The Designer: Create custom layouts for your screen
The Designer
With the Screenbird Designer, you create fully customized layouts for your digital signage screens. Combine text, images, shapes, video and live apps in a visual editor. No design experience needed.
Creating a design
- Go to Content in the sidebar.
- Click on Create design.
- Choose a canvas size: HD landscape (1920x1080), HD portrait (1080x1920), 4K landscape (3840x2160), 4K portrait (2160x3840), or a custom size.
- Optional: start with a template (information screen, welcome screen, menu board) or begin with a blank canvas.
- Add elements, customize them and save.
Adding elements
You can add the following elements to your design:
Text
Add text fields with full control over font, size, color, alignment, line spacing and letter spacing. Choose from system fonts or upload your own fonts via the file library.
Images
Drag images from your media library or choose from the built-in stock photo library (Pexels). Images support rounded corners, transparency and rotation.
Shapes
- Rectangle (with adjustable corner radius for rounded corners)
- Circle
- Triangle
- Line
- Arrow
All shapes support a solid color or gradient fill, a stroke and transparency.
Video
Add a video to your design via a URL. The video plays when the design is displayed on a screen.
Apps
Add live apps to your design, such as a clock, weather forecast, news ticker, YouTube video, social media feed or Google Slides presentation. All 40+ Screenbird apps are available. The app displays live on the screen, directly in your design.
Canvas and background
- Background type - Choose via a segmented control between a solid color, gradient (two colors with adjustable angle) or image
- Background image - Upload an image as background (display: cover, contain or stretch)
- Grid - Enable a grid for precise alignment
- Rulers - Pixel rulers along the top and left sides of the canvas
Editing elements
Position and size
Move elements by dragging or enter exact X/Y coordinates. Adjust width and height or scale proportionally.
Alignment
Align multiple selected elements: left, center, right, top, center or bottom. With three or more elements, you can also distribute them evenly.
Layers
Each element has a layer position. Use the layers panel on the right to rearrange, hide or lock elements. Locked elements cannot be accidentally moved.
Grouping
Select multiple elements and group them to move and scale them as a whole.
Keyboard shortcuts
- Ctrl+Z - Undo
- Ctrl+Y - Redo
- Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V - Copy / Paste
- Delete - Delete
- Arrow keys - Move element 1px
- Shift + arrow keys - Move element 10px
- Ctrl+S - Save
- Spacebar - Pan canvas
AI Designer
The AI Designer is a chat sidebar that you open via the AI icon in the bottom right of the canvas. Describe in a prompt what you want (for example, "create a welcome screen with our logo and the text Welcome") and the AI generates a complete design. You can refine the result with follow-up messages, just like a conversation. The AI adjusts colors, text, positions and elements based on your feedback.
Preview design
Click the play button in the toolbar to see a preview of your design. The preview plays inline in the canvas (animations and video play in their place), without fullscreen mode.
Send design to your screen
When your design is ready, you can send it to your screen in two ways:
- Push directly - Click the Push to screen button in the editor and select one or more screens.
- Via a playlist - Add the design to a playlist and schedule it via a schedule.
Tips
- Use templates as a starting point and customize them with your own text, colors and logo.
- Combine a background image with semi-transparent shapes and text for professional results.
- Add a live clock or weather forecast to your design to keep it dynamic.
- Use alignment and distribution to position elements neatly.
- The design is automatically saved as you work.