Typography Mistakes Killing Your Merch Sales and How to Fix Them

Every day, thousands of print-on-demand sellers upload designs to marketplaces like Amazon Merch, Redbubble, and Etsy. Many wonder why their text-based designs don't sell despite solid niche research. The culprit? Typography mistakes that make designs look amateurish and turn buyers away.

Research shows that 92% of customers rank print quality as their top reason for repeat orders, and typography is a critical component of that quality. Understanding these typography pitfalls can transform your sales performance overnight.

In this guide, we'll expose the most common typography mistakes killing your Merch sales and provide actionable fixes that will immediately improve your conversion rates.

The Readability Crisis: Why Your Text Can't Be Read

If customers can't read your text from across a room, they won't buy your product. Readability issues are the number one typography mistake in print-on-demand designs.

Font Selection Gone Wrong

Overly decorative, script, or ornate fonts create instant readability problems. That elaborate calligraphy font becomes an illegible blur when printed on a t-shirt and viewed from 10 feet away. Customers shopping online simply scroll past designs that look difficult to read.

The most successful Merch sellers understand that clarity trumps creativity. Clean sans-serif fonts like Arial, Helvetica, and Roboto consistently outperform decorative alternatives. For headlines, bold serif fonts like Baskerville or Georgia provide impact without sacrificing legibility. Reserve script fonts for single words or short phrases at large sizes—never for entire slogans.

Size and Weight Issues

Text that's too small or uses light font weights disappears on printed products. Industry experts recommend a minimum of 14-point font size for most Merch applications, with bold or medium weights providing better visibility.

Limit your designs to one or two fonts maximum, and create hierarchy through size and weight variations rather than adding more typefaces. Mixing multiple serif or sans-serif fonts creates visual competition rather than complement.

Color and Contrast Failures

Low contrast between text and background colors makes designs virtually unreadable. Light gray on white or dark blue on black creates eye strain and reduces sales. Use color contrast checkers to ensure your text meets accessibility standards—typically a contrast ratio of at least 4.5:1.

Industrial ink behaves differently than digital colors. Similar colors can melt together during printing, making text disappear entirely. Always use high-contrast combinations: black on white, white on dark colors, or bold complementary colors.

Spacing Disasters: Kerning, Tracking, and Leading Failures

Professional designers spend hours perfecting spacing in their typography. Amateur Merch sellers often ignore it entirely, resulting in awkward letter spacing that makes designs look unprofessional.

Kerning Catastrophes

Kerning—the space between individual letter pairs—requires manual adjustment for professional results. Letter combinations like "VA," "To," "Ty," "AV," and uppercase "W," "Y," "V," "T," "L," and "P" create awkward gaps with default spacing.

The infamous "Kids Exchange" sign went viral for appearing to spell something inappropriate due to improper spacing. Another common mistake: placing "r" and "n" too close creates an "m," transforming "kerning" into "keming."

The solution requires visual adjustment rather than mathematical equality. Typography experts recommend the "sand filling" technique: visualize sand filling spaces between letters, ensuring equal volumes. Two straight letters need the most space; straight and round letters need slightly less; two round letters need even less.

Tracking and Leading Problems

Tracking refers to uniform spacing across all letters in a word. Excessive tracking spreads text too far apart, losing impact. Negative tracking crushes letters together, creating a cramped appearance.

All-caps text benefits from increased tracking—5-10% more space than default settings. However, maintain standard tracking for body text to preserve readability.

Leading—the vertical space between lines—directly impacts readability. Too-tight leading causes eye strain; too-loose leading disrupts reading flow. The optimal setting is generally 120-145% of the font size.

Font Pairing and Consistency Failures

Typography hierarchy guides customers' eyes to important information. Poor font pairing destroys this hierarchy, creating confused designs that customers ignore.

The Too-Many-Fonts Trap

New designers believe more fonts equal more visual interest. The opposite is true. Using three, four, or five typefaces creates chaos where each font competes for attention.

Professional designers follow the two-font rule: limit designs to two complementary typefaces maximum. One handles headlines; the second provides contrast for supporting text. Create hierarchy through size and weight variations, not more fonts.

Poor Font Combinations

Even with two fonts, choosing fonts that clash ruins your design. Avoid pairing two similar sans-serif fonts, using multiple decorative fonts together, or combining fonts with conflicting personalities.

Pair fonts that complement rather than compete. Combine a bold display font with a simple, readable font. Popular professional pairings include Roboto with Lobster, Montserrat with Pacifico, and Arial with Georgia.

Inconsistent Styling

Brand consistency in typography builds recognition and trust. Using different fonts across your Merch portfolio dilutes your brand identity. Successful sellers develop style guides specifying typefaces, sizing, spacing, and color usage for consistent branding.

Technical and Quality Control Mistakes

Beyond aesthetics, technical mistakes cause printing failures and customer complaints.

Resolution and File Format Errors

Typography requires vector formats to maintain quality at any size. Submitting text as rasterized images (JPGs, PNGs below 300 DPI) results in blurry prints. Use vector-based formats like SVG, EPS, or PDF, and design at actual print size—typically 300 DPI or higher.

Safe Print Area and Color Space Issues

Every print-on-demand product has a defined safe print area. Placing text outside these boundaries results in cut-off words. Position all critical text well within boundaries with adequate margins.

Designing in RGB mode causes unexpected color shifts when printed in CMYK. Work in CMYK mode from the start or carefully convert colors. Test combinations by viewing at actual size on target product colors before production.

Proofreading Failures

Typos make your store look unprofessional. One seller printed 200 shirts reading "Happy Brithday!" before catching the error. Check spelling in design software, review listings carefully, and have someone else proofread—fresh eyes catch mistakes you've become blind to.

Missing commas create unintended meanings. Grammar mistakes signal lack of attention, discouraging quality-conscious customers. For high-volume sellers, professional copywriting review prevents costly mistakes.

Strategic Typography for Maximum Sales

Implementing strategic typography that drives sales requires intentional design choices informed by customer psychology and market trends.

Typography That Converts

Successful Merch typography balances readability, emotional impact, trend alignment, and production feasibility. Research your target niche's preferences by analyzing bestselling designs to identify typography patterns your audience responds to.

Motivational quotes perform best with strong, bold sans-serif fonts. Vintage-themed products benefit from retro typewriter or script fonts. Minimalist designs demand clean typography with generous white space.

Testing and Iteration

Test multiple typography variations before committing to production. Create mockups on actual product colors, view them at distance to assess readability, and share with potential customers for feedback.

Amazon Merch sellers benefit from A/B testing different typography approaches. Upload variations of successful designs with modified typography, tracking which versions generate more sales. This data-driven approach identifies what resonates with your specific audience.

Stay Current with Trends

Typography trends evolve constantly. Current trends favor bold, impactful fonts for statements, minimalist sans-serifs for clean aesthetics, and creative letter manipulation for artistic designs. Follow design blogs, Pinterest boards, and competitor analysis to keep your typography fresh.

However, master the basics—readability, spacing, pairing—before experimenting with trendy approaches. Trends enhance already-solid typography; they can't fix fundamentally flawed designs.

Conclusion

Typography mistakes represent the silent killer in print-on-demand businesses. While sellers focus on niche research and keyword optimization, poor typography undermines these efforts by making designs look unprofessional and hard to read.

Start by auditing your current designs for readability issues, spacing problems, and technical errors. Implement the solutions provided—proper font selection, careful kerning and tracking, appropriate leading, strategic font pairing, and thorough proofreading. These improvements will immediately elevate your designs' professional appearance and conversion rates.

Great typography isn't about following rigid rules—it's about creating designs that communicate clearly, resonate emotionally, and look professional enough that customers trust their purchase decision. Master these fundamentals, and you'll join the ranks of top Merch sellers whose typography drives consistent sales.

Ready to fix your typography and boost your Merch sales? Start by reviewing your three best-selling designs and applying the spacing fixes discussed. This single improvement often generates a 20-40% increase in conversion rates—proof that professional typography directly impacts your bottom line.