The Era of Creating Without Being a Designer

We live in a visual world, surrounded by creativity at every turn — whether we’re scrolling through Instagram and see an eye-catching post, notice a print ad because of its beautiful photography, or understand the results of a research study thanks to a clever infographic. We look at these attention-grabbing visuals that surround us, in awe of the talented designer behind them. But what if there wasn’t a professional designer behind them at all, and literally anyone could create those same impressive designs?

 

Thanks to today’s technology and some very helpful online resources, anyone can be a designer and create amazing visuals. Get ready to feel like a pro when you check out some of these online destinations that make us all feel like we’re ready for design fame.

 

Canva

If you want to make an impact with social media marketing, or are a small business owner looking to create amazing graphics for ads, social content and more, Canva should be bookmarked on your Internet browser. Create virtually any type of professional-looking marketing collateral, including logos, banner ads, social media graphics, brochures, business cards, and much more. Their templates are pre-sized so you don’t need to figure out things like the LinkedIn banner size, and the drag & drop feature lets you customize just about anything. 

 

Pexels

Bad stock photography can kill any marketing campaign, but thanks to Pexels, anyone can look like they commissioned a high-end photographer for their business. With no strings attached — meaning no royalties or credit needed — you can find amazing photography and download it completely free. Pexels has every category covered, from wildlife and amazing scenery, to family-themed images and random objects. Simply download, and it’s yours to use. No camera or photography talent needed.

 

Flaticon

Whether you’re looking to impress with a killer PowerPoint presentation, or want to dress up your resume with icons relevant to your experience and skills, Flaticon has thousands of downloadable icons to meet any need. Categorized by topic and style, you can even follow your favorite icon designers on the site and be alerted when they have new icons to offer. 

 

NamePress

Customized apparel is an emerging trend that’s here to stay, with parents personalizing t-shirts for their kids’ birthday parties, creating cute onesies for 1st birthdays, and personalizing clothing to commemorate a loved one’s milestone birthday or big achievement. NamePress puts the power of 1,000 graphic designers at your fingertips to create custom apparel, covering every theme and occasion. With more than 1 million design combinations possible, this online resource features an incredibly easy user interface that walks you through the design process, includes an online store of products to choose from, and prints and ships your personalized creation directly to you. They are single-handedly revolutionizing personalization and the art of gift-giving, with zero design skill needed.

 

Venngage

If you’re a visual storyteller, focused on research or analytics for your job, or simply like to organize your life and thoughts in a fun way, then Venngage is worth exploring. This infographic creator features 7,500+ design templates, an easy-to-use editor, and allows team collaboration. So instead of admiring infographics and tossing aside the idea you could ever create one, jump on Venngage and impress yourself from your very first attempt. 

 

With today’s technology and these online destinations ready to bring your vision to life, all you need in order to be a designer is a good idea. Forgot Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator — these cool platforms have done all the work for you and have everything you need. While you may not be able to officially label yourself a “designer”, these sites will make you look like one.