DIY Graphic Design with Free Online Tools Brittany Howlett

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1 DIY Graphic Design with Free Online Tools Brittany Howlett Communications Specialist CESBA

2 Why is visual content important for your adult & continuing education program marketing strategy? Graphic design and visual media are useful tools that enhance how you communicate with your audiences. They serve to convey your messages in a way that is not only effective, but also beautiful. We live in a visual age Which means you need a visual content creation strategy! 2

3 How does this affect our audience reach? Posts with infographics grow traffic an average of 12% more than those without. Facebook posts with images see 2.3X more engagement than those without images. Tweets with images receive 150% more retweets than tweets without images. People following directions with text and illustrations do 323% better than people following directions without illustrations. 3

4 Which would you rather read? Same content, different presentation. 4

5 But I m already so busy! Making your own visual content for your marketing and communications strategies can be daunting, but also fun and rewarding! Benefits include: Cheaper (and often FREE) Faster turnaround time Bring your own vision to life You re the content expert! Why DIY? You don t have to go to graphic design school (or reinvent the colour wheel)! 5

6 Types of visual content: Images Infographics Gifs Memes Word Art A visual representation of something. Visual representation of data or information in a way that is clear and easy to understand. Graphic Interchange Format (GIFs) allow animated images to be created by cramming a set of frames into a single file for sequential playback. A virally-transmitted cultural symbol or social idea. The majority of modern memes are captioned photos that are intended to be funny. Using word clouds or quote art to share messages or ideas in a visually appealing way. 6

7 Image Tools From sourcing to editing 7

8 Compfight Compfight.com Pexels pexels.com Free stock photos Use for commercial and non-commercial purposes Attribution (usually) not required Use images on website, social media, etc. 8

9 BeFunky befunky.com Pixlr pixlr.com Quick and easy photo editing Simple interface and editing tools Add filters, effects, frames and graphics Crop, adjust colours, brightness and contrast Use finished images anywhere! Brochures, websites, social media, blogs 9

10 Gifs Get people's attention with animation 10

11 Giphy giphy.com Find GIFs, create GIFs, watch endless GIFs Search for existing GIFs Upload photos or a video and create your own animated GIF to share Add captions or stickers Use video files from YouTube and Vimeo 11

12 Memes Unleash your inner comic 12

13 Meme Generator memegenerator.net Make a meme = be a pop culture hero. Browse and edit memes created by others Search for different characters, images, what's popular and new Upload your own images Save the world with bite-sized humour 13

14 Word art From word clouds to quote graphics 14

15 Word Art wordart.com/create Make words stand out Visualize words by size, colour, shape and font Import word lists from CSV Download in a variety of formats Great for social media! 15

16 QuotesCover quotescover.com Create quote graphics Use templates as a starting point Fast and easy Choose what dimensions you need and type (e.g. social media, high resolution) 16

17 Graphic Design Software Professional layouts from infographics to Twitter posts 17

18 Canva (< Brittany s pick!) Canva.com Professional-looking graphic design Design everything! Social media ads, posters, flyers, infographics, brochures, web banners, reports Easy drag-and-drop editor to modify text, colours, backgrounds and graphic elements Choose from thousands of templates Tons of free features (no need to upgrade) Free educational resources and tutorials at canva.com/learn/design-school/ 18

19 Tips for getting the most out of graphic design software Use ready-made templates Don t mess with templates too much Get creative! Keep it simple Use tutorials The key to using design templates is that you want them to look like a designer created them, even if it s you finishing them! Stick to changes like text, background photo or colour and try not to move too far from the original design. Be inventive and experimental and choose and combine different typefaces and filters. Make sure every element has a reason to be in the design and keep the number of fonts, colours, shapes and frames to a minimum Take advantage of free online tutorials and videos to learn how to use the many software features. Learn more: 19

20 Don t DIY: Complex or large projects (big reports, transit ads) Abstract concepts or ideas Infographics with a lot of data Branding or re-branding DON T make your own logo. Just don t. Know when to hire a professional Sometimes you have to call in the experts. 20

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22 Thank You Brittany Howlett Photo by Vadim B from Pexels