Introduction

Graphics is an important aspect of content creation. A beautiful article with no images would be boring to read. Beautiful graphics makes reading any online article enjoyable. I have a working knowledge of graphics. I can say my skill level is intermediate. I design my on banners. But when am too busy or in a hurry, I might just modify an already existing graphics. Before I go ahead to show you the software I use and to do a simple banner design, here are a few things you need to know about graphics.

Some graphics Tools you need to know

There are various tools you can use to work on your graphics. Whether you are a professional or just a learner, there is something for. I will divide them into Desktop Softwares and mobile apps.

Desktop Graphics Software

A desktop software is a computer program designed to work on a PC or laptop computer. Professional graphics designers usually prefer to work with desktop softwares because it gives you a broad range of tools to work on your designs. A desktop software has more features and functionality than a mobile app. So if you wish to create something really professional, then you need a desktop graphics software. Below are some of them:

• Corel draw
• Adobe Photoshop
• Adobe Illustrator
• Macromedia Fireworks
• Adobe Fireworks

Graphics Mobile App

The popularity of smartphones and other mobile device led to the increase in the number of graphics app you can use from your phone. Some of the desktop software also have mobile app versions. When you go to Google Play Store and type "Graphics", you will see thousands of mobile apps under that category. A few I know include the following:

• Adobe Express
• Canva
• Pixelcut
• Corel Draw Design
• Lightroom

Like I said earlier, the option for mobile graphics app is too many. Just go to PlayStore and make a choice.

How to Design a Banner using Macromedia Fireworks 8

Macromedia Fireworks 8 is not such a modern graphics app, but it does job absolutely well. So I will now demonstrate how to use this desktop software to design a simple graphics.

Step 1: Open Macromedia Fireworks 8 from your Start menu. Whne the program opens, Click on fireworks file. (See image below)

Step 2: In the small dialogue box that opens, enter the size of your banner - the width and height.

Step 3: Once your design environment opens, the first thing here is to select the background color of your graphics. (to make the tutorial easy to understand, we will choose a plain color background). Check the image below. I have chosen navy blue for the background color.

Steps 4,5,6,7: Click the text tool labelled 4 below. Then select your font type labelled 5. Then enter the size of your text labelled 6. Then choose the color of your text labelled 7 below.

Now we have a simple banner with navy blue background color and white font text. Next, we can add an image below the text to make it fine. I have already downloaded a free image from pixabay. So in the next steps, we will import the picture from where I saved it in my computer.

Steps 8, 9: Click on the file menu and select Import.

Step 10: Double click on the image to to import and it will take you back to the design environment after you have selected the picture.

Step 11:Just drag your mouse to any position on the screen where you want your image to appear and that is all. You can even move the image around to position it properly where you want it to appear.

Congratulations!!! As seen below, we have designed a simple banner with blue background color and white text, with an image below the text.

Now we have to save our new banner so that we can use it anywhere we want.

Steps 12, 13: Click on the file menu and select export.

Steps 14,15: Enter the fine name of your banner, and click Export to finish saving it.

Conclusion

We have completed a simple tutorial to show how we can design a banner using using Macromedia Fireworks 8. If you have a computer, you can actually try it out. Always make you graphics look great, so that your readers will enjoy visiting your articles.

You are free to ask questions using the comment section of this post. Thank you so much for attending the class today.

Note: All Images are screenshot I made from my laptop screen.