How To Make A Meme From Scratch

How To Make A Meme From Scratch

Memes can be a great way to get your blog noticed on Facebook or other social media, but where do the you get the memes?  There are meme generators, but it’s also pretty easy to come up with you own original meme!

How To Make A Meme From Scratch

Come up with an idea for your meme

I recently made a couple of memes for an online literary magazine that I work for.  Our demographic is mothers who write, so those are the themes I was brainstorming with.  I wanted something eye-catching, either unusual or just attractive and using words that were easy to relate to.  I also wanted the text to be fairly short, so that I wouldn’t have to shrink it too much.  I wanted to make sure that someone scrolling through would be able to read it.  My first meme read simply, “Writers are readers,” and the second one, on a photo of my laptop on a table with my kids’ laptops said, “Writing our memoirs.”

Take an appropriate photo

The photo I used for “Writing our memoirs” was one that I had on hand and had posted on my personal Facebook page.  I was aiming for a little humor and something mothers could relate to.  I liked how it came out, but a little of the quality I originally wanted was lacking since I hadn’t taken the photo specifically for the meme.

“Writers are readers” had a pile of books, a notebook and pen, and a cup of tea piled strategically on a cozy blanket to suggest the idea of a writing mama who is inspired by the work of others.  I took several photos from different angles and distances.  A nice camera would be great, but I used my phone and was very happy with the results which resulted in a clean, clear, well-lit photo.  The one thing I would do differently is to make sure to more deliberately to leave enough space with a quiet background to place the text on.

Find a photo editing program that you are comfortable using.

I like Picmonkey online–it’s easy to use and has free and premium versions.  You could use Photoshop or even paint, unless you want to manipulate the photo a lot.  For adding text and a logo, it doesn’t take many bells and whistles.

Add your text and logo to the photo

I think of our brand as elegant and I tried to pick a font that reflected that.  I played around with the size, color and placement of the text until it was easy to read and complementary to the photo.  I sized our logo so that it was easy to see, but not the first thing your eye was drawn to.  Then I saved the images and sent them to my editor.  Done!

Upload your meme to your social media

Can you post a photo?  Then you can post a meme!

Ask your contributors or friends to share

The whole point of memes is really sharing.  To give your meme it’s initial boost, I would certainly ask contributors and possibly friends to share it in their feed.  And now you’re…

Done!

Until you decide to make more memes.  It’s fun and easy, so why not?

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