USING OUR WORD TEMPLATES...
We have added several new items to the design library with the aim to offer wider customisation options then ever before. The only downside to this task has been that when it comes to available applications /programs to produce these items with, their is a relatively small range of options that offers both the design versatility required to effectively create the materials in the right way, while also remaining accessible and user friendly enough to the majority of the team.
After a lot of trials we have settled on the use of 'Microsoft Word' as our solution to reconcile both of these needs. However, there are some suggestions we would like to offer before using these templates as we have needed to 'bend' the rules of how this software is traditionally used in order to create the best visual results.
1. Don't Just CLICK anything
The layouts for the majority of our Word Templates utilise adjustable "TEXT BOXES' so that the visual elements of the design can be placed over the top of your photos. In the example below the 'slanted' black graphic on the left hand side has been placed 'over' the photo that is visible on the right. Because of this, if you click in the wrong place you will actually select part of the text box that has been laid over the top that contains the slanted graphic. In the second image below you can see the text box for the slanted image indicated with the pink outline. Most of our files offer prompts to help you know where to click to remove the demo image and replace it with your own.
2. Preparing your images
While word actually has cropping and image editing capabilities they are not commonly used by most people . The easiest way for most of us to prepare the size of our images will likely be to crop them using our phones before bringing them into word. The FB templates utilise square images, so if you are to crop your image to square dimensions you should be able to import the photo without issue (Be mindful that some of your photo may sit underneath a graphic element, so have this in mind when you crop your image).
ALSO: try to ensure that you expand your image to the full dimensions of the template provided to avoid any white gaps that can happen when the image is only 'place' (example shown below.
3. How to save a JPG from a word file
If you have access to design software there are a number of ways you can create a JPG from a word document, but for the majority of people it may seem easiest to simply take a 'screen capture' and then post this to our social media. Unfortunately this does not usually have the best visual results, so I have investigated a number of online options that can save word documents into jpgs with relatively simple 'drag and drop' functions. The options provided here are free and fairly user friendly, however because of their FREE nature, they may limit how many times you can use them in a single 24 hour period (which is why I have provided a few options)....
4. Use the correct fonts
This item is mentioned before our download options for most word templates available on our website, but we would like to remind everyone to use the correct fonts provided within our word templates to ensure the best results.