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Whether you're a member of the high school student council or a local business organization, creating an organizational T-shirts is a fun way to show spirit and unity. They can also be good advertising for your group. There are only a few simple things that you need to consider before creating your own shirts.

First, you need to decide on a t-shirt design. One way of coming up with a t-shirt design is to decide as a group what you would like to see. First, have a brainstorming session where everyone can contribute ideas. Then work together to combine and refine these ideas into a suitable final product. Another way to decide on a design is to solicit designs from the membership. Once all interested participants have contributed their ideas, you can either let a committee decide on the final shirt design, or you can put it to a vote of the membership.

Be careful to stay away from copyrighted images or phrases. Everyone may think it's cool to have Homer Simpson saying, "D'oh! I should have joined the DHS Drama Club," but you're only setting yourself up for trouble with a design like that. Reputable t-shirt printing companies won't let you use copyright-protected characters in your logos anyway.

When deciding on a t-shirt design, you should also decide on a color and style. T-shirts are available in almost every color imaginable, and you can also use just as many colors in the printing of your shirt. However, if you use screen-printing, the more colors you use in your printed design, the more the shirt will cost. In terms of shirt style, short-sleeved shirts are the most popular choice for these kinds of t-shirts, but you can also order long-sleeved shirts, ringer tees, sweatshirts, or even non-shirt items like hats, totebags and boxer shorts.

Some groups like to order white t-shirts imprinted with their chosen design and then have a decorating party. You can tie-dye the shirts, use fabric paints to add personal flair, or simply autograph each other's shirts. Some groups skip the screen-printing process altogether and go straight to the decorating process, resulting in a unique shirt for each member.

Finally, you need to decide how you're going to get your shirts printed. You should be able to find local printing shops in the phone book and call them to price your shirts. If you're a student or non-profit group, see if any companies will offer discounts. With improved printing technologies, it's also possible to create t-shirt transfers on nearly any home computer. You can scan in your planned design or create it in an imaging program. The final product may look slightly less professional depending on the quality of the printer, though, and you will need to factor in the cost of the printer ink before you decide if you're really saving money.

Whatever you decide, if you make sure that everyone has a say in the final product and that everyone has fun with it, you're bound for shirt success.