Make and export your first design

By the end of this page you will have made a social post with a photo and a headline, and downloaded it as an image. The same steps work for a flyer, a slide or a thumbnail: only the size changes.

1. Pick a size#

Open the Editor. The start screen asks What are you making? and lists sizes in groups: Social, Screen and Print. Each one shows its pixel size, so you know what you are getting.

1. 1Go to /editor.
2. 2Under Social, click Instagram post (1080 × 1350). A blank white design opens.
3. 3If none of the sizes fit, use Custom size at the bottom: type a width and height in pixels (16 to 8000) and click Create design.

2. Add a photo#

1. 1Click Add in the top bar, then Photo. Or use File, Place image as layer… (Ctrl+Shift+P). You can also drag a file from your desktop onto the canvas.
2. 2The photo arrives as its own layer. With the Move tool (V) selected, drag it to position it and drag a corner handle to resize.
3. 3Photos larger than 4096 pixels on the long side are scaled down to 4096 as they come in, which is plenty for screen work.

3. Add a headline#

1. 1Press T for the Type tool, or click Add, then Text.
2. 2Click on the canvas where the headline should start and type. Drag a box instead of clicking if you want a paragraph that wraps.
3. 3Click outside the text, or press Escape, to finish. If you typed nothing, the empty layer is removed for you.
4. 4With the text layer selected, the Properties panel shows Font, Bold, Italic, alignment and Colour. Click More type options for Size and Line spacing. Pick a font and make the size big enough to read on a phone.
5. 5To edit the words later, double-click the text, or select it and press Enter.

Every photo and piece of text is a separate layer in the Layers panel, so you can move, hide or delete each one without touching the others. Layers covers them in depth.

4. Check it and export#

1. 1Press Ctrl+0 to fit the whole design on screen and look at it as a whole.
2. 2Click Export in the top bar, or press Ctrl+E.
3. 3Leave File type on PNG for the best quality, or choose JPG for a smaller file.
4. 4Under Size, 1× gives the design's own pixel size. 2× doubles it, which looks sharper on high-density screens.
5. 5Click Download. Or click Copy image to paste it straight into a chat or document.

On a Mac, use Cmd wherever this page says Ctrl.

Your design is already saved#

You did not need to press Save. The Editor autosaves to this browser a couple of seconds after each change, and again when you switch away from the tab. The design appears under Pick up where you left off next time you open the Editor. Rename it with the name field at the top of the Editor.

Common problems#

• Menus other than File, Window and Help are greyed out. They need a design open. Pick a size or open a photo first.
• The text looks blurry while zoomed in. That is the zoom level, not the file. Press Ctrl+1 for 100% to see real pixels.
• A JPG came out with a white background where the design was transparent. JPG cannot store transparency. Export PNG or WebP instead.

Start a design