8-easy-to-use-diy-design-instruments-for-non-designers

8 easy-to-use DIY design instruments for non-designers

Compelling and on-brand visuals can do wonders in getting your message throughout whereas leaving a optimistic impression all in a cut up second. Your visuals could make an enormous distinction in rising your model. However with restricted entry to funds, time, and a workforce of knowledgeable designers, how can your enterprise stand out? That’s why we’ve obtained a round-up of eight highly effective and easy-to-use DIY design instruments made for anybody who must create stunning illustrations inside minutes.

person sitting at a desk looking at their screen and the options for design tools for non-designers
By OrangeCrush

8 DIY design instruments for non-designers

DIY design tools for branding and marketing materials

DIY design tools for social media content

DIY design tools for presentations

DIY design instruments for branding and advertising supplies

Beginning your enterprise may be daunting, not to mention designing your brand identity. You’ll must give you a emblem, determine which typefaces and coloration palettes mirror your model, and design your enterprise card, to call a couple of. You’ll additionally must be constant and on-brand along with your promotional and advertising supplies. Ease your inventive course of with these instruments.

Canva

As one of the crucial well-liked DIY instruments for non-designers, Canva has garnered over 60 million customers worldwide. And it’s simple to see why: their feature-rich design platform permits you to construct inventive visuals to spice up your branding.

A gallery of colorful design templates
Canva’s homepage by way of Canva

The platform has an unlimited catalog of designs so that you can select from, whether or not it’s for branding or advertising wants. With simply a few tweaks, you possibly can create on-brand and visually inspiring content material. And should you need assistance out of your workforce, Canva lets its customers seamlessly collaborate with one another in a single workspace.

Canva is offered on-line and on cell. Nevertheless, the cell app model has restricted options and is greatest used for easy edits. One other factor to bear in mind is that the platform’s enormous following throughout the globe might imply having comparable designs to many customers. After all, you possibly can all the time improve to Professional or take extra time tweaking your designs to make them distinctive.

Options you’ll love

  • Over 50,000 inspiring design templates to select from
    Canva’s array of design options contains customizable templates that you should utilize to create playing cards, logos and advertising supplies. When you improve to Canva Professional, it unlocks hundreds of thousands of high-quality pictures, skilled designs and movies.
  • Fast entry to your Model Equipment
    With Canva Professional, you’ve entry to your Model Equipment, a set of branding belongings that you should utilize as a fast reference to make sure your design follows your model’s visible id. Having a Model Equipment at your fingertips may be very useful in sustaining consistency in your artworks.
Canva’s brand kit page showcasing its brand logos, fonts, and colors
Canva’s Model Equipment dashboard by way of Canva
  • Collaborate along with your workforce in real-time
    Planning to work with a number of folks? Canva Crew has you lined by means of its collaborative workspace. Right here, you and your teammates can edit artworks in real-time, go away feedback, strategies and assign duties.

Availability

  • Web site and cell (iOS and Android)

Membership plans

  • Free (restricted options)
  • Professional membership: $12.99/month for as much as 5 customers
  • Enterprise: $30/month per individual for no less than 25 customers

VistaCreate

Nothing wanting savvy, VistaCreate (previously Crello) is an all-in-one design platform for every little thing it’s possible you’ll want—skilled or in any other case.

A monochrome photo of a woman is backdropped against a solid blue backgrounda
VistaCreate’s editor dashboard by way of VistaCreate

Except for digital visuals for branding and advertising, VistaCreate customers can craft posters, menus, shirts and different content material that they could need to print. The platform showcases templates made by knowledgeable designers in addition to animation options to stage up your branding and advertising visuals, like interactive movies, GIFs and animated illustrations.

One downside is VistaCreate’s in depth enhancing instruments, new customers might get barely overwhelmed and may take some time to determine issues out. However with observe, the platform is can turn into a helpful useful resource for all of your design wants.

Options you’ll love

  • New spectacular and provoking design templates each week
    The platform provides new templates each week, ensuring you received’t run out of choices when creating your emblem design, enterprise playing cards, and product labels. VistaCreate even takes it up a notch with its hip, fashionable and various designs which you could personalize!
A gallery of logos for a juice bar, a pet shop, a flower shop, and a retail shop for men
Template logos by way of VistaCreate
  • Replace your visuals with design strategies, animations, and music or sound in seconds
    Improve your storytelling course of and add character to your branding with animated components. You’ll be able to even combine sound into your design, good for video or animated content material. And should you’re not eager on deciding coloration mixtures (like many people!), the platform has dynamic coloration palettes and font sort mixtures that will help you out.
  • Take away background out of your emblem
    One other extraordinarily useful function is VistaCreate’s “Take away background” software, which turns the background of your logos and pictures clear. You can too seamlessly layer your emblem and different design components on prime of the opposite layers.

Availability

  • Web site and cell (iOS and Android)

Membership plans

  • Free (restricted options)
  • Professional membership: $10/month

Adobe Artistic Cloud Specific

A family title on the earth of design, Adobe is thought for its main design software program utilized by skilled inventive designers throughout the globe. In a bid to develop its market attain to non-designers searching for an easy-to-use design software, Adobe launched Adobe Artistic Cloud Specific (previously Adobe Spark).

A tablet featuring an editor’s dashboard
Artistic design dashboard by way of Adobe Creative Cloud Express

Adobe Artistic Specific shares comparable options with Canva and VistaCreate, all of them have options like design templates in several codecs and enhancing instruments. Adobe takes it up a notch by making the customization further enjoyable with built-in quizzes to assist information customers of their design course of. It’s additionally full of sensible enhancing options, like a layers menu.

Though the platform’s free model curates unimaginable ready-to-use design templates, you’ve restricted selections in comparison with the free templates accessible on Canva VistaCreate. This may be tough when designing for a sure area of interest with scarce design choices. When you desire to place in a little bit bit extra time to edit the templates and make them your individual or begin designing from scratch, then this platform is for you.

Options you’ll love

A collection of vibrant logo designs for a restaurant called ‘Good Soup’
Emblem Maker strategies by way of Adobe Creative Cloud Express
  • Cool logos in minutes utilizing their Logo Maker
    This function begins with a brief quiz to find out what sort of emblem you are attempting to create, which type appeals most and the important thing design components you need to embody. The end result? A few design strategies generally is a nice place to begin for designing your model’s emblem.
  • Simply work with layers
    This function is nice when coping with too many layers that overlap, as you possibly can re-order and edit the layers with ease. No extra clicking and shifting design components by mistake—an enormous plus when enhancing tiny icons or texts!
  • Entry to Adobe Fonts and Adobe Inventory
    After selecting a design template, Adobe Artistic Cloud Specific pulls lots of of “remixes” or design variations, from coloration palettes to animation results and structure, that will help you tweak your design. With this, the platform integrates Adobe Fonts and Adobe Inventory providing you with entry to royalty-free high-quality pictures and trendy font typefaces which you could add to your design.

Availability

  • Web site and cell (iOS and Android)

Membership plans

  • Free (restricted options)
  • Professional membership: $9.99/month

DIY design instruments for social media content material

Hundreds of thousands of pictures, movies and different advertising posts are uploaded on social media on daily basis. This makes establishing your presence on quite a few platforms tough, which is why you’ll want the next instruments that will help you in your social media content material wants.

BeFunky

BeFunky is greatest identified for its picture enhancing options and graphic design enhancing instruments. It has helped numerous customers produce attractive illustrations for Fb, Pinterest, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter and even Etsy.

BeFunky’s home page featuring its different collage layouts
by way of BeFunky

BeFunky’s picture enhancing instruments transcend fundamental enhancing options, like adjusting your picture’s brightness, publicity, sharpness, and coloration. The platform additionally has quite a lot of barely extra superior instruments to take away backgrounds, regulate background opacity and use lens blur and ranges software. Add to that the variety of filters and textures accessible that may simply take your social media content material from good to nice.

You should utilize BeFunky without cost without having to create an account. However the free model of the platform is sort of restricted when it comes to the accessible enhancing instruments and design templates. Any saved pictures can have a BeFunky’s watermark, which may be annoying in case you are after creating branded content material. When you improve to BeFunky Plus, the platform is unquestionably a strong software on your social media content material wants.

Options you’ll love

  • Superior picture retouching instruments
    BeFunky’s retouching software is ideal for enhancing portraits and turning them into magazine-worthy pictures. With this software, you possibly can take away undesirable wrinkles and blemishes, smoothen pores and skin, regulate eye coloration, hair coloration and face form.
  • Flip your pictures into digital artwork
    Enliven pictures through the use of artsy filters or overlay textures, like bokeh lights, cloth and paper textures. You can too create sketches, cartoons, work and different digital artwork codecs. And all may be finished in a couple of clicks, even a curved textual content choice is offered.
A photo of a man singing on stage transitioning into a digital art
Digital artwork filter in motion by way of BeFunky
  • Add pictures out of your laptop, Fb or Google album
    Search by means of 1000’s of free inventory pictures or add pictures instantly out of your laptop. Or sync your Fb account and Google pictures to the platform for straightforward entry to your pictures.
  • Graphic design templates for social media
    Flick through superbly crafted templates, from retro and vibrant to fashionable and minimalist, which you could personalize. Make distinctive YouTube channel arts, shareable Pinterest graphics, themed Fb and Twitter posts and Etsy banners.

Availability

  • Web site and cell (iOS and Android)

Membership plans

  • Free (restricted options)
  • Professional membership: $9.99/month

Desygner

This platform is a software constructed for social media entrepreneurs and bloggers in thoughts. The platform focuses on offering high-quality pictures and graphic design templates and instruments to assist create content material that will increase viewers engagement.

A collection of social post templates for fashion retail businesses
A preview of eye-catching new assortment posts for social media by way of Desygner

Desygner has options that improve consumer effectivity, like model historical past to trace and retrieve design adjustments, social media calendars and even permits design collaboration along with your workforce.

Nevertheless, a few of Desygner’s greatest options are accessible provided that you improve to Desygner Professional (six customers) or Desynger Enterprise (100 visitor accounts). The free model of Desygner is already an excellent place to begin for people who need easy but attractive social media content material.

Options you’ll love

  • Achieve entry to Shutterstock pictures
    Desygner is powered by Shutterstock, a market for inventory pictures, movies and music. Meaning entry to hundreds of thousands of Shutterstock inventive belongings. Do take into account that your entry might range relying in your subscription plan.
  • Regulate your content material in several sizes
    Social media platforms require content material of various sizes. Luckily, you possibly can skip the effort of readjusting each graphic aspect in your design with Desynger’s Resize software. By choosing your most popular format, the Resize software robotically adjusts your content material accordingly.
A demo of how to use Desygner’s Resize tool
Simple to make use of Resize software by way of Desygner
  • Observe your revisions
    Designing your content material entails numerous trial and error. Desygner’s Model Historical past button retains monitor of the adjustments you’ve made to your art work and restores it robotically when wanted. A wise function that may prevent from redoing edits.
  • Handle your social media posts
    Desygner integrates a social media calendar on its cell app model the place you possibly can schedule posts in three steps: choose the content material, write your caption for the put up and select the date and time for posting. You can too monitor your progress in your accomplished and upcoming posts.

Availability

  • Web site and cell (iOS and Android)

Membership plans

  • Free (restricted options)
  • Professional+: $4.95/month (contains 6 customers)
  • Enterprise: $9.95/month (contains 100 visitor accounts)

Lumen5

Extra manufacturers are harnessing the facility of video content material as they’re simpler to digest and are partaking. However in a aggressive market, a video’s inventive high quality is important to its success.

A preview of professional video templates from Lumen5
Fascinating video templates by way of Lumen5

Lumen5 is a web based video maker created for non-designers looking for to spice up their social media presence on Fb, YouTube, LinkedIn and different platforms. By means of Lumen5’s easy-to-use consumer interface, you possibly can create movies from scratch or select from 1000’s of video templates. There are additionally design components that assist elevate your movies, like animated belongings, music, sound results and a voiceover recorder.

The free model of Lumen5 offers entry to limitless video templates and fundamental video enhancing instruments. Nevertheless, something you obtain will bear the watermark of Lumen5. Upgrading to a paid plan will unlock superior options and hundreds of thousands of inventive belongings.

Options you’ll love

  • Get customized video template strategies
    In contrast to different platforms that bounce straight to the templates web page, your journey on Lumen5 begins with figuring out your predominant design purpose (constant branding, one-time undertaking or particular person/private use) and your design type. As soon as accomplished, a web page of advised video templates is prepared so that you can kind by means of.
  • AI-powered blog-to-video converter
    Maximize your content material, particularly your blogs, and create movies which you could simply share with others. With its AI-powered function, Lumen5 can scan by means of your weblog and select the perfect sentences to spotlight in your video. A video is then robotically created which you’ll be able to additional edit per your choice.
a preview of how to convert a blog into a video
Weblog-to-video software by way of Lumen5
  • Simple-to-use video enhancing instruments
    Including pictures out of your laptop or Lumen5’s gallery of inventory pictures is as simple as drag and drop. You can too change the video’s design type, together with your coloration palette, font typefaces and scene transitions. And to maintain your content material on-brand, you’ve the choice so as to add a watermark or add your emblem to be overlaid in your video.
  • Add music, sound results, or voiceover
    Lumen5 offers entry to dozens of free music for each temper, funky, calm or romantic. When you have a music in thoughts, you possibly can add it out of your laptop too. However just remember to have permission to make use of it to keep away from getting flagged. You even have the choice to relate or report a voice-over on your video.

Availability

  • Web site solely

Membership plans

  • Free (restricted options)
  • Creator: $15/month
  • Premium: $79/month
  • Enterprise: $199/month

DIY design instruments for shows

Uninteresting shows can damage your probabilities of holding your viewers . Create visually interesting shows and get your message throughout in an interesting method with these instruments.

Venngage

Numbers, figures and charts may be overwhelming to take a look at. With the assistance of Venngage, you possibly can rework complicated info into stunning and easy-to-understand infographics, thoughts maps, pitch decks and stories, to call a couple of. There are additionally interactive options like quizzes, survey polls, and embedded movies, which you could add to your presentation.

a woman and a man are pointing at infographics and charts
A inventive illustration of various infographic designs by way of Venngage

Venngage’s easy but impactful design options and templates helped 1000’s of execs flip their concepts into highly effective shows. The platform, nonetheless, can profit from bettering its barely dated consumer interface. For instance, the slender enhancing instruments tab forces customers to scroll by means of tons of choices earlier than discovering what they want. The instruments, normally, are additionally fairly fundamental however are sufficient to get the job finished.

Whereas Venngage can be utilized without cost, you possibly can solely publish your design on the Neighborhood Web page the place it is going to be seen to different customers. Improve to premium to avoid wasting and obtain your infographics and decks.

Options you’ll love

  • Infographics, charts and deck templates for each function
    Venngage provides in depth choices of infographic designs that suit your purpose. Have to current statistical information? Venngage presents various templates that simplify information for you. Wish to suggest HR tips? You’ll be able to select from dozens of HR-tailored deck templates. Among the many different design classes accessible are enjoyable information templates, tutorials, NGO and actual property templates.
  • Make your shows interactive
    Add enjoyable quizzes, survey polls, a signup type or embed a YouTube video utilizing Venngage’s Interactive software. Moreover this, you can provide animated information visualization templates a strive—a favourite function amongst Venngage customers.

Availability

  • Web site solely

Membership plans

  • Free (restricted options)
  • Premium: $19/month
  • Enterprise: $49/month (1 to 10 members)
  • Enterprise: beginning at $499/month (11 to 100+ members)

Piktochart

In case you are in quest of a design software that has extra choices than Venngage for shows, stories and prints, Piktochart is your best choice. It’s a preferred visible storytelling answer utilized by particular person customers and massive or small companies worldwide.

 

A screenshot of Piktochart’s homepage
by way of Piktochart

The platform provides every little thing you’ll want and extra to supply inventive and professional-looking supplies. From 1000’s of presentation and infographic templates which you could personalize and an in depth inventive belongings library (icons, high-quality pictures, GIFs, and so forth.) to interactive charts and graphs. Piktochart customers can even collaborate remotely with their teammates.

Options you’ll love

  • Excessive-quality design templates
    Whether or not you’re trying to current a enterprise proposal, shut a gross sales deal, or pitch a promising product, Piktochart options high-quality design templates for decks, infographics and stories. Enhancing the templates is tremendous simple utilizing their intuitive design instruments. You can too drag and drop any inventive belongings into the template.
Three different presentations deck
Pattern presentation decks for firm tradition temporary, product evaluation and enterprise forecast by way of Piktochart
  • Drag and drop design elements
    Piktochart’s Design Elements has ready-to-use slides which you could drag and drop into your presentation deck. It contains slides that you should utilize on your About Us web page, outcomes overview, timeline and package deal costs, to call a couple of. All it’s a must to do is plug within the needed info and tweak the design per your choice.
  • Use superior enhancing instruments
    The platform integrates a few extra superior enhancing instruments than Venngage. For instance, there’s a masking software the place you possibly can customise pictures into completely different shapes. You can too play with completely different coloration schemes and scroll by means of dozens of background choices.

Availability

  • Web site and cell (iOS and Android)

Membership plans

  • Free (restricted options)
  • Professional: $24/month per consumer

Create eye-catching content material like a professional

The variety of on-line platforms catering to DIY designers has grown astronomically in recent times. That stated, it may be overwhelming to weed out probably the most environment friendly and sensible instruments to make use of. We hope that our overview of those easy-to-use DIY design instruments for non-designers has make clear which instruments greatest suit your wants.

Don’t have time to create visuals that work? Go away the tedious designing course of to our workforce of knowledgeable designers and get distinctive and provoking designs.

Wish to get the proper design for your enterprise?
Our designers may also help you create absolutely anything.

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