How To Use Canva

Canva is a free graphic design tool that allows you to create beautiful images without having to hire a designer or spend hours learning Photoshop.

Canva has become a favorite tool for bloggers, designers, and marketers who want to create professional graphics for their social media posts, websites, and other marketing materials.

This design platform has a library of over 1 million stock photos, vectors, fonts, illustrations, videos, audio clips, and more.

You don’t need any experience creating graphics to start designing on Canva. It’s easy to learn how to make your first image.

You can also add text, shapes, borders, backgrounds, and edit the colors in your photos.

In this article, we will discuss how you can use Canva to create your own images.

What Can You Use Canva For?

You can use Canva for many things, such as:

Create Images for Social Media Posts,
Design Graphics for Websites & Blogs,
Make Infographics,
Create Presentations & Slideshows,
Promote Products,
Make Awesome Email Signatures,
Add Text to Photos,
Make Videos Tutorials,
Make Animated GIFs.

Canva offers so much potential with its simple interface. If you are looking for an alternative to Adobe Photoshop, then you should definitely check out Canva.

Why Should You Use Canva?

There are several reasons why you should use Canva, here are some of them:

Free

Canva is completely free to use. There are no subscription fees or hidden costs. You only pay if you decide to download one of the paid templates.

There are also some paid plans, which will give you access to more templates and design features, yet these are optional.

Easy To Use

Canva is very user-friendly. Even beginners can easily get started using it. Canva does not require any technical skills to use. Anyone can use it, regardless of whether they know anything about computers.

Simple Interface

The Canvas app uses a clean and intuitive interface. You won’t have to worry about complicated menus or confusing features.

Accessible

Canva is accessible from all devices including smartphones, tablets, laptops, desktops, etc.

No Need For Experience

Canva doesn’t require any previous knowledge of graphic design software like Photoshop. All you need is a desire to create something new.

Free Templates

Canva comes with thousands of high quality free templates that you can use as starting points when creating your designs.

Easy Sharing

You can share your creations directly to Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Google+, Tumblr, and LinkedIn.

No Time Limits

You can save your projects as long as you want. You can keep working on them until you’re ready to publish them.

Easy Customization

You can customize your project by changing the size, color, background, font, and layout.

How To Use Canva: Step-By-Step

Create Your First Project

The first thing you’ll want to do is create an account if you haven’t already. Then once that is done you can start your first project. The first thing you need to do is choose a template.

Click on “Templates”’ in the top left corner of Canva. Then select the category that best suits your needs. In our example, we chose “Business”.

Choose A Template

Once you’ve selected a template, you’ll be able to see several options under it. These include “Style”, “Layout”, “Background”, “Text”, and “Image”.

Under each option, there are multiple choices. For instance, under the “Style” tab, you can choose between “Clean”, “Modern”, “Classic”, and “Glamorous”.

Select Your Style

After choosing a template, you’ll now be able to make changes to the overall look of your design.

You can adjust the colors, fonts, layouts, backgrounds, and images. You can even change the order of elements within your design.

Add Images & Graphics

You can add graphics to your design by clicking on the “+” icon located next to the “Images” section.

Once you click on this button, you’ll be given the opportunity to search for an image online or upload one yourself.

Adjust Size And Position

Next, you’ll be able, resize and reposition your images. This includes moving them around the canvas, adjusting their widths and heights, and rotating them.

Add Text

Finally, you’ll be able to edit your text. You can change its font, style, alignment, size, and color, by clicking on the text.

There’s also a tool called “Magic Wand”’ which allows you to remove unwanted objects from your design.

Publish Your Design

When you’re done making adjustments, simply click on “Publish” to save your work. Now, you can share your creation via social media or email.

You can always come back to your project later if you’d like. Simply click on “Save” again to access your saved files.

Share With Others

Canva has many sharing tools including buttons, embed codes, QR codes, and links. You can easily copy these URLs and paste them into emails, websites, blogs, etc.

Free Vs Paid Version Of Canva

There are two versions of Canva available: free and paid. Both offer similar features with some differences. Let’s take a closer look at what they have to offer.

Both versions provide users with the ability to create beautiful designs without having any prior experience.

They both allow users to use templates and drag and drop components to create unique designs.

However, the paid version offers more customization options such as adding custom shapes, editing text, changing background and layout, and using filters.

The free version only allows users to create up to 10 projects per month. If you wish to continue working after creating your initial project, then you will need to upgrade to the paid version.

The free version is ad-supported, while the paid version does not show ads. Also, the free version has a limited storage space while the paid version gives unlimited storage.

There isn’t too much in the inferences of both versions. However, there is no denying that paid plans do offer you a lot more freedom. Although, you can still create amazing things on the free plan.