Our tips for making free visuals for your ads

There is no lack of tools when it comes to creating an advertising visual. Indeed, for a few years, platforms allowing you to create online visuals for all communication media have multiplied. And you don't need to be a graphic designer to use them! One of the most popular tools, as much by content creators as by amateurs, is none other than Canva. 

Easy to use, Canva allows you to create static visuals for your posters or displays, as well as short videos for DOOH displays or social networks. Available in freemium, this tool also has a large library of templates that you can use to create your advertising, as well as a free image bank that you can use to enrich your visuals. 

Note, however, that the free version of Canva does not allow you to use all the tools that the platform offers: you will not be able, for example, to erase the background of an image or use all the images and icons made available to subscribers. This is also the case with all other online creative tools similar to Canva, such as Vista Create, Visme or Adobe Express.

>>> Check that your advertising visual respects the regulations in force

Find your color palette for free with Adobe Color

Adobe makes it easy to find your color palette with its free online tool: Adobe Color. You can either use a color wheel to find similar colors, complementary colors, the same shade... or extract the colors from an image that inspires you.

>>> Discover how to advertise a new product!

If your goal is to create a video ad that's a little more elaborate than what you can get with Canva, it's best to use specialized video editing software. Crop, transitions, video effects or even subtitles: there are programs that allow you to do all this for free, like Shotcut.

As powerful as Premiere Pro from the Adobe suite, Shotcut video editing software is available for free in open source. It has all the features to edit quality video up to 4K formats. And, as an added bonus, the numerous tutorials available on YouTube allow you to get to grips with Shotcut quickly and easily.

>>> Need a soundtrack to complete your commercial? Take a look at our top 30 best commercials musics!

They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so you will certainly need images to illustrate and flesh out the message of your ad. To do this, you can either produce your own images and video, or use an image bank. Most of these platforms are not free: you must have come across images with watermarks from sites like iStock, Getty Images or Shutterstock. But don't panic, we have found for you a free and royalty-free image bank: Pexels.

Pexels allows you to download photos and videos in high definition, free of charge and without having to register. You just have to type in the search bar the keyword that the image should express. It's that easy!