Design is more democratised than ever thanks to the volume of online apps and software available for free or at minimal cost. The explosion of online photo editors is giving extra power to the ‘content revolution’.
Content without pictures is dry. Content with pictures is appealing. Content with pictures that are cute, like infographics, can grab our attention and make us smile. In fact pictures with words on top, aka memes, are even easier to digest. Although this is a very simplistic representation of how images support content, there’s no denying they help content be noticed.
The emphasis on visual storytelling has also brought with it a surge of interest in creating beautiful graphics. Fortunately the abundance of photo editors in the market makes this possible with next to little skill required. The best photo editors know that design doesn’t just happen, that there’s a craft behind it. They offer design lessons through mini tutorials to support better design outcomes. Although design is a creative medium it still has design principles that underlie it. When those design principles are missing in action, the end result shows evidence of that. If you've ever looked at a graphic or picture and thought 'something doesn't look right', most times this is because a design principle was violated.
Don’t mistake my interest in photo editors as an endorsement for a do it yourself approach all the time. In fact, these photo editors only elevate my respect for the role of skilled graphic designers. There'll always be a need for experienced graphic designers to provide discipline and direction to your brand identity. Graphic designers help to create visual systems and these systems work because they have boundaries. It's these boundaries that give your business a unqiue brand identity The photo editors on the other hand fill a more immediate requirement and make it easy to get visual. Many of them also have ready to use templates sized for each social media spec, which save time and help you get your content into the market sooner. What’s not to like?
Photo editors offer design freedom and accessibility. Strangely, their appeal is also their the dark side. Their ease of access makes them easy places to waste lots of time and not actually create anything of design note. Even experienced graphic designers make design mistakes. That’s the process of learning. So imagine for the non-designer, the risk of creating a hot design mess is high. Better keep the graphic designer on speed dial.
There are too many photo editors out there to name them all so here are some that suit everyone from the basic, mildy experienced to advanced user with varying levels of functionality and for different platforms.
- Afterlight
- BeFunky
- Canva
- fotor
- iPiccy
- Lunapic
- Photo Candy
- Photofiltre
- Picadilo
- PicMonkey
- Quozio
- ReciteThis
- Ribbet
- Sumo Paint
