the gradient colour.
   • Gradient Colour: lets you set the colour of the Gradient via the colour popup.

2. Formatting

   The Formatting tab is expanded by default and contains the following controls:

   • Font: change the font via the Select A Font popup.
   • Font colour: change the text colour via the colour popup.
   • Bold: boldens the text.
   • Italics: italicizes the text.
   • Left-align: aligns text to the left when it spans multiple lines.
   • Center-align: center-aligns text when it spans multiple lines.
   • Right-align: aligns text to the right when it spans multiple lines
   • Outline: lets you apply an outline to the text. At the leftmost position on the slider, no outline is applied. Moving the slider to the right applies an outline that increases in thickness the further right it is moved.
   • Outline Colour: lets you set the colour of the outline via the colour popup.
   • Resize Proportionally: when this checkbox is ticked, the text will keep its original proportions when you resize it.

   Position

   Effects are only available for the direct to garment printing decoration process.

   Click on the Position tab to expand it. Expanding the Position tab reveals the following controls:

   
   • Position controls: lets you move the selected text within the decoration area using any of the eight directional arrows.
   • Size controls: lets you increase/decrease the size of the selected text by clicking on the up/down arrows.
   • Rotation controls: lets you turn the selected text around its center axis. You can do this by:
     • Specifying a specific angle at which to rotate the text.
     • Clicking on the left arrow to rotate the text 5 degrees to the left.
     • Clicking on the right arrow to rotate the text 5 degrees to the right.
   • Horizontal Centering controls: Horizontally centers the selected text within the decoration area.
   • Vertical Centering controls: Vertically centers the selected text within the decoration area.
   • Layering controls: lets you change the layer at which the selected text is positioned in relation to other decorations.

   Effects

   Click on the Effects tab to expand it. Expanding the Effects tab reveals the following text effects:

   

To add a design using the Add Design button:

1. Select a location on the garment
2. Click on the Add Design button in the Designer Toolbar.

Select the type of process to be used for the design in the Select Type of Design popup. Only options that are supported by the product being decorated will be enabled.

Browse to and click on the design you want to add in the Select a design popup.

• Upload a new design: Click on Upload Image to upload a design from your device.

  Raster, vector, and embroidery file types are supported in the formats as listed below:

  • Raster (PNG, JPG, JPEG, GIF, TIF)
  • Vector (PDF, EPS, PS, SVG, SVGZ)
  • Embroidery (EMB)

  Vector based graphics will have modifiable elements such as text and colors editable on the fly by users.

• Your own previously uploaded design designs: These will appear under the Upload Image button if you have uploaded designs before.
• Store Designs: designs exclusive to the store.
• Stock Designs: Third-party designs available for use in DecoNetwork.

Click SELECT DESIGN.

1. The design will appear inside the decoration area with editable size dimension, resize and rotate handles and delete control available.

To add a design by drag and drop:

Drag a design file from your computer into the decoration area of the product in the Designer.

The decoration area will be highlighted when the mouse pointer is within its boundaries.

1. Release the mouse button to drop the design into the decoration area.

   The Select Type of Design popup will be displayed with the supported decoration types enabled for the product selected.

2. Tick the, I hereby declare I own the rights to print this image, checkbox in the Confirm Copyright Permission popup to verify that you have permission to use the design.

Click OK.

The design will appear inside the decoration area with editable size dimension, resize and rotate handles and delete control available.

To adjust design properties:

1. Click on the View and organize layers button in the View Toolbar.
   
2. Click the design object you wish to adjust the properties of.

   The Image Properties panel will appear on the left side of the Designer.

   
3. Configure the design as required:
   • Quality: Shows you a bar indicating how clear the image is for printing. The indicator reflects how well the raster-based graphic is going to print before blurring too badly. If this drops below a certain threshold, the system will warn the customer that their print quality will be compromised.

     This option is only available for raster designs.

   • Colours: Shows you the colours currently used in the design.
     • edit: Click on the link to edit the design colours.

     This option is not available for designs that have restrictions on customizing.

   • Resize Proportionally: when this checkbox is ticked, the design will keep its original proportions when you resize it.

     This option is not available for embroidery, transfer and rhinestone designs.

   • Ungroup: click on the link to ungroup the design into its component elements.

     This option is only available vector-based designs.

   Position

   Click on the Position tab to expand it. Expanding the Position tab reveals the following controls:

   • Position controls: lets you move the selected text within the decoration area using any of the eight directional arrows.
   • Size controls: lets you increase/decrease the size of the selected text by clicking on the up/down arrows.
   • Rotation controls: lets you turn the selected text around its center axis. You can do this by:
     • Specifying a specific angle at which to rotate the text.
     • Clicking on the left arrow to rotate the text 5 degrees to the left.
     • Clicking on the right arrow to rotate the text 5 degrees to the right.
   • Horizontal Centering controls: Horizontally centers the selected text within the decoration area.
   • Vertical Centering controls: Vertically centers the selected text within the decoration area.
   • Layering controls: lets you change the layer at which the selected text is positioned in relation to other decorations.

To change the currently selected product:

1. Click on the Change Product button in the Product panel.

1. The Select Product popup will be displayed.

To specify product sizes and quantities:

1. Click on the Product button in the Designer Toolbar.

The Product panel is displayed.

1. Select a size from the Size drop-down list and specify the quantity required in the input box for that size.
2. Click Add Another Size to specify quantities for each size required.

To arrange design layers:

1. Click on the View and organize layers button in the View Toolbar.
   

   The Layers panel is displayed showing all the text and design objects present in the decoration area.

   
2. Arrange the elements as required:
   • To move a layer up, click on the up arrow to move it to a new position in the list. Likewise, to move a layer down, click on the down to move it to a new position in the list.
   • To delete a layer, click the cross icon at the right of the layer.

To re-group template design elements:

You can group elements from a template design that you have ungrouped.

1. Click on the View and organize layers button in the View Toolbar.
   

   The Layers panel is displayed showing all the text and design objects present in the decoration area.

2. Hold down the Ctrl key and click on each layer you want to be grouped.

3. Click on the Group Selected Items button in the View Toolbar.

Additional icon buttons:

In the bottom right hand corner of the customiser tool there are icon buttons that will be helpful when using this tool.

1. Preview design:

Click on the 'eye' icon to preview your design.

This allows you to view the complete item with your customisation, before adding it to cart.

2. View cart: Click this button to view the items in your cart and checkout

3. Get a quote: You can request a quote for the current product and ask any additional questions to the South Coast Embroidery team by clicking this button.

4. Save your design and create an account, so that you can return to it at a later time.

5. Share your design with friends and colleagues by clicking this button.