Playground has become one of the easiest AI-based design programs to work with, thanks to its combination of AI-generated images and templates to design logos, clothing and social media graphics. It is indeed user-friendly, but it is designed as a jack-of-all-trades design program and not a design program for print on demand, and more experienced users need a design program that can help them create sell-ready files efficiently and quickly. The choice of alternative depends on your preferences, do you want more control, better graphics, or an app that is built for selling? Here are the six best playground alternatives for designing t-shirts, starting with the best for print on demand sellers.

 

1. Kittl

The platform to go for in cases where typography defines the design is Kittl. In this case, it serves as a comprehensive design environment for merch sellers in a way that the use of AI generation and vector editor as well as text effects and background remover ensures the creation of layered and editable designs as opposed to an image. The uploading of custom fonts and inclusion of vintage/distressed effects is the main point that makes it stand out among other generators.

Kittl is also known to create vectors ready for print that will maintain their quality even on t-shirt size and eliminates one of the main challenges associated with switching from the generator to a POD platform. The wide selection of templates in Kittl allows sellers to make sellable designs faster without being good at prompts, and the mockups help to see what a shirt will look like before exporting.

2. YupTees

YupTees is the option for those who need print-ready designs to sell. The Playground software is a broad set of templates-driven design software, whereas YupTees is solely intended for the print-on-demand. It creates an opportunity for you to input a prompt and receive the high-quality design that is yours to download and use in your store or marketplace. All you do is to come up with a description of what you would like to have, the design will be generated, downloaded and used anywhere you sell without being connected to the software.

The benefit of using YupTees is in its scalability. You can come up with one great idea and then build a whole collection of items out of this idea and utilize it in different niche markets without having to reinvent the wheel every time. The designs are generated already optimized to be used on clothes and will have everything taken into consideration that is needed for printing purposes including contrasts, spacing, and clean composition. To top it all off, all files will belong to you and will be reusable, which means that you will be able to use the same design on Etsy, Shopify and Merch by Amazon without having to pay for it once again or sticking with just one store.

For a shirt sales-oriented generator, YupTees is the best starting point from this list.

3. Canva Magic Media

The Canva Magic Media plugin allows you to use the power of AI generation in an editor that most sellers are familiar with. You can generate the image based on text prompt and immediately lay it out with the help of the font, templates and mockups provided by Canva, and even has a free option to try. This feature is what makes it one of the easiest ways to enter the world of design even for those who have never designed anything in their life.

Canva is not a print on demand specific software, which means that you may need to edit your image, such as removing backgrounds and checking the resolution before printing it. However, all this is made up for by the huge number of templates and mockups provided and easy-to-understand interface of the program.

4. Vexels

Unlike other AI design tools, Vexels gives the seller much more than just one generated graphic design. Firstly, there is a combination of an AI generator trained for merch with one of the biggest collections of print-ready vectors, templates and fonts. In addition, the software provides 18 design styles, allowing the creation of a variety of different design ideas starting with one idea. It is possible to use a professional asset and change the contrast, texts and layout using the editor provided by the company.

Vexels is designed for print on demand and that is why all graphics designed on this platform will look great on products. They have printable colors and designs that are meant to look great on printed products, and also provide the built-in mockup and slogan quote generator. If the seller wants to build a niche line of products including shirts, stickers, mugs and posters, then he needs only one subscription.

5. Ideogram

For designs in which readability of text is essential, Ideogram is the best choice. There is no other general-purpose image generator that can represent typography and lettering better, which is essential for slogans tees, quotes, and whatever relies on text, where other generators mangle your phrases. When you write your phrase between quotation marks, the generator gives you well-formatted text right away, and its community gallery is a great source of inspiration for prompts.

Since Ideogram is a general-purpose image generator, not an apparel-specific one, its images usually require some work like removing background, scaling, print optimization and other preparations to make it ready for the shop. In return, you receive original, non-templated images that are unique among thousands of others, and sellers who are willing to spend some time on preparation will appreciate it.

6. Recraft

Recraft should be considered the best option when it comes to scaling of designs that will always remain sharp. Recraft is one of the few AI-based design generators that work with vector SVG files and not with raster images. This means that you can create designs that look just fine whether they appear in a small chest print or a large back image. Recraft also copes much better with the in-image texts than other design generators.

Recraft is created especially for designers and is quite complex because it contains many features such as a background remover, an upscaler, a mockup generator, and a vectorizer. The clean vector file format that this service provides is perfect for creating simple graphics, which can look great printed on clothes. People who value scalability and editable on-brand designs greatly benefit from Recraft but sometimes have to edit the file a little bit.

The correct choice in this case would depend on your working preferences. Playground is user-friendly and versatile, but YupTees is the program that can be considered a much better option for sellers looking for files to sell rather than just designing templates. On the other hand, Kittl and Recraft provide more freedom in terms of design, scalability, and output, while Canva and Vexels offer vast collections of templates and assets. Ideogram will be useful if there are cases where it is important to have a perfectly designed text. In most cases, YupTees would be the obvious choice for a seller, while the other options will be used to fill some specific needs.