Have you ever wanted to know how web designers produce those awesome pictures we see all over the Internet? Your guess must be “graphic design tools” right? You can’t be blamed for that, as most of us end up thinking the same thing. And you’re not wrong. It is these tools people use to create, edit and manipulate images. However, there are quite a number of tools available online which can help you build your own designs without downloading anything.
I have compiled some couple of graphic design tools that has stayed the test of time and are very much effective. Check out our list of the best of them right here.
Canva
Best for templates
What could be easier than building all of the graphics you need in a template format? Canva is a product built specifically for people with essentially no design knowledge at all. However, you can still create a huge selection of products here.
There are templates for social media, email marketing campaigns, events, and more. Plus, you’ll get access to a vast range of stock photos and graphic resources.
Key Features:
- Photo editing: Make simple changes to photos for your website, like adding effects or removing unwanted distortions. There are also filters for social media.
- Stock resources: Access extra creative content for your blogs, emails, and other marketing campaigns. There are millions of videos, photos, and templates available. A fraction of these resources are also free.
- Templates: Templates are one of the things that make Canva so appealing. With templates already pre-made for certain websites CMS environments or social media sites, you can’t go wrong with your designs.
- Drag-and-drop editor: The drag and drop editor is a breeze to use. You can work with videos, photos, elements, and templates in this environment. It’s quick and easy to access fonts and stickers, as well as visual effects and animations.
- Social scheduling: Schedule your posts to go live within your Canva account.
What we like:
- Simplicity: Canva is delightful to use. You can search for stock images and videos in seconds, drag and drop elements into place, and experiment with a huge range of filters and effects.
- Free plan: If you’re not sure how many visual assets you need yet, you can start with the free plan and work your way up.
- Versatile: You can create a lot of different kinds of graphics easily with Canva, including logos, Facebook posts, email marketing templates, and landing pages.
What we dislike:
- You don’t get the full control with Canva that you get with more advanced marketing tools. There aren’t as many layers as possible and advanced features to explore.
- Can be a little slow as a browser-based product.
Pricing: The free version supports up to 15 designs a month, with around 8,000 free templates. The pro version gives you access to hundreds of thousands of extra templates and resources for $99.99 per year.
GIMP
For creating web templates
- Completely free
- Includes graphic design elements
- Customizable UI
- Supports various file formats
- Has fewer featurescomparedtoits rivals
Verdict: GIMP is a powerfulweb site software free with raster graphics editing capabilities. Apart from editing/retouching photos, it can convert image formats and includes tools to draw freehand.
You can open GIMP in a multiple-window mode which is set by default. Here you can see the entire asset of the software functions. It is also possible to use each layer individually. GIMP is one of the most popular Photoshop alternatives with advanced tools that will help you create an eye-catching web page layout.
Blender
Platforms: Mac, Windows, Linux
If you’re looking for free tools to help with 3d creation, look no further than Blender. Available on all major platforms, including Windows, Linux, and Mac, Blender is a free, open-source 3d creation tool that offers many of the features of paid, professional tools.
Blender allows graphic designers to perform rendering, modeling, sculpting, animation & rigging, VFX work, and even simulations and create 2D animations.
While not exactly beginner-friendly, Blender is a great option for graphic designers that need powerful but free graphic design software for 3d creation.
Adobe Spark
Platforms: Windows, Mac, iOS, Android
Adobe’s free alternative to its fully-featured Adobe Illustrator graphic design software, Adobe Spark is easy to use. It offers a host of free templates, making it easy for beginners to create custom designs. If you need to create a simple image for social media, this free design tool is perfect.
Although it is great for beginners, this is also Adobe Spark’s downfall, as it lacks more advanced features you would expect from graphic design software, but for a free version of an Adobe product aimed at non-designers, it is perfect.
A bonus of Adobe Spark is that it is available for web, meaning you can access and work on your designs from your browsers anytime and aren’t limited to a specific device.
DesignWizard
Platforms: Windows
DesignWizard is among the best free graphic design software for beginners allowing you to create designs for anything from social media posts to wedding invitations. Featuring a large database of free images as well as a repository of templates, their easy-to-use photo editor uses a drag and drop interface to make it simple to create custom designs.
As free design tools come, DesignWizard offers plenty of the features you’d expect from graphic design software. However, if you are looking for more powerful tools, you may need to upgrade to the paid version.
Pixlr
Platforms: Web, Android, iOS
Pixlr is a free, web-based photo editing and graphic design software package offering both a beginner’s and advanced version. Its photo editing capabilities are on par with Adobe Photoshop. At the same time, it also offers a host of free templates making it quick and easy for beginners to get started with designs.
Also available as an app for iOS and Android, this tool is great if you want to create designs for social media or touch up your images before uploading them to the web.
Snappa Online Design Tool
Another easy browser-based tool, Snappa saves you time every step of the way. Watch this video for an overview, or read the details below.https://player.vimeo.com/video/167739505
Snappa features:
- Create highly engaging images in minutes with drag-and-drop.
- 4,000,000+ photos and graphics – royalty-free and licensed for commercial use.
- Or upload your own photos into Snappa, and they’re available for you to use.
- In addition to the 200+ fonts pre-loaded in Snappa, you can import your own custom fonts to keep your branding intact.
- Choose from hundreds of pre-made templates, available in multiple sizes and suitable for a wide range of niches.
- Image dimensions for social media, display ads, blogs, emails, and infographics are available as clickable presets.
- In two clicks, you can magically resize your graphics into any other size. Turn your Twitter header into a Facebook cover, your Instagram post into a Pinterest Pin, or a Facebook ad into a billboard ad.
- Brand your images by uploading your own company logos and graphics.
- Save all your custom designs and organize them into folders. Edit a previous design in seconds.
- If you get stuck, you have unlimited access to video tutorials, help docs, answers to FAQs, and in-house email support.
- Snappa makes it easy to collaborate with your team. Share designs, folders, fonts, and other brand assets with ease. (Team plan only).
- Share your graphics to the popular social media platforms without leaving Snappa – or connect your Buffer account to schedule your posts.
- Play with photo effects until your graphic is perfect – no design experience required. Effects include color overlay, darken, blur, saturation, hue, brightness, and contrast.
New and cool! Remove image backgrounds with a click.
The benefits to these are:
- They’re as fast as it gets.
- No learning curve or tutorials needed.
- Design templates by pros – no design experience needed.
- Photos included at no extra charge.
- Resize your graphics for multiple platforms with a few clicks.
Each of these easiest Canva alternatives includes:
- Free searchable images with CC0 rights.
- Design templates included.
- Save your design to rework later.
- Organize your designs into collections / folders / circles.
- Fonts included.
- Upload your own logo and fonts.
- Dozens of social media sizes, ready to use.
Note: Some features may only be part of the paid plans.
Stencil Online Design Tool
The fastest way to double your social engagement is with this ridiculously simple image creation for social media marketers, bloggers and small businesses. Use it on your web browser.
Watch this video for an overview, or read the details below.Video Player00:0000:18
Stencil features:
- 4,400,000+ background photos, hundreds added weekly. Or upload your own.
- 1,125+ design templates, ready for you to edit.
- Upload and store every logo you need to create visuals for different brands.
- Search 100,000+ quotes right in Stencil to make inspiring quote images in seconds.
- 3,150+ Google web fonts let you find the perfect font for your image.
- Or, match your brand perfectly by uploading your own fonts directly to Stencil
- Font styling includes shadow, outline, background color, and clone (duplicate).
- Vector icons are right at your fingertips, royalty-free and safe to use however you want.
- 75+ pre-loaded sizes for social networks, ads, blog posts and more. Or create your own!
- Magic resize to optimize for different platforms.
- Undo / redo and history, so you can change your mind as you design.
- Easy-to-use Chrome and Firefox extensions to create images on the fly. So fast!
- Live preview before you post to your social networks – or schedule via Buffer.
Conclusion
It’s often hard to get a professional designer’s attention when you’re on a budget. Although there are several ways of doing that on the market, it is challenging to stand out from the crowd of thousands of businesses asking for professional design support. But I have already found a solution for this – a great online design tool if you will.