Extras: canva.com

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To be honest, I’ve only been using this site for about 4 hours, but I have fallen in love with the interface and design aesthetic that I can’t help but share it!

Canva
The main menu to choose a design template. Templates are sorted by utility and size.

They have a Business Plan, which allows for more storage, organization, and access to tons of stock photos/vectors, but as a personal blogger/designer I don’t quite feel the immediate need to upgrade; with the two free folders to sort designs, I’m able to separate work and personal designs easily. In addition, their free selection is large enough for casual designers to have a great selection with which to work.

Design Interface
Design interface. Includes pre-made layouts, text options, and healthy choice of fonts and styles. I was particularly impressed with the kerning option!

I just designed and ordered business cards from them as well, so I look forward to the finish product next week! (For the record: soft touch, premium paper, double sided. 200 prints came out to $36 with shipping.)

If you’re familiar with other design programs (Adobe CC, GIMP, Microsoft Publisher, etc.), using this shouldn’t be a stretch at all; in fact, it simplifies and boils it down to an online application that even non-trained designers (i.e. me) can use immediately. The big draw was the fact the templates itself were attractive: how many times did you try using freeware or other online programs with outdated looking templates and designs? I would feel confident in just editing the text and exporting everything for immediate use, which I can’t say about any other programs. They also provide design tutorials!

Finally, the online interface also provides a Cloud to save your designs: much like Google Drive or Dropbox, you won’t have to worry about moving files between computers nor USB/portable hard drives. And with most cafes and eateries providing free Wi-Fi, you can take your work anywhere without worrying about data usage.

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