Enhancing Virtual Communication with canva
By Kelly Hanson, Process Improvement & Change Management Intern
July 1, 2021
Over the past year, much of our daily communication has moved to entirely virtual, no longer supporting previous communication methods, such as billboards, flyers, and in-person meetings. As a result, the Office of Process Improvement (OPI) started exploring other avenues of communication. This led to the discovery of Canva.
Canva is a free graphic design platform that can be used to create videos, presentations, posters, and other visual content. OPI has utilized Canva for its video series and have recently started tapping into Canva's flyer and logo capabilities for other projects. All you have to do to get started is to sign on to Canva using your Gmail account. No need to remember another username or password.
An example of what the Canva home page looks like. Highlighted in yellow is where to go for creating new designs.
To start designing, all you have to do is click “Create a design” in the top right corner. You will be given a wide variety of designs to choose from, such as videos, presentations, logos, brochures, newsletters, and flyers. Before you get started designing, you will have the option to choose free design templates to ease the design process. It’s also easy to create your design from scratch.
The next step will be to add content to your design. One option is to search for existing content by clicking on “Elements” on the left panel and using the search function. Another option is to upload your own content by clicking upload on the left panel and then “Upload media”. For adding text, select “Text” from the left panel and either search for text using the search function or choose the text size between the heading, subheading, and body text and start typing. To add the selected content to your design, click the content and drag it to your desired location on the page. Not all the content will be available with a free account and may require upgrading to a premium account.
An example of a Canva design page. Highlighted in yellow are areas to go to for creating your design.
When creating videos in Canva, it may be easier to start editing the video using a different video editor software, especially if you need to cut and remove sections of the video. Once you have edited the video, you can easily upload the video sections to Canva using the “Upload” area.
Another great feature of Canva is that you can easily share your design with other people for feedback. Once people are added to the project, they can edit and add content directly to the project, making virtual collaboration easy.
Once you have finalized your design, you can download the design by clicking download in the right corner. Your design will be saved directly to your computer, allowing you to share and upload the content wherever you want.
Canva is a powerful graphic design platform that anyone can utilize for free. So, visit Canva's website and start exploring this tool.
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to the OPI team.