How To Make A Blog Banner With Picmonkey
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Would you like to create a blog banner yourself? A blog banner is the first thing that readers see on your blog, you want it too reflect you and your content. With a little creativity and vision you can create a blog banner that reflects your brand.
Let's create a blog banner.
If you would like to learn how to create a blog banner using PicMonkey, you came to the right place!
When it comes to blogging, I use PicMonkey for a lot all of my images. PicMonkey is so user-friendly and makes your project look so professional. I'm definitely a PicMonkey Junkie.
For this "Create a Blog Banner" tutorial, I have created a fake blog I am calling "Mango Life" just because I love mangoes. I did create a blog banner for my blog, Plan Blog Repeat with PicMonkey, but I would like to mention that I do have a Bluchic theme. Bluchic makes a beautiful WordPress theme that is beautiful, customizable and user-friendly.
PicMonkey is super easy to use with barely any learning curve. A great way to create a banner for your blog using PicMonkey is fabulous. I mean seriously, I can learn to use Photoshop, but with everything that needs to be done for a blog learning a new program is time-consuming.
PicMonkey is a great way to get professional looking results because all of its great features.
Did I mention that you can use PicMonkey FOR FREE?
The free version of PicMonkey is great to play around with and you can have professional looking results, but if you want even more features, go with the premium or superpremium.
PicMonkey offers a free trial of the premium version.
PicMonkey premium is totally worth it! You get more overlays, more overlays and you can even store your pictures in the hub so you can edit them right from there without having to start over. This has been super handy for me.
You can go back and edit your images and they are in different layers so you can tweak, resize certain elements, delete and replace parts of whatever project you are using.
PicMonkey is great for designing a blog, YouTube thumbnails, Facebook Covers, Pinterest Pins, and so much more!
Go to PicMonkey.com and if you already have an account, login or start the free trial, or do nothing and just start using the free version!
When you create a blog banner, choose the correct banner size for your blog.
If we don't have the correct size, the image can get distorted or need to be cropped when you upload your banner and those issues can jeopardize all of your hard work.
To select the size for our image, hover your mouse over the design tab, it's the one with the "t".
Under where it says "Enter a custom canvas size" change the numbers 2000 x 2000 pixels to 1140 x 200 pixels and click "Make it!" These dimensions will give you the correct blog banner size and you won't have to crop when you enter it into WordPress.
NOTE: I am not familiar with other blogging platforms other than WordPress. I do not know if other blog platforms use different sizes for banners.
Once you click "Make it!" you will go to the editor page and this is where the magic happens!
Now that you have a blank canvas of the correct size for your blog banner, you can start designing.
Choosing a font for your blog title.
There are a number of fonts available from PicMonkey. The fonts with the crown are the ones that you can use with the premium or supremium subscription. You can also use your own fonts if you click on the tab that is marked "Yours".
Your own fonts are the ones that come from your own computer or fonts that you have downloaded from someplace else such as dafont.com.
The font for the banner of my fake blog, I have decided to use the EDO font. If when you go to the editor if you are not on the text tab, simply click the Tt on the left and it will take you to the fonts. The EDO font is on the highlighted blue tab that is marked "Ours" the other tab marked "Yours" is where you will find all of your fonts.
Adding the text.
When you are ready to add your text, click on the font of your choice and it will be highlighted in blue. Next, click on the box that is marked "Add Text" and a text box will populate, click the text box and the cursor will appear, then you can begin to type your text.
Changing text size.
There are a few ways to change the size of the text in your text box. You can hover over the side or a corner of the text box with the cursor and an arrow will appear that allows you to drag the text box to your desired size. You can highlight the text and slide the slider (the circle that is on the line marked size) that is in the "Text Pop Up Box" pictured on the right. Another option is to click the drop-down arrow in the "Text Pop Up Box" and choose the number for your font size.
Centering the text.
I chose to center my blog title by centering my text box in the middle of the banner. I did not center the actual text, I centered the box. After I centered the box, I clicked on the centered alignment box that is also located in the "Text Pop Up Box". The alignment boxes are next to the I or Italics box and beneath the slider.
I know I am going into a lot of detail, but when I am learning something it makes it so difficult when steps are skipped. People assume that something is too easy and then I get lost trying to figure it out. I wanted to make this tutorial as simple as possible and not skip any steps.
Use a simple logo.
I designed a simple logo for my fake blog Mango Life, and I'm going to show you how I did that as well in case you want to design your own logo. A logo should be simple and to the point. I would like it to invoke a feeling, whatever feeling it invokes it should match the company's mission.
Even though this is a fake blog for the purpose of my PicMonkey tutorials, I also created a branding board so that I would stay on brand while creating designs. The fake Mango Life Blog is about getting out and traveling to exotic locations, eating local fruit, most especially mangoes, while living an eco-friendly and healthy vibrant life.
Stay on "Brand".
I kept the branding in line when I designed anything that had to do with Mango Life. Why am I telling you all this? In order for a design and blog to make sense and resonate with readers, a common theme should run through everything you do with your blog.
If your entire blog is cohesive, it will make sense. If everything you do with your blog is all over the place, your blog and brand will be confusing.
As I mentioned earlier, opt simple for a logo. You don't need the entire company mission statement in the logo. A logo needs just an impression that you want people to feel when they see your design.
Creating an overlay for a logo or other image.
On the left-hand side click on the butterfly. The butterfly image is for the overlay. You can choose to add your own overlay, something from a picture you took, or maybe something you already designed with PicMonkey and you can upload it to use. Don't steal images from other people. Use an image of your own or an overlay provided by PicMonkey. Design your own image that matches your brand.
I am using a circle from the "Geometric" box in PicMonkey's overlays. Click on "Geometric" and the shapes are shown in the image are the ones you can choose from in the Geometric section.
You can experiment with all of the overlays and find the one that best fits your brand. When you click on the overlay of your choice, it will appear on your banner. The overlay can be resized by dragging a corner.
Resizing the overlay image and choosing your colors.
I made the circle my desired size. Now I want to change the color, and possibly fade it a little bit. I will put it behind the text so that I can see both the circle and the text. Using the "Text Overlay Pop up Box" I decide that I want to keep Color 1 and change Color 2. Pointing the mouse at the black in the box of Color 2, click and a color picker will populate.
Knowing your color numbers is a great time-saving tip!
If you know your color number to input in the color picker, you can type in the numbers or letters or number letter combo next to the color in the box. Black's color number is 000000. If you don't know your color number try out the colors that are in the squares of the color picker.
I know my number because it is on my branding board (plus it's super easy and I use it all the time) so I will just type it in the box. 
Now my circle is green, just the color I wanted it. To fade the color use the slider in the "Overlay" Pop up box. Slide the circle along the line to the right to fade the color.
Lastly, I want to put the circle behind the letters G and O. I right clicked and the grey box populated. What I will next choose to put the green circle behind my letters is the "Send to Back" option.
So now that the blog title and logo are incorporated into my banner, add the tagline. I once again will add text exactly the way I did with the blog title.
Using a different font for the tagline stands out more and looks more interesting. Don't use a random font for this, but one that is part of your brand.
You can also add any additional graphics by adding another overlay and exactly the way we added the green circle. You can change the background color of the banner, or make it transparent by clicking on Basic Edits. Basic Edits is on the left, the three lines with the circles that are highlighted in blue.
Changing the canvas color.
Change the canvas color (white background) by typing in the color number or from the rainbow-colored color picker. To save the canvas as transparent, check the box marked "Transparent Canvas" and save your banner as a .png.
When you have the canvas color that you want, click apply and you're all finished. You can save your banner anywhere you want, your computer, Dropbox, etc.
Save a copy of your designs in PicMonkey's Hub. In the hub all of the elements are not merged together. You can easily change anything you want at any time without having to start over.
So there you go! That is exactly how you create a blog banner using PicMonkey. I hope you enjoyed learning how to create a blog banner with this tutorial. Give the premium trial a go and you won't be disappointed!
If you have any questions let me know in the comments.
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How To Make A Blog Banner With Picmonkey
Source: https://planblogrepeat.com/create-blog-banner/
Posted by: ishmaelbobre1943.blogspot.com
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