When was the last time you heard someone talk about Photoshop to design images for anything? Probably quite recently. This might seem like the best solution for graphic design, but what if you don't have the slightest idea how to use Photoshop? Or if you tried it and felt a little inadequate because you didn't understand how to use it? chipshome.com
Trust me - you are not alone! Fortunately, there is another way. Actually more than one.
If you want to create some beautiful and engaging images on your website, but you don't want to spend the time or money it would take to become a trained Photoshop expert, you have options. The internet is full of alternative image design options for your WordPress site. The best part is that they require no design experience to use. Let's see.
1. Canva
Canva is my top choice for this list, because it makes everyone feel like a professional designer. It has a huge number of incredible designs and many of them are free. Even if you can't find anything in their free section, the tool has thousands of additional elements to spice up your images, and they're only $1 each.
My favorite part of Canva is the starting process. Choose what type of image you're creating—like a Facebook post, blog post, or Kindle cover—and Canva automatically creates the right size with some suggestions to fit the selected category.
2. Gimp
GIMP is a native, open source alternative to Photoshop. It's not the easiest tool to use on this list, but I'd recommend it because it's completely free to use. If you want to spend some time in your day learning to use GIMP, they have tons of videos and tutorials online to get you started.
GIMP is like WordPress; It will last for a very long time, so the time or money you invest in the tool will not be wasted.
3. PicMonkey
The free version of PicMonkey has a rather short process for combining multiple photos and making them more attractive for your website. This tool works best for creating collages, but you can touch up images and add some text if you want.
Just walk through the four-step process and you should be good to go with some new photos in seconds. Like Canva, this tool has a field to specify the type of image you want to create, such as a Facebook cover and other designs with different dimensions.
It's actually a powerful tool, with most of the Photoshop features you'd expect. But they don't clutter the screen or make it look too horrible like you might see in Photoshop.
It's actually a powerful tool, with most of the Photoshop features you'd expect. But they don't clutter the screen or make it look too horrible like you might see in Photoshop.
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