Creating Graphics?

[UKSBD]

I've never bothered trying to create any types of graphics

Someone whose site I look after gets a mate to make graphics for him that he uses on facebook, other social media sites, and on his website

I've put some examples on this page - https://www.v1seo.co.uk/seo/graphics/

I fancy having a go at making something similar myself but don't know where to start.

How easy is it to make things like that and what is the best (free or cheap) software to make them with?

How long would it take to make one and what would you expect to pay for it?

 

[japancool]

How easy is it to make things like that and what is the best (free or cheap) software to make them with?

Not that difficult if you have graphic design skills. It's easily doable with a free program like GIMP (although GIMP and I don't get on).

 

[DontAsk]

GIMP could do that, but it can be a steep learning curve.

Not sure what how you embed clickable links in graphics these days.

 

[UKSBD]

Not that difficult if you have graphic design skills.

I don't

I would imagine the more you do it the easier it gets though

Not looking to do this as a money making scheme, just fancy seeing if I can do it, so I can make graphics for my own sites more than anything

 

[estwig]

I used to do my own graphics, to an extent anyway, this was back in the days of printed media.

The problem I had trying to do it for the web was the file size, absolutely massive!

Now if I want something I do a mockup using photoshop elements, then get someone cheap on PPH or Fiver, to do it properly.

 

[UKSBD]

I used to do my own graphics, to an extent anyway, this was back in the days of printed media.

The problem I had trying to do it for the web was the file size, absolutely massive!

Now if I want something I do a mockup using photoshop elements, then get someone cheap on PPH or Fiver, to do it properly.

Thanks

I want to be like the people on PPH or Fiver though.

Not for the money, just because I want to be able to do it.

What would you pay for a graphic similar to the ones in my demo on the likes of Fiver and PPH?

 

[japancool]

I used to do all the graphics for our printed material, signs and whatnot, back when we actually had those. Used Corel PaintShop Pro, because I prefer PSP over GIMP.

 

[UKSBD]

I used to do all the graphics for our printed material, signs and whatnot, back when we actually had those. Used Corel PaintShop Pro, because I prefer PSP over GIMP.

Once you had an idea of to use PaintShop Pro, how long would it take to create one roughly?

10 minutes, an hour, 2 hours, longer?

I don't mind spending a couple of days learning how to use the software, would that be enough or is there a lot to learn before you can do things like that?

 

[japancool]

10 minutes, an hour, 2 hours, longer?

Depends on how complex the graphics are.

I don't mind spending a couple of days learning how to use the software, would that be enough or is there a lot to learn before you can do things like that?

Learning the software is the easy part. Designing the actual image is the hard bit. Once you know what you want, the technical part of how to achieve it is straightforwards. When you hire an image designer, you're (mostly) not paying for their technical ability on how to use Photoshop, you're paying for their design expertise.

 

[estwig]

Thanks

I want to be like the people on PPH or Fiver though.

Not for the money, just because I want to be able to do it.

What would you pay for a graphic similar to the ones in my demo on the likes of Fiver and PPH?

Around £30.00 to someone not in the UK, as long their English is reasonable I'm good to go. There's no money to be made in doing this, unless your living costs are very low.

 

[makeusvisible]

I've never bothered trying to create any types of graphics

Someone whose site I look after gets a mate to make graphics for him that he uses on facebook, other social media sites, and on his website

I've put some examples on this page - https://www.v1seo.co.uk/seo/graphics/

I fancy having a go at making something similar myself but don't know where to start.

How easy is it to make things like that and what is the best (free or cheap) software to make them with?

How long would it take to make one and what would you expect to pay for it?

The examples you posted were all made using an online tool called Canva. I use Canva daily and recognise the templates you posted.

It's a free tool, and it's the most popular online graphics editor for creating social media posts. The free version is very good, but the pro version is even better as it allows you to create brand-kits containing fonts/colour palettes etc.

 

[MBE2017]

Another vote for Canva.

 

[CharlesAllEars]

Hi,

My suggestion is PowerPoint! I’ve been using it for years to build creative for all aspects of online and print marketing. There are some things I dip into photoshop to do, but you can use gimp for that. I am not a graphic designer, but a marketer (also into game dev - environmental design, 3D modelling - Blender/adobe suite/UE4 etc so some steep learning curves including C#.)

Those examples would be easy and I don’t believe you need to be a graphic designer to create those (or better). Here’s why I think this could be the best option, for you or for most.

- it’s likely you’ll have some basic PowerPoint knowledge (right click format background, insert text box, choose your font, insert image, insert shape etc, with just that you’ve already created those examples.)

- generally best to start big (if designing for print - really big - way bigger than the slide like 10 times - zoom right out) but for web headers, banners, mpu’s or even hero images just a slide size is fine

- dimensions. Say the end creative you want is 300x200mm. Simply insert a shape (rectangle) as your background, right click format shape, on right edit size and make it 300x200 (3cmx2cm). Tick the ‘lock aspect ratio’ box, then drag it to be much bigger

- import photos that are a least 3k

- build your creative

- select all, group all, and simply save as image ( PNG ) to your desktop

- open the image in Gimp (free!). Here you just go to edit up top, scale image from the drop down and type in 300x200, to bring it back down in size with a high resolution knowing the aspect ratio was locked and so is fine (you can choose whatever measure cm, pixels etc). If you started huge in PowerPoint (careful it crashes if you try go too big) you’ll find you can get a print resolution of over 500 dpi on a big image - like van graphics size - crisp and sharp output

- click file and ‘export’, click the save background box (I think it’s called, but it weirdly defaults to unselected)

- along the way you can just learn the ‘bits’ you need from complex software like Gimp. (E.g remove background with fuzzy select easy stuff - loads of 3 min vids - that easy)

Once you get your head around the dimension and resolution bit, it’s just about creating your assets for your image, there’s rarely any need to worry about layers. Obviously you’re not creating vector files, so snooty designers can get funny, but just export it as a PDF for them.

Anyway hope that helps!

Charles

 

[ethical PR]

Thanks

I want to be like the people on PPH or Fiver though.

Not for the money, just because I want to be able to do it.

What would you pay for a graphic similar to the ones in my demo on the likes of Fiver and PPH?

Why don't you look on those sites then and see what people are charging.

 

[Siobhan-DFH]

For templates for social media, I think Placeit is better than Canva. It's a paid tool, around £17 per month. Canva is painfully clunky. I also use Gimp and couldn't do without it. (Opensource and free).

 

[ethical PR]

For templates for social media, I think Placeit is better than Canva. It's a paid tool, around £17 per month. Canva is painfully clunky. I also use Gimp and couldn't do without it. (Opensource and free).

Each to their own I find Canva quite easy to use once you have set up your templates.

 

[UKSBD]

I finally had a little go on Canva

Is it really that simple?

Find an instagram template, edit it, download it?

What's the catch? - Is there any restrictions on what you can do with what you create?

Can you use the free version for business use, are you nagged to upgrade, seems too good to be true.

 

[fantheflames]

Hi

I finally had a little go on Canva

Is it really that simple?

Find an instagram template, edit it, download it?

What's the catch? - Is there any restrictions on what you can do with what you create?

Can you use the free version for business use, are you nagged to upgrade, seems too good to be true.

It's very easy - even without any graphic design experience. The platform was created to make it easier for anyone to make graphic material. Whether that's kids, adults or professionals.

The story behind the creation/ investment of Canva is very inspiring. If you have time, I'd recommend you looking into it!

There's no catch with Canva.

If you're wanting to simplify your time, in terms of converting your design into another format, or want access to their complete library, or want to streamline the branding process, that's when you'd need to pay for Canva.

Most of the features on Canva are for free.

There's plenty of templates you can use, for particularly most design needs, and there's a good amount of editing tools you can use to make it your own.

I'm still waiting for the eraser button to be added to Canva to lessen my time on Photoshop. But other than that, I use Canva for most graphics.

 

[makeusvisible]

I finally had a little go on Canva

Is it really that simple?

Find an instagram template, edit it, download it?

What's the catch? - Is there any restrictions on what you can do with what you create?

Can you use the free version for business use, are you nagged to upgrade, seems too good to be true.

An amazing tool isn't it. It really is easy to use.

A few things to keep in mind.... whilst the tool is great, you can still create bad images if you don't follow some basic principles.

If your using it for social media for your brand, try to create some guidelines from the start. Which font(s) are you going to use for headings/text. Which colours are you going to use. The worst thing is to have a steady flow of social content, where every post looks like it follows a different brand guideline.

As above, if you pay for the premium version, you can create a brand kit, which makes consistency across images far easier.