Diploma Maker: How to Create Your Own Diploma [11 Best Practices]

Diplomas are a great way to appreciate hard work and all the effort a person puts into the school program, or any type of event you may think of. However, there's a question - how do you create your own?

Diploma Maker: How to Create Your Own Diploma [11 Best Practices] cover image

Author

Sergey Butko

Updated: January 25, 2024

12 min read

Trusted by:

Blog Logo 1Blog Logo 2Blog Logo 3Blog Logo 4Blog Logo 5Blog Logo 6

We would be glad to assist if you don’t know where to start in creating credentials. Fortunately, it is not as challenging as it sounds.

Keep reading for the best practices and effective ways of building credentials.

But before jumping into details, let's make things clear.

What is a diploma? 

A diploma is a document that confirms someone’s essential skills and abilities. For example, academic achievements. Depending on your needs, it can be in both printed and digital versions. In addition, diplomas can be given as an expression of appreciation for someone’s effort.

So now, let’s look at how you can create a professional document.

Ways of creating your own diploma 

There are many ways that you can create your own diploma. Here are a few of the most common choices.

Option 1: Create your own diploma using a diploma generator

Diploma generators give many possibilities for creating professional, official documents. And not only diplomas. Most generators offer certificates and other digital credentials for educational institutions, homeschool education, or virtual school for advanced graduate courses – just to name a few.

mortarboard-cap-certifier-blog-create-own-diploma.png

Pros of diploma generators:

There are many diploma templates available

In most cases, they are fully customized, so you can make any changes you wish. Even if you find a template, not for a diploma but, for example, a certificate – just change the text, and it’s ready to go. Usually, generators provide many types of diplomas, so you don't have to worry about a lack of choices.

You can send diplomas in bulk to the recipients.

It is a convenient feature, especially when there’re many documents you need to send. Writing them all manually would be a very daunting task, and a diploma generator is a solution here.

You can build a diploma from scratch.

There are many options and features to create your own certification in a few simple steps. You can use the tools to make a custom diploma by adding images, personal messages, or other relevant elements.

Option 2: You can hire a professional 

Hiring a professional designer would be good if you want your document to be highly unique. However, if you issue certifications or diplomas regularly, that service would cost a lot of money.

If your budget does not allow you to hire a professional (which is an expensive option), maybe you should keep looking around for some cheaper options.

Option 3: Use a template from the Internet 

There are many blank diploma templates on the internet for multiple occasions. 

Unfortunately, most of them are not customizable and not adjustable.

So to write your recipient's name or a personal message on the diploma, you need to open the document in a graphic program.

The good news is that any basic graphic program would go. Or, if you don’t mind, print it out and write everything manually. 

However, to have a well-presented document, you need to ensure that your diploma is of good quality. Only high-quality papers look professional when printed. So pay attention to it before printing.

Best practices for creating your own diploma

No matter what method you use, there are some points that you should remember. Check if you follow them all.

#1 Write recipients' names, the issuer’s name, date of the event 

Ensure you include all the information, even if it seems basic: recipient’s name, date, educational institution, name of the course, and optionally the personal message. 

There's no need for the last one, but it gives some personalization to the document. For example, you can mention an interesting quote that refers to the topic you covered.

#2 Add your signatures

For both digital and printed diploma versions, adding a signature gives more credibility to the document. Usually, the signature is placed in the bottom corner, not bigger than a recipient’s name. But if you have another idea, give it a try and test out new options – for example, you can add faculty signatures.

#3 Add visuals like images or pictures 

Make your diploma stand out from others by adding unique images or graphic elements. For example, uploading visuals that refer to the event's theme is a good move. It also brings more sentimental value to the document.

There are limitations here. You can choose a decorative frame or custom frames if you want. One thing worth considering is not going too crazy about the color palette. Make sure that everything is put together.

Don't forget to add your logo to a diploma. When recipients share documents on social media, diplomas can work as marketing tools. Of course, it is a secondary purpose, but why not take advantage of that?

#4 Choose an event-specific diploma template 

When you use a template, ensure it is suitable for the occasion. Thanks to a wide selection of templates, you can find many effective ones to suit every event. 

But how to choose the best template?

Mind the occasion. If you are running a webinar about digital marketing, the certificate or a diploma would be slightly different than a diploma for an online language course for 9th-grade students. 

Think of recipients, what they would like, and the event the diploma is for. 

#5 Use a bigger font for the essential information  

The bigger font is used to grab the attention of the person reading a diploma and makes the document scannable - the most crucial information is in the foreground.

If you look through the templates gallery, you might notice that the document's name and title are bigger and thus more visible. Try to follow that pattern in your diploma.

#6 Make your diploma in printable format

Even if you are about to provide a digital version of diplomas, ensure they are high quality and print-ready. Attendees of your online course might want to print it out, so give them the option to do so. The best and the most common format for printing is PDF or JPG.

#7 Send your diploma in PDF or JPG format via email

Speaking of diploma formats, even if your priority is to deliver a paper version, send documents to attendees as digital files. There are many reasons why it is a good practice.

First, the attendees are assured that they have it in their email inbox if they lose the document. In addition, if the recipients choose to, they can share them on social media. 

#8 Check if there are any typos or spelling mistakes

Check your diploma from top to toe. Carefully read what you’ve written and make sure capital letters are used correctly, include the correct date, check your punctuation, and check whether the spacing is accurate.

Those spelling suggestions may seem like details, but the details make the diploma buttoned up and professional.

#9 Ask for proofreading or use online tools for checking grammar

Two heads are better than one, right? Diplomas contain little text, but mistakes still happen, so it’s good to ask for help proofreading the content. Especially if you want to include a personal message in the document. 

When you don't have anyone to ask for help, there are a lot of grammar checkers online. Google them and choose the best one for you – many of them are free, so there is no need to spend money on additional grammar tools.

#10 Make your digital diploma sharable: Twitter, LinkedIn, or Facebook

Easy-sharing diploma is a win-win situation for diploma makers and diploma holders. So it is an excellent choice to make a digital credential because recipients can share achievements. Therefore, your brand, virtual school, or academic institution gains recognition if your logo is included in the document. 

Also, people love to share their achievements. But, of course, getting a diploma would not be a decisive factor in choosing your course, but it could be one of the minor factors contributing to the choice.

#11 Be sure your diploma is easily readable

Your diploma will not look good if you put too much information on it. Consider including only the most critical elements and keep it as concise as possible. Make your document scannable-mind the spacing, use big and small fonts, and not too much text. Otherwise, it would not look professional.

You need an excellent diploma creator to include all of the best practices. Certifier is just the right choice for this.

Create your own diploma with Certifier in 3 steps 

Certifier is a free diploma builder with many features for creating certifications. With this tool, diploma creation is super quick and straightforward. And most importantly, you can apply the given practices using Certifier. Let’s look at how to make a certification in 3 easy steps.

Step 1: Log in to the Certifier account

First, log in to your Certifier account. If you don’t have an account, click here to sign in. Registration will take you minutes. 

Step 2: Design your diploma

To design your diploma, go to the Designs tab. Here you can decide how you want to make your credential – use a template or build your diploma from scratch. Both ways are super quick and user-friendly with Certifier. 

Create your own diploma with a template

There are many diploma certificate designs in the gallery, all suitable for any occasion: 

  • an actual school diploma (for example, an amazing high-school diploma) 

  • a homeschool diploma (there are perfect parent-issued diploma types as well as school institutions templates) 

  • a diploma for occupation

and many more.

Did you know that there were about 3.7 million homeschool students in 2020-2021 in the United States? So it was roughly 6% to 7% of school-age children.

Change diploma fonts, color, sizes, spacing, and alignment to make a perfect document for you and your attendees. You can upload your image and add a line or text. There are two paper size options: A4 or US letter, and two orientations: landscape or portrait. 

Read more about how to find proper diploma size options ➡️ This is the Ideal Certificate Size (+Examples and Templates)

The display showing diplomas templates available on Certifier diploma generator.

Make your own diploma from scratch

To make a diploma from scratch, choose a blank diploma background. You can also upload your own if you have one. Then, think of how you want your diploma to be designed – choose colors and fonts that go together with the background. It would be great if you could create a document matching your company colors.

The display showing the process of creating own diplomas on Certifier platform.

Don’t forget to use dynamic attributes. With those, you can send the documents in bulk.

If you want to learn how read more about it here ➡️ How To Use Dynamic Attributes To Create and Send Certificates in Bulk

If the document is ready, map the attributes to the text, and it’s ready to go.

#3 Send diplomas in bulk

The final step is to send the documents. First, prepare a list of recipients in the CSV file. Then, in one column, write all the names; in the next column, put all their email addresses. It is a crucial part of creating diplomas. 

Before sending the documents, look at the email addresses to see if there aren’t any spelling mistakes. 

TIP: using Zoom, WebinarJam, or ClickMeeting for your webinars, you can export a list of your attendees directly from any of these platforms by following this easy guide. 

In a nutshell: how to make an original diploma with Certifier?

Log in to Certifier account. 

#1 Design your document using a template or make it from scratch.

#2 Add attributes to the text.

#3 Upload a CVS file with recipients’ names and email addresses.

#4 Send diplomas in bulk.

Certifier’s top features for making amazing credentials

Undoubtedly, the top feature of Certifier is sending certificates in bulk. It means that you can send even thousands of certificates or diplomas to the attendees in minutes.

Additionally, Certifier allows sending a congratulatory email with the document. You can design it yourself using the template.

You can edit diplomas even after sending them to the recipients if a document needs fixing or corrections. 

With Certifier, diplomas are easy to share. When recipients get the email with a diploma, they can share it on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. And what’s essential is you can see diploma metrics. Certifier delivers analytics of your documents’ performance. It shows the number of:

  • published diplomas

  • opened diplomas

  • opened emails 

  • shared diplomas

Moreover, you can view social media insights in the Certifier dashboard. 

And last but not least, Certifier is GDPR compliant, so all the data are safe. If you have any questions, contact us via live chat or send an email with your concerns. We are happy to help you anytime.

Why wait? Create your own diploma with Certifier!

Thanks to many advanced features, you can apply all the practices and deliver professional diplomas within minutes, even to a large group of recipients. 

You can create your own diploma for any occasion you need. Certifier is perfect for college diplomas and for making a credential for a homeschooled student. Additionally, any other institution would go – for example, apprenticeship programs or innovative courses.

Click here to start a free Certifier trial to create your own diplomas.

Sergey Butko avatar

Sergey Butko

Tech entrepreneur. Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe. At Certifier, Sergey’s work focused on revolutionizing the way credentials, certificates, and badges are issued and managed through cutting-edge APIs and software infrastructure.

Share this article

Copy Link