How To Create Printables — The Easy Way!

Have a blog or online business and want to learn how to create printables? Read this post to learn some easy tips and tricks!

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Guest post by Bridget of Sunshine And Rainy Days

In the back of my mind, I knew there had to be a better way. There had to be one piece of software I could use for all of my graphic needs. Something that gave me the flexibility to create designs I could see in my head but couldn’t figure out how to replicate on any of the free software I had used.

When I started blogging in 2014, I really wanted to learn how to create printables. I dabbled in a few different free programs to create pins and printables for my site. Some were okay and others I had a hard time wrapping my mind around, but I pieced it together and made it work as best I could.

THEN, I discovered Affinity Designer!

Affinity Designer allows you to create designs you never thought possible! You don’t have to work within the limitations of simple software and you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription to get it done!

How To Create Printables — The Easy Way!

Do you want to learn how to create printables for your blog or business without all the headache (or monthly subscription costs!)? Here’s how:

1. Come up with a printable idea.

Here’s a secret: The best printable ideas come from printables you would use yourself!

My two teenagers, Jack and Justine, like to host a Christmas Party for friends every year! We often play fun games and have lots of prizes on hand. One particular year, we created the Name That Christmas Song Game. It was a hit!

What printable would you use in real life? That’s a great place to start in thinking about ideas for printables!

2. Make a quick sketch of your design.

Next, I recommend making a quick sketch of what you have in mind. There’s no need to make it perfect or pretty. Just get the idea down on paper.

For our Name That Christmas Song Game, we decided what songs we wanted to use and listed them on a sheet of paper.

Of course, I could have turned to the Internet to come up with the songs we would use. But instead, I went straight to my teenagers!

There were 12 songs, so I knew we needed three columns and four rows — which you can see in the beginnings of my sketch below.

3. Set up your page.

This is a simple step, but one you don’t want to forget. Be sure to set up your page how it will look best for your particular printable.

Here’s how:

• Choose U.S. Letter, if your audience is in the United States.
• Select the orientation of your page (portrait or landscape).
• Use the dropdowns to select the Color Format and DPI.
• Set your margins.

A few hints: I typically set my DPI to 300 and use RGB for the color format (since most printers use RGB automatically). I also generally set my margins to .5 all the way around unless it is a printable that will be hole punched and put in a binder. In that case, I use .75 for the side that will be hole punched and .5 for the remaining sides. 

4. Design your printable.

Affinity Designer provides the perfect space to design the printable you’ve been dreaming of!

Whether you want lines, boxes, tables, or clip art, Affinity Designer can do it all!

For the Name That Christmas Song printable, I designed one square first.

Then, I duplicated it and changed the song in each square. Super easy!

5. Include your URL and copyright symbol.

Don’t forget to include your URL on every printable so that people will know where to download an extra copy!

I choose to include a copyright symbol, the year, and my URL on all of my printables.

{Not sure how to create the copyright symbol on your keyboard? On a Mac, just hold down the option key and press G. On Windows, hold down the Alt key and type 0169.}

Here’s a sample of what my copyright looks like:

6. Print your design to try it out.

It’s definitely a good idea to print your PDF to make sure it works exactly like you intend.

Print it out and use it in the same way your audience will. Cut the cards/ shapes, punch holes in it to put it in a binder, fill in blanks, etc.

Our Christmas Song Cards were designed to hand to the person who guessed the correct name of the song first. At the end of the game, the person with the most cards won a prize!

Don’t skip this step! You definitely want to ensure your printable works perfectly before sharing it with your audience!

7. Save as a PDF to share!

You’re all done!

Just choose File, Export, then choose PDF.

Your printable is ready to be shared with the world!

You now know how to create printables!

You no longer have to wonder how to get the images in your head onto paper!

There’s no need to use multiple programs to create printables! And, better yet, you don’t have to pay a monthly subscription to turn your printable ideas into reality!

Need some help creating printables?

Note from Crystal: If you’re brand new to creating printables or all of this seems really intimidating because you’re not sure where to start, Bridget has you covered!

She’s put together a really comprehensive Printables Playbook — a step-by-step guide to creating printables the easy way!

The Printables Playbook is broken down into bite-sized chunks so that anyone can learn to create printables. And you can refer back to it any time you need it! Best of all, it’s just $36!!

Go here to sign up!