So if you decide you want to explore design software outside of Canva, those options will include Photoshop, PicMonkey, InDesign as well as Keynote, Pages, Google Drawings and Powerpoint. Let’s talk about a few of them below.
Photoshop
Adobe Photoshop is the go-to design software for many professional graphic designers and creatives. While Photoshop is a paid tool, you can make more intricate design elements such as icons, Photoshop brushes, patterns, and printables. If you ever want to take your graphics and design to another level, Photoshop is the way to go. It takes some time to learn and you may need to take a class or two to get up to speed. Photoshop used to be a “for professionals only” type of tool because of its hefty price tag, however, Adobe now offers a $10/month subscription which makes it super affordable even for newbie bloggers.
Now, when it comes to choosing which editable graphics and templates you want to sell on your site, you must keep in mind that your audience must also know how to use the source software in order to be able to customize those templates. For example, if you are creating templates using Photoshop, your customers must know how to use that softwarre. Most people will not be Photoshop savvy so keep that in mind because if Photoshop templates are all you’ll be offering, you’ll be severely limiting your customer base!
The other option is to create and sell both Canva and Photoshop tempate kits, which will in turn give you even greater income potential! #options
Now, if Photoshop is just a no go all the way around, here are a few other software suggestions:
Google Docs and Sheets
Since just about everyone on the planet has a Google Account, you can use your gmail address to get access to Google Docs or Sheets. These are FREE tools, easy to use and just about anyone can put together printables using Google Docs. I know many bloggers who make $5K or more a month selling printables and templates such as planners and email swipe files they’ve made with Google Docs.
Mockup Sites
Mockupworld allows you to create ah-ma-zing looking mockups to showcase your brand and products in dynamic surroundings. They offer both FREE and paid mockup templates!
SmartMockups is another mockup site that is ideal for those who want high quality graphics without having to learn Photoshop. They have both free and paid versions. The FREE version gives you up to 200 mockups with basic features. Their premium packages offer more powerful features with integrations and customizations, along with access to more mockups.
Other Graphic Design Tools to Consider
There are an endless number of resources and tools you can use for creating pretty and professional looking products for your eBooks, printables, infographics, workbooks, spreadsheets, and social media graphics, etc.
Logo Design:
- Hatchful: I used Hatchful to create the logo for the my FlippingwithFamily site. I loved that I could create my logo from the hundreds of templates, icon, and color combinations that they provide.
- TailorBrands: I recently found this logo marker site that walks you through a step by step process for designing your own logo. The main draw here is the ease of use in creating elegant and professional logos!
Piktochart: Ready to create amazing infographics on your blog or as traffic generation tools on sites like Pinterest? Turn your content into a beautiful infographic with Piktochart. They have tons of cool themes to pickfrom and you can start with a free account! They also have a library of hundreds of infographics that you can use to jumpstart your creativity!
Picmonkey: Use this super simple tool to create beautiful graphics for your social media profiles, ebooks, and more for free!
UnSplash:Looking for high-resolution stock photos for your blog posts? Unsplash is one of the best sites for copyright free photos.
Pixabay: Another photo site for bloggers and infopreneurs that offer an amazing collection of beautiful, royalty free stock images for your blog.
Dimpleart: Need high-quality caricatures for your branding and marketing materials. This is a really cool resource.
TheNounProject: When they say icons for everything, they mean icons for every-thing!! The Noun Project is my #1 go-to resource for free quality icons.
DesignSeeds: A color blog that creates color palettes inspired by images of nature, plants, and country living. Jessica, the creator of Design Seeds has grown an active community of over 1 million followers acrossall social networks and can be found on Pinterest and Instagram. If you can’t find inspiration from her collection, you just may not have a pulse!
Color Palette FX:Oh boy! This is such a cool tool. This desktop app allows you to build a color swatch from a photo. So, let’s say you were vacationing in Santorini, Greece and were inspired to build a blogbased on your experience there. Well, you can take your vacation photo, upload it to the Color Palette FX site andsee what this tool spits out. Oh, it’s genius.
Coolors.co:This is a quick and easy site for finding color inspiration fast. I think it’s really cool how youcanhit the space bar and itwill generate new color schemes for you. If you have one or two starting colors you can enter the hex code, lock themin and the software will generate a new color scheme for you.
FREE (high-quality) and legit fonts online:
Awesome Fontstacks: This is a really cool tool when looking for great fonts to use on your site, in your courses and marketing materials? Awesome Fontstacks helps you mix and match fonts and it will automatically generate the CSS codes for you.
The key is to keep your design process simple, especially if you are a newbie designer or on a budget. As you begin to make more money in your online business you can choose to invest in more sophisticated tools such as Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator or even hire someone to create your planner, printables and downloadables for you!
