Three suitcases, two Chihuahuas, and some web graphics…
My website at LoriHil.com serves as the home base for my freelance writing services. It was in need of an overhaul. I wanted to switch things up to meet the needs of my clients while also sharing my digital nomad journey. After all, any story that begins with three suitcases and two chihuahuas is bound to entail an adventure.
While hiring a professional web designer is a nice luxury I’m a DIY kind of gal. That’s what Immensely Social is all about after all.
I’ll admit some of my past DIY website ventures have been, well…scary. Think black background with pops of hot pink! Yikes! (See 3 Reasons Your Blog’s Awkward Journey Has Value)
How thankful are we for user-friendly technology for the non-designers among us? Very!
While I adore WordPress I have chosen to host my writing site on Squarespace. I have been using Squarespace for a while but was not satisfied with the theme I was using. This time around I chose to turn to Station Seven to make my DIY website a bit less overwhelming and BeFunky to take my web graphics to the next level.
Squarespace Kit *insert happy sighs
Brittni and Mike over at Station Seven have some awesome Squarespace kits you can use to make your site a bit more unique allowing you to do the customizing yourself. I had no experience with kits for Squarespace but I have to say I was super impressed.
I purchased and downloaded the Acadia Kit and followed the step by step videos to set it up.
It’s a simple, clean layout that I truly adore.
The kit comes with everything you need for easy setup and even has editable PSD graphics.
But I wanted a Photoshop alternative. That is where my friends over at BeFunky came in to help me customize my site even further sans Photoshop.
DIY Web Graphics Sans Photoshop
Cha Ching for saving some cash by skipping the Adobe Suite this round!
BeFunky just relaunched their site on HTML5 offering a more powerful platform with awesome new features that users like myself have been anticipating. Note: BeFunky has been kind enough to sponsor this post. Opinions are my own.
So let’s dive into downloading your kit, if you are going that route, and creating your own graphics for your site relaunch with BeFunky.
Pro Tip: Even if you do not use a kit, these tutorial videos will help you create awesome website graphics for whatever theme or platform you are using.
Downloading your kit is easy. Login to your Station Seven account and go to Downloads. Your file will be zipped so when it is finished downloading simply double-click to unzip the file. We will be working with the graphics folder.
Open your site graphics folder. The placeholder images will give us a template to create new graphics with BeFunky. First, we need to convert the images from PSD to JPG. We can do this easily in Preview.
Pro Tip: If your image viewer does not allow you to save as another file type, you can use a converter online.
Now that our base images are converted, we can drag them over to BeFunky for the fun stuff!
Check out BeFunky’s new drag and drop feature and transparent backgrounds.
Now to finalize your web graphics with a stock photo…
Make your personal brand standout online with graphics like no other site, true to you with the BeFunky Designer and Photo Editor. And if you are looking for a clean layout, head over to Station Seven and explore the kits.
Be sure to tag me with your designs!
@lorihil @BeFunky @stnsvn
Happy Branding. Happy Creating.
Leave a Reply