FAQ
Design Studio
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Studio Help & FAQ
Quick answers to the most common questions about the Design Studio. If you don't find what you need here, reach out to us at support.
Getting Started
The basics: what Studio is and how to get going
It's a design editor that runs in your browser. You get a Fabric.js canvas with a sidebar full of icons (200,000+), illustrations, AI stock photos, text tools, and shapes. Think of it as a focused alternative to Figma or Canva — but tightly integrated with the GetIllustrations library. Nothing to install, nothing to update.
Head to /design and you'll land on a blank canvas. From there, click any panel on the left — Illustrations, Icons, Photos, Text, or Shapes — and click or drag items onto the canvas. That's it. There's no project setup, no onboarding wizard. Just start adding stuff.
The canvas presets cover the common ones: Instagram post (1080x1080), story (1080x1920), Twitter/X header (1500x500), Facebook cover (820x312), presentation (1920x1080), A4, letter, and more. You can also set a custom width and height to any pixel value you want.
Yes. The editor loads immediately with no login required. You can use icons, shapes, text, and free illustrations right away. Signing in unlocks premium illustrations, saved designs, and team collaboration. Your work stays in the browser until you explicitly export or save.
Working with Illustrations
Finding, adding, and editing SVG illustrations
Open the Illustrations panel on the left sidebar. Browse by pack or search by keyword. Click any illustration and it drops onto the center of your canvas. From there, resize, rotate, or reposition it however you like.
Absolutely. Select any SVG illustration on the canvas and you'll see a color picker in the properties panel. The editor detects every unique fill and stroke color in the SVG, so you can change individual colors without leaving the canvas. For bulk color changes, try our standalone SVG Color Editor tool.
Free illustrations are available to everyone — no account needed. They show up without a lock icon in the sidebar. Premium illustrations require a paid plan. You can preview premium illustrations on the canvas, but exported files will include a watermark until you upgrade.
The search bar in the Illustrations panel searches across all 391 illustration packs by keyword. You can also filter by style (flat, isometric, 3D, hand-drawn) or browse by category. Results load as you type — no need to press Enter.
Icons & Shapes
Vector icons, custom shapes, and flowchart tools
Over 200,000. That breaks down to ~1,500 Lucide icons, ~300 HeroIcons (outline + solid), and about 14,000 in our native Line and Solid packs. The rest come from additional open-source sets bundled into the editor. Every icon is an SVG vector.
Yes. When you select an icon, the properties panel shows a color picker and a size slider. You can set any hex color and scale the icon from 16px up to whatever your canvas supports. Stroke width is adjustable on outline-style icons too.
The Shapes panel has all the basics — rectangles, circles, triangles, lines, arrows, and stars. Click one and it appears on the canvas at a default size. From there, adjust the fill color, stroke, border radius, and dimensions in the properties panel. For something more specific, you can upload your own SVG shape file.
The built-in library covers geometric primitives (rect, circle, triangle, polygon), arrows and connectors, callout bubbles, flowchart symbols (process, decision, terminal, data), and decorative shapes like badges, ribbons, and starburst. Most are customizable via the properties panel.
Photos & Images
Stock photos, uploads, and image handling
The 4,053 photos in the Studio are AI-generated and hosted on our own infrastructure. They're not scraped from other stock sites. We created them specifically for design use — clean backgrounds, consistent lighting, product-friendly compositions.
Yes. Drag any PNG, JPG, or SVG file onto the canvas, or use the Upload button at the top of the sidebar. Uploaded images are placed directly on the canvas and aren't stored on our servers — they live in your browser session.
Photos come in multiple resolutions: thumbnail for the sidebar preview, medium for canvas placement, and large/4K for premium users who need print-quality output. The editor loads the appropriate size based on your zoom level and export settings.
Background removal isn't built into the Studio yet. For now, we'd suggest using a tool like remove.bg and then uploading the result. It's on our roadmap, though — we know it's one of the most-requested features.
Text & Typography
Fonts, text effects, and custom typography
1,400+ fonts, all from Google Fonts. They load on demand — pick a font from the dropdown and it downloads instantly. Popular choices like Inter, Poppins, Bricolage Grotesque, and Space Grotesk are pre-loaded so there's no delay. Check out our font pairing tool if you need inspiration for combinations.
That's exactly what we use. The entire Google Fonts library is available in the font picker. Select any text object on the canvas, open the font dropdown, and search by name. All fonts are free and open source — you can use them in any project.
Select a text object and look at the Effects section in the properties panel. You can add drop shadows, outlines (stroke), text curves, letter spacing adjustments, and opacity changes. Combine a bold weight with a colored stroke for a quick outline-text effect.
Not yet. Right now the Studio uses the Google Fonts catalog, which covers most use cases. Custom font upload (WOFF/WOFF2/TTF) is something we're working on for a future update.
Exporting Your Design
Formats, resolution, and download options
PNG, SVG, and PDF. PNG is rasterized at your chosen multiplier (1x, 2x, 3x, or 4x). SVG keeps everything as vectors — great for illustrations you'll resize later. PDF is useful for print layouts and presentations.
At 4x multiplier on a 1920x1080 canvas, you'd get a 7680x4320 PNG. That's plenty for large-format printing. Free users are limited to 1x; premium unlocks 2x, 3x, and 4x.
Watermarks only appear on premium illustrations that you haven't purchased. Everything else — your uploads, free illustrations, icons, text, shapes — exports clean. If you're seeing watermarks, it means your design includes a premium asset. Check pricing plans to unlock the full library.
Yes. SVG export preserves vector paths, text, and shapes. Raster images (photos, uploaded PNGs) get embedded as base64 within the SVG. For the best results with SVG export, stick to vector elements — illustrations, icons, shapes, and text.
Templates & Presets
Starting points and saved layouts
We have templates for social media posts, stories, presentations, and marketing materials. Each one comes with placeholder text and illustration slots — swap in your own content and you've got a finished design in a couple of minutes. The template library is growing with each release.
Not yet in the UI, but you can export your design as JSON (via the code export feature) and re-import it later to reuse as a template. Native template saving is coming in a future update.
Canvas presets are pre-configured dimensions for common formats. Instead of manually typing 1080x1080, you pick "Instagram Post" from the preset dropdown and the canvas resizes automatically. Presets include social platforms, print sizes (A4, Letter), and screen dimensions (1920x1080, 1440x900).
Account & Access
Free tier, premium features, and upgrades
Quite a lot. The full canvas editor, all 200,000+ open-source icons, 1,400+ Google Fonts, all shapes and drawing tools, and free illustrations are available without paying or signing in. You can export at 1x PNG, SVG, and PDF. The only things behind the paywall are premium illustrations, high-res exports, and collaboration.
Premium gives you access to all 391 illustration packs (thousands of individual SVGs), our native icon packs (14,000+ icons), full-resolution AI stock photos, export at up to 4x resolution, watermark-free downloads on all assets, and real-time team collaboration. See the full comparison table.
Head to /pricing-plans and pick a plan. Once your payment goes through, premium features activate immediately in the Studio — no need to refresh or re-login. If you're already signed in, the lock icons on premium illustrations will disappear within seconds.
Troubleshooting
Common issues and how to fix them
First, try a hard refresh (Ctrl+Shift+R on Windows, Cmd+Shift+R on Mac). If the canvas still doesn't appear, check that JavaScript isn't blocked by an extension — ad blockers sometimes interfere with Fabric.js. Clearing your browser cache usually resolves persistent loading issues. The Studio works best on Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.
This is usually a color profile issue. The canvas renders in sRGB, and most monitors display sRGB correctly. If your exported PNG looks different in another app (like Photoshop or Preview), check that the app isn't applying a different color profile. SVG exports preserve the original hex values exactly.
Performance depends on your browser and device. Here are some things that help: group objects you're done editing (select multiple, then Ctrl+G), flatten complex SVGs before importing them, reduce the number of text objects with custom fonts, and close other browser tabs. If you're working with 50+ objects, Chrome tends to handle it better than Firefox.
Keyboard Shortcuts
Speed up your workflow with these shortcuts
| Action | Windows / Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Undo | Ctrl+Z | Cmd+Z |
| Redo | Ctrl+Y | Cmd+Shift+Z |
| Copy | Ctrl+C | Cmd+C |
| Paste | Ctrl+V | Cmd+V |
| Cut | Ctrl+X | Cmd+X |
| Duplicate | Ctrl+D | Cmd+D |
| Select all | Ctrl+A | Cmd+A |
| Delete selected | Delete | Delete |
| Group | Ctrl+G | Cmd+G |
| Ungroup | Ctrl+Shift+G | Cmd+Shift+G |
| Bring to front | Ctrl+] | Cmd+] |
| Send to back | Ctrl+[ | Cmd+[ |
| Zoom in | Ctrl++ | Cmd++ |
| Zoom out | Ctrl+- | Cmd+- |
| Zoom to fit | Ctrl+0 | Cmd+0 |
| Save | Ctrl+S | Cmd+S |
| Export | Ctrl+Shift+E | Cmd+Shift+E |
| Nudge 1px | Arrow keys | Arrow keys |
| Nudge 10px | Shift+Arrow | Shift+Arrow |
| Lock aspect ratio | Hold Shift while resizing | Hold Shift while resizing |
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