Working efficiently thanks to templates
Easel.ly
Easel.ly ( http://www.easel.ly ) collects beautiful templates. Clicking on a template on the homepage opens it in a new interface showing all kinds of design options. All parts of the template can be moved, deleted or replaced. The menu bar at the top allows you to change backgrounds and add or upload a wide variety of objects (including charts).
Via Templates , you can search for other layouts by keyword or browse through categories such as “Financial” , “Social Media” , “Timeline” , “Business” , “Resume” , etc. When you replace your free account by a paid subscription ($3 or £2.25 per month, billed annually), you’re given access to many more templates and graphical objects. In addition, you can download the resulting documents as PDF files or high-quality JPG files.
ResumUP
Easel.ly offers some very well-made designs for drawing up an original CV. In this context, we should also mention ResumUP ( http://www.resumup.com ). This web tool collects templates that can showcase your professional career. On the homepage, click on the layout you like the most and you’re ready to go.
In our opinion, the free version of ResumUP is a bit disappointing, but $6 or £4.5 per month (billed annually) gives you permanent access to one fully-fledged CV of your choice, while for $8 or £6 per month you can use all the available templates. The result can be downloaded as a PNG or PDF file.
Tip. You can find alternatives for designing impressive resumes at The Muse ( https://goo.gl/dnNL9d ).
Canva
Canva ( https://www.canva.com/en_uk ) presents templates for posters, presentations, e-books, ads, menus, infographics, flyers, labels, book covers, etc. Behind the green Create a Design button, there’s a good selection already, but Find Templates gives you access to a database of no less than 50,000 designs. You can search this by keyword or by browsing through the different categories.
The template you select can then be customised using the right-hand toolbar. The number of available elements (icons, illustrations, pictograms, shapes, grids, etc.) seems almost endless. You can upload your own graphics, change the background, use a variety of cool fonts, etc. The result can be downloaded in various formats, but to remove the conspicuous watermark you have to pay: during our test we were charged $5 or £3.75 for one download.
Tip. If you prefer not to pay for anything and if the quality isn’t important, you can of course make a print screen of your own design.
In addition…
There’s also Adioma ( http://www.adioma.com ), a tool for making infographics, but we think it’s too expensive. More interesting alternatives that we have reviewed previously include Piktochart ( http://www.piktochart.com ) and Infogr.am ( http://www.infogr.am ). These web tools have both free and paid-for versions.
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