Graphic Design Using Windows Software

Ever heard of Photoshop???  Sure you have, but one disadvantage Photoshop has is that it is a Macintosh program.  Most people I know carry Windows.  Therefore, Photoshop can’t be used at home.  There are ways of installing the program on Windows, but it is not very compatible and ineffective.  However, I’ll show you some tools to the graphic design trade that can get you around the use of Photoshop.

These methods are a little tedious, and not as powerful as Photoshop, but if you’re like me and don’t have Photoshop, this will help you.  I’ll show you how to find images, edit them on Power Point, and paste them onto Microsoft Word.

Step 1.  Image Searching

Images posted online are made up of pixels, which are tiny squares that make up the photo.  Each square is assigned a solid color value according to its location in the photograph.  Images can be in any pixel size, from 10 X 10 to 1,000 X 1,000.

Exmaple of a 10 X 12 Pixel Image

The reason it’s good to know this is that images with more pixels will look better and more clear.  If I were to stretch the above image across the entire page, it would look very blurry.  However, if you use larger images, the greater chance you have of stretching the image out without losing its quality.

Filtering an image search for large photos is quite simple.  First, go to Google Images and type in the name of the image you are looking for.  Then, below the address bar on the top-right corner of the screen, you will see a gear-shaped icon (see below).

Clicking on that icon will give you a drop-down list of options.  Click on Advanced Search, and then you will go to a different screen.  Once you reach the Advanced Image Search screen, you’ll see the option “Then Narrow Your Results By…”  Just below that is the tab that allows you to select the image size you want (see below).

The tab with the blue outline is where you choose the image  size.

As stated earlier, larger images (1000 px or larger) work best, especially if you need an image that will take up the whole page.  Medium-sized images (100 – 1000 px) work well too if you need an image that only takes a portion of the page.  Small images (less than 100 px) are a little risky, but they can be useful as well.

Step 2.  Editing photos and text on Microsoft Power Point

So you’ve found your photo.  The next step is to paste it onto Power Point.  There’s two simple ways to do this.  The first way is to right-click on the photo and select “Copy Photo”, and then go into Power Point, right-click again and select “Paste”.  The second way is to right-click and save the photo to your desktop.  Then on Power Point, click the Insert tab at the top of the screen and select the picture icon right below it.  This will allow you to find your photo wherever it is saved and insert it.  The latter way is the safest to go, so you have a copy of the photo you’re using.

Photoshop may have all the latest and coolest toys to play with when it comes to photo editing, but Power Point offers some cool effects too.  Since I am a serious Blackhawks fan, I’ve decided to use a picture of Jonathan Toews to illustrate what I am talking about.

Jonathan Toews picture after being inserted into Power Point

Darkened version of the same image with a red glow effect

How did I do that???  Simple.  Just select the photo and right-click. Then when the menu pops up, select “Format Picture” at the bottom.  This will give you a list of all sorts of things you can do to the photograph.  You can crop, change the size and position, lighten or darken, sharpen, and do various other effects to the photograph to make it look nicer.  You can also add a border around the picture and add various effects to it, like the glow effect I added on the picture above.  Glow, shadows, and reflection are some of several effects that can be done to the border.

The “Format Picture” menu, which allows images to be edited in several forms

Editing Text

The number one rule when working with graphic design is: MAKE SURE PEOPLE CAN SEE YOUR TEXT!!! If you have an awesome picture but people can’t read what you’re trying to show or tell them, then your picture is basically worthless.  Placing text in front of images can be difficult, since the text may camouflage itself on any part of the photo with a similar color.  There are plenty of ways to combat this though.

Notice how the name and number at the bottom of the photocan’t be seen.  This is a major “Don’t Do” in graphic design.

To edit the text, select it and right-click.  Then select “Format Text Effects”.  This is very similar to formatting the picture.  A menu screen will pop up, allowing you to choose several effects.  There are simple ones, like changing the text color or adding an outline color.  Then there are more complex ones that you can alter, like drop shadows, reflection, and glow.  You can even skew and rotate the text.  Changing the transparency, like in this photo, can make a huge difference.  These effects not only help people see the letters more clearly.  They help the text stick out to the eye more.  In most cases when you’re working with text and graphics, you want people to read the text first and get the message, then look at the picture.  These effects will help you do just that.

Notice how the use of an outline and dropshadow makes the text stick out more.

Step 3. Pasting Onto Word

Once you’ve finished the picture it’s onto the easy part, sort of.  Pasting onto Word is simple, but there is some things to know first.  First, in Power Point, select everything in your photo, then right-click and select “Group”.  This will combine all of the elements in your photo, so that they’re saved properly.  Make sure you save your photo to the desktop, then open up Microsoft Word.  Keep Power Point open in case you need to fix something (right-click and choose “Ungroup” if that’s the case).

In Microsoft Word, you need to fix the page layout and margins first.  To change from Portrait to Landscape, choose the “Page Layout” tab and select “Orientation”.  There will be a button to click that will change this.  To fix the margins, stay in the “Page Layout” tab and select “Margins”, which is located just to the left of the “Orientation” tab.

The “Page Layout” tab in Microsoft Word.

Set the margins to wherever you want, preferably to a half-inch all the way around.  Then change to the “Insert” tab and select the picture icon and navigate to your photo.  Then when your photo appears, you can stretch it however you like.

Conclusion

Photoshop is awesome, and it makes things a lot easier.  But it is also expensive and pointless to have if you don’t do this type of stuff too much.  Hopefully, the tricks I showed you here will help you when it comes to creating ads and other graphics.