QA Graphic
May 5, 2018

Word Cloud

Lots of choices on Word Clouds.

Sometimes when blogging it isn't easy to come up with a good graphic to go with an article. That's when using Word Cloud can help - highlight some of the most common words in a story in a nice attractive graphic. It catches everyone attention and makes the article stand out a bit more.

daviscloud
https://www.jasondavies.com/wordcloud/

There are several different services but I found that ... jasondavies.com/wordcloud/ to have a nice simple way to create a good looking Word Cloud. to have a nice simple way to create a good looking Word Cloud. There are all sorts of design options and a chance to customize the layout and colors to your needs.

Honorable Mentions

  • TagCrowd.com
  • https://www.wordclouds.com/

What's nice about jasondavies.com version of Word Cloud is that you can have different cloud shapes, so the graphic stands out even more. The other thing that's nice is that each word is a different color.

Couple of Examples

George Washington Word Cloud
George Washington farewell Address

5 K Word Cloud
Standard Disclaimer of a 5K Race

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April 28, 2018

YouiDraw

Online Vector Tool to make cool graphics

YouiDraw is a cool online vector tool. There's plenty of template designs to inspire you and get you started. The food thing is that its HTML5 base - not Flash. So you can use Chrome or Chromebook to create your designs.

Website Description

Online Vector Graphic Design by html5 and SVG effects! It's like Illustrator but works on the cloud with google drive.

Create stunning vector graphic design with YouiDraw. It's like Adobe Illustrator or CorelDraw but it works in the cloud with Google Drive. So there's no software to download and you can access your work anytime, anywhere. Suddenly, your creativity is unleashed!

Whether you're getting started or an experienced designer, Drawing tool is a powerful graphic design solution on the web. With vector graphic design in various environment, you have everything you need to express your style and creativity.

draw Mockup
https://www.youidraw.com/

Free for Basic Use

The basic plan allows you to create your own graphics and save the graphic to your computer or in the cloud (Dropbox, Google Drive etc..)

There is a Monthly Plan which cost $9.99/mo and gives you SVG / PDF File Export, No Watermark, and allows you to use the graphics for Commercial use.

Good Place to Learn Vectors

I think this is a great tool for people learning about vector graphics- especially kids. This is better than having them play with Affinity Designer or Illustrator because they won't mess up any application settings.

Affinity Designer

I think, in the long run, your better off buying Affinity Designer. YouiDraw is good for those times when you need a graphic design but doesn't have any tools installed on the computer. (Internet Cafe or Sharing a computer. )

Certainly worth checking out YouiDraw, doesn't cost anything to see how it works.

Sample Designs done in YouiDraw

Youi Draw Example

Youi Draw Example2

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April 21, 2018

Snappa

Create Awesome YouTube Channel graphics

YouTube is all the rage right now. If you own a YouTube Channel you know how important it is to have an updated graphic header. It's critical to have a cool looking header so that people will know that your serious about the videos that you have on your channel.

Fortunately you don't need to be an expert in graphic design, Snappa helps make YouTube headers in a snap!

Website Description

Create YouTube channel art on the fly with Snappa

  • Save time by starting with the ideal image dimensions for YouTube channels
  • Start with one of many professionally designed templates to throw together eye catching YouTube channel art in seconds
  • Customize templates, graphics, and text to create on-brand channel art
  • Access 500,000+ of high-res, totally not cheesy, 100% royalty-free stock photos from our library
  • Add the polish typically reserved for professional graphic designers with customizable graphics, shapes, and text
  • Download your channel art as a web optimized JPG, high-res PNG, Retina JPG, or Retina PNG
  • Repurpose YouTube channel art for your other social media profiles and vice versa in a couple of clicks

Snappa
https://snappa.com/create/youtube-channel-art

Snappa isn't just for YouTube, you can use it to create designs for all your favorite social media networks. The good thing about using Snappa is that you don't have to worry about the current design standards. They are up to date on the latest sizes - no more second guessing if it's the right size..

Snappa Editor

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April 14, 2018

MockPhone

Simple way to show your design on any smartphone

There are lots of choices when it comes to using mockups to showcase your design. The nice this about MockUPhone is there's a lot of device options including TV screens.

Website Description

MockUPhone is a free tool that helps developers, designers, project managers and consultants wrap app screenshots on different mobile devices. Developers and designer can use the provided PNG files to make mobile screenshots and mockups for mobile application websites or advertisements. While project managers and consultants can embed the screenshots in keynote for their client projects. MockUPhone right now supports iPhone mockup, iPad mockup, Android mockup and TV mockup.

If you want to create screenshots for App Store submission, you can also check out one of our developer suite - ShotBot (http://shotbot.io/). ShotBot is screenshots makers for iOS platform. It helps you wrap screenshots and implements screenshot device art effortlessly.

Mockup Phone
https://mockuphone.com/#ios

Five Things I learned Using MockUPhone

  • You have to use an image, there's no pointing to an existing URL for the image to rendered by the device.
  • In order to get the final image you have to put in a valid email and then download the file from the email link
  • The mockup images are in PNG format with transparent backgrounds.
  • MockUPhone have a lot of designs and will tell you the best format to use.
  • You get a preview of one of the layouts, to see if you want a final version.

Phone Site Mockup2

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April 7, 2018

Glitter Text

Create cool glitter effects with your text

GigaGlitters.com is a cool way to add some glitter to text. Simply put in some text and select the style that you want and then share the GIF file. You can use various GIF tools to combine the text.

Description from their site

GigaGlitters.com is super easy and fun tool to create glitter texts. It is FREE! With GigaGlitters you can instantly create glitter texts! Start right now, just enter the text you want to glitter. Place your glitter text anywhere you like: MySpace, Friendster, Bebo, Facebook, HI5 and many others.

Glitter
http://www.gigaglitters.com/

Some tips/tricks

  • Text can only be 15 characters long.
  • There are 176 different glitter colors/styles to select from. You get a preview of all the styles.
  • There are 101 different fonts to pick from. The only problem is that you don't get a nice popup to show the different font styles, you pick it based on the name.
  • If your unsure, or in a rush, select the 'random' button and a style/font will be selected with your text. Keep clicking randomly until you find the perfect match!
  • Once you find the perfect match, you can drag and drop the style to your desktop, or use the various code text provided.

Example Images

Now What

welcome

thinkfast

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March 31, 2018

Background Image Generator

Create seamless background images for web and graphics

Background Image Generator by SiteOrigin is a good resource if your looking for a basic seamless image. Make your images POP by using a simple pattern image generator.

This is not only good on websites, you can also use this as background in graphic designs.

There are 296 pattern and 42 Blend Modes. Giving lots of different ways to create different style and color patterns.

Website Description

This is a simple background image generator. You can choose the base color, pattern, intensity and a few other settings. It generates the image for you. Great for creating tiled website backgrounds.

Background Image Generator Monitor
http://bg.siteorigin.com/

Samples Using OmniGraffle

The Victims

Oracle Colors

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March 24, 2018

engfto.com Text Effects

You can create some pretty cool effects using engfto.com

engfto.com is a great website to animate your text images. There are all sorts of creative effect to make your text POP. For starters, on the homepage, there are 43 general styles to pick from. Within each style, you have the flexibility to change all sorts of options.

If you want to brighten up a chatroom or a social media comment, this is the place to get it done.

Tip: You have a lot of flexibility to change the way the graphic design. I would suggest spending time using the site. While the default options are pretty cool, you can certainly spice things up to your needs with just a simple change here and there.

Website Description

Create cool text. Designer generator beautiful text logo online , with a choice of effects and fonts. Create a beautiful inscription online, inscription with animation.

engfto Website
http://engfto.com/

There is no cost to use this site and many images are available as animated GIF or HTML5 effects.

Sample Effects

Here are just some of the cool effects that I was able to generate:

Now What

So Excited

This Is Boston

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March 17, 2018

Embossed Label

Cool way to display a simple message

Embrossed Labels is a quick way to generate labels online. You can use the graphic for any purpose.

This is a unique way to communicate a message on a Blog or Social Media.

Description from the Website

Welcome to the Embossed Label Generator website, where you can make and download free custom text embossed label images for your design projects or websites.

The generator uses actual images and not a font - they are made from the high resolution scanned label strips that are on my main website here. The original scans were only in blue, red and green and I also made a black version in Photoshop - I may add more colors in the future.

Embrossed Labels
Embossedlabels

Sample Design Ideas

These labels are perfect for displaying short text in the graphic form. You can combine labels with interesting graphics layouts.

QA Pass Label

QA Fail Label

Not So Good Release

Happy Patricks Day

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March 10, 2018

QR Code

Great Way to get people to get connected to your WiFi

QR Code Monkey is a fast easy way to generate QR codes. People can scan the code to get more information about a product or to visit your website.

Website Product Description

QRCode Monkey is one of the most popular free online QR code generators with millions of already created QR codes. The high resolution of the QR codes and the powerful design options make it one of the best free QR code generators on the web that can be used for commercial and print purposes.

rcodemonkeymonitor
https://www.qrcode-monkey.com/

Cool Use of a QR code

Do you have company over your house that wants to get on your WiFi? Want to keep your WiFi access point secret?

Easy, simply create a mini-poster with the QR code for people to scan. Hang the poster where people can see it. When they scan the QR code it automatically connects that device to the WiFi access point with the WiFi password.

How cool is that!

Now you can have some complex password and not have to worry about someone incorrectly typing the password.

Simply scan the QR code and they are online. Works well with laptops that have a camera too. Apple iOS users can use the camera app

This is a good idea for doctor offices, gymnastics waiting areas, bars etc. Just about any place that wants to promote Free WiFi..

Now people can get online without typing in some highly encrypted password.

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March 3, 2018

Deposit Photos

Deposit Photos has a great Image catalog for all your needs.

If your looking for great stock photos or vector images - Deposit Photo is the way to go. You can find lots of great graphics and ideas.

These files aren't free, you need to buy a package to download the files. They often run a special promotional deal where you can download 100 files for $100. It's a great deal since the 100 credits don't expire.

If you're really into Deposit Photo, you can subscribe to their services - there's a monthly and a yearly plan.

From their Website

Depositphotos -- is a commercial platform that brings authors of high-quality licensed stock photos, graphics, vectors, and videos together with appreciative buyers. Thanks to the efforts of talented professionals from all over the globe and our world-class technical solutions, we were able to build a perfect place to marry business with creativity.

75+ million files. Clients in 192 countries. 24/7 support in 20 languages. It is possible only because we have a strong team located in New York, Milan, Kiev, Moscow and Warsaw.

Deposit Photo
depositphotos.com

You can find great Christmas graphics, images for invitations, infographic designs or graphics for blogs.

I have found that some designs from Creative Market are also available on Deposit Photo. Instead of paying $8, I paying $1 for virtually the same graphic design.

Get Started

Check out their site and search for images to see what they have in their library. See if it meets your image demands.

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About

I will highlight a fun Internet site every Saturday. The basic premise is to highlight sites that I regularly visit for a variety of reasons. All site recommendations are mine and are unsponsored. By highlighting these websites, I hope to provide value to those who may not know of the sites or who might be interested in visiting the sites. I also want to share the sites that I find valuable in the hopes that others will find them just as beneficial.

Check out all the blog posts.

Schedule

ThursdayNew England
FridayMacintosh
SaturdayInternet Tools
SundayOpen Topic
MondayMedia Monday
TuesdayQA
WednesdayiPhone 14 Pro Max