There are two things you’ve got to master in order to become an amazing graphic designer. First, you’ve got to master the tools that enable you to create great looking designs and know how to use them. If you’re a beginner, some design tools can be intimidating and for many learning designers, the prices can be prohibitive.
Even if you’re able to clear those hurdles, you’re faced with another challenge — how to design visually appealing things. Just because I know how to technically add lines, shapes, images, etc doesn’t mean I can do it in a way that is attention-grabbing and attractive.
Fortunately, for all the non-designers among us, there are a number of newish tools that make it super easy for anyone to create professional looking graphic designs. These designs are light years ahead of the templates you’ll find in Microsoft Office and way more options to choose from for way more types of projects!
All of these DIY design tools offer a myriad of design templates which are easy to customize with your own text and graphics. They all offer a variety of design resources for you to use including fonts, icons, illustrations, shapes, and photos. (Some for free and additional options for a small fee.) You can also upload your own photos to personalize any design.
Now instead of hiring a graphic designer, you can save time and money by doing it yourself. Don’t be surprised if people are impressed with your newfound design skills.
Here are a few of my favorites.
Canva
Canva is my favorite. It is even one of my Top 10 Learning Tools. Canva is quick, easy and intuitive. Sometimes it seems like there is nothing it can’t do. Need an eye-catching header for your next blog post? Easy! Want a banner for a web page? Piece of cake. How about a new background image for your LinkedIn profile? Got ya covered. Canva can even print your project and ship it wherever it needs to go.
DesignBold
Crello
VisMe
If you are creating a lot of infographics and presentations, you will definitely want to look at Visme. For those types of projects, you’ll find a flexible workflow with a variety of charts and graphs, as well as a built-in library of pre-designed layouts which you can mix and match in any order to build slide decks and infographics.
There are even more options. If you’re still curious to explore other options take a look at these:
You can find more details about specific key features and pricing in this post by Donna Moritz.
Are you using any of these? How are you using them? What is and isn’t working for you?
Mike Taylor 
That’s a great list! Personally being a marketer who is closely involved with designing, I tend to use Canva a lot. Thanks to its easy dashboard. 🙂
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I found canva best among others, maybe I’m wrong yet I found it responsive. Although, thanks for the useful resources 🙂
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