5 Simple Tips to Produce Stunning Photos on our Free Online Collage Maker

Stunning photos you say. Yea, we can help – in a big way.

Our free online collage maker is what you may call a contradiction. Not in a bad way.

Hear us out.

How can something so simple to make have such a big impact? Collages on our platform are easily put together – and yet, they come out stunning and eye-catching.

As a business, time is of the essence and productivity is everything. Your day to day is so stacked with tasks that you probably don’t have time to be your own graphic designer.

Running a business means making every minute count – delegating and streamlining wherever possible. Marketers know what we’re talking about.

Ok, so we’ve covered efficiency. Why make a collage in the first place?

Because aesthetically pleasing graphics are the only thing standing in between you and a click on your social media post. Well, that’s not fair – the copy is equally important, but they go hand in hand.

Having said all that, we know you smart cookies can work your way around our free online collage maker. Still, we had a few tips to share with you in our attempt to further enhance your experience of making stunning designs in a few short clicks.

Before we dive in, for all of you here to create collages for personal social accounts – this is for you, too! We don’t encourage frenemies here at Promo.com, but just be prepared for some serious social media envy coming your way. Just saying.

Without further ado – here are 5 simple tips to producing stunning photos on our free online collage maker.

Identify your purpose

Starting out your business? Attract customers with a poster showcasing your products.

Holding an early holiday sale? Introduce your hot deals using a well-crafted collage.

Do you simply want to gather your favorite photos from your last vacation before the pandemic happened? Don’t worry, we got your back.

We’ve made our free online collage maker easy to navigate so you can conveniently create a compelling collage. The tools are there. You just have to know what you want to produce.

Sounds fair and easy, right?

So before tinkering around our collage maker, you have to have a definite purpose first — yes, just like how you do it with your other business projects and marketing campaigns.

Having a goal is essential. Even for a seemingly small task like making something using a free online collage maker, knowing your objective will help you navigate your way towards your desired output. Moreover, it can prevent you from wasting too much time.

And like we’ve mentioned, time is precious: You would want to create stunning photos as efficiently as possible. To help you out, here are some questions you should ask yourself before making any collage:

• What do I want to achieve with this project?
• Who is my target audience?
• What are the photos I want to use? Which one will I highlight?
• In which platform will I share my output?
• Do I need to have it printed?

By answering these questions, you’ll have a clearer picture of your collage project. And you can use our platform more effectively to help you transform your vision into reality.

Now onto the more “technical” stuff.

Know that size and spacing matter

Unless you intentionally want to have a maximalist appeal, keep in mind that less is more. Therefore, if you’re making a collage, you’d want to be clever about how you lay out your photos and other elements.

The size of any advertisement itself is significant. Too small and your material won’t be noticed. Too big and it will appear too overwhelming.

The spacing between your collage’s elements is equally crucial. You might not want to create an output that’s too sparse or overcrowded. 

The bottom line is, it’s all about finding that delicate aesthetic balance to elevate the message you want to convey.

To guide you in coming up with a balanced and effective collage (especially for commercial purposes), here are some terms you should familiarize yourself with:

Real Space

The very space where you will add your photos and other elements like stickers is called the real space. In a free online collage maker, the real space acts like a virtual canvas you can use to create stunning artworks — for your business or for your personal consumption.

Illusory Space

To make your collage more captivating, you can make use of the so-called illusory space.

As its name implies, this space creates an illusion or perception of depth. This is done by using images of different sizes. Or by adding shadows or strokes. Or by putting images on top of the other.

Positive Space

Positive space serves as the focal point of your artwork. In a nutshell, it’s the part of the collage that’s not part of the background.

Negative Space

Negative space, also known as white space, is the portion of your collage with no element. It can be found in the spaces between your images. Or in your collage’s left and right margins.

Managing all these spaces can help you come up with an effective collage.

If you properly use these spaces— the negative space in particular— experts take note that you can enhance your audience’s comprehension. According to a study, comprehension can be improved by up to 20%.

Now that’s something you want to unlock if you want to relay important info about your business or products or services.

Additionally, bear in mind that an online user has an average attention span of six seconds. So if you want to grab their attention right away, you have to be really mindful about your white space.

By getting their focus, you also have a higher chance of increasing your audience’s interaction rate — which is one of the goals of many businesses. After all, what’s the point of making a stunning collage if it won’t get traction from your target audience?

Choose an appealing color scheme

When you use our free online collage maker, you should also have some knowledge about choosing a color scheme that works.

Try to browse through your social media account and observe your behavior.

Let us guess — posts with well-coordinated color schemes are more likely to make you feel good, right? While those on the other side of the spectrum tend to be an unsightly element in your feed.

If you want to wow your audience the way you appreciate others’ work, you should be careful about choosing your color scheme.

Below are some basic tips to help you out:

Be mindful about your brand

As a business owner or a marketing expert, you’re probably aware that branding is everything. From the look of your physical shop down to the smallest advertising promos like collages, your assets must look coherent.

And it’s not just for aesthetics purposes. It can boost brand awareness and make your business more identifiable.

And even if the piece that you’ve created using a free online collage maker is only for personal consumption, you still have to mind your own brand and your personality.  

With this in mind, your color scheme should first and foremost be anchored about the inherent characteristics of your entity. Restaurants typically use red and yellow. While many telecommunication businesses use blue or green.

Refer to the color wheel

If you already know your main color, how about the other colors that can complement it?

The all-round solution is to use a color wheel. This chart organized color hues, incorporating the relationships between the primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. (Bet you know these, but to further clarify: Primary colors include red, yellow, and blue; Secondary colors include orange, violet, and green; Tertiary colors refer to a combination of a primary and a secondary color, like red-orange).

Here are the schemes that can be found in the color wheel:

Monochromatic color scheme

This color scheme uses one main color in its varying shades and tints. Using this one can evoke a clean and sleek look.

Complementary color scheme

In this color scheme, you will use colors that are across each other on the color wheel. This can greatly provide contrast to your collage.

Split complementary color scheme

Giving a more sophisticated look than the traditional complementary color scheme, this uses a dominant color plus two colors that are directly adjacent to it.

Triadic color scheme

This color scheme involves colors that are equally placed in the corners of an imaginary triangle within the color wheel. As this one tends to create overwhelming output, you should only select one dominant color among the three.

Research the latest trends

Like what you already know, people nowadays have a short attention span. If they subconsciously feel that the color scheme you use is kind of outdated, you might give them the wrong impression.

This is why when using our free online collage maker, we also recommend that you research the latest trends you can incorporate in your collage.

Use high-quality images

Using the tidbits of knowledge from the previous bullet, you can better choose the photos — and the background color — for your collage.

However, take note that whatever color scheme you employ, it will only be in vain if the images you will use are not of high quality in the first place.

To help you have that creative eye needed to make a great collage, here are things you need to know:

It’s the quality — not the quantity that counts

You don’t have to use too many photos for your collage. Like what we’ve emphasized, less is more.

Instead, you should turn your focus on the quality of each of the photos you’ll use. Are they nicely captured? Do they look blurry or stretched out? Do they have proper lighting? Each element you add to your work is important — so make sure that not one bad picture makes it your collage.

If you don’t have the photos yourself, you can check our free online collage maker’s huge selection of high-resolution photos. Simply click on the “Add photo” section, choose “Photo library” from the menu, and select the photo you want to add.

Now, as much as the quality of individual photos are important — you should also consider how they look collectively. Which brings us to…

Take note that variation is key

Variation. This is a tried-and-tested technique that separates “boring” collages to outstanding ones.

If you want to fall in the latter, you shouldn’t waste your time creating a montage of similar-looking images. Use photos with different subjects.

For instance, if you’re a restaurant, use your collage to spotlight your best meals and beverages.

In selecting varied photos, you also have to consider the angles. Using images taken from one angle can lessen the appeal of your output.

Focus on the size of each photo

If you really want to emphasize variety, here’s a pro tip when using our free online collage maker: Use different sizes for your photos.

We’ve mentioned it before and we’ll say it again. The sizing of your images can make your overall output more appealing.

This is particularly true if there’s one singular product you want your audience to notice. Say, for example, you’re adding an apple crumble pie to your roster of desserts; you should use a layout that emphasizes this one particular photo.

Then for the next important image, you should use a size that’s smaller than your main photo but bigger than the rest of.

Don’t use photos that has too many similar hues

As already tackled, colors also matter when it comes to collages.

While monochromatic color schemes give a polished look, it can’t always work in every project you create.

Again, to add variety, you can refer to the color wheel and choose which shades or tints your images should have.

The way you lay out your select photos should also be considered. Whether you alternate your photos bearing your dominant color with the complementary ones or you choose to place them in one particular portion of the real space — your layout should help elevate the message you want to convey.

Don’t be afraid to experiment but stay on brand

Collage-making is a great way to unleash your creativity — and step up your advertising game.

With our free online collage maker, you’ll have that platform where you can create promotional materials for your business. Though it may seem simple, it can create a huge impact on your brand.

And speaking of brand…we’re dedicating our last bullet to stress out the importance of enjoying your creative freedom while staying on brand.

In our free online collage maker, you’ll get access to a wide photo selection as well as stickers you can use to jazz up your piece. You can make use of these elements to transform your ideas into a collage work that helps you hit your goal.

And we assure you, it’s a fun creative exercise to browse through our selection and select which one suits your collage best.

However, there are still limitations you have to know. And these limitations are mostly dictated by your brand guidelines. For example, there are certain colors that don’t really go well with your logo or the nature of your business.

For us, the most important thing is you can use our website to create something that will benefit your business. This is why we’ve also listed down the major reasons why you should observe brand consistency — down to the simplest collages you make:

It can make your brand more recognizable

Brand recognition is the key to letting your business grow.

Even if you’re only talking about collages, creating one that adheres to your brand can be contributory to making your brand more recognizable.

To further boost brand awareness, you can even create a campaign that features a series of coherent-looking collages.

And this also holds true even if we’re only talking about your personal brand. Imagine seeing an Instagram page with posts that are consistent with the brand of its creator, say a photographer — it’s more appealing, right?

It can give that perception that your marketing skill is on a high level

Great branding can spell out the major difference between a successful and a stagnant entity.

If you roll out campaigns or initiate projects that carry your trademark look or aesthetics, you will give that impression to your audience that you know what you do. And you take marketing seriously.

Once you’re perceived to have a high-level marketing skill (even if you’re only using a free online collage maker), it will be easier for your audience to rely on whatever it is that you offer.

It can help you earn the trust of your consumers

Ultimately, your efforts in making your every output consistent and on brand will translate to business growth.

As you earn the trust of your audience, you’ll become more effective in convincing them why they should patronize your products or services.

Faithfully employing your brand guidelines — even to your collages — will certainly pay off. And it’s a word of wisdom that many of our users can attest to. 

So now that you’ve read these essential tips, you’re very much welcome to check out our free online collage maker.

Have fun and make your every collage count!