TOP PICKS | 22 TOOLS
Apps and Websites for Making Posters and Collages
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Faces iMake - Right Brain Creativity
Open-ended collage maker teaches symbolism and revs up creativity
Bottom line: Faces iMake - Right Brain Creativity is a don't-miss art app that encourages creativity at the same time as modeling it.
MoMA Art Lab
Interactive projects, cool prompts, and famous works inspire creation
Bottom line: The overall experience is very open-ended, making it easy to bounce between creating and exploring art.
Popplet
A compact, simple organizational tool for minimalist presentation
Bottom line: Great web-based presentation tool for beginners.
Adobe Capture CC
Magical design tool extracts colors, patterns, and more from images
Bottom line: The rare combo of "wow" factor and utility, this tool help students recognize and use the designed world around them.
Adobe Photoshop Mix - Cut out, combine, create
Impressive photo-editing app focuses on compositing, blending imagery
Bottom line: While it's tackling a slightly niche design need (blending, layering, compositing photos), Photoshop Mix is an incredible tool that makes these processes shockingly simple on mobile devices.
Canva - Photo Editor & Design
Create snazzy designs in seconds with flexible, cloud-based tool
Bottom line: A flexible, accessible way to get kids -- especially design novices -- creating digitally in your classroom if you have stable internet and time to get students set up to be successful.
The Noun Project
Think in pictures with vibrant visual language everyone can understand
Bottom line: It's a neat, well-executed concept with lots of possibilities for learning, imagining, and creating.
Flickr
Popular sharing site potentially useful as a classroom photo resource
Bottom line: Make use of some incredible photographs in your classroom, but don't let students wander astray on the site.
Smore
Create online flyers, learn a little about marketing with design tool
Bottom line: A fast way to fashion attractive flyers, but students will need outside help to learn about PR and marketing and effective, concise writing.
Adobe Photoshop Express
Top-notch photo editor helps perfect pics for creative projects
Bottom line: This is a powerful, free creation tool from the industry leader in photo editing.
Microsoft Sway
Cool scroll effects, flexible features boost visual storytelling tool
Bottom line: A great tool for design and presentation, if great visuals and easy sharing trump having the active viewing features present in other tools.
Procreate
Outstanding art tool supports the workflow of seasoned digital painters
Bottom line: For iPads, this is a best-in-class tool with enough pro-level features and technology, and some nice support resources.
Easelly
Think critically, share creatively with infographic-creation tool
Bottom line: Even though the basic themes and images are limited, when prepared well, this tool can help students connect with content in a meaningful way.
Infogr.am
Snazzy, easy infographic maker visually pleasing but lacks design help
Bottom line: The site is a great asset for classroom presentations and analyzing data, but educators need to provide guidance to ensure students learn while using it.
Lucidpress
Collaborative publishing and design tool has lots of options, templates
Bottom line: An easy-to-use mash-up of InDesign and Google Drive, Lucidpress fills a niche for publication creation and collaboration.
Piktochart
Add oomph to info with sleek infographic tool
Bottom line: Tech-savvy kids will immediately take to this well-designed, reasonably easy-to-use tool.
Autodesk Sketchbook
Impressive creation tool for teens serious about art
Bottom line: Gives students easy access to professional tools for creating digital art.
Venngage
Create impressive infographics with ease
Bottom line: Surprisingly simple way for students to think critically and communicate ideas in an appealing, visual format, but could be a bit more edu-friendly with extra educator/student supports.
Adobe Spark
Super-flexible design tool for crafting fab images, videos, and sites
Bottom line: This free, one-stop shop for creating sleek graphics, web stories, and animated videos is incredibly easy to use and challenges students to think critically about visual presentation.
PicCollage - Photo Collage Maker & Picture Editor
Versatile, intuitive, engaging collage maker yields impressive designs
Bottom line: With some privacy setup, and possibly upgrading to the paid version, this can be an excellent design tool for creating custom collages, teaching graphic design, layout, and photo editing.
PicMonkey Photo Editor
Reliable photo editor built for design and social sharing
Bottom line: A great, social media-friendly option for teaching teens design, layout, and photo editing, but the paid version is more competitive with other tools.
Grafio 3 - Diagrams & ideas
Flexible app transforms sketches into pro-level designs and diagrams
Bottom line: A terrific choice for creating simple diagrams or presentations on iOS.
