Monday, February 13, 2017

Canva -- Graphic Design Made Easy

http://canva.com
If you are like me, you generally lack the skill set of the typical graphic designer. And, if you also a poor teacher (like me) you can't really afford to have a professional graphic designer help you with everything you need to do (even when I can find some affordable help on Fiverr). In the last month alone, I have had to design four different ads for school events and then three ads for my professional development offerings. Thank goodness I discovered Canva, because otherwise I wouldn't have been able to deal with all of the work. It is free with a Google account, so if you are working at a Gsuite for Education school -- you are in luck!

Do you need to create a poster to promote an event? Want design a banner for your website? Need to make a greeting card? Do you desire an attractive way to promote your Instagram or Twitter account? Canva can help you do these things and it can do a whole lot more. The .png file to the left was created in less than 15 minutes with Canva. I know my friends who do graphic design are probably thinking, "It looks like it took 15 minutes, too" but for me -- this work is way better than I could ever hope to do on my own. Canva really is graphic design made easy for the totally helpless, but if can also work for someone with professional level skills in graphic design. There are a ton of layout ideas for a huge assortment of different projects. You can add and subtract elements easily and color schemes are done for you, which is a giant help when you are trouble a matching colors. You can upload your own photos to add to your projects to provide that personal touch from your own life or school. Give it a try!

Friday, February 10, 2017

Bling My Blogger


With 21 Century Learning in Hong Kong rapidly approaching, it was time to update my old Pimp My Blogger presentation. I asked around to a few people and received some feedback on the new name -- Bling My Blogger. The new name lead to a redesign that I'm fairly happy with. I'm looking forward to the conference.