A Quick and Easy Guide to Using Canva
Canva is easy to use and has great tools that allow you to design images that grab anyone’s eye. These images can be used on your personal website, Pinterest, and anywhere else that you are leveraging your business and trying to advertise. Canva helps you with all of your design needs both on and offline. When thinking about offline, Canva allows you to make posters, slideshow presentations, documents, and business cards.
There are a couple of huge benefits to using Canva and these are the reasons that many people choose to. You are able to either make your own design or you can use an already designed template or layout. The choice is up to you and no matter which one you choose, the program is still easy to work with.
Another benefit is that this program is absolutely 100% free to use. You never have to pay a dime to use the site or its features. There is a premium side to the website that offers users with stock images in high quality and this feature costs about $1 per picture. The free side of the website has hundreds of different elements, features, backgrounds, images, and fonts to choose from so you are never limited on what you can choose.
This is a great program to use if you are not a graphic designer but you need some designs now. Some of the best features of the website are below. Check them out.
Features of Canva
Free of Price and Installation
We discussed this a bit above and it is important to reiterate it because many programs are not totally free. This program is an online program only and never even requires you to download anything onto your computer. Save your computer space while still being able to create amazing designs.
Designing Made Easy
Designing anything in Canva is extremely easy and it takes the pain and hours out of sitting around trying to figure out a new program. The program allows you to design anything you want and the interface is easy to use.
You can crop and cut out any piece of the images you want from the huge selection. Once you have the images you want, simply drag them and drop them where you want.
Tons of Options
There are many different graphics, images, fonts, and designs to choose from. If for some reason the program does not have what you want, you can simply upload your own.
Social
Canva allows you to decide who you share your designs with. You can allow any of your friends, coworkers, and clients to view and edit your work.
Getting Started
To get started, you will need to navigate to www.Canva.com. Once there, you have to create an account. To create one, simply enter in your email and a password that you will remember. Click submit. You will need to confirm your email address but you do not need to enter in any more information than what you already did. Head over to your email address and confirm your account. You will be directed to the start a new design screen or you may need to reenter in your credentials first.
Social Media Design
Now that you are on the start a new design page, click on social media. The button is located on the top of the screen on the left hand side. It will be the first option out of a couple others. This will automatically open a new tab with a workspace for you.
On the left hand of the screen you will see a sidebar with all of your options. You can search for images, browse through the layouts, add text, change the background, and upload anything you want.
On the right hand side of your screen is your work area. This is where designs and layouts will appear when you click on them. At this point, you should see a blank page. Underneath this blank page is an add new button. When clicked, this button will add another page to your current work area. You can add as many pages as you need for your campaign.
Search Function
Upon clicking on the search function, you will see a search box where you can enter in any keywords you want. This will bring up a list of both the free and premium photos for you to choose from.
Underneath the search box is a breakdown of different photo categories you can use. Included in this breakdown is:
– Lines
– Text Holders
– Frames
– Shapes
– Grids
– Banners
– Buttons
– Icons
– Travel
– Animals
– Food
– Hand Drawings
– And more
For example, click on icons. You will see a lineup of different free images you can use for your design. Click on the yellow flower. See below.
Once you have clicked on it, you will be able to see the different options to delete your current selection, resize it, copy it, forward it, or change the colors on it. You can play around with the different options to find the colors that work for you and the size you like.
To discard, simply press the trash can button or delete from your keyboard.
Layouts
With a clean slate in front of you, click on the layouts button. You can locate this button from the left side of the screen underneath the search button. Upon clicking on it, you can search through many different pre-made layouts. To use any of them, simply click one.
Choose your favorite layout and click on it. It should now be on the right hand side of your screen. More options will come up for you and you will see that you can click on multiple items of the layout.
Clicking on the text will allow you to adjust it. You can change the font, color, and size of the text. You can also replace the words and customize them to say exactly what you want them to.
If you click on one of the picture, you can resize it and also change the background color of it. If you are hovered over a picture, an option called filters will come up. This option allows you to change and adjust the brightness and contrast of the photo. You can also choose different color themes. If you need to crop the photo, the option is next to the filters button.
To delete something from the layout specifically, click on it until the options appear for it. Click delete on your keyboard or the press the trash can icon. You can choose to delete individual pictures, textboxes, and more.
If you need to delete the whole layout, you can by pressing delete on your keyboard or pressing the trash can icon. Make sure that the whole layout is highlighted when you click delete otherwise individual pieces of the layout will delete.
Text
Underneath the layouts section is a section called text. Click on this by locating the icon for it on the left hand side of your screen. Once you click on it, you will see a lot of text options. You can choose which ones you want to use.
There is everything and anything from pictures of name tags to movie tickets, and postage stamps. You have many different options to look through and choose from, leaving you bound to find something perfect for your project.
Once you have chosen a text box that you like, click on it. You will now see the text box on the right hand side of your screen. You can adjust the size, colors, and fonts of your chosen box. You can also write in whatever you want the text to say.
This section is easy to use and can accommodate any campaign or freebie you are offering.
Background
The background tab is underneath the text tab on the left hand side of the screen. Click on this tab now. There will be a multitude of choices that come up for you to choose from.
If you have a blank screen when you start out at this point, you will only see the background on your screen. You will have the option to choose the background you want and then customize it to your liking. All of the colors can be changed so you never have to worry when searching through the options that your color is not available.
A small pop up with all of the options to customize the background will show up, just like with any of the other options. You can filter the background and change the color of it. If you choose a background you do not like, simply delete it by pressing the delete button on your keyboard or the trash can icon.
If you have already chosen a layout or an image you want to use before choosing a background, no need to worry. Your work is not lost and you can still choose a background. Simply select the background that you want for your design. Choose the color as you would with anything else.
Once ready, click on the whole image area. You will see the popup that says copy, forward, back, trash can icon, and a small arrow pointing downwards. Click on the arrow. You will see two options for transparency and link.
Click on the transparency button and move the slider slowly to the left until your background is visible through your layout. You will begin to see the color take over and your layout still in the background.
Uploads
The uploads button is underneath the background tab on the left hand side of the screen. Here you can upload your own images or use photos from your Facebook page.
Upon clicking on upload your own images, you will be directed to upload images from your computer. You can choose the image you want to use and click open. The picture will then open on the right hand side of the screen for you to begin playing with.
Upon clicking the use Facebook photos button, you will be directed to enter in your Facebook login information. The site is secure so you never have to worry about your privacy or safety. Once you have logged in, you will be able to choose the Facebook photos you want to use.
Completion
Once you are done with your photo, you can then link and publish it as you choose. To do this, click the link and publish button up at the top, center of the screen. You will then be provided with a link to the image. Underneath the link, you can check off the box to allow people with the link to edit the picture. If you do not check this box, no one but you will be able to edit the picture.
The option for publishing allows you to place the image on the web or download it into a PDF file. The website suggests that you upload it to the web once you are ready for everyone to see it and download it to PDF if you are using it for print.
Underneath the image and PDF options, there is a small arrow. This arrow will allow you to click the button to publish all of the pages you created, a certain number of pages you created, and whether or not you want the image to post with bleed and crop markings.
If you simply just want to save your picture so that you can come back to it later, no problem! The website automatically saves the work in progress and it will appear on your home screen underneath the section titled my designs.
Other Goodies
The options such as text, layout, background, and uploads stay the same through each different section of the website. You can choose other sections other than social media. You can choose from presentation, poster, Facebook cover, blog graphic, Pinterest, and document.
All of these other options allow you to create more in-depth items. For instance, underneath the presentation tab, you will see different layouts that are perfect for presentations at conferences or meetings. You can use these layouts to help write notes and guide your readers along with you. Spice up the slides with different pictures and text. You can adjust all aspects of these other options the same way as you did with the social media tab.
Final Verdict
Canva is a great website to use and will help you create the designs you want and need for your campaigns and other social media plans. You will find that the website is extremely easy to use and there are no complicated buttons or designs that block you from being able to do exactly what you want.
No matter the image, font, or background you pick, you can always customize them to be exactly how you want them to be. There are many different options within Canva that allow you to not only create a Facebook cover but impress your customers with letterhead, documents, or even a presentation.
You will find that using Canva is a breeze and takes the worry out of needing to design something. Beginners and professionals alike can use this program and benefit from it. Many people enjoy the website because it is free to use. The website automatically stores your work so you never have to worry about losing your work if something were to happen. Simply return back to Canva.com and the image will be there.
Canva has an option to purchase high quality images at an affordable rate and if you choose to not purchase them, you can upload your own photos and then create a presentation or social media page around it.
There is never any software to install and you can easily breeze through a design. One of the best things about the website is that it offers tutorials for making different types of designs and the like. The tutorials will walk you through the different things you need to do to create a stunning page.
Social media is an important part of your business and is just as important as having eye popping graphics and advertisements. If you are not advertising your business and making yourself known, no one will ever find you. The same goes if you are just creating images that are so-so. You will fall into the shadows behind your competition and you will be left in the dust.
Canva is a very easy to use tool to get all the graphics you need for your website and articles. It’s easy as pie…