Don't know the difference between Photoshop and Photo Booth? When you hear the word "crop" do you think of fields of billowing wheat? Do you still use Microsoft Paint?
Well, fear not: we come bearing good news. For marketing departments on a tight budget, captivating pictures can be procured for free. There are many impressive free graphic design tools out there that allow you to create compelling images for your marketing strategy at no cost.
1. Canva (canva.com)
Canva has the goods to make you an honest-to-goodness graphic designer. The tools work because they're simple and created for the layperson. Specifically, Canva is based on a drag-and-drop interface where users do all their work online. Start with a blank page, access their library of free graphics, photos, and fonts, and off you go. You can also easily edit photos using their photo editor while applying cool techniques like tints, blurs, and saturation options. Canva allows you to create flyers, presentations, Facebook covers, Blog graphics, business cards, posters and more.
2. Pictaculous (pictaculous.com)
Your color selection can make or break your photo. Research shows that, for example, blue Instagram photos generate more "Likes" with more with users. But how can you properly match the proper colors with an image? Lucky for us all, there's Pictaculous: simply upload an image and you'll get a customized color palette that can be used to build out the overall color scheme of a Web page, banner, infographic, or ad.
3. Placeit (placeit.net)
Placeit is a free screenshot app marketing tools and templates. These tools address an inherent problem that can sabotage the best-laid mobile app plans: the fact that your screenshots don't generate interest in your app. After all, an screenshot is, in essence, a visual pitch for your app, and placeit can help you make the pitch as compelling as possible. The software processes your app's screenshots and adds its magical pixie dust — filters, coloration, etc. — to create gorgeous final photos that can be used as marketing collateral.
4. PicMonkey (picmonkey.com)
Digital cameras and iPhones have made all us of aspiring photographers. But sometimes we may need help to take our images to "the next level." That's where PicMonkey comes in, providing creative tools for photo edition and graphic design. For example, their "touch up" tool allows you to airbrush photos, remove wrinkles (!), and yes, also whiten teeth.
5. Compfight (compfight.com)
Ever sit around and say to yourself, "Gee, I'd really love to find an image capturing say, the awesomeness of summer vacation for our upcoming summer-themed marketing campaign?" Maybe you go to Google Images but nothing captures your attention. Furthermore, many of the photos aren't free. Well, now there's another option, Compfight. It's an image search engine tailored to "efficiently locate images for blogs, comps, inspiration, and research," and it pulls heavily from flickr. We took it for a test drive, typed in "summer vacation," and indeed, it performed as advertised: close to 700,000 free photos capturing the "summer vacation" vibe — and good ones at that.
Have any of you assumed a new role requiring you to create more images? If so, what tools and sites have made your life easier? Are there any tools out there, in addition to the ones we profiled, that have proven to be particularly successful?
Need more help in learning graphic design tips on a budget? Contact us for a free consultation.
