A product prints on one area or several. The Design Studio calls them what your customer sees: the Sides of a shirt or a card, the Sizes of a product sold in several sizes, and the Pages of a book. This guide covers sides and sizes; a book has its own Pages panel.
Open and switch sides
Select Sides in the Design Studio rail, or Sizes for a product sold in several sizes. Choose a side to make it active; the canvas and Layers panel then show what is on it.
Use the thumbnail and name to tell similar sides apart. Each row says whether it has content or is still empty, so you can see at a glance what is unfinished. Before duplicating or deleting anything, check that the active side is the one you mean to change.
You can also switch below the canvas. The strip in the bottom bar lists every side by name: a violet dot marks one where customers fill something in, and a dimmed name is still empty. Point at the strip for a moment and previews of every side unfold above it; press Escape or move away to fold them. With more than six, the strip numbers them, and All sides, All sizes or All pages opens this panel.
Double-click a name to rename it. Switch between Grid view and List view with the control at the top of the panel; the choice is remembered for the next time you open the editor.
Sizes follow the main size; sides stand on their own
A product sold in several sizes has one Main size, pinned at the top. What you put on it appears on every other size, fitted to it, and those sizes say Follows main size. That is also why a size you have not touched shows the main composition rather than an empty canvas: it is following.
Edit an element on another size and that size says Adjusted: the elements you changed stop following, and the rest keep following. Reset, next to it, makes the size follow the main size again. Follow the main size and Stop following the main size in a size’s menu do the same for the whole size.
The sides of one product, such as a shirt’s front and back, stand on their own: each keeps its own design. To start a side from another one, open the menu on the side that has the design and choose Copy design to…. Pick the sides that get it from their thumbnails; the design is fitted to each one. A side that already has a design says so, and the button then reads Copy and replace. One undo puts everything back.
Changing the main size
Make main size promotes the size you are on. Use it when the size with the real artwork is not the one at the top, because every size that follows points at whichever size currently leads. For sides, Make main side sets the side that leads the list and the product’s exports.
The main size or side stays pinned: Move up and Move down are unavailable on it, and available on the others.
What each side’s menu offers
Open the menu on a row for Details, Rename, Rotate 90°, Make main side (or Make main size), Duplicate, Copy design to…, Move up, Move down and Delete. Copy design to… appears on a side with a design, when the product’s sides stand on their own. Follow the main size and Stop following the main size appear instead on a size that can follow the main size.
Delete asks first, naming the side, and it removes the artwork with it. It is unavailable when only one side is left, because a product cannot have none.
Check dimensions and background
The active side shows its print size in millimetres when the product defines one, and its background controls. These values describe the design workspace for that side.
Use a transparent background when the provider expects artwork without a full background layer. Use a solid background only when the whole side should print that color.
Keep the work organized
Open Layers when you need to reorder or select content precisely. Switch sides again after editing and inspect each one in the customer preview.
Why did my artwork disappear?
You may have switched to another side. Reopen Sides and select the one that holds the artwork.
Why is my design on a size I never opened?
Every size follows the main size until you adjust it. Choose Stop following the main size if it should carry something else.
I edited one element and the rest still follow the main size. Why?
Editing an element on a size that follows detaches that element only, and the size then says Adjusted. Reset, next to it, makes the whole size follow again.
Does each side have its own layers?
Yes. The active side determines what appears in Layers and on the canvas.
Which background should I choose?
Use the background required by the product and provider print method. Transparent is appropriate when the print file should contain artwork only.
Next
For a product built on two of them, follow a mug with two printable sides.
Use the customer preview to review every side from the shopper’s point of view.