Does anyone else always seem to end up with a clutter of messy icons on their computer desktop? If that’s you, today’s solution might just be your jam! I’ll show you how to create a beautiful custom desktop organiser like this one using Canva [a free online design tool] in under 10 minutes. Then you’ll always have a place for your icons.
I first stumbled across this brilliant idea from the lovely Laura of iHeart Planners, so full credit to Laura for the original concept. I’ve made a few tweaks to take our desktop organization from fabulously functional to truly beautiful, using a different method that is super-easy and will make you look like a professional graphic designer in no time.
To get us started, I created three beautiful desktop wallpapers which you can download for free [for personal use only please]. You can use them as-is, or take it a step further and customise them to sort out that desktop clutter, as I’ll show you how to do in this post.
First, download your designs and save them to your computer in a place you’ll remember.
GRAB YOUR FREE DESKTOP WALLPAPER HERE.
Now, let’s go to Canva.com. You’ll need to create an account if you don’t have one [it’s free and only takes a couple of seconds.] We’re going to get started with creating a design. Click on “Use custom dimensions”. [Watch for the red arrows in the screen shots to follow!]
Here’s where you need to insert the dimensions of your computer monitor screen, in pixels. The easiest way to find out this information is to click through to www.whatismyscreenresolution.com, and your screen resolution will automatically pop up for you.
Insert these dimensions into Canva. So, I would put 1440 x 900.
Next, click on “Uploads” in the sidebar menu, then click the big green button that says “upload your own images.” From your files, select one of the wallpaper designs you just downloaded and saved to your computer.
Re-size the image to fit the canvas by clicking and dragging. You’ll have to be fairly exact.
Now we’re going to add some boxes for our icons. Go to “Search” in the sidebar menu, then click “Shapes.”
Select the light gray box in the top row. You’ll see a transparent box appear on your canvas.
Re-size the box to whatever size you like. You can also alter the level of transparency by clicking the little blue down-arrow and moving the slider. I set mine at 70%.
You can copy and paste your boxes, or add additional ones in different sizes to make whatever configuration you’d like. Handy grid-lines snap to the outside edges when you’re positioning your boxes, to help you line up the edges accurately.
For this example, I went with three boxes along the bottom of my desktop. Next, click “Text” in the sidebar menu, and scroll down until you see a text treatment you like. I selected from a group of simple banners.
You can customise the colors easily by clicking the palette button. A range of extra options will pop up, or click the little plus sign to view the entire colour wheel.
If you do select from the colour wheel, make sure you copy the hex code down the bottom so you can replicate the colour for your next title [just paste it into the same box next time you open the colour wheel.]
Once you’ve finished adding your titles, click “Download” and then select “Image: high quality [PNG]”. This maintains a high resolution so your design displays crisp and clear on your computer monitor.
Save your download, then apply it to your desktop. You’re done!
Here’s how my design turned out once I categorised all those icons I had floating around.
And just as an example of the different layouts you could try, here’s another design I came up with. You can customise your design to fit your needs perfectly, no matter what categories you might want to use to organise your icons.
I also set the original downloadable designs as my screen-savers, so I have something pretty and completely clutter-free to look at in between work sessions.
Having a pretty desktop has really been the final decorating touch I needed to complete my study makeover. [If you’re new here, click through to see my complete home office reveal, as well as the tutorial for that gold paint-pen feature wall!]
I hope that helps someone else tame their desktop clutter once and for all. Thanks for reading, and happy desktop organising, friends!
Linked up at these parties this week!
In the past, I shared with you all How to Clean up your Computer Desktop. It has been so helpful to many of you AND the post gets a lot of love over on Pinterest!
Computer Desktop Backgrounds
If you are anything like me, I need change, so it was time to create a few new desktop organization backgrounds for you to use. Here are a few fresh backgrounds you can use: the 1990’s preppy color background, a gold ombre background and aqua circles background.
I simply feel like my life [at least my computer life!] is super organized because of these desktop organizers! You can read all my gushing about how and why you should use an organizational desktop background over on the old post….and here’s the quick “how to” install:
1. Find out what size resolution screen your computer is.
For Mac, you can select the System Preferences from the Apple Menu, then click on Displays. Next to the word Resolution, make sure your radio button titled “Scaled” is clicked and look to see what resolution is highlighted. This is the size download you will need.
For Windows, Click the Start button, then click Control Panel. Under Appearance and Personalization select Adjust screen resolution. Check to make sure the monitor you want to examine is selected in the drop-downDisplay list. Below that, you will see the drop-down resolution list, with your current setting showing the number of pixels horizontally and vertically. This is the resolution size you will need for your download Click cancel to leave things as they are.
2. Download the correct size desktop background from below.
3. Next, go to Picmonkey, upload the image and add the titles to each box. Then re-save the image.
4. Now you will need to upload the image as your Desktop Background.
For Mac users: select the System Preference for the Apple Menu. Select the Desktop & Screen Saver option. In that window, find where you saved your newly created Desktop Background and click on the image. This will add the Desktop Background for you. Super simple.
For Windows: Right-click your desktop and choose Personalize. Select Desktop Background from the windows’ bottom left. Click your newly created Desktop Background for the background. Click the Save Changes button.
5. Now you get to clean! Drag your icons to the respective boxes and admire!
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FREE DESKTOP ORGANIZERS