Stencil

Why this is my go-to design tool for a non-designer

Comentários: As a non-designer who sometimes need to make some designs, this is a perfect tool.
Instead of speaking in inches and pixels, which I don't know a thing about, imagine using a tool where you would just say: "Facebook Group Cover Photo."
And immediately have access to designed templates ready to use, or simply a blank Facebook Group Cover Photo blank image to fill-in at our free will. With an easy to use drag-and-drop system.
Sorry designers, but for my needs, I am mostly independent now.

Vantagens:

As I said in the title, I am not a designer. But as a copywriter, I sometimes need to think about the visual aspect of my copy or my ads. And I sometimes need to test visuals and even create them. And for me, this is sometimes a huge pain. I used to have photoshop but I always felt I was only using 10% of it. And even the 10% I was using were too messy. I wanted a simple tool. Where I could have the designs ready and I would just need to edit. And Stencil is perfect for that. They have the templates ready where you just need to select the type of image you want to create and they automatically adjust it to the desired size. For instance, if I want to create the cover photo of a LinkedIn profile, I just click on the LinkedIn profile size template, and there it is. I just need to edit the template from there. It's really practical and simple. And they have the sizes for all major needs. From Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, you name it. It's just about creating a new file, pick the image size based on the template you want to edit, and start editing. For me, this is the best reason why I am a Stencil fan. Also, having access to Unplash images, it's easier to deploy my desired image without the need to download the image from Unsplash and add it there. No, everything is there, ready to produce what I need. As a non-designer, I've never needed Canva or Photoshop, after got Stencil.

Desvantagens:

As with most platforms that offer templates, you always want more. For a few social media platforms, their template options are still not enough. When I am mentioning template options, I am not talking about the file size, as I was talking on the things I like the most. On Stencil, we can find ready to deploy templates of Facebook ads, Pinterest pins, etc., where we just need to edit the image, the copy, and it's done. Those templates, for most cases, I end up not doing much with them because they are still too limited for what I need. I typically end up needing to do everything from scracth. But fortunately, it's easy to do it, so it is still a no brainer for me to use Stencil.

Very simple and pretty addictive tool

Comentários: One of the very first web-based image editing tool I've used, probably since 5 years ago. It's not a copy of something else, but it has it's pretty unique system, but not at all hard to figure out. Actually it's pretty intuitive to start using right away. Very simple usage as in adding an background image, a filter, some text and editing the colors. I prefer it over other more expensive and popular tools for a lot of use-cases. But mostly focuses on social media sharing and postings. I use it to add inspirational quotes to pictures and share on my twitter (I know, right?). In this regard the tool is pretty addictive because I manage to create a high amount of images in a relatively short amount of time. Recently acquired by NameCheap, which is interesting because I'm also using them, which might mean that it will integrate more and more with their tools and that it's here to stay.

Vantagens:

The best thing about it, is it's simplicity. All you can do is just put an image, add some basic shapes, text, watermark and very basic style editing like filters, text color, shadows, transparency. There isn't much to do which really helps with time management. Just add the image and a text and it's done. Don't waste hours on end looking through different features to make things look worse. It's very intuitive to use. You won't get confused with this one, and it pretty sums it up for 80% of use-case for social-media postings. You have a great size-adjustment tool where the same image you've created gets resized based on what you want it for - instagram story or facebook cover? Of course, sometimes it's not that great output, but it beats having to redo it again on 10 different sizes. I see this tool mostly as a time management help tool that restricts you to do it simply, without deliberating for hours and then it resizes it for you with one click. It also has a great amount of photo selection from Unsplash which you can use for free and no hidden costs.

Desvantagens:

Obviously some of the Pros I've listed, might be Cons for some people - like being too simple, not many features, etc. Obviously I have certain use-cases for it that does the job great, but if I need something more complex I use other tools. The resize feature also doesn't always have the best output, based on all the elements in your composition.

Great app for design but not enough pro

Comentários: Easy creation of pictures, no need to install, double size when you export the picture and thousand and thousand of free pictures to use.

Vantagens:

I like the most that you have millions of pictures to use for free. It's great to use with templates. Easy to use. You can export in different sizes and create your personal pictures perfectly sized for your social media networks.

Desvantagens:

I don't like that I can't group the pictures or select all layers at the same time. It's hard for me that they don't have it. To much time lost.

Amazing Graphic Design Tool!

Comentários: A great tool for anyone that needs to post to social media and wants to get a bit creative at the same time.

Vantagens:

- Tons of features - Built-in branding to ensure your logo shows up in all graphics - Easy publishing to social media

Desvantagens:

- Adjusting the size of the canvas is much more difficult than it should be - Unable to post directly to Instagram

Stencil the easy way to do images

Comentários: My experience is flawless

Vantagens:

I love how fast you can create images with Stencil. If I need to create something quick I always come to Stencil. It has access to a lots of images and icons and changing the basic settings is extremely easy.

Desvantagens:

It could have more features, and specially a deep integration with other programs to be able to distribute the images created to your social networks.

Great graphics

Vantagens:

I like the access to their photo library and graphics.

Desvantagens:

Sometimes uploads can get a little wonky.

Stencil Review

Comentários: I use Stencil for business and personal

Vantagens:

The product was easy to use and the beginning version was free.

Desvantagens:

Takes a little while to learn all the functions. More training would be nice

My Go-to Online Image Creation Service

Comentários: I found Stencil when it first started, and I bought it through App Sumo. It's been my longest running buy through the awesome offerings App Sumo brought to the market. Once again its ease of use and use interface is what and why I like it above others. I bought a year Canva subscription, and it was so scattered with things you could do - it lost my business because it was not simple and easy. I keep finding ways I can use Stencil in my business.

Vantagens:

How easy the software is--very intuitive. No need to even watch a YouTube how to. I use it daily to size my images for PRWeb, social media platforms, online marketing, content marketing images. The template sizes are easy to select, and I can create my own custom sizes as needed for projects. The font selection is great and I like the sliding feature for the increasing and decreasing font size. It offers stock images and also icons and shapes. It's like a mini Canva and Adobe Illustrator for the non graphic designer and a lot more affordable. It saves all work, so I can go back in an edit a graphic to update an image or content. Download works easily and the image quality is fine. I highly recommend.

Desvantagens:

I would like to be able to highlight text in a block of copy--say one word in Bold or Italic. It will not allow me to do so. I'd also like to tighten or increase the ledding between the text lines and it does not have the capability. I'd like to be able to edit and produce video clips. Nice if they had a place where I could do product comps - drop a logo on a mug or shirt etc.

I use it every day

Comentários: I've rarely had any problems, but on a couple of occasions when I did, I got an immediate response and a prompt fix. Throughout the years, I have wished for various features (for example, the color picker) and perhaps even mentioned my wish in a survey. Later that feature has been added. I'm extremely happy with Stencil.

Vantagens:

I've been with Stencil since it was Share as Image and have created thousands of images, mostly of Scripture verses. I was impressed when I first started using it, but it has improved dramatically through the years. Stencil is very responsive--I've seldom had a problem, but when I have it's handled quickly and efficiently. There have been features I would really like to see, and they are added. The selection and quality of photos is amazing, even lots of Christian images, which are often hard to find on free stock image sites. I don't use a lot of icons, but when I do, I find a huge variety. I don't use Stencil templates, because most of my images are laid out in a similar format, so my latest image serves as a template for a new one. But those who have a need for templates will be happy with what is offered. I love the color picker feature, which makes it very easy to match the font or text background color to a color in the photo. Collections make it easy to find photos by subject or theme. I searched by keywords for themes I use frequently and saved the photos I liked in collections, so most of the time I simply go to a collection to find photos for my images. It's great being able to import Google fonts, although Stencil already has a nice selection of fonts. Although I'd rather not have to adjust each image for different social media, I'm glad that appropriate sizes are available, and I can even create custom sizes, which I have used for logos and postcards.

Desvantagens:

I'd like create one image, then have it automatically resized for all the different social media. I doubt that can be done because the creator has to determine how to fit the text and image when the photo is different sizes.

Stencil Review - Stencil IS My Go-To Program of Choice for Creating Image Quotes and More...

Comentários: I have ALWAYS had A VERY positive experience with the folks at Stencil. I was an early adopter, so I got to make suggestions, that WERE implemented. The biggest thrill is watching Stencil grow from the ground up. It was almost like giving birth and watching your child grow up! (ONLY I am NOT a Stencil employee, I AM ONLY a HAPPY CUSTOMER! ;) The folks at Stencil are VERY pleasant to deal with, ALWAYS get back to you in a timely manner, whether through email or social media. The software is easy and intuitive to work with. One does not have to be a rock scientist to work with Stencil, AND... You can whip up a bunch of images in a VERY short time! I WOULD AND DO recommend Stencil to anyone and everyone who will listen to me ;). I REALLY AM a great fan and avid user of Stencil! I have created multiple thousands of images via Stencil!

Vantagens:

I've been using Stencil for years now, from before it was called Stencil. It started out as ShareAsImage. A while after I bought the program, it was rebranded and completely redone, to what you know now, as Stencil. As a Photoshop User, Stencil IS My Go-To program for creating image quotes, promotional content and more. I was even able to create eCards with it! Just a few features are: An abundant selection of royalty-free stock images and icons to make your creations unique to you. You have the ability to mix-and-match, as well as uploading your own images, textures and fonts, logos and branding images/graphics specific to you and your business/project! You can resize images, duplicate different elements, enlarge text, use transparency, rotate, etc. There is the ability to download your images, as well as post directly FROM Stencil to specific social networks! There are pre-sized image sizes for all the social networks, as well... you can create your own custom-sized images! OH... LET ME NOT FORGET the MULTIPLE levels of UNDO/REDO! OMG, when this was added it was like dying and going to *fix mistake/change your mind heaven!* ;) It's just pleasant to use. New features have been added via user suggestions. I have watched it grow and been the proud recipient of these upgraded features!

Desvantagens:

I wish I could select image elements and group them together. As far as I know, this is not a feature, at this time!

Why Stencil Gets My Highest Recommendation

Comentários: I do a lot of social media work for my own sites and for clients. I'm not a graphic designer but I want my images to look professional and Stencil enables me to get the look I want quickly, easily and without a lot of experimenting. It just works the way it's supposed to, and it's become my go-to software for when I need a quick image to go with a social media post, or when I want to add a quote. I highly recommend it. Oh - and they're always adding features, so it's well-supported and it's definitely keeping pace with all my developing social media needs.

Vantagens:

Stencil is software that makes it easy for me to create images for social media quickly and simply. No fussing around, no worrying about getting the size right. I love that I can search for royalty-free stock photos and backgrounds from within the platform, and that I can change fonts by hovering over each font and seeing, in real-time, what that font will look like in the image I'm working on. That's a huge time-saver. Plus it's simple to create an image and then change the size to any one of a number of standard sizes for LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter and other social media sites. That's a huge time-saver, too, and it allows me to make sure my branding is consistent without a lot of effort. If I want, there's also a custom size option if I need it. There's a nifty preview option so I can see what the image will look like both on a desktop and on mobile. There are also lots of icons to choose from, and templates to make things even faster. Plus there's the ability, which I use all the time, to add my logo to each image. This is software that's very user-friendly. I use it every day. I can't say that about a lot of the software I've bought. This was worth every penny.

Desvantagens:

There's not a lot to dislike. I've found it a little bothersome that I can't do a transparent overlay or do frames easily when I want to, but that's a small thing compared to all the positives. Overall, the positives hugely outweigh the very minor negatives.

Stencil for iPad

Vantagens:

I found Stencil to be a really easy way to be creative (and effective) without taking much effort on from the user part. You don’t need to have professional experience or be a graphic designer or an expert of some sort — it is as easy as 123!!! Just keep in mind your goal and you can easily adapt to your needs the 500+ Templates available. There’s also an enormous amount of beautiful royalty free stock photos (CC0/public domain) to get your social post a professional look in no time! Plus there’s also a whole bunch of graphics and icons available underneath the same license as the stock photos, which reminds me that Google Fonts is also included to help perfect your designs... If you’re running low on the creative side, why not get inspired by Stencil’s quotes library? Why complicate what is easy to achieve??? Plus you can also upload the logos needed to brand your design (if you need it) and next time you sign in those will still be there *kudos* and if you need you can also upload a specific font!!! Actually there’s a lot more to Stencil than meets the eye, including a favourite and collections option really useful if you like to keep yourself organised... and I could just go on and on... Aaaaand there’s even a free version which you can use to either "test drive" Stencil before upgrading or if the free version covers your needs, you can keep using the free option! I totally recommend Stencil!

Desvantagens:

However, if you are like me and can only work from an iPad, the technical part of it really needs to be addressed in order to make using Stencil a smooth and easy experience as if you’d be using it on your favourite browser from your pc, mac, laptop, etc...

My go to for stock anything

Vantagens:

I love Stencil! I use it for all of our stock photos, icons, and promotional materials. It's simple and I can usually find all the things I need for our presentations, and marketing materials. The best part is the adjustable dimensions. You can choose the size of the images and then store them for later use - it's wonderful. Lately, we have taken to their icons library to beef up our marketing materials.

Desvantagens:

Only one - they have a really great Chrome extension that is fast and easy to use, but occasional I will try to download the image from the extension and it only downloads a pure black or white image. I know they are working on this, and I haven't had this problem in a while, but it's the only reason why I didn't give them a perfect 10.

My Daily Tool to Create Images

Comentários: The biggest problem that Stencil solved was being able to find images that are different than what I see on social media. The biggest benefit that Stencil is for me is ease of use. In 10 minutes I will have an image or 2 or 3 for my blog, an image for many different social media platforms, and a cover image for an ebook.

Vantagens:

I love how many images are available to me for any given project I start. I also really like the templates that I can choose from. This program is so darned easy to use I often wonder how I got along without it.

Desvantagens:

I haven't found a negative about this software. And, I've tried. Sure, if it had real publishing capabilities like templates for ebooks and mini-books it would be more awesome, but that's not the type of software this is.

Truly a life saver for design amateurs!

Comentários: Design chops, Beautiful aesthetic images

Vantagens:

I have found Stencil to be a quick way to create images for a variety of projects. There are plenty of templates on offer and the tool integrates well with buffer. The tool offers layouts that cater to the dimensions of all popular social media sites and comes with a rich library of background images as well as fonts.

Desvantagens:

Once a brand guideline is established, it rarely changes. It would be nice if the tool can allow you to get variants of design based on what you have designed. However, that is only a minor grouse. The tool offers plenty of options and it times your outputs are limited by your own imagination.

Practical, easy, versatile

Comentários: Excellent! I really recommend this powerful tool!

Vantagens:

One of the features that I love the most is the resizable option and "send it to your phone" option. It's so easy to use to change quickly the format without redoing all the work. There's a lots of images, templates, quotes ready to use that saves us a lot of time! A feature that I really appreciate is the folders so that we can get organized and not have a messy workplace: again, lots of time saved! We can upload our logo and brand items, put our colors in the fast action space and save our templates. You can customize and create your own format. They create new images and templates regularly also! Really, it's an essential tool fir any business!

Desvantagens:

Customized format are limited in pixels... You can't get over 2700 pixels which forces is sometimes to use another tool.

A worthy Canva competitor

Comentários: While it doesn't have all the bells and whistles that Canva has - nor its advertising budget or influencer network - Stencil manages to fight with the big boys and deliver a great social image creation experience. We've used it for campaigns, social media posts and sometimes specific projects.
It is fast to get started and the pricing is more in line with what we're confortable with, so we're fine using it again in the future.

Vantagens:

Speed was the deciding factor for us. Canva and the likes would makes us wait a while for some things to load or download, while Stencil just had it faster than expected. You will not be disappointed if you're looking to create social media pictures FAST.

Desvantagens:

There isn't really something specific to differentiate it from the likes of Canva. So if there was a Con I felt it would be that it's unremarkable, but still solid.

The Easiest To Use Graphic Creator I Know Of

Comentários: I produce social media graphics and videos for local businesses and e-commerce stores. I've been using the Stencil platform on a daily basis because of its ease of use and speed.

Vantagens:

A very intuitive platform, so you can create amazing graphics without having to spend hours learning how. Because I customise most of my graphics with my clients' logos or website addresses, the fast logo/watermark feature is a godsend. The ever-expanding template feature provides a wealth of inspiration and they can be customised to suit your needs quickly. A highly reliable platform. The very rare occasional technical issues are quickly resolved.

Desvantagens:

I cannot think of anything. I have several high-end graphics software platforms which I only use when creating promotional materials that are going to a printer.

Quick, easy visual creation tool online

Vantagens:

It's easy to use Stencil and produce pretty good visuals. It's not as full-featured as something like Photoshop, and it won't produce fancy "infographics" for you, but for still images that you're going to use for social media, online ads, email signature or web banners, etc Stencil is a great tool. It's fast, intuitive, and reliable. That's what you want much of the time.

Desvantagens:

Only one minor quibble: You can't re-sort your custom image size definitions. Stencil provides you with a whole slew of standard defined image dimensions for various purposes & platforms. You can also add your own and name them. Unfortunately, the ones you add appear in the Custom area in the order in which you created them. You can't re-sort them by name or by size. They're permanently there in the order in which you created them. All in all, that's a very minor thing.

Easy-to-use, fantastic at what it does

Comentários: I use Stencil weekly, and sometimes daily. I love that they are focused on one thing - they do that one thing exceedingly well. Their support is also fantastic. I had a problem once and one of their guys got onto Skype with me so we could do a screenshare for him to see what I was experiencing. He fixed it on the spot from his end, then had me verify that everything was working as it should on my end, before we ended the call. I can't speak highly enough of the Stencil team!

Vantagens:

Stencil does not claim to be the be-all, end-all for creating graphics. Stencil is all about creating social media graphics quickly and easily, so you can get in, create your graphic(s), and get out and on with the rest of your day. In addition, you can use some layering features, as well as filters, shadows, and shading to spice up your graphics easily, without having to be a graphics wiz. In addition, Stencil allows you to easily resize your graphics from one to another (e.g. from Facebook to Instagram) - in one click. It can't get any easier than that.

Desvantagens:

For me, there aren't any. I almost didn't check out Stencil because I was a happy Canva user. I'm so glad that I did check it out!

Stencil - Indispensible Tool for Social Media Images and Blog Images

Comentários: We use stencil all the time to produce visuals for blog posts, social media posts, advertising, and more. It's one of our must have tools.

Vantagens:

Ease of use, ability to watermark images, to add layers of text, images, overlay and transparency.

Desvantagens:

Sometimes can be slow, but that might be just our rubbish internet.

My Go-to Social Media Image software...better than Canva!

Comentários: With Stencil I can create images twice as fast as my colleagues. I teach a social media class where I demonstrate creating a header image for Facebook, Twitter and YouTube and students are amazed when I create all three in less than 60 seconds!

Vantagens:

I love this software because it's SIMPLE and EASY to use. I used to use Canva, and I have a lot of friends that love that, but I found it had too much bloat...too many features I just didn't need. Stencil allows me to create social media banners and images in a flash, and resize automatically for different channels. It also provides a TON of royalty free pictures and quotes for even faster images. And did I mention it has Wordpress integration? That puts it over the top for me--you can design pictures for your blog post AS you write. Unbelievable!

Desvantagens:

If I had any qualm with the software it would be the price. I'd recommend coming down to about $10/month for the value...but then again, I wouldn't want to be without it!

Make social media posts quickly

Comentários: I have used both Stencil and Canva. They each seem to have similar features. I think the difference would come down to which one a person is more comfortable using, although either gets pretty easy with a little trial and error.

Vantagens:

After I got a little familiar with the program, and had uploaded some images, I could make a Twitter post with a background image, text, and a book cover, in about five minutes. This is great value with 10 images per month for free. For companies, I imagine the paid version would be worthwhile.

Desvantagens:

It does take some time to learn your way around the user interface. The first few times I used it, I clicked on things expecting one result and getting another.

Brilliant graphics tool

Comentários: I love it, a great little tool, with a lot of great functionality

Vantagens:

Being able to take any image from pixabay, edit, crop, add icons, text etc, and send directly to my wordpress media library, or post to social media, right from the chrome tool

Desvantagens:

Chrome plugin occasionally crashes and reloads the site its loaded over.

This is the fastest tool to create amazing posters

Comentários: We really like Stencil and the being a media company it's quite essential for us publish the breaking news posters in no time therefore Stencil is a must have tool in our arsenal.

Vantagens:

My 8 year old nephew is also in love with Stencil as it's damn easy and simple to create amazing designs in just few mins. The stock images have a good number of necessary collection.

Desvantagens:

B'cos of simplicity it lacks many essential features and options which are present in Canva, Visme and Crello as there's no Justify arrangement setting and most of the templates are little outdated.