DesignCap is another do-it-yourself web service that lets you create different kinds of promotional or branding material, as well as arts for personal use.
You can create things from flyers and business cards to social media posts, to invitations to events, birthdays, etc. Opening an account is free, although it comes with some limitations compared to the paid service.
When you start, you are greeted with a splash screen where you can choose the type of design you want to create (an invitation, social media post, etc.). After you create it, you are sent to the edit interface where you can add designs and text to your image. You are presented with a blank image, although you get some presets on the side.
Once you have a template applied, you can edit the text to fit your needs, change the font type, color, and even change the opacity. You can also add more text if you need to. One thing to know is that, text and any other object you add, can be arranged in layers, meaning you can bring objects to the front of push them to the back (this can be useful to bring text on top of a photograph, for example).
Depending on the kind of promotional material you are making, you will need to use photos. DesignCap includes a wide variety of pictures to choose from. However, some of those pictures are only available to subscribers.
You can also upload your own pictures. If you are on a free account, you can only upload five pictures in total.
Of course, you could delete the ones you don't need to free space for more. If you are using a paid subscription, you are able to store more images.
When you add a picture to your design, you can add effects to it and change the opacity and exposure, and also make manual adjustments for brightness, contrast, saturation, and hue. This is a very nice detail since you are able to tweak all those little details on the picture.
Another thing you can do is select from different backgrounds and shapes or icons to finish your design. The amount of shapes and icons found here is limited, but, according to the website, if you upgrade to a paid subscription, you get access to more. When you are done, you can download the image, and also save it in your account so you can reuse it later.
If you are using the free subscription, you can only download the images as small JPG images. A paid subscription allows you to download PNG and PDF versions, as well as higher resolutions.
One thing I noticed is the lack of vector graphics in the free subscription. The subscription window shows that you are given access to those when you upgrade to the paid subscription, although I would have liked to see at least a few of them in the free service just to know the kind of artwork you get.
There are two subscription services to choose from. If you commit to a year subscription, you can save a lot in the long run, as the basic service is actually $8.99 a month, and the Plus service is $12.99 a month, if you decide to pay on a monthly basis.
If you run a small online business and you need to use promo material for social media, or even physical promotional material, this do-it-yourself service can be very helpful, and maybe you could get a one month subscription to use the full features and then move to the annual subscription in case it fits your needs. If you only need it for personal things (like invitation cards), a free service would do.
Join DesignCap: https://www.designcap.com
