#i am but a humble poker of things i am not. Good XD

[damnation-if]

wrestling with canva like i’m crocodile dundee... this probably won’t end up being anything like a real UI because i don’t think a lot of it is Possible jsfdbgs

It looks amazing, how did you do that? 👀👀👀👀👀

hi, thank you for the compliment! i took a bit to answer this because i'm not really... equipped to be making Design tutorials haha. graphic design is my passion neither ironically nor unironically and i'm absolutely rubbish at art - however, canva has enough tools to help me feel like i'm building something visually interesting despite my. abject lack of talent XD i'll put a cut here and some like. explanation and tips underneath.

i have premium for my non-IF-related work, but the free version is what i started out on and it's honestly surprisingly good and has a generous licensing agreement. the biggest drawback for the free version for me is the inability to save files with a transparent background or resize files mid-edit, but for most people making banners or concept art you're not going to Need transparent files - that's more of a thing for actually creating assets.

the biggest ADVANTAGE of the free canva license is that you are licensed to use anything you make using the free assets in commercial products if you want/need (including games or promo for them). many similar design products only allow personal use for free licensing. (however, i'm not trying to sell canva to you; rather i'm pointing out that sticking with the free version is actually very convenient and the premium features are probably things you won't need lol)

basically canva allows you to search for graphic design elements by keyword and drag and drop them onto a design piece, mix them around, change their colours and sizes etc. and combine them together to make something. i'll talk a little bit about the UI design you're mentioning (the one i showed off here for anyone curious) not to brag about my Skillz(TM) but just to show how easy canva makes it for a total newb to make something that looks really neat!

there's about 30 different elements in that particular UI design - the "console-y" looking frame itself is half a dozen on its own: the basic frame (those cyberpunky lines at the top and bottom of the screen); a semi-transparent box i added to make it look like a holo-screen; the panel on the side, which was originally square until i cropped it down to make it look like a panel and colour-shifted to match the main box; the little connector between the side panel and the screen, which is actually two of the same asset with one upside-down and cropped; and then the various text assets, not to mention all the logos, which are also all separate (and also the little 2 unread messages symbol is another 2 separate design elements i put together lmfao).

canva will probably seem overwhelming once you first start using it because it has So Many tools, but most of these are for companies and you'll probably find you don't need to even look at the vast majority of them. for example, it'll probably ask you to choose a template to start a design, and there are like. 100s. that it'll want you to sort through. but you very probably won't ever use more than one or two. i think i've used three Ever for IF stuff - tumblr banner (for banners, obviously), social media banner, for the RO banners you can see on the ROs page, and 16:9 Blank Presentation, which is what i use for UI designs because it's just. a big blank page size. you can Literally ignore all the others unless you need something specific!

you can either use the pre-generated aspects of the template and simply replace their designs with ones you prefer, or do what i do and delete it all and put your own stuff in lmfao. the templates can help if you don't have much of an idea of what you want your design to look like but obviously for me with UI design it's a bit. Pointless because canva doesn't have a template for that XD

anyway once you have your blank canvas, you can search for "elements" in the search panel and look through them for ones you want to use. the pro version assets are labelled pretty clearly so you probably won't mistakenly pick something that requires paying to use and the search filters themselves are pretty hefty - i rarely run up against a search term that brings back nothing unless it's HIGHLY specific lol

here are just a couple of tips that help me get basically closer to what i want out of the whole thing:

when you're changing the size of an element, canva only increases or decreases its size by the exact ratio of its original dimensions - you can't Only make an image wider, for example, it will also automatically increase the height to match. that's why the "frame" asset in my Gone Dark UI design is centred in the page instead of taking up more of it - i couldn't make it wider without it getting taller and the top and bottom bars disappearing off the page. you can get around this by using elements that are mostly plain - i could have, for example, made the semitransparent screen box as wide as i wanted, because it's uniform in design and there'll be no visible difference in where i draw its boundaries as it all just looks like plain rectangle.

combining photo images and less realistic graphics can look jarring but there are handy image editing tools (found by clicking "edit image" in the top toolbar with the image selected, and then "show all" in the lefthand sidebar to show all of the filters) that you can use to make photos look Less Photolike - lowered blur and heightened clarity especially can make it easier to make photos fit better with other graphics.

some of the text effects (found by clicking "Effects" in the top toolbar with the textbox selected) can make it way easier for text to be visible against certain backgrounds - this is not much use if you're designing something for another medium like a UI, because you can't replicate them in other software, but if you're just producing an image like a banner they add a lot of neat flair.

when you have a lot of elements working together they often look a little better with at least a slightly lower transparency to hide that their borders/edges aren't uniform - 85-90% is usually opaque enough to not notice it's slightly transparent but soften the edges.

it can be hard to figure out the exact size (in pixels) of an element while you're In a design - there are rulers that can be applied through the settings menu, but the maths often fucks me up, so i find it's easier to resize the image by dragging the expand handles by like a single pixel and then putting it back to normal - while specifically holding the expand handles (until you let go of the mouse and "drop" it in the desired size) it will give you an exact reading of the height and width in pixels along the bottom toolbar that you can read easily.

this one is pretty specific but when you're making boxes to put behind text they often look better with a slight blur filter on them as well as transparency - for Gone Dark in particular the blur gives it a nice fuzz that makes it look even more like a projected screen. if you look closely you can see a slight difference between the text screen and the side panel screen background - that's because i forgot to blur the side panel lmfao.

aaaand that's probably all the advice i can offer. i'm far from an expert, but i do feel like i have fun with it XD i'm glad so many people have thought it looked cool! sorry this got so long but. it's hard to explain without actually Getting Into It haha

[avengerdragoness]

Ship for @crazymangaluv

Hope you love it Karen!

Batfam:

Honestly, I’m thinking Dick.

He loves your giggly and sarcastic personality.

Like Dick you easily get a long with people and I feel like you both would be the social butterfly couple at every event you go to.

He adores that you suck at poker faces and thinks it’s adorable to see you trying to give him a surprise or anything because it never works out.

You’re both very compassionate and have big hearts. He loves how you’re willing to help when you can.

God forbid there’s a kitten stuck in a tree, you both are on that in seconds.

He tries to counteract your laziness and makes you get up and do things with your day.

Willing to put up with any whines from you.

Voltron:

LANCE!! 100%

The sarcasm levels are excruciating.

He loves to try and embarrass you to get your giggly nature to come out.

You both are very expressive, you can tell how the other is feeling just by the look on their face.

Both easily excitable about the simplest things. 

The others find it quite endearing.

Lance is a very affectionate person and will not hesitate to cuddle and hug and kiss you whenever he feels like it.

It goes with that trying to embarrass you statement as well.

1,300 Milestone: Ships - Open

(She submitted this so the description is below the cut)

Oh beautiful, amazing, wonderful, talented Julius! Super sorry it’s long lol!  

May I have a male matchup with batfam & Voltron please? I’m a virgo & isfj plus a bit of a tomboy (but a gentleman teehee). I have long straight black hair, but w/ a lot of white hairs. I like to tell ppl it’s due to wisdom but they laugh at me XD lol.  I’m sometimes shy at 1st depending on my mood but I break outta my shell once I know you. Once I do & once u get to know me I’m outgoing, sarcastic, & quite giggly. Idk why but I usually laugh/giggle a lot even if the joke is corny or when I’m nervous/embarrassed. I tend to be friendly & usually get along with everyone. However, I also tend to have somewhat of a temper & have little patience towards douchey rude moronic ppl. I’m dorky & weird sometimes, & can be loud (though I don’t mean to). I think it’s cuz I’m easily excitable & emotional. It’s like I wear my heart at my sleeves. I suck at poker faces, I can’t help it!

My emotions are easily read through my face, so I’m very expressive. Even though I say I can’t stand ppl, & have a slight pessimistic view towards humanity, I’m a compassionate, empathetic person. I’m a “sympathetic crier”. I get annoyed cuz I think it makes me weak but I realize it’s just cuz I have a big heart. I’m very humble (lack some self-confidence). When ppl tell me I’m smart or I’m good at something I always say no it’s just luck lol.

 I’m honest & don’t like to lie. As I say what u see is what u get lol. If you don’t like me for who I am then too bad, life goes on. I was fine before I met you I’ll be fine without you is my mentality. I have few friends but with the friends I have I’m like the mom friend haha.  I love to laugh so I like ppl with some sense of humor and who aren’t always so serious. My inner child is still alive and well so I would hope theirs is too haha.

My weakness is my laziness. I can be lazy. Sometimes even lazy to go out and socialize, preferring to stay home and watch tv/play video games/be on the computer. So I sometimes need motivation/encouragement to get me off my butt and do things.

I love to spoil the ppl I love, I spoil them like crazy. Their happiness is my happiness. I’m a simple person. I don’t need any fancy brand names/expensive things. Give me delicious food, love & affection, manga/books, & video games & that’ll make me the happiest person. I don’t need fancy dates, I’m happy w/ home dates snuggling. But we don’t always need to stay home, I’m happy going out with my s/o. I love affection, hugs, cuddles, & especially kisses o//o. Oh I’m very protective of my loved ones. I’m the “if u hurt them I’ll make u wish u were dead once I’m thru w/ u” type person. I’d do anything for the ppl I love.