The Print on Demand Playbook
THE DESIGN
ACADEMY
You found the niche. You did the research.
You know exactly what people are buying.
And then you have to actually DESIGN the dang thing.
Free to sign up. You'll get first access to this,
and the only discount I'll ever run.
A custom design generator, built into the course
One of several inside The Design Academy
Sound familiar?
It's never the research that stops you.
You open Canva, stare at the blank canvas, and think… okay, now what the heck do I make?
An hour gone to fonts. Another hour picking elements and nudging them into position. And it still doesn't look like a design anyone would buy.
Or you can design, but it feels basic. Not elevated. Not cohesive. Not "I'd pay for this."
You can SEE what you want in your head. You just have no idea how to execute it.
So here's what I've been doing
I've quietly started building it.
Finding an opportunity and knowing how to design for that opportunity are two completely different skills. You can have the perfect niche, the perfect product, the perfect keywords. None of those things can make someone want an ugly product.
So I mapped the whole thing. Five modules, eleven submodules, sixty-four lessons. Color science and print methods. Kittl and Canva down to the glyph. The AI workflows I actually use. Mockups that convert. Patterns. Start to finish builds on eight different products. It's written. I've started recording.
But there's a difference between something you want and something you actually need.
I'm only finishing this if it's the second one. So before I go any further, I'm asking.
What's inside
Sixty-four lessons. Already mapped.
This isn't a vague idea. The whole curriculum is written and I've started recording. Here's what's in it.
Foundations & Strategy 10 lessons
Why design drives the sale, the thumbnail test that decides whether you get scrolled past, and the strategies that make designs sell. Niche hopping, the bestseller blend, niche stacking, personalization, trend research, and designing in collections so your shop reads like one brand.
Print Production & Brand Kits 7 lessons
The technical floor almost nobody teaches. Color science for print on demand, DTG vs DTF vs screen vs embroidery, sRGB vs CMYK, designing to scale, placement and transparency, DPI and file types, and the print fails that quietly cost you money. Plus embroidery thread brand kits in Canva.
Tool Mastery: Kittl & Canva 17 lessons
The deep dives. Kittl flows, fonts and glyphs, the orange font method, text curvature, layers, textures, clipping and masks, gradients, background removal, exporting. Then Canva pro features, purchased fonts, type warp, and the magic layers methods.
AI Lab & Mockup Mastery 15 lessons
This is where the generators live. My real AI workflow start to finish: screenshot, background remove, ChatGPT, Kittl. The custom generators I'm building for you, so you're not doing the heavy lifting from a blank canvas. Etsy compliant AI mockups and when they're not okay. Then blending onto wrinkled shirts and curved surfaces, multi variant mockups, product video for the Etsy video slot, and the photo order that actually sells.
Patterns, Walk-Throughs & Workflow 15 lessons
Repeating patterns, seamless patterns, all over print, and the take a note and put it on a product method. Then complete walk throughs where I build the whole thing with you: a blanket, a mug, a tee, a tote, a sticker, wall art, an embroidered hat, and a full ten photo listing. Plus batching and file naming so you can actually scale.
The part I'm most excited about
Plus the generators I built for you.
Not a general AI image tool. Not something you found on ChatGPT. Custom generators built for what we actually do, like the Star Map Generator I built below. This is just one of a few that will be going inside The Design Academy.
You put in your information and your style, and it hands you back concepts for products people will actually buy.
So you're not doing the heavy lifting from a blank canvas. And then I walk you through every one of them. Tutorial after tutorial, over my shoulder, until this is second nature.
THE STAR MAP GENERATOR, RUNNING
WHY ME, WHY THIS
Designing is where it fell apart for me too.
For a long time I could find the opportunity and then completely fumble the execution. I know exactly what that hour of moving a graphic two pixels feels like. And I know what it costs you. Not in time. In belief.
So this isn’t theory. It’s the thing I had to figure out to get my own shop working, taught the way I wish someone had taught me.
— Shay Lynn
What being on the list gets you
First access
Doors open to this list first. You'll get it before anybody else.
The only discount I'm ever going to offer
One time, for the people who sign up for the waitlist and raise their hand early. This will never be repeated.
A say in it
Tell me what you're stuck on and it shapes the lessons I record next.
Do you actually want this?
Then get on the list. That’s the whole ask. It’s not a purchase and it’s not a commitment. You’re literally just telling me keep going.
Costs nothing. Commits you to nothing.
And if the list is quiet?
Then I'll know, and I'll go put that time into something you'd rather have instead. Truly no hard feelings.
But if the design part is the thing that's stopping you, and you want free generators and complete walk throughs, I want to fix that and build that for you.
