4 years ago / Admin

How to Create a Free Infographic using Powtoon with free images

Creating a simple infographic can be a hard task at times. True, there are a number of infographic making tools one can choose from. The issue however, is finding one that works best for you. Most of the available tools are complicated and can be quite cumbersome at times. From Adobe Photoshop to PowerPoint to Adobe InDesign, most of these tools are costly. This can be a huge deterrent especially if you are not looking to spend money to make a simple infographic. They also take longer to learn using and this especially is a huge put off.

At times customizing your content into an appropriate infographic is troubling. This is especially true if you’re using the wrong application/ tool. Some of the available tools e.g. Adobe In-Design, Photoshop, Canva etc. are complicated to use. This can be a huge drawback especially if you just want to create a simple infographic. Other tools like MS Paint and PowerPoint are too basic and don’t offer much in terms of features.

But what if I told you there was a solution to all these? What if I told you that there is a tool that combines user friendliness and quality output with minimum effort? Enticing isn’t it?

Well there is. Introducing Powtoon. This is a free application you can use to easily create infographics. It is a visual platform that allows users to create professional-looking video infographics and presentations in just minutes. What’s even better is that you don’t require any design or technical skills to use this tool.

It has over 27 million users, including businesses and Fortune 500 companies. It was founded in 2012 and since then there have been major developments in the features it offers. It’s simply mind-boggling!

It offers a wide array of professionally-designed templates, scenes, characters, videos, soundtracks and much more. You can upload your own media, videos, GIFs, images, voiceovers and anything you need to make your content stand out. Its drag and drop interface is clean and this tool offers animation styles including cartoons, infographics, and whiteboards.

Powtoon has great support- it has plenty of community resources.

Here are a few features that make Powtoon stand out from the rest:

 

Features

  1. Collaboration - This feature allows users to collaborate with team members and actively edit and interact on content.
  2. Templates - Powtoon has 3 categories of ready-made templates: work, education, and personal. You can use these and edit them.
  3. Privacy options - You can choose who gets to see your content.
  4. Text - Editing text in Powtoon is easy. You can create text boxes and add texts to your content and customize it to your liking.
  5. Media and Audio - You can add voiceovers or background music to your content. There is also a huge library of media such as images and GIFs.
  6. Export functionality - Powtoon has a range of export options.
  7. Social sharing - With Powtoon you can share your content to social sites such as Facebook and Instagram.

 

Reviews

Pros:

  • It is simple to use and is interactive.
  • It doesn’t take much time to learn how to use.
  • It not only gives you the ability to create content, it also injects creativity into it.
  • High-quality output.
  • Customizable templates.
  • You can put multiple layers of text on one slide and customize where it will show up.

Cons:

  • When working on larger projects, it lags.
  • The free version doesn’t offer so many features.
  • At times it can be slow.
  • It takes long to upload photos.

 

How to create Infographics using Powtoon with free images

Getting Started

Go to www.powtoon.com and click on Sign Up.

 

 

Proceed to fill in your details and after you have signed up you’ll be ready to begin deigning your infographic.

Now Powtoon is especially useful in creating video infographics. Here is a step by step guide on how to proceed.

Step 1: Create a blank canvas

On the page that appears after signing up, click on Blank on the left side of your screen. Proceed to pick an appropriate canvas size. Alternatively, you can click on Templates and pick one from the library and edit it to your liking.

 

After this a page appears which will require you to choose a look.

Your canvas is then created after this.

 

 

Step 2: Add a background

On the right side of your screen there are commands that appear. To know what command is for what, hover the cursor over the icons. Click on the Background icon.  You can choose to add an image background or a color background.

 

 

Step 3: Insert image

For free images, go to imagesload.net and search for an appropriate image. Download it and then go back to Po0wtoon. Still from the icons on the right of your screen, click on the Image command.

Click on the Upload Image option and navigate to where you saved your image from imagesload.net. Choose your image and it will be uploaded to your canvas. Here’s mine: (https://imagesload.net/view/man-in-a-movement-transparent-background-png/FF7F0)

 

Step 4: Add Text

Click on the Text command on the right side of your screen. Click on the text format you require and a text box appears on your canvas. Proceed to type in your text and once you’re done you can drag the text box to reposition it.

 

There are also options to customize your text. Make use of these.

 

Step 5: Add other elements

Use the icons on your right side of the screen to add elements like shapes, characters, videos, sound, and props.

After this you’re basically done with creating your infographic. Take your time with the commands so you know exactly what does what.

Here is how mine looked like:

 

Step 6: Share and Export

You can Preview your content and make any necessary edits if need be.

Click on the Share command. You can then copy the link and share it with other people.

 

Click on the Export command and choose an appropriate option.

Creating an infographic using Powtoon is easy and doesn’t take much time. It took me no more than 10 minutes to create mine and this was my first time using this tool. Just take your time to familiarize yourself with the controls and you’ll be making amazing infographics.

 

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4 years ago / Admin

How to Create Slides for Free with Haiku Deck using Free Images

These days it has become the norm for people to sit for hours on end in front of their screens, struggling to make beautiful, eye-catching presentations that can attract attention. They use so much of their time fiddling with controls on PowerPoint and other tools in an effort to design slides that can convey their intended message. The problem is that it takes a lot of time to do this!

The problem might be that free images are not available for you to make use of. This is mostly the case for most of these applications. No worries though! This guide has just the solution you’ve been yearning for.

There are very few presentation making applications out there that are truly user friendly and can produce high quality content. The learning curve for most of them is too long and at times they become too clunky and cumbersome to use. Even when you do learn how to use them, creating a simple slide can be a hassle and this is a major inconvenience.

Some of the slides you see nowadays from PowerPoint, Keynote and other tools have become too generic. Often the template styles are dull and repetitive. All of this can be confusing and disheartening at times.

While some of these modern presentation making tools may work for some people, they are often quite pricey. This can be a huge bummer especially if all you’re looking to do is just create a simple presentation.

What if I told you that there is actually a simpler and much more efficient tool for making your slides?

Introducing Haiku Deck. It is one of the fastest and easiest way of creating professional-looking and memorable presentations on the web. It takes a radically simple approach and has very few features. It lets you upload background images after which you can write a sentence or two of text over the image and that’s it. It’s extremely simple but the good thing about it is that it’s good for audiences everywhere.

Haiku Deck helps users to avoid cramming their presentation with too much information. It forces users to make their slides clean and simple.

All the presentations are hosted online. It allows easy recording of audio narration, the ability to save presentations as videos, or export to PowerPoint/Keynote for offline viewing and editing.

Haiku Deck’s sparse word use, visual impact, and slide focus on main ideas make it an ideal tool for creating eye catching and engaging presentations.

 

Features

  1. Customizable templates - Haiku Deck has a number of templates which you can edit to make your slides to your liking.
  2. Web based - It is possible to create, edit, and view decks in modern browsers such as Safari, Chrome, and Firefox.
  3. Export features - It’s easy to easy to export your Haiku Deck presentations to PowerPoint and Keynote.
  4. Charts and Graphs - Haiku Deck makes it easy to create great looking charts and graphs for your presentations.
  5. Import and resize images - It’s easy to use and edit your images.
  6. Offline presenting - You don’t have to be online while presenting your content.

 

Review

Pros:

  • It’s easy to use and doesn’t take much time to learn how to use it.
  • Excellent for keeping viewers engaged.
  • The features are easy to understand and utilize
  • It allows users to put together professional looking presentations in minimum time.
  • It gives room for creativity.
  • Templates are available to aid the design process.

Cons:

The free version only allows you to create 1 deck/presentation.

  • There are few slide formats to choose from.
  • The free version doesn’t come with a lot of features.
  • Delays in adding video content.
  • It can be a bit confusing at first.
  • The interface can be a bit buggy.

 

How to create slides with Haiku Deck using free images

Getting started

Go to www.haikudeck.com. Once you’re there click on the Try Zuru option to create a free presentation.

You will be redirected to a page where you then click on New Deck.

 

This will take you to a page where you click on Get New Account and then proceed to fill in your log in details to sign up.

 

 

Step 1: Select slide type

Click on the slide type icon on the left side of your screen and pick a slide type that is ideal for your purposes. Each of the available formats have different layouts so choose wisely.

 

Step 2: Choose a slide layout

Click on the slide layout option and proceed to pick an appropriate layout. Notice that each of these layouts has different text and image positioning.

 

Step 3: Add image

For free images go to imagesload.net and search for an ideal image. Copy the URL of the image and go back to Haiku Deck. Click on the Images and Design icon on the left of your screen. A dialog box will appear. Choose the My Pictures option.

 

This opens a dialog box. Click on Link (URL) option and proceed to paste the URL you copied from imagesload.net.

 

Search for the image and proceed to add it to your slide. Here’s how mine looked like: (https://imagesload.net/view/beautiful-orange-flower-transparent-background-png/xqOTH ) .

 

Step 4: Add text

Proceed to add text to your slide.

 

You can also edit the fill of your text box.

 

Step 5: Add other elements

You can then proceed to add elements such as graphs and charts to your slide.

 

 

After this you’re done making your slide. You can add more slides by clicking on the + sign on the bottom right of your screen.

To share your presentation click on the Share icon.

As you can see making a slide using Haiku Deck is easy and seamless. It doesn’t take much time and the controls are easy to familiarize oneself with.

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