Millions of people worldwide use Canva because it makes it easy to create quality material. There are many tutorials both within Canva, and on the internet, so you’ll never be at a loss if you need help or guidance on a project.
Let’s show you what Canva is and how it works.
What is Canva?
Canva is an online design tool that makes it possible for anyone with no design experience to create a vast range of attractive items from logos, social media posts, brochures, posters, and calendars to certificates and magazine covers.
It’s a great way to unleash your creativity because Canva offers extensive resources to help you do so. There are thousands of templates, images, and fonts at your disposal. You can even upload your own photos and use them in your design
Getting started
You can sign up to Canva by entering your email address and choosing a password or using a Google or social media account. You can start with a free personal account to check out and learn the program and later choose one of the other available options if you need them:
- The Free option offers everything you’ll need to make your own designs.
- The Pro version costs $9.99 a month. It contains more resources like templates, graphics, and photos. It allows you to create your own templates and upload your own fonts.
- The Enterprise option costs $30 a month and is for corporate users. It offers group resources and unlimited cloud storage.
Once you’ve signed up, Canva will present a demonstration to show new users some basic information about the program. You can put your name, username, website, and email address in your profile if you want to. You can choose to remain private and select only specific designs to make public.
How CANVA works
The best way to see how Canva works is to create your first design.
Select a template
You’ll find templates on the Canva home page, arranged according to category:
Under Social Media, you can choose from Instagram Story, Instagram Post, Facebook Post, Facebook Cover, Twitter Post, and Pinterest Graphic.
Under Personal, you can select Invitation, Card, Resume, Postcard, Planner, and T-shirt. Under Business, there’s Presentation, Website, Logo, Business Card, Invoice, and Proposal.Under Marketing, you’ll find Poster, Flyer, Infographic, Brochure, Newsletter, and Menu. Under Education, there’s Lesson Plan, Worksheet, Certificate, Storyboard, Bookmark, and Class schedule.
Add elements
Here are some elements you can add:
Graphics and Vectors: Shapes, frames, stickers, or icon, add character to a template.
Stock Images: Canva has millions of images for you to use, or you can upload your own photos.Color Palettes: Most templates have a color palette.
Fonts: Chosen by Canva’s designers.
Page Layouts: There will be several layout options for you to use.
Create your design
On Canva’s screen, you’ll see different versions of your template. Select the one you want. Now make the design your own by changing the background color, modifying the layout, and changing the text. Remember that you can customize every element you use in your design to suit your own preferences. Play around and experiment until you like the way your project looks. That’s it. You’ve created your first design.
Export it
You can post your design on social media sites like Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook, save it as a JPG or PG file on your PC, print it, or send it to Presentation Mode.
Size matters
It’s essential to make your design the right size for where you want to send it. All the platforms require specific formats. It’s best to find out what they are and use them so that you don’t end up with photos obscured by text or vice versa. Here are some examples of required dimensions:
- Cover Photo for Facebook: 851 x 315
- Header for Twitter: 1500 x 500
- Channel Art for Youtube: 2560 x 1440
What makes Canva stand out?
Canva is extremely popular in more than 190 countries. It has 30 million active users and more are joining up every day. Its best feature is that anyone can use it to design whatever they want to without any training or knowledge of design.
Everything is set up to make the process painless, including a vast library of resources at your fingertips. You can use it on a PC or a mobile phone or tablet, and it has an entirely free version. You also retain ownership of all your designs in Canva.
Painting a new canvas
If you want to bring out your inner designer or just make your social media posts livelier or your letters more interesting, you can’t go wrong by using Canva. You get access to vast resources to help with your design, and it need not cost you a cent. The program has an intuitive interface, so it’s also fun and easy to use.
