Transcripts
1. Introduction to the Course: Welcome to designing festive social media
posts in Affinity. In this class, you will
learn how to create eye catching festive social
media designs using Affinity. Perfect for holidays, seasonal promotions
and special events. Whether you're designing
for Instagram, Facebook, or other platforms,
this course will guide you step by step through
the full design process. We will start by setting up the correct canvas
size and layout, then move on to creating vibrant backgrounds using
color gradients, and shapes. You will learn how to add
text that stands out, choose fonts that match
a festive mood and incorporate graphics and icons to bring your designs to life. We will also cover simple
refinements like shadows, glow effects, and
color adjustments to help your posts look
polished and professional. By the end of this class, you'll have the skills
and confidence to design your own festive social
media post from scratch and a finish project you can
proudly share with others.
2. Setting Up Your Canvas: Once you open up
your affinity here, you get to the
welcome screen here. And in order to start
designing, and in our case, if you want to design
a social media post, then we can actually
go around over here onto the Plus button. Here, you'll be able to see different preset sizes that you can choose from as
you can see here. But in our case,
we want to create a perfect square
social media post, which can be posted across Facebook or Instagram
and so forth. So for that, I'm
going to go around over here and let's
see some presets. So you can see that I got
different canvas sizes here like this video and we brought here where you can see
that I got some presets. But I don't really have
a perfect square preset at here that I want. So for that, I can click on any one of the social
media preset at here. I don't really need to go ahead and change any of
the parameters, but only the resolution. So you can see that
it's 13 50 by 1080, but the standard preset size for social media square
post is 1080 by 1080, which is okay for Facebook, Instagram, and any other
social media as well. So once that is done, I'm going to go ahead and
let's say, for example, enable margins out as well, just like this as a guide because I don't want to draw
too close to the edges. So over here on the left
hand side, let's say, for example, I want
80 pixel margin eats. So I don't actually
go ahead and draw um, let's say, for example,
a graphics beyond that. So once this is
set, you can click on Create Document,
let's say, for example, and then you got the Margin of 80 pixels and a
perfect square image, as you can see here. So now what you may
want to go ahead and do is you may want to
save out the file so that you can go ahead and design and quickly save it and not lose your project accidentally. So to save it, you
can go to file here, and then you can go
ahead and click on Save. And then what you can do is go to the folder
where you want to save and now what I'm going
to do is create a new folder, let's say, for example,
in the Dktop itself, and I'm going to say
social media post. Usually, it's not a good
idea to save in Dektop, but I'm going to go
ahead and do that for an example purpose here. So I have social media
post right here, so I'm just going
to go around over here and type in, let's
say, for example, social media as the file name, and it'll be saved
as dot a format, click on save, and now the project will be saved
for future access as well. And this is how you
can go ahead and set up a document in
order to start design. And as we move along now, we're going to go
ahead and add in different elements as required, and then create our
social media post, which is going to be related to Christmas celebration event. So, in the next video, we're going to go ahead and
start with the background, and then as we move along, we're going to go ahead
and add in more elements.
3. Designing the Background: Now that we have created our document, let's
start designing, and we're going to
go ahead and first start by adding our background. So it's going to be a
Christmas social post. So I'm just going
to go around and add in red as background. So for that, let me
just go around over here and select a
rectangular tool right here. Let me just go to vector right here and bring in
a rectangle too. So now once I do that, I'm simply going to go
ahead and click and drag on the entire canvas
here just like this. Once I do that, I'm
going to go around over here onto the
rectangle section, and I'm going to go
ahead and select out, let's say, for
example, a red color. But what I want is I want a bit of a gradient here so that the center is a bit more
brighter than the ES, which is actually a design trend that's going on all around. So to do that, I'm
going to go around over here onto from color. So this is the rectangle
that is selected. So from color, I'm going
to select gradient here. So this is what you
have as you can see. So as I go around, you can see a
gradient is added in. So from linear, I'm going
to go ahead and add in, let's say, for
example, radial here. So this is what you
have as you can see. So now I'm going to
go around over here. This is, let's say, for example, radial rot here. You can see that I
can even go ahead and change around the
midpoint rot here. Well, let me just go
around. So this is linear. This is radial, as
you can see here, and I can even go
around over here and change where this
actually starts from. So you can see that I'm using this tool here, the fill tool, so I can click and drag
so so that the Um, like, let's say, for
example, bright pot is at the center here. So let's just go
around over here, and then from over
here in the beginning, I'm going to go
around and ans out, let's say, for example,
the shade of red. So I'm just going to go ahead
and make it a bit more, let's say, bright rot here. Then I'm going to go around
over here at the end, and then I'm going
to go ahead and make it a bit darker here. So I can go ahead and make that radial color a
bit darker as well. Maybe for this one, as well, I want to go ahead and make it a bit bright right
here, just like this. So let's just go ahead and
make a bit bright right here. So let's say this is
the rains I want. So this is what I have. I got a gradient background. So now, over here on the bottom, let's say I want something
like snow and I want it to, let's say, for example, follow
a wave pattern right here. So I want to make my
own graphics for that, and for that, I'm going to utilize something
called the Pen tube. So over here, I'm going to go ahead and select out, let's say, white color for
now and later I'm going to go ahead and add
ingredient to that, as well. So I'm just going to go ahead and click and click and drag to create out a curve here. Then click and drag right here, to create a curb,
click and drag here. And then I'm simply
going to go ahead and then close it off
right here just like this. So you can see that I got
a snowy shape right here. Let me just go around over here. And then I'm going to add in
another snowy shape as well. Let's say, for
example, I'm going to go around over here
just like this. I'm going to go
around over here and then make a snowy shape
just like this, as well. So I got two layers
of snowy shape, as you can see, just like this. I'm going to go ahead and add in another layer as well,
like three layers. And here, what I'm
going to do is I'm going to keep a Christmas
tree right there. So I'm just going
to go ahead and have three shapes right here. So now I'm going to go ahead and select this and I'm going
to go around over here. Let's say, for example, I'm
going to have no stroke. Then I'm going to go around
over here just like this, onto gradient, and
then I'm going to go around over here and
change around the color. So this is what I
have, as you can see. So now around over here, instead of RGB sliders, let's just go around over
here onto lightness. So I can go ahead and change out just the black rat
here, just like this. So for this, I'm
going to go ahead and change it to radio as well. So this is what you
have as you can see, and then I can go around
over here and take this and then move the radio uh, location wherever I want. So you can see that
this is on the top now, but I'm just going to go ahead right here and keep
it on the bottom. So over here on the
right hand side, you can actually see the curves. I'm just going to go ahead and
drag this down right here. So now I have this
other layer as well. I'm going to do the
same. So I'm just going to go around over
here onto gradient. And for this, I'm
going to go ahead and change the
lightness as well, and then I'm going
to change it to radio as well, just like this. And I'm going to go ahead and remove the line right
here, just like this. I'm going to go around
over to the curve. Let's say, for example, change
around the line as well, and then I'm going to go ahead and change around
the gradient here, select this out
and change around the gradient color as I wish
as well, just like this. So this is what you
have as you can see. So if I were to actually
go around over here and click and drag this up
here, just like this, I can go ahead and change out how the gradient actually
behaves as well. So this is what you have, and I'm going to go
around over here, drag this down, let's say, for example, to create
layers out right here. So now I got this background. So let's just go
around over here, change around the opacity
right here, just like this. Let's say, for
example, I'm going to go ahead and bring
it a bit down, and then I'm going to go ahead
and bring this a bit down, right here, just
like this, as well. So this is what you
have. So I can go ahead right here and
bring this down, right here, just like this. So you can see that I got a snowy bottom right
here, just like this. I can even go ahead and
resize this out right here. And then now what I can also do is, let's
say, for example, I want to have a snow effect, like a glitter
effect all around. So to do that, I'm going to
go ahead and use a brush. So I'm using a pixel
brush for that, and then I'm going to
go around over here, and let's see where
the brush is. There's the paintbrush tool. If I were to draw around here, you can see that I
simply got black. Let me just press Control. And now what I'm going
to do is, let's say, for example, select the
color white rot here. So once I go ahead and do that, I'm actually going to go around. And while the brush is selected, I'm going to go around
over here onto more, and I'm going to go ahead and change around the
size right here. And then I'm going to go
ahead and change around the accumulation as well
and the hardness as well. So this is what I have.
And I'm going to go ahead and change around
the spacing as well. And I'm going to change
around the flow a bit, the shape a bit as
well, just like this. So in the dynamic, I'm going
to go ahead and change the size jitter and
the accumulation. So you can see that
there's a variation there. I can change the flow jitter. I can change the
rotation of it as well, scatter it out as I want
in multidirection t here. So you got more like a
snowflake as you can see. I can add in a bit of
a jitter right here. I don't want any hardness, and I want to add in a
bit of a huge jitter, as well, just like this. So this is what I have, and then saturation jitter and
alumina city jitter R here. So let me just go ahead
and close a here, and you can see that you kind
of got a jitter rat here. If I were to go ahead and select a different color,
let's say, for example, I'm going to go ahead onto a different shade
of a color here. As I do that, you can
actually see a huge jitter, as well, which is
what I want here. Now I'm simply going to go ahead and then draw
around right here. Let me just go ahead and use a bit of a larger
pixel size here. Draw around just like this, as you can see, I'm going to go around over here on
the end as well. And you can see that I got the effect as I want right here. I can go ahead right
here and just click a bit right here so that there's
a bit less on this side. And I want to go ahead
and add in more here. I'm just going to add
in more on the top. So you can see that
I got a bit of a snowy background as well
according to what I wanted. And now we have our background and our snow and
everything ready here. Let me just go ahead and
quickly save this out. So as we go ahead
and move along now, we're going to go ahead
and add in text and other relevant graphics
as well as necessary. So we're going to go ahead and continue those in
the next video.
4. Adding Text and Typography : Now that we have our
background design, let's say I want to
go ahead and add in a text right here which
says Christmas celebration. So for that, I'm going to
go around over here onto the artistic text tooolR here or simply click and Artistic
Text tool is selected. You can go either
from vector or pixel. It's the same thing
right here for text. Then once you go around over here onto Artistic Text tool, simply go ahead and
click and drag and then you get a text
box right here. So now simply go
ahead and type in Christmas and
celebration right here. So I'm just going to
go around right here. You can see that the
text is too large, so I can double click to select O A and then change
around the size, or I can use the Mop tool and resize this out as
you want, as well. But you can see that
there is an error, so I'm just going
to go around and type in celebration right here, just like this and then
resize it out, right here. So Christmas
celebration is here, but the text is not
looking that great. So let's say I want to add
some style to so to do that, I can go around over
here onto the Text tool, and then as I select
out the text, you can see that the
aerial text is selected. I can go ahead and choose from different
fonts set you have, but I know the exact name of the font that
I want to add in. So I'm just going to go
ahead and type in free, and you can see the
freestyle text ra here. So only this text is changed out because I hadn't actually
selected all the text. So you need to select
all the text a here. And type in the text here, select it, and that
will be applied. So you can see that the text is looking much
more interesting. You can go ahead and
resize this out as well. So you can see that the
text color is yellow. If I want to change it,
I can simply select it. And then from the color
section right here, I can go ahead and
choose, let's say, a brighter color as you want, as well, like a brighter orange. But still, let's say I want to add some style to the text. So for that, I can go around onto Mob to select out the text, and then I can go to
layer, let's say, for example, and then
go to layer effects. Here you can see that there are different type of options like I can enable
Bebble and immediately, you can see that it starts
looking interesting. You can change around
the radius right here, so Bebble actually goes ahead and adds in some
depth to the font. I can go ahead and
change the color here off the Bbble to let's say dark right here just like this. And this is what you have. Can even go ahead and
add in different things, like you can make it three D and change around the
radius right there, and immediately,
you can see that the text starts
looking interesting. So you don't need to go
ahead and add in everything. Let's see what I want
to add is add is, let's say, for
example, an outline. So let's just go to outline, change the radius, and you can see an outline that pops up. You can even change
around the opacity of the outline as well. So you can see that the
alignment is outside. You can even make it center or inside as well
for the outline. But what I want is
outside the text here. So once this is done, you
can go around and choose, let's say, Conor, or you can
go for gradient as well. Let's say I want to add in here, and for the Ca gradient, I'm going to go ahead
and select out. Let's say, for
example, color here. I can go ahead and select out red color here, just like this. And then on this end, let's just go ahead
and select yellow. Let's say, for example, a bit
of a yellow color rot here. And this is what you have
Christmas celebration. So it's looking interesting, as you can see here. You can even go ahead and add in different things like gradient
overlay and so forth. But this is it what I want. So not going to worry about
the rest of the content. You can even add in
costan blur rot here to blur it out. A bit as well. Let's say, for example,
right here, just like this. But this is what I want
Christmas celebration itself. So I'm going to go
ahead and close, and let's say I want
to change the color. So if I were to change
the color right here, you can see that I
can go ahead and use the color wheel right here to change out the
color as you want. So you can go ahead and choose a brighter color as
you want, as well. So this is Christmas
celebration, and on the bottom of it, let's say I want to add
in another text that says December 25 7:00 P.M.
At the Grand ballroom. So for that, I'm going to go
ahead and use the artistic or I'm going to use frame text
tool right here to create, let's say, for example, a
frame right here for the text. And I'm going to go ahead
and type in December 25, and I'm going to go ahead and add in a straight
line right here. And then I'm going
to type in 7:00 P.M. Right here, just like this. And then I'm going to go ahead. Let me just type in
7:00 P.M. Press Enter. Right here and say at the grand ball room right
here, just like this. So I can go ahead and
add in text as I want. I want to format this text, so let me just go
ahead and select it and center align
this out first. I'm just going to align
this to the center. And then around over here
you can see that I got like, like, let's say, for example, space as well that I can add in. I can go ahead and
choose the space as I want like five or
more right here, as you can see, right here. You can go ahead and
select five points. Let's say, for example, I can go ahead right here and bold as well and click on
the plus button to increase the size of
the text as well. So let's just go
around over here and then change the point
as well just like this. So grand ballroom, let's say I want this to be white color, so I'm just going to go around over here, choose white for it, right here, or maybe a bit
right here to let's say, for example, a uh,
yellow is as well. So I'm just going to go ahead
and select out all t here, and then I'm going
to go ahead rat here and then make
it a bit bright. So this is what you have. So now I'm similar
going to select it, and you can see
it says to point, so let's just go around,
make it 40 points here. I can go ahead here, and for this, I don't
want to stylize the text. Let's say, for example, I'm
going to go ahead and ans, um, the size of the text box, and I can go around over here
onto layer effects here, and you can add in other
effects as you want, as well. So let's just add in
an outline right here, just like this, as
you can see for this, and then the outline right here is going to be, let's say, for example, a soft color
right here just like this. Go ahead and close, and
this is what you have. So you can see that now I got all the information I
need from text here, I can go ahead onto file
and save it out right here. So this is what I have.
Now I want to go ahead and focus towards completing the design by adding
Christmas trees, presents and more decorations as needed to make the design
much more interesting. So in the next video,
we're going to go ahead and focus on the
5. Adding Graphics and Icons: So now that we have
actually completed out our background design and
added in text as well, now let's just go ahead and
add in more contents to it. Let's just start by adding in, let's say, for example,
a Christmas tree. But I don't want to add in,
let's say, for example, vector Christmas tree or I don't want to go ahead
and create it from scratch. I want to add in a picture
of a Christmas tree. So for that, I'm
going to go ahead and browse the Internet for
a Royalty free Image. So I'm going to go
to pixabay.com, which is one of a popular
royalty free Image websites where you can find tons of graphics or photos that
you may want to use. So I'm going to go ahead onto photos right here,
just like this. And then I'm going to go ahead
and search for, let's say, for example, Christmas tree
right here, just like this. Press Enter. Then you get a lot of Christmas tree
here, just like this. But what I want is I want a Christmas tree with
transparent background. So what you can do right here is you can actually
go around over here onto color and choose transparent background
and click on Apply. Once you do that, you will be
able to see Christmas tree. Different sort of
Christmas trees right here, just like this. So now, what I'm going to do is choose the one that
I want right here. Let's say, for
example, I'm going to go ahead and choose this one. Let's say for example
right here for our design. You can go ahead right here. Let's say, for example,
we can go ahead and download different
resolution of images. So this is the Image
resolution that I need, so I'm just going
to go ahead and download that out right
here, just like this. Once you go ahead and do that, what happens is that the Image gets downloaded right there. So as it's downloaded, you will be able to see it
in the downloads folder. Let's say, for instance,
I'm just going to go ahead and move
this onto the side. Now, what you can
simply do is you can go around over here onto file, and then you can go
ahead onto Place and then select out the
particular file from here. Or what you can simply do is
you can go ahead and click and drag out the file right
here just like this as well, and it'll be inserted
right there. So you can see this
Christmas tree, and for our design, you
can see it's pretty loss. Let me just go ahead and zoom out and use these
handles right here. To bring down the size of
the Christmas tree rot here. Let me just go ahead and
keep it on the center, and you can see that
it snaps onto place. Once you do that, you
can see that it actually covers up this text that
we have right here. So we can actually go ahead
and set this out and move it, or you can go ahead and
resize it out as well. But let me just go ahead and resize up the tree so that it actually goes ahead and
does not cover the text. I'm just going to
go ahead and resize it so that it actually fits right here within this
particular guideline as well. So let's just go
ahead and do that. Apart from that, you
can also go ahead and search for different
elements now. Let's say, for
example, you can go ahead and search for gifts. So I'm just going to
go around and say, Chris, mess gifts
here just like this. And once you do that, you can see that there's
a spelling error, but I still get the results. Let's just go ahead and then correct the
spelling and sets. Let's see if we have some better results right
there after that. I want transparent
MS for this as well. I'm just going to go
around over here onto color transparent
background here and apply it out right here. Once you do that, you
can see that I got different presents that I can actually go
ahead and bring in. Let's say, for example, I
want this one right here. So let's just go ahead
right here and see, and you can see that
this is what you have. Let's say I don't want this
one. I changed my mind. So let's say I want
this one right here. This one looks interesting. So let's just go ahead and
download this out right here. So I'm just going to go
ahead and download this. And then, apart from that, I'm going to go around and
download other ones as well. Let's say, for example,
I'm simply going to go ahead and download
out this one as well. So let's just go
around over here and then download
this out as well. And once it's downloaded, let me just go around
over here and bring in, and I'm going to do the
same with the gift. I'm just going to go
ahead and bring this in, bring this in as well. I accidentally brought
in two as you can see, so I'm just going
to go around onto gift box here, and
this is what I have. You can see that I got
a lot of elements, and they are in the layer, as you can see here. On the right hand
side, you can see all of I'm just
going to go ahead and delete one that was
duplicated right here. So now you can go
ahead and resize it and place it right here
near the Christmas tree. Let's say, for
example, right here. And for this one, as well, I'm going to go ahead and
resize it right here, keep it on the right hand side of the Christmas
tree right here. Let's say I'm going
to go ahead and keep it right around over
here, just like this. And I'm going to go ahead
and resize this out as well or resize this
up right here. And then you got
the gifts rat here. So now, let's say I want the snow rat here to
actually cover up the gifts. I don't want the gift
to be on the top. So to do that, I can go ahead and actually
arrange out the layers. So you can see that the
gifts are on the top layer. But if I were to go ahead and bring the curb on the top now, then what happens
is that the curb actually goes ahead and
covers up the gift now. Let me just press control
jet right here because I accidentally kept it under the gift right here,
just like this. I'm just going to go ahead
and keep the curb on the top. And you can see that
now the snow curve actually covers up the
gift a bit right here. You can do the same with
the other curve as well. So, let's say, for
example, I'm just going to cover up the
Christmas tree for it, right here, just like this. So you can see that the
gifts actually seem it's stuck on the snow
right here, just like this. And you got the Christmas
tree right here. Which is not actually totally covered up by this snow as well. So you can see that
this is what you have. You can go ahead and enlarge out this gift rat here just
like this, as you can see. So apart from this, let's see, I also want some
ornaments to bring in. So, for that, I'm going
to go ahead here, and I'm going to say, Chris, Miss Chris ornaments right
here just like this. And let me just go ahead
and set for a few, and you will be
able to see this. So I'm just going to
go ahead and change the color to transparent
background itself, as well, and press
Apply and you'll be able to see different
ornaments right here. So let's say I'm just
going to go around and bring in this ornament. Let's say, for
example, right here, let's just go ahead and
download this out right here, maybe a higher size. I can go ahead and download
this out right here. And then once it's downloaded, you can simply do
the same again. You got the Christmas
ornament here. I can go ahead and bring it in. And then I can go ahead and
resize it out as I like. So let's just go ahead
and resize this up right here and I can go ahead and
place it wherever I want. So let's say I'm going
to go ahead and place it over here on the top
here just like this. Let me just go ahead and
place it right there, and I'm going to press
Control C and to create a copy of the ornament and
keep it right here as well. You can see that this image
is not perfectly transparent. You can actually see
some artifact right here. Just like this as well. But that is something
we're going to go ahead and then correct in
upcoming lessons. So the text is actually
covering up the ornaments, so let's just go
ahead and select it and then drag these
down as well. Let's say, for example, right above the text here
or below the text, but above everything else here. So you can see that it
actually looks like that. So as we move along now, we're going to go ahead and correct out our designs as well, according to how we want. So this is what we have now. Let's just go ahead
and quickly save it. And as we move along, we're going to go
ahead and focus on how we can actually
go ahead and refine our designs and then make changes as we want to
make the output as we
6. Refine, Erase and Change Color: So you can see that we have our design at a certain level. But let's say I want
to go ahead and refine out these Christmas balls here, which is not
looking right. You can actually see that
I got some, let's say, for example, black thing over here on the edges
that I want to remove. So to do that, first of all, I'm going to go around over here and rasterize the layer rate. So if I haven't done so already, so that I can go ahead
and remove this rat here. So now, as I do this,
I can go to pixel, and then I can go ahead right
here onto erase brass tool and simply go ahead and erase this out as
you can see here. I can simply go ahead
and erase this out here. I can do the same with the
same layer that I have here. But since these are just copies, I'm simply going to
go ahead right here. So you can see that
I got this layer, so I'm just going to
go ahead right here and delete this out here. So now I'm going to
go ahead right here. You can go ahead and
move this as you like. You can go around over here, just like this on the top, and this is what you have. So now I'm going
to go ahead right here onto, let's
say, for example, erase press tool, and then I'm going to
go ahead onto more. Let's say, for
example, and I can change around the size
right here of the press. So over here on the S, I'm simply going to
go ahead and click and drag this out
here, just like this. To soften it out a bit so
that it doesn't look odd. So this is how you can go
ahead and refine it out. So you can see that I
got this Christmas ball. Let me just go
ahead and resize it and keep it right
around over here. Let's say, for example, I'm
going to press Control C and, keep it around over here on the right, as well,
just like this. Press Control C and, let's just go ahead and add
one around over here as well. Change out the size, keep
one around over here, just like this as well. Press Control C and V
one around over here, one around over here,
just like this. So you can see that it's
all around the design. Let's just go ahead and
resize keep one over here and keep one
over here as well. So this is what you have, and now what I'm going to do is, let's say, for example, change the color of these as well. So everything every like the Christmas ball that
you see right here is red. So let's say I want to
change the color of it. So for that, you can
select, let's say, for example, this layer, and then go ahead right here. And then let's say, for
example, add in filters. So I'm just going to go around over here and you
can see that there's different filters that you can actually go ahead and add in. You even have adjustment. So I want to change
the color of it, so I just need to go to
adjustment and go for hue, saturation and
luminance right here. So once I go ahead and do that, can go ahead and
change this out, and you can see that
the color changes, but it changes the color of all of the layers
underneath it, which is what I don't want. So let me just go ahead
and change to green. Let's say, for example,
close this down, and I'm simply going to drag this particular hue saturation
luminance onto the layer, and you can see that it only affects that
particular layer now. So that is what you have. So let me just press
Control jet because that is not the
layer that I want. And then I can go around
over here, change this out, and you can see that I
can go ahead and change the color of only
this particular yeah, so I can go ahead
and change this out. Let's just go ahead
and close it. So now I'm going to do the
same for rest of it, as well. So I'm just going to go
ahead and then add in hue saturation luminansG ahead and chins this out right here. As you can see, but
I'm just going to go ahead and drag it inside. Right here, just like this. This is what happen as I click, you can see that hue
saturation luminance is there. I can go ahead and expand
and I can go ahead and double click right here to change the color
of it right here. You can go ahead and
change it to let's say, for example, this color. So I'm going to go
ahead and repeat it out for the rest of
the layers as well. So let's just go
around over here onto Hue Saturation
luminance right here. Go ahead. Click and drag
it inside right here. So I'm just going
to go around over here and then simply add in hue saturation luminance onto multiple layers right here
on this one, as well. So let's just go
around over here onto hue saturation luminance, and then I'm going to go ahead and change the color of it, as well, just like this. I can even go ahead and change
the saturation of it and change the darkness of
it as I like, as well. Let's just go ahead and
do the same right here. Let's just go ahead
and change it out to some other color right here. Let's say, for example,
some mesena color here, change around the
saturation sift, change the luminosity as well, and so forth, so that
they look different. Let's just go around do the
same here for this as well. So I'm just going to go to
adjustment hue saturation, and, um, luminance t here, change this around, right
here, just like this. That seems like I
haven't actually added in inside, so
this is what I have. So now I'm going to go ahead and expand, go around over here. And an this out into
something like orange. Let's just go around over here. I don't have an
orange color yet, so let's just go
around over here and change round it into orange
right here, just like this. So I got two more. So one is red, that's fine. So I don't want to change one. So I'm just going to go
around over here and add in hue saturation and
luminance right here, drag it inside, and
I'm going to go ahead and add in hue saturation
and luminance right here. And then drag this inside
around over here as well. So if I were to go
ahead and expand, this is what you have. You can go ahead and
change the color of it right here to something else, go ahead and close it, and I'm going to go ahead and change the color of it as well, just like this as
you can see here. Let's just go ahead
and change it out, and this is what you
have right here. This is how you can
actually go ahead and then refine and change
around the hue. And then simply add in some feed by using the eraser tool
just like this as well. So as we move along now, we're going to go ahead and see how we can add in
more elements as needed and refine our design
to our likings furthermore.
7. Remove Image Background and Placing the Image in Design: Until now we have this text. We got the ornaments. We got the Christmas tree.
We got the gifts. But let's say I also want
to go ahead and add in a star over here on the
top of the Christmas tree. So in order to do that, I'm simply going to
go ahead and select the Christmas tree
first and resize this out a bit here because I need a space to
add in the star, and I'm going to go ahead and then keep it on
the center as well. So to add in the star, I'm going to go ahead onto
foul then onto place, and I'm going to
select this particular ImageR here of the star and
open it out right here. And I can click and
drag to go ahead. And then insert the Image. You can see that I got
the star rot here, but you got a white
background in the star. I want to go ahead and select only the object
and keep the star. So to do that, you
can actually go onto the pixel section t here, and here you can see that
object selection is an option. Click on it, and
then what happens is that Affinity will
analyze the image here, of which the layer is selected. So you just need to go
ahead and wait for a while. And then after a while, you can see that you
have an option to go ahead and then
select the image. You can even go
ahead and zoom in, and you can see that
I can go ahead and then hover over right here, just like this until
the object is selected. Click on it, and the
object is selected here. You can go ahead, right here. Let's say, for example,
just like this on the spot, you can see that you can
select out the object. But you can see that it has become quite hard to
select out this object. So let's just go
around over here. And then I'm going to go
ahead and deselect it. Let me just press Control
D for it right here. I'm going to go ahead
and first of all, increase the size of the image so that it's
easier to select this. So now I'm going to go to
the object selection again, and you can see that now
I have much more area. I can go ahead and select this
and the star is selected. So now you can go
around over here on to refine right
here, just like this, and you can go ahead
and smoothen this out a bit and see
how it all works. So let's just go
around over here and then refine out the
selection here. And in the output, I'm
going to go ahead and select mask and
click on apply here, and this is what you have. So now I can simply
go ahead and then resize out this particular
Image right here. And keep it on top of this
Christmas tree right here, just like this, as you can see. And that is how you can simply
go ahead and then remove out a background of an image
as you like right here. And you can even use the
arrow cues to place this as per how you want right
here, just like this. So this is how you can
go ahead and remove out a background of an image and add it in the design as well. So as we are more closer
to the final design now, we're going to go
ahead and see how we can refine everything
further and then export out
our design so that we can share it in social
media as intended.
8. Finalizing Your Layout and Exporting Post: We now have our final design that we want to go
ahead and export. But you can see that there are these beading lines here
and the text outline, as you can see here, which is actually not giving us an idea of how the final
design would look like. So for that, I may want
to turn these off. So one way to do so is by
going onto the view menu. And by going on to show, and then you can go ahead
and disable the bleed, you can go ahead and disable
the Marsen and so forth. But while designing, I may want to go ahead
and have these on. So let's say just temporarily, I want to go ahead
and hide everything. In that case, you
can go to view, then actually go
to preview Moda. Can see that the shortcut for it is Control Sif W as well. Once you do that,
everything gets hidden and you'll be able to see
how everything looks. But you can see that the
background rat here, the glitters and everything
is actually creating a disturbance rat
here for the text. So I may want to go ahead and
reduce the opacity of it, reduce the transparency
level of it. So for that, you can see that
I have this out rat here. I can go ahead and
hide and enable it, as you can see now what I
can do is I can go around, select out this
layer, decrease out the opacity rot here
just like this. And now you can see
that you can make it a less subtle rot here. And then we can see that the
text is much more clear now. So this is what you
can do as you can see. So now let's say I want to go
ahead and export this out. So to do that, you can go around over here onto the file menu, and then you can go around
over here onto Export. Let me just go ahead and
save this file so that my main editing file is saved for future reference or edits. And now in order to go ahead
and actually export this out in a proper file format that I can post in social media with, I can go to FL and then go to Export and then go
to Export a here. So you can see that JPZ
and P&Z is an option. You can go for JPZ
and then you can see that you have an option
to choose quality R here. So let's just select
best quality, which does result in higher
file size like 1 megabyte, as you can see, but preserves
all of the design details. You can also go for
low quality R which actually goes ahead and then
reduces out the quality, saves some file space,
as you can see. It's just 34 kilobytes, as you can see, but you can
see some artifacts here. So let's go for high
quality itself. You can change the parameters
of JPZ right here as well. But whatever you
actually see right here, the preset actually does the
job well most of the time. So now, once you do that, I'm going to go ahead
and export this. And let's say I'm going to
export this onto my desktop itself as social media post
R here, just like this. I'm just going to go ahead
and save it outright here. So that is exported. Apart from that, you
can also go around over here and export
this out rat here, just like this in another
format which is P&Z. So P&Z is actually used
for flat graphics, and then like graphics
as these as well. It preserves a flat
color more better, and it supports
transparency as well. But in our design, we don't actually
have transparency, so we don't need to
worry about that. But anyways, we want
to have two formats. I'm just going to go ahead
and select out full range PSD that is B and Z here just like this and then go to
export right here. So I am simply going to go ahead and export
that out as well. And once that is done, you will be able to see
it on the desktop right here because I
exported it in Dektop. So you can see the JPZFle
and the P&Z file here. If you were to go
ahead and open it, so let's just go around here, open it with photos, and you can see the design that we made right
here, just like this. So you can also see
the P&Z file rot here, just like this as you can see.
So this is what you have. Got the PNG and JPZ
file that you can go ahead and post out in
social media of your choice. So this is what you
have right here. And now, as we have come to
the end of the lesson and we have designed a sample
social media post, it is now your turn to go ahead and design
something similar. And in the next video, I'm going to explain you exactly what you have to
do for your class project.
9. Project Description: Now that you have come to
the end of the course, it's now your turn to create
something on your own. So in this project, that is for your class project, you'll have to design a festive social media post using Affinity as we did here. So it can be for
any festive season. So you can go ahead and choose the festive theme
of your choice. And what you need to do is you need to apply the tools and techniques as we did over
here in this course, as well. So your goal is to
create one square post. So just like this, you need
to go ahead and create one square social media
post and make sure you actually go ahead
and use 1080 by 1080 resolution as we did here. So you can choose any
holiday like I said, with a seasonal theme you like, such as a holiday event, or it can be an announcement, a seasonal promotion, maybe a sale or a
festival greeting, whatever it might
so as you design, focus on creating a
balanced layout by utilizing guides and
grids as you want. So build a festive background
using colors, gradients, and shapes and patterns as
we did as well and add in text related to that
festive message as well, that clearly communicates your main message
to the audience. So it can be an event name as we kept right
here, a greeting, and then also add in a date
if it is actually an event. So include at least one
festive graphics or icons, such as an ornament or a
gift as we did right here. So we use a few here. In your case, you can just go ahead and add in at least one. It can be something
like a tree if it is a Christmas event and so forth. And then refine your design
with small finishing touches, like for example, we did as well, like
opacity adjustment, adding in shadows to text, or you can even
add in shadows to differ elements that
you have brought here, add in glow effect or maybe make subtle color
changes as you like. If you'd like to
go a step further, we can also experiment with removing background
as we did as well from an image or this out hue of different elements
that you bring in and then add in
faded effects as well. And once everything is finished, you can go ahead and export your final design
as a P NZ or JPZ. So it is up to you on which
format you want to export in, but make sure that
the quality is high and the file size is
manageable, as well. And do be sure to share
that file with me. So all the best for whatever
you will be designing, and I can't wait to see
what you come up with. So all the best
Pratik Pradhan, Digital Artist
