1. Setup Cloudinary
Cloudinary is simple to setup and use. You just need to create an account, after which you’re assigned a cloud storage for your images: Create a FREE Cloudinary account using the signup form.

2. Upload Images
Now that you have a free Cloudinary account, you can give it a test drive. Go to the Media Library and upload some images to your cloud:


Cloudinary Offerings
Before we start implementing the text overlay feature, let me tell you about the core Cloudinary offerings:- Storage: We encountered this feature while uploading images to the server.
- Delivery: The URL we got from the media library is what we use to deliver images from Cloudinary.
- Transformation: Cloudinary enables you to manipulate images by adjusting URL parameters in the delivery URL. The image above is transformed before delivery by adding the transformation parameter 'w_700' which scales the image from it’s original 1,000+ pixel width to 700px.
3. Text Overlay
Text overlays in this context refers to applying characters as a mask on graphic images. This process is commonly used in image editing tools like Photoshop, Sketch or Illustrator, where you import an image to your work art board and use the text control to apply characters above the image. For example:

http://res.cloudinary.com/christekh/image/upload/w_700/l_text:Verdana_20_bold_underline:JOHNSONS%20PRESENTS,g_north,y_25,co_rgb:F9583C/pexels-photo-341858_hx5cva.jpgThis URL defines the many features going on with this image transformation:
- w_700: Scales down the image to 700px
- l_text: Defines the overlay text to be placed on the an image. This is a transformation feature.
- Verdana: Font style
- 20: Font size
- bold: Font weight
- underline: Text decoration
- JOHNSONS%20PRESENTS: URL encoded overlay text
- g_north: Text location which is top of the image.
- y_25: y axis offset of the text from the top in percentage
- co_rgb:F9583: Text color for the overlay
4. Custom Fonts
Our party banner is taking shape, but to make the banner more festive, we want to add some crazy fonts. We don’t commonly see crazy fonts, hence you shouldn’t expect to see one. This is why you cannot just use l_text:CrazyFont. Cloudinary is very flexible, though. You can upload your own custom font to Cloudinary, then use its public ID as the l_text value. Midnight Valentine is a typical party font that we can use. Download the zipped file, unzip, and upload the .ttf font file. (NB: You can only upload .ttf or .otf fonts.) You need to specify the type as authenticated and resource type as raw. You can do this while uploading via SDKs. Say Node for instance:var cloudinary = require(’cloudinary’)
// Credentials retrieved from dashboard
cloudinary.config({
cloud_name: 'CLOUD_NAME',
api_key: 'API_KEY',
api_secret: 'API_SECRET'
})
cloudinary.v2.uploader.upload(
__dirname + '/Midnight-Valentine.ttf',
{resource_type: 'raw',
type: 'authenticated',
public_id: 'Midnight-Valentine.ttf'},
function(error, result) {
console.log(result, error)
})You can now deliver the image using the custom font we uploaded:

http://res.cloudinary.com/christekh/image/upload/w_700/l_text:Verdana_20_bold_underline:JOHNSONS%20PRESENTS,g_north,y_25,co_rgb:F9583C/l_text:Midnight-Valentine.ttf_80:CLUB%20NIGHT,co_rgb:ffffff/pexels-photo-341858_hx5cva.jpgWe chained another transformation to what we had before. This time, the l_text’s font style value is now Midnight-Valentine.ttf which is the public ID of the font we uploaded. We removed the g_north property, as well as the y property, so the overlay position stays at the default location, which is the center of the image. Let’s have some more fun adding the venue and date of the party:

http://res.cloudinary.com/christekh/image/upload/w_700/l_text:Verdana_20_bold_underline:JOHNSONS%20PRESENT,g_north,y_25,co_rgb:F9583C/l_text:Midnight-Valentine.ttf_80:CLUB%20NIGHT,co_rgb:ffffff/l_text:Verdana_20:Venue:%20JOHNSONS%20PARTY%20CLUB,g_south,y_130,co_rgb:ffffff/l_text:Lato_18_bold:Date:%2008-01-2017,g_south,y_100,co_rgb:ffffff/pexels-photo-341858_hx5cva.jpg
Conclusion
The first image shown at the beginning of this article was designed in Sketch. The last image was built by composing parameters in a URL. You can imagine how powerful the latter is. Knowing the right properties in Cloudinary to use will enable you to start generating graphics dynamically without the help of a graphics designer. You can learn more about these properties from the Cloudinary docs. [-- This is an advertorial on behalf of Cloudinary --]Christian Nwamba
Cloudinary provides a comprehensive cloud-based image and video management solution. With offices in Israel, London and Sunnyvale, Calif., Cloudinary has quickly become the de facto solution used by web and mobile application developers at major companies around the world to streamline image and video management, and deliver an optimal end user experience. Among Cloudinary users are Answers.com, Conde Nast, Gawker, Gizmodo, TED, The Knot, Under Armour, Vogue, Wired and many others. For more information, visit www.cloudinary.com or follow on Twitter @cloudinary.
Read Next
3 Essential Design Trends, December 2023
While we love the holidays, too much of a seasonal theme can get overwhelming. Thankfully, these design trends strike a…
10 Easy Ways to Make Money as a Web Designer
When you’re a web designer, the logical way to make money is designing websites; you can apply for a job at an agency,…
By Louise North
The 10 Most Hated Fonts of All Time
Remember when Comic Sans wasn’t the butt of the jokes? Long for the days when we actually enjoyed using the Impact…
15 Best New Fonts, November 2023
2023 is almost over, and the new fonts are still coming thick and fast. This month, we’ve found some awesome variable…
By Ben Moss
Old School Web Techniques Best Forgotten
When the web first entered the public consciousness back in the 90s, it was primarily text-based with minimal design…
By Simon Sterne
20 Best New Websites, November 2023
As the nights draw in for the Northern hemisphere, what better way to brighten your day than by soaking up some design…
30 Amazing Chrome Extensions for Designers and Developers
Searching for a tool to make cross-platform design a breeze? Desperate for an extension that helps you figure out the…
By Robert Reeve
Exciting New Tools for Designers, November 2023
We’ve got a mix of handy image helpers, useful design assets, and clever productivity tools, amongst other treats. Some…
The Dangers of Doomscrolling for Designers and How to Break Free
As a creative professional, navigating the digital realm is second nature to you. It’s normal to follow an endless…
By Louise North
From Image Adjustments to AI: Photoshop Through the Years
Remember when Merriam-Webster added Photoshop to the dictionary back in 2008? Want to learn how AI is changing design…
By Max Walton
3 Essential Design Trends, November 2023
In the season of giving thanks, we often think of comfort and tradition. These are common themes with each of our three…
30 Obsolete Technologies that will Perplex Post-2000s Kids
Remember the screech of dial-up internet? Hold fond memories of arcade machines? In this list, we’re condensing down 30…