Free graphic design tools have had a huge impact on my business. One big change in the last few years has been recognizing the importance of branding… and doing something about it too, I guess. Because I was always somewhat aware of the role branding plays in marketing but really fell down in the execution.

Which is a nice way of
saying my branding was awful.

That's no slight on the designers who turned out excellent work for me. My book covers were great, for example, I just didn't have a coherent vision across my titles which was then parlayed across websites and Twitter headers and email graphics for brand cohesion – or really why that would be so important.

These days my site looks more professional, and the branding lines up with that of my books, social channels, and newsletter. And I'm quite proud of it as I handle all of it myself. Well, almost – I still outsource book covers. But I do the rest, and the funniest part about that is that I'm not remotely artistic in that sense; I couldn't match colors if you paid me and can't draw a straight line with a ruler.

Unsurprisingly, that's what used to hold me back. I just didn't have the skills or the confidence to make graphics, and even if I was inclined to hire a designer for every single little job that routinely crops up – and when you start taking this seriously, there are quite a few of those – even throwing money at the problem wouldn't have been sufficient, unless I actually had a full sledding squad of designers chained in the basement.

All that has changed. The tools available to us today are so sophisticated that even dullards like me can turn out professional looking graphics… with a little practice, it must be stressed. I didn't develop phat skillz overnight. This isn't some kind of one-click wotsit. You will need to invest some time to gain competency here.

On the plus side, many
of those tools are free. Which means your only excuse for not getting good at
this is laziness. Which is a pretty valid excuse, in fairness – just ask my
accountant, dietician, or parole officer.

And I'm not just talking about free Photoshop alternatives like Canva, below we also have handy things like color pickers, color matchers, 3D cover generators, and tools which will crack open a book cover and allow you to pull out any of the layers or elements. Super handy stuff!

This is my branding-slash-design-slash-promo
toolkit.

Read more of this post