Showing posts with label CANVA Tutorial. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CANVA Tutorial. Show all posts

Tuesday, June 20, 2023

Use CANVA to Personalise Balloons with Silhouette Cameo

Like many of you, I use a Silhouette Cameo to personalise my balloons. However, I often find it challenging to come up with creative designs using the Cameo software, so, I decided to use CANVA instead. I find it more user-friendly, and I already use it for other design projects, so why not for my balloons too!


I have made a quick Step-by-Step video to show you how simple this is to do. It was a bit of a life changer for me, as it makes creative personalisation so much quicker and easier! 

Here are a few extra bits of information that may not be clear from the video.

1. I use the Instagram Square tile for my designs. By using a square, you can contain your design within a printable space.

2. I usually resize my design once I have added it to my Cameo software to approximately an 8" square, as I've found that this is perfect size for an 18" foil balloon.

3. I used two different fonts for my design: "Porcelain" for the script and "Anton" for the number.

4. The font size is approximately 180.

5. I cut out additional daisies in various sizes in white to add to my design.

6. Keep your design templates in a quick access folder in CANVA so that you can easily create new versions by simply changing the name and age!

7. I always add my vinyl when the balloon is flat and not inflated! I find it so much easier with great results every time! 



Here is a copy of the design that I created on CANVA.

I hope that this helps some of you when it comes to designing your personalised balloons! 

Happy Ballooning! 


Sue
Follow me @suebowler



Wednesday, December 8, 2021

How to Take and Tweak Good Photographs of your Balloon Designs

How many times do we create a fabulous balloon design or décor only to find that the photographs that we take do not translate into that perfect shot... I am sure that we can all relate to that! 

Photography is definitely an art, and professional photographers work hard for years to ensure that they get great results. For us, this is one of many of our roles as a balloon professional. Great photos are vital for our marketing and social media campaigns, so getting the perfect shot is very important.

Balloon Decor by Sue Bowler


Here are some simple tips:

Keep your photos simple

If you are taking iPhone photos for social media like Instagram, do not forget that most people will see your work on small mobile screens.

Paring your compositions down to a few key elements makes them easier to understand on a small screen.

Below are two photographs from the same event. The first one shows the whole room, capturing the decor and room en masse. 

Balloon Decor by Sue Bowler & Team
Photograph by Nicci Gibson

The second photograph, shows the same decor but is highlighting the 3' confetti balloons and not the rest of the room, allowing the balloons to be the star of the show. I would choose the second photo to promote my event decor on social media and my website.


Balloon Decor by Sue Bowler & Team
Photograph by Nicci Gibson


Shoot from a different angle

Shift your perspective. When we start taking photos, often our first instinct is to take them from about the same position we see them from. Unfortunately, this does not make for the most exciting photos.

To step up your game, try taking photos from outside your regular sitting or standing position. This is achieved by shooting the subject from higher or lower angles.

The image below was from a corporate Valentine's event that I decorated a few years ago. It was shot from a low angle and only captures a small section of the decor. 

Balloon Decor by Sue Bowler & Nicci Gibson
Photograph by Nicci Gibson

Capture close-up detail

Good photography is all about showing people the world and all it contains in an original and beautiful way. Shooting close up can make everyday objects look interesting, exciting and unexpected.

Look for interesting colours, textures, or patterns in your subject that might go unnoticed if viewed from afar. This close up method can also highlight exciting elements within your designs.

Balloon Design by Sue Bowler

The design above is a Christmas Gift box design idea. The customer can put a little message inside the 5" balloon that can only be popped on Christmas Day! 

To emphasis this feature, I took a close-up shot of the 5" balloons to make it clearer to my customers.


Balloon Design by Sue Bowler


Slide the exposure meter to brighten (or darken) images

When using an iPhone, if you have seen the yellow focus square, you have probably paid attention the icon right on its right-hand-side. This little icon along with the slider will help you adjust the exposure of your image.

If you need it to be darker and underexposed, simply drag your finger down on the screen. If you want it to be brighter and overexposed, then you just drag it up.

There are a number of reasons why you would want to sacrifice a perfectly exposed image for a darker or for a brighter one – it all depends on what mood you want to convey.



Keep your camera lens clean

Most smartphones spend a very significant time of their lives in the hands of their owners and that means they’re covered in fingerprints.

Very often those fingerprints are found on the place where you want them the least: your lens!

A useful habit to develop is to get used to quickly cleaning your lens before taking a photo – that can ensure there will be no smudges, dust spots or blurry areas on your image.

It may sound like a really simple tip, but this one thing alone can have the biggest impact on getting a clear photos… and most people never bother wiping their phone’s lens (they usually wipe the screen!)

Use Smartphone photography apps for professional-quality touch-ups

  • TouchRetouch (cost £1.79) - this app allows you to declutter your photos and it is so very simple to use. How many times have you taken a photograph only to notice that there is a plug socket or fire extinguisher in the shot! 


Here is a great example of how this app works! 

This was a photo that I took of a design from a class that I was teaching. Unfortunately, I was unable to get a clean backdrop and therefore you can see a plug socket on the wall, plus a door, window and a radiator! 

Balloon Design by Sue Bowler


Here is the after-shot once I had used the app working with the OBJECT REMOVAL tool! It took a matter of seconds and the result is fantastic! The plug socket has gone, as has the door, window and heater that was on the wall! 

Balloon Design by Sue Bowler



An alternative to touching up and removing elements from your photographs is to use a background removing tool, as previously mentioned. I use this feature on CANVA.com which is part of the PRO version. Alternatively you can use www.remove.bg that allows you to remove the background from a photo free. Be warned, however, you can only save it at a low resolution, which is fine for social media posts but not for printing. To get a higher resolution, you need to pay for this service.

Here is a design that I removed the background using www.remove.bg 

Balloon Design by Sue Bowler

This is the before shot of the design sitting on my dining table. This is not really the end result image that I would want to share with my customers.






Balloon Design by Sue Bowler
By removing the background it gives me so many options. When an image has it's background removed it saves the file as a PNG, this means that the background is transparent, which allows you to drop that imagine onto a new background or keep it white.

 



Balloon Design by Sue Bowler

To bring my design to 'life', I have dropped my Reindeer image into a stock photo that was available on CANVA. This helps to give my design perspective and scale, enabling my customers to imagine what this design would look like in their home. The Christmas Tree photo was only available with the Pro version, so you would need this version to use this particular photograph. However, there are still many free photographs available. 




There are many more apps and editing tools available, however, these are the tools that I personally use and recommend.

If you are unsure how to use CANVA, I have a number of blog posts that will help you! 

This is the tutorial that helped me greatly when learning how to use CANVA - 

"Good Design Matters for your Business" - Zoe Adams-Jones Shows You How to Create Fabulous Social Media Posts Using CANVA.

How to Create Inspiring Instagram and Facebook Posts for the Non-Designer - Part 2


Happy Ballooning!

Sue
Follow me @suebowler


Tuesday, July 28, 2020

How to Create Inspiring Instagram and Facebook Posts for the Non-Designer - Part 2

Are you ready to step it up a notch and learn a few more tips and tricks that help make great posts for Instagram and Facebook! 

By now, you might realise (if you have watched How to Create Inspiring Instagram and Facebook Posts for the Non-Designer - Part 1) that I am a little bit of a Canva enthusiast, and enjoy spending time experimenting with the fantastic features that Canva offers. So far, in my video demonstrations, I have only demonstrated the use of the free version of Canva. In this tutorial, I will show how to create designs using features from both the free and from Canva Pro which is a paid for subscription. 

It is defiantly worth trying Canva Pro - they even offer a free 28 day trial of the pro version. You will need to use a credit card to set up your account, but you can easily cancel the subscription if you decide that Canva Pro is not for you! Just make sure that you make a note to do this before the subscription kicks in. 

Let's look at a few more great features on the free version before we head off to Canva Pro.

Check out the video below to see how to add a background and text to an image and also how to add a little animation too! 


This is the adorable 'Shine Bright' image by Cam Woody, which I downloaded from the Qualatex - Inspiration - Balloon Decor section. Please note that only QBN members and CBA's have the ability to download high-resolution copies of these images. If you are not a QBN member or CBA, remember that Qualatex has some amazing and FREE marketing materials available to everyone, and all are welcome to use these resources for social media posts. Even better, you can use Canva to add your own text and create your own unique posts! 

Beautiful Reindeer design created by Cam Woody
With a little (free) Canva magic, I added a background and a little seasonal text - view the video to see how! 



Canva marketing post created by Sue Bowler

Canva also has the ability to 'animate' your post (also a free function) although there are some professional options too which you can use when you upgrade to the pro version. Posting little videos on Instagram is a great way to attract new followers! Statistically, videos are viewed even more than photographs! 


Here is another free marketing image from the Qualatex Lifestyle Photo section that I downloaded, then added my own slogan to! 

Tropical Balloon Design

How to smarten up your own photos

Check out the video to see how to remove the background from one of your photos and replace it with a new background! 



I know that many of you are very keen to know how you can turn some of your own ballooning photographs into more appealing Instagram posts. Getting the perfect photo is almost impossible without being in a professional studio. Let me show you a few tricks that will hopefully change all that! 

I will start with one of my more recent images of a Number Five frame that I made. Before taking the frame outside, which was where it was intended to go, I took a photograph with the frame on a table. The lighting was appalling, and the setting not much better!

Number Five Balloon Frame designed by Sue Bowler

Using one of the Canva Pro features, I was able to remove the background and replace it with something that helped my design to stand out better!

Number Five Balloon Frame design by Sue Bowler


Here are a few more before and after shots! 

Before

Before editing shot of Flamingo in a box design

After a little Canva Pro Makeover

Tropical Flamingo Design by Sue Bowler



Flamingo Balloon Design by Sue Bowler

Keep in mind, not all photos edit successfully using the Canva Pro Background Remover Tool, and the results can be disappointing. Something to keep in mind in this case is you don't always need to show the whole image; sometimes just showing a small section of a photo can be just as appealing! 

Elegant Balloon Frame by Sue Bowler


Beautiful Balloon Fairy Tree by Sue Bowler

I hope that you have enjoyed this tutorial and that it has been helpful! Hopefully this quick tutorial will get you started, and maybe like me, you will even get a little bit addicted and start producing some truly beneficial posts! 

Happy Designing! 

Sue
Follow me on Instagram @suebowler

Friday, February 7, 2020

Creating Your Brand & Image - Digital Marketing with Zoe Adam- Jones CBA

Was one your New Year's resolutions to up your game and give your balloon business a bit of a makeover? Though we are now in to February, it's definitely not too late to get started on this!

So, how important is your branding?

Branding is important not only because it is your first memorable impression with consumers but also because it allows your customers and clients to know what to expect from your company. Several areas should be used to develop a brand including advertising, customer service, promotional merchandise, reputation, and logo.

Consistency is key to effective branding. In this quick Video Tutorial, Zoe Adams-Jones CBA from JAZ Trading shows you how to use the Branding Kit feature in Canva to help you achieve consistent branding.




I met Zoe three years ago when I attended the Australasian Balloon Convention (ABC) in Australia. At that time, Zoe was just starting her wholesale distribution business Jaz Trading. Over the past three years, Zoe has made her mark, whether it is through her continuous contributions to the balloon industry with her fabulous design skills, her generosity in sharing her extensive digital marketing knowledge, or working tirelessly to protect the balloon industry taking on the role of Director of PEBA - Pro Environment Balloon Alliance.


To learn more about Zoe and her impact on the world of balloons, check out my post from last year - Everything You Need to Know About Zoe Adam-Jones - Designer Extraordinaire and CANVA Queen!

If you are new to CANVA and would like to know more about how to use it, check out Zoe's extremely helpful article and video tutorial - "Good Design Matters for your Business" - Zoe Adams-Jones Shows You How to Create Fabulous Social Media Posts Using CANVA.

A huge thank you to Zoe for making this fabulous tutorial for the Very Best Balloon Blog readers and for sharing her immense knowledge on this subject! 



Happy Ballooning!

Sue 
www.suebowler.com
@suebowler







Thursday, October 18, 2018

"Good Design Matters for your Business" - Zoe Adams-Jones Shows You How to Create Fabulous Social Media Posts Using CANVA.

We all want to do a better job with our social media activity. We know how important it is to increase our customer base and to connect with our current customers. However, producing engaging content and having content consistency is not quite so simple.




I am always looking for an easy solution and when it comes to design, Canva is simply perfect! Canva, for those of you who have not used it before, is a graphic-design tool website. It uses a drag-and-drop format and provides access to more than a million photographs, graphics, and fonts. It is used by non-designers as well as professionals. The tools can be used for both web and print media design and graphics. It offers a wide variety of content types that include Facebook and Instagram post templates, posters, brochures, and so much more!



Canva is free. However, you can upgrade for a nominal monthly fee to increase its functionality. Personally, I would start with the free version and then upgrade later if you feel you need the extra functions.


Zoe Adams-Jones


Recently, the wonderful Zoe Adams-Jones, CBA, of Jaz Trading in Queensland, Australia, made a live online tutorial - "Creating Easy Professional Graphics using Canva" - that she shared with the Australian ballooning community and to her followers on Facebook. Zoe has a background in digital marketing and has many years of experience in this field. She very kindly agreed that we could share her tutorial with the readers of the Very Best Balloon Blog.

I had previously "had a go" at using Canva, but because it did not work for me instantly, I gave up. As with anything new, you need to invest just a little bit of time to go through the steps. Zoe's tutorial will guide you through the simple steps of how to use Canva with ease, and within no time you will be producing fabulous marketing materials that you can use across all your social media channels.

I recommend that you open up Canva first (www.Canva.com) click on "Create a Design" and have a little play for a few minutes. Then watch Zoe's tutorial and everything will start to make sense!