How to Use Meme Templates- A Step-by-Step Guide

Memes have become an incredibly popular way to humorously comment on cultural events and everyday life. While some memes consist of an image alone, many memes use a template featuring a reusable character, scene or set-up to convey different jokes or messages. Using a meme template is an easy and fun way to create your own memes to share with friends or post online. In this beginner’s guide, you’ll learn what a meme template is, where to find templates and how to use them to make your own memes from start to finish.

What Is a Meme Template?

A meme template contains the foundational imagery of a meme that can be reused with different text or minor visual alterations. The imagery stays the same, but the text changes to suit each new joke or message. Some of the most popular meme creator templates include Distracted Boyfriend, Success Kid, Roll Safe Think About It and Expanding Brain. These templates clearly convey a set-up and space to add your own humorous text. The imagery carries the core of the joke while the text brings in a fresh new meaning or punchline each time. 

Where to Find Meme Templates

Finding a template to start making memes is easy and fast with these go-to resources:

• Meme Generators: Online sites and tools have huge libraries of popular meme templates that are ready to customize. Their interfaces allow you to add text and make minor visual edits as well. 
• Subreddits: Some subreddits provide downloadable standard meme templates in high resolution. This makes it easy to use them in any image editing software. 
• Google Images: Simply searching Google Images for the meme template you want will provide endless reusable options. Make sure to set filters to find high resolution (HD) images. 

How to Use a Meme Template in 4 Steps

Once you’ve found the perfect template for your joke or message, it’s time to make your meme masterpiece. Follow these four simple steps:

1. Download the meme template image to your computer (right click, ‘Save Image As’). Using a high resolution template will ensure top visual quality. 
2. Open the image file in an editing software like Canva or Adobe Photoshop Express. This will allow you to customize the text. 
3. Edit the existing text or add your own text to the designated areas of the template imagery. Use concise phrases that quickly convey your joke or message. Make sure the text stands out against the background visually. 
4. Adjust font, size, color and placement of text for the best visual impact. Add any other minor visual flourishes like logos or visual effects. 
5. Save your completed meme as a high quality JPEG or PNG image file. Avoid quality loss from compression when saving the file. 
6. Share your meme directly on social media or forums like Reddit or save it to your camera roll to text or share later. Memes are for spreading laughter far and wide! 

Meme Topic Ideas

The wonderful thing about meme templates is their versatility for humor about almost any topic. Consider using meme templates to poke fun at:

• Everyday annoyances like traffic jams, long lines and annoying neighbors
• Relatable experiences like staying up too late binge-watching shows
• Friendly teasing of friends over their quirks and eccentricities
• Commenting on significant pop culture moments, celebrities and politics 
• Capturing reactions to viral videos, songs, memes and news events 
• Exaggerated frustrations with work, chores, diets or exercise plans 
• Playful jokes about relationships and dating mishaps 

Advanced Meme Customization

Once you grasp the basics of meme creation with templates, consider taking your memes to the next level with advanced customization like:

• Altering imagery colors and adding filters for new visual twists
• Splicing together elements from different meme templates to make a hybrid
• Using photo editing to make visual edits like adding/removing objects and text 
• Animating meme templates into GIFs or short video clips 
• Creating mini-series with the same template to tell an ongoing joke 

The more creative you get with both imagery and text, the funnier and more shareable your memes will become. 

Making successful, funny memes does take some creativity and practice. But using a proven meme template gives you a head start with built-in imagery that’s already resonating in pop culture. With this beginner’s guide, you now have the steps to start making memes from popular templates. Show off your meme skills by creating your own to give friends a laugh or poke fun at the latest viral moment.