Creating alluring graphics is essential for online marketers. Eye-catching images shared over social media drives hits to your website. Having a branded design for your site or blog adds credibility and consistency.

Having an in-house designer is a luxury that many small companies can’t afford, which means marketers need to possess at least some design acumen. Here are design tools that you can learn and implement today. Fortunately the learning curve for these applications isn’t very steep and neither is the price, most of them are free.   

Canva

Canva has become an invaluable tool for the online marketer. The web based application is preloaded with thousands of graphics, photos, clipart and fonts. While the litany of free options should suffice with a little ingenuity, there are also premium options, like hi-res stock-photos that will only cost you a buck or two. Canva comes with preloaded templates such as Facebook Cover, Facebook Ad, Instagram Post, Twitter Post, so you can tailor your designs to be shared across your various social media platforms.

Seemingly the only limitation with Canva is your own imagination, but they also provide an informative design school. Even a seasoned graphic artist can benefit from a little refresher.

SumoPaint

Have you seen the price tag for the Adobe Creative Suite? Not to mention the hours of tutorials it takes to learn the software. SumoPaint is a web based application that combines the basic functions of Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, but you won’t need a small loan or an art degree to operate it.

If SumoPaint is still too advanced for your needs, PicMonkey is and even more stripped down alternative.

Vecteezy

If you are need of vector graphics, there may be no better source than Vecteezy. It is a community for artists to share their designs. Basic plans are free or for $14 a month you can have access to unlimited downloads

Word Swag

For iPhone and iPad users, this app allows you to add custom text to your photos that you share over social media. Specifically, this tool can allow you to create simple, but stunning photos for your Instagram marketing strategy. The app is loaded with curated quotes for you to create a meme, maybe your marketing campaign will go viral. Word Swag is $2.99 in the Apple AppStore. While it features the more in depth options there are free alternatives to WordSwag, like Font Candy or Phonto.

Pictaculous

This is a cool shortcut for would be graphic designers. When you are matching txt with images, it helps to know what color text compliments your image. The website allows you to upload your photo, and then it generates a suggested color pallet. It also provides the hex color code so you can match other text or images on your site so you can stay on brand.

Adobe Color CC

Don’t have a color wheel handy? Adobe’s free online tool lets you explore complimentary colors by a variety of standards. If your brand has Monochromatic look, find which shades of blue are compatible. Find analogous colors, complimentary color and more. The importance of color when branding shouldn’t be over looked and with this tool you can remain consistent.

Infogram

Readers love visual date. To simplify the process of creating infographics, you should rely on Infogram. Choose a template. Then populate the chart with your data and the app will create a handsome chart that represents your data. The free version allows you to share to Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest.

Niice

You have to tools now to create dramatic, engaging, even epic graphics. But the best tools in the world are useless if you don’t have inspiration. Niice is a search engine that filters out generic stock photos and clip art to reveal inspiring examples of design. The free version allows you up to 5 mood boards to pin your favorite designs for you to use as a reference  

With all these tools available to you for next to free you can start utilizing them today to create gorgeous branded graphics for your blog or website. No in house designer needed

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