POD mockup production playbook: a weekly cadence that compounds

Standardize inputs (so batches do not break)

Your production speed is capped by how often you have to rework inputs. Standardize per product family:

• Preferred file type (PNG with transparency is usually best).
• Minimum resolution and safe margins (avoid edge-clipping in crops).
• Variant matrix (colors/materials you actually sell).
• Naming rules for design versions (v1/v2) so you know what changed.

Weekly planning: campaigns, collections, roles

Plan in batches that share a style baseline. Good planning units:

• One collection refresh (20 products, one consistent hero style).
• One campaign (seasonal drop, niche trend, influencer collab).
• One product family (tees today, hoodies tomorrow).

Decide gallery roles once (hero/lifestyle/detail) and reuse them. That is how you get consistent store-wide visuals.

Generation: sample, QC, scale

The single best production habit is sampling before scaling. In Studio:

1. Generate 10 outputs as a sample.
2. QC: readability, crop consistency, variant accuracy, and “does this feel like one brand?”.
3. Fix setup, then scale the full queue.
4. After the full run, regenerate only flagged items.

Export + naming + publishing

Publishing should be mechanical. Export ZIP bundles and name files so they map cleanly to listings:

Keep your exports organized as projects in Projects.

Metrics: what to track weekly

• Listings published (count).
• Time per listing (your real throughput metric).
• Regeneration rate (how often you had to redo outputs).
• Top failure reasons (crop drift, readability, variant mismatch).

Templates you can reuse

If you want a simple starting point, use:

• A batch plan template (campaign, product family, variants, roles).
• A QC checklist (use this one).
• A deterministic naming rule.

For the core batch strategy, start with bulk POD mockup generator.