Familiar with the story of the Red paper clip Guy?
It’s an amazing story of how a typical guy bartered his way from a single red paper clip to a two-story farmhouse.
Curious how that’s possible? you can watch his fun and exciting series of trades in this full video.
Now, that story is a great example of how curiosity, creativity, and resourcefulness combined can transform something less into something great, something small to something big!
Have you ever felt you couldn’t come up with a design you wanted just because you think you didn’t have enough resources?
Well, that’s actually one of the challenges we often address during Friday webinars. Hence, you can hear our host – Eric reiterate these lines:
“Master your tools”
“Begin with the end in mind.”
“Creativity helps with problem-solving“.
Every tool is designed to serve a unique purpose, but it’s up to a creative mind to push it to its limits!
In today’s post, let’s unleash 5 of the most underrated visual effects tools in Youzign and see how you can use them to thrill your viewers.
1 | Border effect
The Border tool in Youzign is not your typical border tool found in some other drag n’ drop graphics apps. When enabled on a certain element on your canvas such as text, image, or shape it gives it a distinctive effect so it pops on your design.
When applied to texts, the Border tool accentuates the edges of each letter. This is very handy when you need to outline a text or shape prior to image clipping.
By ticking the No Fill option, you can also make the inner portion transparent. You can also adjust the thickness of your border on the Size slider and change its color using the Color Picker tool (little circle just next to the border option).
When applied to images, the Border tool does not outline the exact edges of the image but instead its frame. This allows you to create quick borders for your image. The direction of the border is inwards for images, while outwards for shapes and texts.
2 | Blur effect
The Blur tool decreases the contrast of pixels in an image making it appear blurred. You can use it to create a soft and cozy feel to photographs which make them great for backgrounds.
You can use this tool for texts, vector graphics, and images. Since this feature is pretty limited for now, the Blur effect once applied will blur out the entire area and not a specific part of your image. You can adjust the intensity of the Blur effect using the Radius slider though.
If you think the benefits of this tool is only restricted to creating soft backgrounds, check out samples the below:
Furthermore, the blur tool can also be applied to some elements of your design to create an illusion of depth. See the sample post image below. Notice how some of the shapes on the background are blurred out while others are sharp giving the impression of layers.
3 | Shadow effect
The Shadow effect in Youzign gives your 2D designs a realistic touch by fostering depth, dimension, as well perspective.
It comes with options namely Opacity (to give the shadow a subtle-feel, also to control transparency), Distance (to adjust the length of space between the element and its shadow), and Angle (to give your viewers an idea of where the light source for your design originates).
When applied to texts, vector images, and shapes, the Shadow tool gives them a bevel-like, almost 3D appearance. This is great for creating buttons for your landing pages, opt-in forms, icons, isolated images, and the likes.
4 | Opacity
The Opacity tool is my personal favorite amongst the visual effect tools in this list. Though its main purpose is to give transparency to an element in your design, the sky is the limit on how you can extend its uses.
Here are a few ways to use Opacity in your design:
Subtle Backgrounds – Backgrounds are like wallpapers in our designs. Get it right with enough transparency and you get a nice backdrop for your quote graphics, blog post images, Pinterest pins, Social Media covers, etc.
Opacity with shapes – Layer a nice shape to your background image and apply some opacity. You can use this method if you need to add a layer of text on top of a busy, high-contrast image. This will make your text more readable even stylish.
See-through Text – Place text on top of a busy background and apply some opacity to it. This effect allows the text to breathe in the background image without competing for attention.
Highlights – Use shapes with lighter colors for your text or another shape to give it a glossy effect. This is great for glossy buttons and highlights.
Watermark – Create a faint text using the Opacity tool and be able to add your copyright claims, logos, and branding IDs to your designs, videos, and more.
Mirror effect – Use the duplicate tool to replicate an image and place the other copy opposite the original image. Use the Opacity tool to create a faint, mirror effect.
5 | Duplicate Tool
The Duplicate tool copies the selected element in your design. It can replicate the exact size and color of a text, shape, or image as well as any effect applied to the element if there is. Hence, it makes your designing faster and easier when you need multiple copies of the same element in your design.
This tool is also efficient when you need to create layers of the same element. You can also change the color of the latter subsequent to duplication.
If you wish to duplicate a set of elements or even an entire design/ template (such that in mirror effect), you only have to select and save them as a group first, then click on the tool to do its job!
Final words…
Now, these visual tools may not be as famous as the crowd-favorite Background Removal Tool, but you’ll never know how they can dramatically enhance your designs once you master them. Just like the Red paperclip Guy let your curiosity, creativity, and resourcefulness pave the way to better youzigning!
One good way to practice leading to mastery is to study how they were used on the available templates in your Templates page. You’ll be amazed at how simple the seemingly complicated designs are created with the combination of these visual effect tools.
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P.S. Haven’t tried Youzign yet? Feel free to sign up to our free 2 weeks trial here. Cheers!
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