How to use Canva: A complete guide

Are you looking for a simple way to design amazing graphics? then learn how to use Canva for newbies!

 

Canva is a design tool that works with a browser. The tool that makes it simple to design stunning images. It also has a mobile application! This design tool allows you to design anything from Instagram posts to logos for businesses at no cost.

The benefits of Canva:

1. Images for social media that are pre-sized.
2. Designer type templates get your graphics started.
3. Many sizes and shapes options for size and shape.
4. Look for stock images and pay a fee to use them – or you can use the free content.
5. Save your images for editing or download them later.
6. It is easy to create multiple, similar designs using an existing template.

A short background of Canva

Canva was established in Sydney, Australia, in July 2012 by three tech businessmen Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams. The Canva idea was born from Perkins, who realized a need within the marketplace for user-friendly graphic design software. As a communications and commerce undergraduate of the University of Western Australia, Perkins was frustrated with the complexity and difficulty to master the standard design software was. Canva’s aim is to allow the world to create. Within one year of its debut, Canva had racked up three-quarters of a million active users. By 2020 Canva was home to more than 30 million active monthly users.

Canva can also be downloaded in the form of iOS and Android applications. However, for the sake of this feature, we’ll look at the full-fat version of the website.

The Fundamental Functions that are available in the Canva App

The main page of the application is divided into three screens -three screens: Home, Designs, and the Menu. Let’s look at each of these areas and what’s available on the screens.

The Home Screen

1. Let’s begin with the Home screen; that’s the first thing you’ll encounter when you open the application (after you log in). This is the screen and the place to browse all of the templates in the app.
2. On the right side of your screen, you’ll find a search bar that allows you to use keywords to find templates. Below that, you’ll see the Design heading.
3. If you select one of the alternatives (Instagram poster, post cover on Facebook, Instagram post or cover, etc.), you’ll be taken to a page with templates specifically tailored to the dimensions you want. If you’d like to begin from scratch, choose blank.
4. In the lower part of the home page, you’ll find templates in various designs, all with a purpose. A purple + ( +) button in the lower right corner on the right is a different option to create a blank space. When you tap it, you can select the size you would like, and it will create a new blank area.

The Designs Screen

1. The next step is to go to the Design screen. This is where you’ll be able to look over everything you’ve made in your account, whether it was created on the desktop or mobile.
2. Every image comes with two buttons in the upper right corner. The Arrow icon allows you to download the image. On the other hand, clicking on the three dots will open the Menu in a pop-up window with several options, including Edit and Make a Copy and Share.
3. Be aware of this: Edit will take precedence over your earlier DesignDesign. If you are happy with your DesignDesign but want to save it for later use, select to make a copy instead.

The Menu Screen

1. The Menu Screen is the place where you will see additional options. The two main features you will see are shared with you and the entire folders you have.

Which are paid for Canva alternatives?

• Paying for Canva Pro can give you more features. All design content available on Canva Pro will remain accessible for users to use as often as possible, which means you’ll have access to more than 420,000 templates, with new designs updated daily. Additionally, you can work on more than 75 million premium photos, videos, audio, and illustrations.
• Additionally, the cloud storage you have will increase to 100GB. You can save your designs as templates for everyone in the Canva staff to use, and you can also schedule social media content to go live at specific times and on certain dates.
• “Pro” lets you create your own “Brand Kit” to upload your brand colours, fonts, palette, and logos to be used across the Canva platform. You’ll also have access to Canva’s amazing “Magic Resize” tool; with just a few clicks, you can modify a post you’ve made for Twitter-like, say it to be a perfect-sized Facebook post.

How do you utilize Canva to create posts for social media?

• Not all templates can be downloaded when you sign up for a free account; make sure to select the ones marked as free. If you use the accessible version of Canva, You can make many different posts for various social media platforms. This means you can create appealing content, even if the product you’re selling is the personal branding of your brand.
• This includes Instagram posts, stories, posts, highlights covers, Facebook covers and posts, YouTube channel art, thumbnails and intros, LinkedIn posters and banners, Twitter post, TikTok backgrounds, Pinterest pins, and much more.
• Canva’s design workflow is similar to the kind of content you make. If you can create an easy social media post, it’s possible to design more sophisticated designs, including brochures, presentations, and business cards.
• The interface of Canva treats every part of your work as a distinct element. The image is a single element, colours are the other components, the text is an additional element, and graphics are yet another. So, making your creations using Canva can be broken down into smaller pieces that you can work on one at one time.

 Steps to Create Visual Content with Canva

 

1.) Begin by developing the content marketing strategy : It is crucial to determine your goals for content and the platforms that best fit them.

2.) Explore the templates library to create the appropriate content: Canva provides specific expert templates that cover a broad range of content. Its templates pages are organized into categories, namely kinds of content and subcategories based on themes or subjects. You can, for instance, pick from templates for posters and presentations based on the content marketing strategy you developed in the first step. Furthermore, they are already optimized to the correct dimensions for banners, headers and photos for cover images on specific sites like Facebook, Twitter or LinkedIn.

3.) Find the appropriate images for your blog post using Canva’s built-in image library: Visual content has 40X the chance to be shared on social networks than other media. Type in an appropriate keyword or two into the search box, then select one of the illustrations or photos, which means you will not have to do more Google images searches. The vast library of photos contains many subjects and themes, including abstract pictures of textures, landscapes, animals, and even people.

4.) Combine text and image:  The most effective online content for sharing is a blend of text and visuals; take note of the statistics we mentioned earlier on the share ability of content with the proper amount of images. But, ensuring that your font is compatible with the rest of your visual content is difficult. Some professionals have decades of experience that can help combine the right fonts Canva offers a quick fix for you: the tools for pairing fonts.

• First, pick your starter font. This handy tool will help you find the most suitable combinations of fonts to match your font and actual examples from the web.

5.) Enhance your photo with the help of a filter: Filters are an excellent instrument for changing the mood the tone of an image. Additionally, applying a customized filter to all your posts can help you establish a common theme and connect your campaigns, increasing consistency and recognition.

• To apply a filter, select the image you want to filter, click the filter button, and select one of the 14 filters in Canva. You can use the slider to adjust the level that the filter will apply. There are other options to alter the settings of contrast, brightness and saturation or to create effects such as Vignette.

6.) Resize your entire Design to accommodate different platforms:  We’re done creating our visual. This was quick. We must publish it, share it on different social media platforms, and then print our poster. It also means we’ll require resizing for these different platforms. However, instead of designing the whole image following the dimensions needed by each using the Canva Magic Resize tool.

• Its Magic Resize tool is available to Canva for Work users -which is a paid plan that starts from $12.95 for a month. If you’re using free tools, don’t worry since we’ve listed some alternative directions for resizing below.
• Magic Resize is a time-saving feature that allows you to transfer and resize an existing design in different formats to suit different channels. Click “File,” navigate to “Magic Resize,” and then choose the various formats you’d like to employ to alter your image. After that, click”Resize” and click the “resize” button, and you’re done.
• Canva lets you work with your team members or design partners in visuals on one platform. Click on “Share” and then navigate through “Link,” and choose the “can edit” option to create links that allow other users to modify the Design. Alternately, you can select the “Can View” or “can look at” option, which allows someone to view your Design without the capability to modify it.
• You can upload your Design straight to Facebook and Twitter if you prefer. You can also use the embed option that generates the code needed to incorporate your Design on your website’s blog. For other platforms, or if you’d prefer an offline version of the Design, download the image in JPG or PNG format or a printable PDF format. In our shelter for animals design our flyer, we’ll download the model in a high-quality PDF file to improve its print-ready appearance.

7.) Download or share your Canva Design:  After you’ve played around with all the elements of your image to create the perfect picture (or video), It’s now an ideal time to set it into use. You’ll need to click the buttons above the display to do this.

• The downward-pointing arrow helps save the DesignDesign on your device, whereas the pointed upwards arrow allows you to share the DesignDesign. Its Sharing button is among the primary benefits of the Canva application. Once you’re finished with your photo, You can send it to friends and colleagues via WhatsApp or Slack directly.

Other design features

Canva is full of design features that you can make use of.

Font effects

• They can be used to make the words of an image stand out.
• Click on ‘text’ in the Menu and select an effect you like.
• After that, click “effects” on the top Menu to check its possibilities.
• For instance, in this case, you can utilize lifting or shadow. The words can be made hollow and echo, slice, or hollow. You can also alter the shade’s colour!

Charts and graphs

• For infographics and other graphics graphs, charts and charts are extremely important.
• Click on the option ‘elements’ in the Menu, and then scroll down to ‘charts.’
• You can then choose the graph chart you’d like to use.
• If you opt for something like a bar chart, it is possible to input data as you would in an Excel spreadsheet.
• You can alter the colour on the chart as well. Take a look below.

Icons

• In addition, under Elements, There are a lot of icons you can incorporate into your designs.
• Simple line icon to image images. There are a lot of possibilities in Canva.
• In the menu ‘Elements In the ‘Elements, type in what you’re looking for. Below, you’ll see that I have searched for the ‘bird icon.’
• Please choose the one you like and then place it on the pattern.
• In some cases, you may even alter the colour! This can be a great way to ensure your brand remains intact.

Stickers

• Stickers are animated icons. They bring a motion to an image popular with many social media websites.
• There are words, arrows, shapes as well as Emojis. There are also seasonal ones that you can utilize. You’ll notice that I am a fan of the idea of using holidays to promote social media!
• Stickers can emphasize the need for action, an important point, or draw attention.

Gradients

• Gradients are in vogue and are a great way to bring some colour to your DesignDesign.
• There are a variety of shapes available in Canva using pre-made gradients.
• Additionally, you can alter the colours of the panels to reflect your brand or style.

Styles

• If you choose the more option from the Menu and then select Styles, you’ll find another helpful option.
• This is a list of trending colours and the fonts that go with them.
• Therefore, if you don’t want to make your brand, These are great.
• You can also pick only colours or fonts.

Video Stock images

• In addition to stock photos, there is an array of video stock images on Canva.
• It is accessible on the menu bar on the side under “video.’
• These can be added to your designs or made your own.

Include a video in the template

• You can upload a video to your template in the same manner as you would add an image. They can be videos uploaded by you or standard videos.
• Drag your video and place it wherever you’d like it to be on the DesignDesign.

Music to accompany the video

• On the Menu, there’s also an array of music.
• If you’ve created videos, you can include a soundtrack!
• Some are in the free plan, and others are on the Pro.