Creating Great Graphics

The Connected Yoga Teacher Live Show: Episode 3

Today I want to share the tools that I use in my yoga business to create graphics.

Let me clarify – I have never taken any graphics training, unless you count art in grade school. Even in that I remember getting a ‘C’ on a project when asked to draw a monkey.

So why am I doing an article on how to create graphics? Because this is something I use every week in my business. I use this for websites, social media, posters and more.

I often refer yoga teachers, in my consulting work, to three tools, so I wanted to create a summary article.

 

Three Tools for Great Graphics

1. ColorZilla

 This is a great tool when you really like a colour on the web and you want to get the computer number to replicate it. I use my Chrome Browser, but you can also use it from Firefox. Simply go to the website (click here), follow the instructions and then it will be installed on your browser for you to use.

I really only use two features with this tool at this time, but they are so great! I click on the little dropper at the top and choose pick colour from page. I then hover my mouse over the specific colour and then click. It is saved in my colour history. When I want to see the colour (and more important copy the code that I can use on websites and graphics) then I click on colour picker and there I can see the colour information (and other variations of this colour).

Figure 1 - Simple Graphics with ColorZilla

 It seems confusing to explain in text. so I have shared my screen shot photos and for those of you who need to be walked through this in more of a tutorial style — you could book a consultation call re: simple graphics.

 

2. Pixabay

I have searched on a lot of sites that offer images free of copyrights and Pixabay is my favourite to date. You can use the images and you can decide if you want to donate to the artist who captured the image. There are ads for great images from Shutterstock that show up and try to tempt you to buy – that is how Pixabay pays to keep such a great site going.

3. Canva

There is a free version of Canva, which I used for a long time before signing up for the paid version. The features I use on the paid version at this time are: quick resizing and branding (canva saves my branding information – colours, logos, font, etc.)

I would say start with the free version for sure. Do the tutorials that go along with signing up. They are fun and will teach you quickly how the program works.

If you are wanting to create a poster or graphic — you will want to read 6 Tips to Create a Great Poster.

And if you click here – I have shared an editable version of a poster that I created for my Mom and her weekly yoga classes.(JUST MAKE SURE TO MAKE A COPY BEFORE YOU BEGIN TO EDIT THE TEMPLATE — so that others can use it).

One tip to remember when creating graphics is that you want to create a large enough image so that when you put it on your website/social media page or you print it out — it isn’t pixelated or fuzzy looking.

Feel free to connect with me in the comments below with any questions, ideas or the tools you use to create graphics.

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