Whether you're looking to make graphics for social media or for your website, in the need of professional email signatures or printable brochures, every boutique business owner should have a knowledge of low-budget design tools.
Why?
Because, more often than not, big-budget design tools have a much higher learning curve where low-budget options are easier to master and friendlier on the wallet.
For example: almost everything you can do in Photoshop, can be done in Canva, and Canva - unlike Photoshop - provides quick how-to tutorials that can make you a design pro in little under 24 hours.
That said, it's important to learn how to design schnazzy graphics before you dive into creating them for yourself. To read our quick guide on how to start mocking up professional, eye-popping graphics on your own, check out this blog post.
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Creating graphics in-house isn't just a wise for tight budgets; it's also a great way to ensure concise messaging while providing regular, fresh content for your audience.
With the right tools and a short amount of practice, you can start creating eye-catching designs that enlighten, inspire, and lead your customers to dive deeper into what your business offers.
In this section, we'll explore the top 3 free design tools you should utilize to start creating your own graphic designs today.
1. CANVA
Canva is in the back pocket of every graphic designer on the planet right now (or at least, it should be).
This service is free to use, but the premium option is worth paying for if you plan on doing weekly or monthly graphics for social media, or if you need to do a one-time complete overhaul of your website or social media graphics.
Usually they offer a 30-day trial period, so if you just need to update graphics quickly within that time period, you can easily get away with sampling the trial before deciding if a longterm plan is right for you.
Canva can do ALMOST everything Photoshop can do, but, more importantly, it's far easier to navigate, to learn, and to master.
And when it comes to graphic design, especially for social media, you shouldn't be aiming to make complicated graphics anyways. As your focus should be on font recognition, clear imagery, and ease of visual comprehension, Canva does a great job of providing you all of the tools you'll need to create beautiful digital designs.
They also provide a massive library of template designs across almost all digital design styles (from Youtube thumbnails to Instagram reels and stories, PDF covers to complex brochures, and everything in between) so you can hit the ground running with beautiful templates you simply need to customize instead of design from scratch.
2. PHOTOPEA
If you prefer the customizability of Photoshop but don't want to invest in Adobe's suite just yet, Photopea is the next best thing.
They offer free accounts to get started (nothing but minor pop-up ads stand in the way of you creating and downloading content), but their 30-day accounts are far more convenient for a test run of the system.
Inside, you'll be able to transform any image, graphic, or text into the graphic design of your delight.
However, be warned that Photopea is the free equivelant of Photoshop, so it does have a substantial learning curve for anyone unfamiliar with the ways of Adobe Creative Suite. That said, if you've been thinking about trying Photoshop, Photopea is a great first step to get you acclimated and to see if you'd even like, or need, the complexities of a system like Photoshop.
Neither Photopea, nor Photoshop, come with an extensive library of pre-made designs, so I only recommend this option, again, if you're interested in learning how you might use Photoshop to your advantage.
3. Snappa
Snappa is the closest you'll get to a Photoshop alternative and it's far easier to use than you may expect.
Like Canva, Snappa offers a wide variety of templates, themes, and pre-curated styles to make your designing tasks easier than ever before.
The difference between Canva and Snappa is twofold: at the free account, Canva allows unlimited graphic design downloads where Snappa only allows 3 per month; at the premium level, Canva charges $20/month where Snappa charges $10.
In our opinion, Canva is the industry leader for a reason and is worth every penny for that premium account. But when push comes to shove (as sometimes it does on a tight budget with limited graphic design needs), Snappa isn't a bad option to have.
Sometimes, all the graphic design tools in the world can't help you when what you really need is a professional with a reputation for producing bangin' graphics in a quick turnaround.
Without further ado, here's our list of affordably priced graphic design service providers on the off chance that free graphic design tools just aren't cutting it for ya.
1. Fiverr
Ahh, Fiverr...back in the day, Fiverr started as a platform where, for just $5, you could commission all sorts of work from any number of freelancers.
Being that our society has evolved into recognizing freelance work as deserving of a living wage (thanks in part to the digital nomad revolution of the Covid lockdown era), Fiverr has become a place more akin to UpWork where freelancers can post work at almost any rate they want.
That said, it's still a great place to source a quick graphic design job for a low, low price.
Take note that not every designer is creating high-quality work. It's important that you do your research to track down the contractor who can meet your requirements.
2. UPWORK
The gorilla in the industry, as it were, UpWork takes the lead in freelance contract employment.
What started off as two separate brands as far back as 2011 (oDesk.com and Elance.com), was quickly swooped up and combined into the enigmatic UpWork we know and love today.
The digital nomads we hire here at House of Willonay? They all got their start at UpWork (or it's prior establishments of oDesk or Elance).
This site does a great job of locking down scam accounts and sussing out illegitimate contractors. It's a highly trusted resource for finding contractors who can do any number of things (from graphic design to legal services, UpWork covers it all).
However, as much as we love UpWork for graphic designs, we do not advise it for web development. Why? Because the market is flooded with low-rate developers who tend to create low-quality websites.
Web development is a complex piece of work and hiring a contractor on UpWork with a low pay rate can be the equivalent of hiring a cheap home developer off of Craigstlist...you get what you get.
3. 99DESIGNS
99Designs is our favorite of all the quick graphic design service options and here's why: they live and breathe design!
They don't offer services in anything other than design and it's a haven for graphic designers who want to cultivate a side-hustle income stream.
Better still: you can create a graphic design contest where their graphic artists will submit their ideas and you can choose your pick of the litter! So instead of taking a chance on one designer who whispers sweet nothings in your inbox, guaranteeing that they know just what you need, you'll have the chance to see a variety of options created based on your design specifications.
We've never gotten a bad design from their contractors and we can't recommend this site enough.
Let's say you've perused the service sites and you don't want to pay for your designs to land in someone else's hands; and let's say you've browsed the free graphic design tools and think you can take a crack at it yourself...now what?
Here's a quick guide on how to do all of your graphic designs in-house. For a more detailed education on creating captivating and targeted graphic designs, you can check out this blog post.
1. Choose a tool
Narrow down which graphic design tool best suites your needs, and get familiar with it.
Spend an afternoon, or even an hour, rummaging through its system. Understand where the templates are, how to access images, how to change font types, etc.
If there are any quick-bite tutorials, watch them and watch them pronto.
2. know your content
Choose one graphic design option to start with and know that piece from front to back, top to bottom, inside and out.
Are you creating a social media graphic? If so, don't aim to create 10 right off the bat. Instead, get situated with which social media platform it'll be created for (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, etc.), where it'll be located on that platform (size matters, so is it going to be a reel, a story cover, a thumbnail?), and how it's going to be used (as an advertisement for a product or service, as a quick company blurb?).
Draft up any copywriting you'll need and jot down any images you have in mind for the content.
3. SCOPE OUT COMPETITION
Don't be shy, we all do it: look at what already exists within your market and what's already succeeding.
There's no need to reinvent the wheel just yet. Clever, viral, unique graphic designs come from years of experience and understanding.
For now, while you get your skills up, take a look at what's already working in your industry and pull ideas from your favorite examples. DO NOT COPY ANYTHING DIRECTLY. Don't even come close. Change up font types, wording, color schemes, images, and everything else you can think of to make the graphic design unique for your brand. But do take inspiration from others who are already creating desirable, engaging content.