With so many social media design tools out there, it can be hard to know which ones to try. Luckily, we’ve got you covered. From tools that can help you create stunning templates for your content, to those that will help you track your success as a blogger or social media influencer, we’ve rounded up our favorite social media design tools for 2021.
Need social media design tools? We’ve created this list of the best social media design tools to help you find design tools for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Vine, Google+, and more.
Canva (Web, iOS, Android, macOS, Windows)
Canva is a powerful, but still simple to use, template-based graphics design app. There are hundreds of thousands of templates, graphics, and photos you can use as part of the free plan (that goes up to millions of assets with a Canva Pro subscription).
When you open Canva, you’re presented with dozens of possible templates for everything from posters to Instagram Posts. It’s a lot to navigate, but there’s great search built in. Just click the search bar in the top right of the screen and look for something like “birthday instagram stories” to see more specific options. (I got 160 suggested templates just for that.)
Once you’ve found a template to work from, the drag-and-drop editor makes it simple to add your own resources. Just click Uploads then Upload Media in the left sidebar, add any images or brand elements, and you can drop them straight into the editor. One tip: right-click on any element and click Send Back or Send Forward if you want to move it behind things like the text (which you can double-click on to edit) or the image frame.
Like Google Docs, Canva enables you to share and collaborate with others, so if you want a second set of eyes on your design, click the Share button in the toolbar and then add an email address.
When you’re done, click Download to save your post for, well, posting. If you’ve accidentally included any premium assets, you’ll have the option to pay to remove their watermarks (normally at about $1 per asset). It’s a handy option if you only occasionally use Canva. If this happens a lot, you can subscribe to Canva Pro for $12.95/month (or at least check out the 30-day free trial). Pro has heaps of extra designs, and some nice features, like automatic resizing, a social media scheduler, and the ability to upload your “brand kit,” so you can easily add your logo, brand colors, and font to your designs.
Canva Price: Free for 250,000+ templates and 5GB storage; from $12.95/month for Canva Pro, which offers unlimited storage, millions of assets, and more.
Pablo by Buffer (Web)
Pablo is a minimalist tool for placing text over the top of images from the team behind the social media scheduling app Buffer. It couldn’t be simpler to use or in its design. To us, that’s a feature—but if you need something with more options, check out one of the other great apps on this list.
Seriously, Pablo is barebones. Open the website and you’re straight into the app. There’s no need to create an account—because there are no accounts. In the center of the screen, there’s a preview of your image. On the left, you can search for an image through Unsplash or click Upload Image to add your own. At the top of the screen, click Templates to choose from one of the six defaults. On the right, you can choose the size and shape of the canvas, add a filter, position the text, and insert your logo or another graphic. Click on the text to change its formatting, double-click on it to edit it directly. Oh, and click Reposition to change the position and crop of the background image. That’s literally it.
Once you’re happy with your post pic (and it won’t take long for you to be), click Share & Download to save your image or post it directly to Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, or Instagram (or queue it up with Buffer). If you do queue it up with Buffer, you can also connect it to any of the other apps you use with Zapier.
For all the lack of options, Pablo is still on this list. It makes it beyond simple to create basic-but-good-looking social media images. Honestly, by stripping most features, it just makes it impossible to create ugly graphics.
Pablo Price: Free
Tailwind Create
Tailwind Create is the tool you need when you’re short on time… and design skills!
If you’ve ever stared at your screen for hours trying to think of new post ideas, or been stressed out by starting all your social media designs from scratch – let alone scheduling all of them to your platforms – Tailwind Create is here to help you breathe easy.
You can start from almost done with breath-taking designs created for you by our smart designer. All you need are your photos! Tailwind Create instantly transforms your photos into hundreds of optimized designs for Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest with one click. Just choose from any of the “almost done” designs tailored specifically to your niche or industry!
The best part is, your brand styles (think: color palettes and fonts) are automatically applied to every post to keep your content seamlessly on-brand and matching the look and feel of your brand or business.
Pixlr
Pricing: Free Plan available | Premium: $4.90/month| Creative Pack: $14.99/month |
Platforms: Web, Android, macOS, Windows, iOS
Pixlr is yet another popular photo editor that doubles up as a social media design tool as well. Using this tool, you can seamlessly edit your photos to make them more attractive for your audience.
Whether its collages or removing backgrounds and adding layers, this tool can do pretty much what every professional photo editing tool does.
It’s also got numerous design templates that you can edit using its drag and drop editor. While this editor may be slightly more complex than that of the other tools, it does offer a wide variety of features so once you’re used to the UI, creating designs will be a breeze.
Fotor
Fotor is primarily a collage-maker, but it does provide tools to create social media graphics. There are templates for social site cover art that use the proper dimensions for sharing in your posts.
Fotor will also create thumbnails for YouTube videos. After selecting a template (or uploading your own image), you have access to other graphics and text options.
When your image is complete, you can click a share button to send the graphic to your favorite social site.
Piktochart
Piktochart is another infographic creation tool. But it doesn’t stop there. You can use it to enhance reports and presentations, create social media graphics, and even prints.
The free account gives you access to over 4,000 icons, the editor system, and the ability to share. It does a lot, but the free version is somewhat limited when compared to others on this list. But the paid premium version does greatly expand its capabilities. If you like how it works, it could be a good buy.
Conclusion
The best tools are the ones that make the work easier, the designer’s job more effective, and save you time and energy. You can arrive right to the presentation of online success with these tools to design great-looking social networks: