I thought I might like to share with you a free tool called Design Wizard. I’ve been recently using this tool as an alternative to Canva and PicMonkey.
I use this tool to create my awesome updated Pinterest graphics that I posted on the button on my older blog posts (you can look through that later).
Surprisingly, those newer pins I’ve been sharing has been gaining the most repins than the other pins I made a few months ago.
In this post, I’ll demonstrate how to use Design Wizard to create your image graphics for your blog posts.
So grab your mug of coffee or tea and let’s get right into it!
*Disclosure: This post contains affiliates. I earn compensation if you buy the product. I only add affiliates that I’ve tried myself or would prefer to you. Read more Privacy Policy & Disclosure*
Note: I am not HATING on Canva or PicMonkey. I am all for supporting new design tools! And this post is not a comparison to both these tools.
Link to Design Wizard
Installing Stock Image Background (PikWizard)
Now as well as this Design Wizard design tool, they also have their own site for free stock images for you to download.
Link to PikWizard
You don’t have to manually download the stock image as they will instantly transfer the image you choose to the design tool.
In order to quickly edit the stock image, just click the orange box that says “Edit Image in Design Wizard” next to the download button.
Ok, now let’s download one image from PikWizard and start creating a cool post for social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc).
DesignWizard: Picking Size and Templates
Once it has loaded onto the canvas, it will look like this on your screen (check image below). If you don’t want to make a FB post, you can always change it by clicking CHANGE SIZE to change to a different format.
There are different types of formats for you (and not just social media posts). You can also create cards, posters, banners, ad banners, etc. Or manually add in your own size.
Note: Since I’m gonna minimise the screen, it will look smaller in the next few images but it will look exactly like the image above if your browser isn’t minimalised.
As you can see, there are already templates on the left side so you can use those if you like. But since we have a stock image for the background, we’re gonna be manually designing it instead of using a template. Follow along now!
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Setting Background for Text
If you have an image that can’t see the text well, click on the “Shapes” tab and insert a full square (not an outline of a square) next to the line.
Make sure you CLICK on the shape instead of DRAG. When you try to drag the shape out, it will highlight all the selected areas as they haven’t installed the feature to their site as of now.
Set the transparency to about 60%. Setting the transparency low will lower the colour of the shape but make text harder to read. Setting high will fill the colour of the shape but make the background harder to see (blocking the stock image as you can see from the image above). So set it 50% – 70% for the right amount.
You’ll probably see when you first install the shape that the border colour is set to an aqua colour and the fill colour is set to purple colour. Make sure both the border and fill colours are set to white.
Move it, drag it and shape it however you like by using the dots around the shape. You can also rotate it from the rotating icon on the top of the middle dot.
Locking in Place
After you’re satisfied with your placement, make sure to click the “LOCK” (the icon of a locket) to lock the square so it won’t move when you try to add in text or objects overlayed over the box. It is on the top left next to the “COPY”. If the icon changes from a unlock to lock locket, you know that it is locked.
If you want to unlock it, you can click on the right layer tab on the side that has a lock. This is where you can overlap layers and unlock your selected object.
Layers
The arrows on the layer tab are where you can overlap your layers.
- The top that has a line and up arrow: will be placed on the very top.
- The second one with the arrow up: will move up once.
- The third one with the arrow down: will move down once.
- The fourth one with the line and arrow down: will be placed on the very bottom.
Oh! You must make sure to lock your background stock image so it doesn’t move as well (I totally forgot about that!).
Adding Text
Next up, it’s time to choose the text. Go to the Text on the left tab.
You can pick from the text templates on the side but today, we’re gonna start with adding text manually. So you can see on the top that says “Add Heading”, “Add Sub Heading”, “Add Paragraph”. If you have used Canva or PicMonkey before, then you already know this.
Click on “Add Heading” (again, no dragging or it will highlight the whole tool). The heading is already installed to your canvas. When you click on it, you can see the toolbox on the left where you can edit the text font, typeface, alignment, colour, transparency, spacing and order layer, etc.
Click or highlight the “Heading…” text and type down your preferred title or text.
With a little bit a fiddling, this is how it should look like.
But we are not going to stop there!
Adding Colour to Text
Let’s add a bit of “spice” to the text. Meaning, let’s add colour to the next. This time you need to highlight any keyword you want to colour. Then click on “colour” and pick your choice of flavour.
You can also save your colour (if you manually picked a colour) by click on the text “Save colour” underlined. Once done, you should be able to click on the canvas to exit out.
Adding “Copyright”
Now you could be done right here but I decided to add in my site just to let people know that this graphic was designed for this site. It’s highly recommended as people can steal other graphics on Pinterest and add their own site to the pins.
To do this, pick on “Add Sub Heading” and double click on “Sub-Heading…” to rewrite your site’s name. You can add in your site’s HTML or just a @ (insert your preferred social media account).
Using Grid
If you need to use the grid to align your objects on the canvas, click on the Grid on the top left next to the undo button and click on “Show grid”. You can also customise the columns and rows for your needs.
If you don’t want to show the grid anymore, click on the “Hide grid”.
Saving your Design
Once you position your objects or add in objects by going to “Images” on the left tab, you can save it by clicking on the DOWNLOAD tab on the top right side.
A pop-up (like the image above) should show up. You can change the extension files on the left bottom drop-down or download it on the bottom right that says “Download For Free!”.
Preferable extension files are: JPG or PNG
Now if you’re using the pro version and using items that contain premium version, you would see something different.
Premium Version
I won’t be able to show you since I used up my credits but each premium item will cost a credit. When you use it, you will also spend credits in order to download your image. If you don’t have enough credits, you won’t be able to download your post.
Anyways, here is what the outcome looks like:
A few last notes that I would like to point out
As it is still rather a new tool, there are a few things that need improving and it may lag a bit. Also, they don’t have a mobile version so you can only create posts through your desktop.
Uploading Image
When you manually upload your image, there won’t be a pop-up that shows your image is downloading. To know that your image is downloading:
Once it’s done uploading, it will turn back to orange. Just a little pointer when it comes to uploading your own photos to the tool.
Conclusion
Hope you enjoy this tutorial and if you would like to use this tool as well as the stock images, don’t forget to click the links below to try out this tool:
Link to Stock Images
Link to Design Tool
If you do try out this tool, I highly recommend giving them feedback in order to help them improve their tool. It would be much appreciated!
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