😵‍💫 Design for non-designers, without the meltdown

😵‍💫You open Canva for “a quick edit.” Two hours later, you’re nudging a text box pixel by pixel, the logo’s still crooked, and the template is taunting you with invisible margins.

Design isn’t your jam, but clients still expect branded proposals, polished visuals, and social posts that don’t scream ‘default template.’ This week, Sherpa brings two brand kits that save time and your sanity, plus shortcuts to help you avoid Canva Hell. (3-minute read)

🔦 Week’s highlights

• Sherpa Shortcuts: Convert blurry PNGs to SVGs, and grab site colors in one click.

• Tool Spotlight: Kittl makes pro logos fast; Looka fakes a full brand kit in minutes.

• Sherpa’s Pack (freebie): Guidde Chrome extension records your screen and spits out a slick how-to video in seconds

• AI news you can use: ChatGPT gets an Agent job and QuickBooks pays bills

• 😝Tools Gone Wild: NYC Billboard says “Stop hiring humans. Hire AI instead.”

🪓 Sherpa’s shortcuts

Sherpa-approved hacks to multiply your output without multiplying your effort.

⚡ Hack #1: Turn any PNG into a crisp SVG

Problem: Your client sends their logo in PNG format. It’s fine for Instagram, but now they want it on a proposal, a website, and—oh joy—a tote bag. You need a real vector file.

Solution: Use Figma + the free Image Tracer plugin (Chrome) to convert any PNG or JPG into a clean, scalable SVG:

1. Open a free Figma account and create a new file.

2. Drop in the PNG (or screenshot, or whatever they sent).

3. Go to Plugins ▸ Browse All Plugins ▸ Search “Image Tracer” ▸ Click Install.

4. Run the plugin. Boom: your fuzzy PNG is now a crisp, editable SVG.

💡 Sherpa Tip: Works best for logos, icons, and flat artwork. And yes, you can totally send it back labeled “final_vector.”

👉 Try Image Tracer in Figma

⚡ Hack #2: Grab any website color in one click

Problem: Client says, “Just match it to our site,” but offers no hex code, no brand guide, and no help. You're left reading blue pixels like tea leaves.

Solution: Use the free ColorZilla Chrome extension to instantly copy any on-screen color:

1. Install ColorZilla from the Chrome Web Store.

2. Click the eyedropper, hover over any pixel (on any site), and snag the exact hex code.

3. Paste that into Kittl, Canva, or your Looka Brand Kit (See AI Tool Spotlight below!)—no guessing, no client follow-up, no tragic teal mismatch.

💡 Sherpa Tip: Save your favorite hex codes in a sticky note, Notion block, or notes app.
👉 Add ColorZilla to Chrome

AI Tool Spotlight

Tool Sherpa explores the flood of new AI apps and carefully selects only proven tools.

🔍 Kittl: Look like a designer without becoming one

Why it matters:
You could wrestle with fonts in Canva again, or drop content into Kittl to sharpen it in five minutes. It’s fast, clean, and makes you seem like a designer (without the pain). Escape Canva hell with one drag and drop.

Best use case:
Fire up a Kittl logo template, change the text and color scheme, add your client’s faded old logo, and export it as SVG or high-res PNG. Sharp results look like you hired an in-house designer at freelancer prices. (And in half the time of Canva). 

Who should use this:

• Freelancers branding single offers, proposals, or lead magnets

• Solo creators who want more polish than Canva gives at the last minute

• Anyone tired of waiting for clients to send hex codes or brand files

Pros:
Provides design cred with drag-and-drop speed. Free plan gives full access to templates and fonts, and AI handles layout polish and text effects.

Cons:
Free plan allows 5 active projects at once, and you’ll need a paid plan for SVG exports or high-res downloads.

Pricing:
Free plan available; Pro starts at $15/month.
👉 👉 Explore Kittl and skip the Canva hustle

🔍 Looka: Branding that fakes a full design team

Why it matters:
Your portfolio, proposal, or landing page is solid—until your “logo” shows up looking like a squished JPEG from 2011. Looka helps you generate a clean, modern logo in under two minutes, then hands you a full-on brand kit.

Best use case:
Plug in your name, pick a few fonts you vaguely like, and boom: Looka creates a logo, color palette, business card, and LinkedIn header that look totally professional…not “this was made at 2am in Google Drawings.”

Who should use this:

• Freelancers leveling up their personal brand (or faking it till they make it)

• Solo biz owners avoiding starting from scratch on every asset

• Pros who know a logo shouldn’t look like clipart

Pros:
Instant logos that don’t suck. Brand kit auto-generates assets for every platform. Even creates email sigs, social headers, and biz cards without you lifting more than a finger.

Cons:
Logo generator leans generic if you don’t customize. Not for folks with very specific design visions (or design degrees).

Pricing:
Free to generate logos; Brand Kit starts at $96/year.
👉 Try Looka and fake your design confidence like a pro

🎒Sherpa’s Pack

Freebies to help freelancers gain an edge

🎁Guidde’s free Chrome extension records your screen, adds AI-generated step-by-step instructions, and spits out a slick how-to video in seconds. It’s perfect for client guides, onboarding, or offloading that one task again!
👉 Try Guidde’s browser tool (Sponsor link at bottom of newsletter)

The Ridgeline 🏔️

News on how AI is rewriting the rules for solopreneurs and small teams. Let’s trek:

🕵️‍♂️ ChatGPT gets a side hustle: OpenAI’s new Agent feature is rolling out. It searches, plans, and even takes action. Yes, it’s helpful. No, it won’t replace you. 🔗 Read more

🧠 Three words to rule prompts: A Stanford prof says framing prompts with “Decide, Explain, Suggest” gets better responses. Worth a sticky note. 🔗Try the trick

💸 QuickBooks automates bill pay: QuickBooks just launched built-in bill pay. No more late fees, manual entries, or awkward vendor emails. 🔗 See how it works

🛠️ Build apps in your sleep: Google’s new AI tool, Opal, lets you create web apps without code. Drag, drop, done. 🔗 Build without coding

📈 Content empire, freelancer edition: Smart entrepreneurs are skipping cold calls and building powerful empires with content. Turns out “just post consistently” might actually be right. 🔗Get the blueprint

💊 Insurance costs set to spike: If you're a California freelancer buying health insurance, new budget changes could mean a painful hike. Time to revisit that spreadsheet. 🔗Read the breakdown

☕Final sip:
If your AI agent starts replying to clients without you…congrats. You’ve officially hired yourself out of your own inbox.

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Tools gone wild! 😜

Let’s end with a laugh — when AI tools take a detour off the happy path.

Billboards fire humans

An AI startup plastered Times Square with a bold message: Stop hiring humans Hire AI workers instead.” It sparked outrage, confusion, and a weeklong meltdown across LinkedIn and X. The stunt worked. The campaign went viral with 1B+ impressions, and a $2M ARR spike….but freelancers everywhere had thoughts.

📌 Lesson learned:
When companies shout Stop hiring humans, clients suddenly remember why they value real people: empathy, nuance, (and less likely to hallucinate). Pitch yourself as the human + AI combo that actually gets the work done.

🧭 What’s Next?

📬 Know a freelancer stuck in Canva chaos?
👉 Send them this link and show them a smarter way up the mountain.

Want to make video walk throughs in seconds? Click below to download Guidde’s free browser extension!

—Your Sherpa team 🏔️