Print Area Designer
Define sides, backgrounds, product calibration and print areas — the visual setup that decides what your customers can design and what your print files look like.
The Print Area Designer is where a Shopify product becomes a customizable product. Open it from a product page with Open Print Area Designer.
You work side by side: the product photo on the canvas, the setup panels on the right, and a checklist at the top that tracks what is still missing.
The workflow
For each side of the product:
- Add the side and set whether customization is required on it.
- Choose the background — variant photos, or a mask plus per-variant fill colors.
- (Optional but recommended) Calibrate the product size so print areas are set in real centimetres or inches.
- Set the print area — width, height, shape and position.
- Apply it to the variants it should cover.
Repeat for every side, then Save and close.
The guidance line under the canvas always tells you the next action: Add a side to get started → Choose how this side’s background works → Enter a print size and press Set print area → Drag to position; resize keeps the print ratio. Apply when done.
1. Sides
A side is a printable face: Front, Back, Left sleeve, Lid, Inside. Each side has its own background, print area and rules.
In the sides panel you can:
- Add a side by name, for example Left sleeve.
- Reorder sides — the order here is the order customers see.
- Delete a side (with confirmation).
- Set Max canvas width / height for the side.
- Mark the side Required or Optional by clicking its pill.
Required vs optional sides
| Setting | Effect on customers |
|---|---|
| Required | A design must be added to this side before checkout. |
| Optional | The side can be skipped — but the customer must design on at least one side. |
The bulk control at the top sets every side at once: All Required or All Optional. The summary sentence tells you the current state, for example Sides are mixed: 2 required, 3 optional.
A common setup
Front required, everything else optional. Customers cannot order a blank shirt, but they are not forced to design four sides.
2. Background and variants
Each side needs a background — what the customer sees behind their design. There are two modes.
Variant images
Upload a real product photo per color. Best when you have proper mockup photography for each colorway. The photo you upload applies to all variants in that color group (all its sizes).
Mask + color
Upload one transparent PNG mask per side; each color variant fills the transparent area with its own color. Best when you sell many colors and do not have a photo for each one — one mask covers them all.
Preparing a mask
The mask is a PNG where the garment shape is transparent and everything else (shadows, seams, background) is opaque. Customezo fills the transparent region with the variant’s color, so the shading of the original photo shows through.
When you upload a background to one side, Customezo asks whether to apply the same image to only this side or all sides — useful when several sides share the same photo.
Per-variant overrides live in the variant table at the bottom: each row shows whether that variant has its own print area and background, with Upload bg / Replace bg and Print area buttons.
3. Product size calibration (advanced)
By default you position the print area freely on the photo. Calibration makes it exact.
- Open Advanced: enter the exact product size.
- Enter the physical width and height of the printable face — for example the shirt front, not the whole photo.
- Press Draw product frame and align the teal frame over the product in the photo.
- Press Done adjusting.
Once calibrated:
- Print areas are entered in exact centimetres or inches.
- They cannot exceed the product size and always stay inside the frame.
- Sizes update live as you resize, read from the calibration.
- The side is marked Calibrated.
Use Remove calibration to go back to free positioning.
Why calibrate
Without calibration, a “20 cm wide” print area is only as accurate as your eye. With it, the size your customer sees and the size on the print file are the real physical size. For apparel and anything with tolerances, calibrate.
4. The print area
The print area card is where you define what actually prints.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Print width / height | The physical size of the printable region. Press Set print area to apply. |
| Print file at N DPI | Live readout of the resulting print file in pixels, based on the product’s print method. |
| Offset in product | How far the area sits from the left and top of the product — useful for repeatable placement. |
| Print area shape | Rectangle, ellipse/circle, triangle or diamond. |
| Free drawing mode | Draw the area at any proportions instead of keeping the entered ratio. |
| Copy to all sides | Duplicate this print area onto every other side. |
| Remove print area | Clear it for this side. |
Drag the area to move it; the handles resize it. With free drawing off, resizing keeps the print ratio.
Shapes
| Shape | Typical use |
|---|---|
| Rectangle | Classic print area — designs can fill the whole box. |
| Ellipse / circle | Plates, coasters, ornaments, round labels. |
| Triangle | Pennants, flags, angled panels. |
| Diamond | Patches, gift tags, ornaments. |
Designs are trimmed to the shape in both the live preview and the print file, so what buyers see is exactly what gets printed.
Free drawing mode
With free drawing on, you draw the area at any proportions and the width and height you entered become the maximum print size. Unused space on the print file stays transparent. Turn it off to lock the area to the exact width-to-height ratio you typed.
5. Applying to variants
After positioning, press Apply… and choose the scope:
| Scope | What it covers |
|---|---|
| All variants | Every variant on this side. Becomes the side’s default. |
| Only color | All sizes of one color; other colors keep theirs. |
| Only this variant | A single variant. |
| Let me choose… | Hand-pick specific colors and sizes. |
Different print areas per size
Adult sizes get a 30 × 40 cm front print, youth sizes 20 × 25 cm. Set the adult area and apply it to All variants, then select the youth sizes, set the smaller area, and apply with Let me choose….
The setup checklist
The banner at the top lists everything still missing, each with a Fix link that jumps to the right place:
- Front: background type not chosen
- Front: mask image not uploaded
- Back: missing mockup for Navy
- Back: print area not configured
When it reads Ready — every side has a background and print area configured, the product’s designer setup is complete. That is not the same as being correct: the checklist cannot know whether 30 cm is the right width for your product.
Saving
Save and close writes the configuration and returns you to the product. The confirmation Designer sides saved appears. Changes take effect immediately for new designs; existing drafts and orders are unaffected.
Troubleshooting
The print area snaps back or will not grow. You are calibrated and hitting the product-size limit — the area cannot exceed the product or leave the frame. Increase the product size if it was entered too small, or remove calibration.
Sizes look wrong after switching units. Switching between centimetres and inches only changes the display. Values are always stored in inches internally, so your configuration never changes. See Designer branding.
The print file pixel dimensions look too small. Raise the DPI on the print method, or increase the print area. The readout is print area × DPI.
A new variant has no print area. New variants arrive through Shopify drift. Accept the drift, then apply a print area to the new variants. See Publishing & sync.