Canva Basics
What is Canva?
Canva is a free web design app. Canva helps you professionally prepare a variety of images such as infographics, posters, presentations, invitations, postcards, advertisements or social media posts. As you know, design is a relative concept. Of course, there are rules here, but it all depends on your imagination. The fact that you are not design savvy can also be a factor in your inability to achieve your goals. Canva supports you in this area. You don't need computer design knowledge to use Canva. All you have to do is let your imagination run wild and effortlessly put it all into your design.
Canva is extremely easy to use. First, you need to log into Canva's official website. Entering registration information and then creating an ID. After this short process, you can use the Facebook Connect option, which simplifies the login process. One of the most frustrating things about web applications is constantly sending out e-newsletters or advertisements. The good news is, Canva doesn't have these sanctions. The program does not constantly try to sell you something or limit your design. What's more, you can add logos and photos to your designs and provide better access to your target audience. It's also important that Canva is a free design software.
How can you use to prepare social media posts?
Making a poster with Canva is just a few steps. It is very easy and quick to get the image you are looking for thanks to the posters drag and drop feature. Canva's poster maker has a variety of templates to choose from. You can quickly create a poster in just a few steps. All you have to do is follow these steps.
1. Decide on the size. For this, if desired, standard ready-made poster sizes are available. You can choose one of them and start creating your poster.
2. Select a poster template. You can still get support for existing templates for this. The program will offer you sample templates, but the final decision is yours.
3. It's time to personalize your poster. Add the visual effects you want to add, or select from the standard library. Let's repeat the information that some of them are paid. It is also possible to change the color and types of fonts.
4. Messages section. Add your message here. The messaging area is completely tailored to your needs.
5. Your design is ready. All you have to do is download, print or share your design!
No design skills are required to create special posters.
What templates can I use?
We would like to reiterate that you do not need any special skills to work with Canva. You can simply create innovations however you want or use templates. All you have to do is decide what you want to do and search on Canva's home page. It will provide you with many free templates. If you want a better template, you can buy one for a small amount. You can customize the template as you wish. Change the color. You can add and customize the signature image.
We already have an idea of what Canva is. And with our course, you can get hands-on experience.
Pros and cons of Canva
Pros:
1. Easy to Learn and Use: Canva was designed for absolute beginners in the graphic design world. There are many tutorials and lessons available on the platform for you. The website is also simple, guiding you through templates with ease and providing many ways to share your work.
2. Good value for money: Canva has both a free version of the program and an affordable subscription plan. For just $ 12.95 per month (at the time of this writing), you can have up to five users, 100GB of cloud storage, access to thousands of graphical assets, and more. Their plans are very important, especially when compared to their major league rivals.
3. Accessibility: Canva is a web-based application, which means it can be accessed from anywhere as long as you have an Internet connection.
4. Huge Library of Resources: Canva has tons of graphics and resources available to use in your projects. You can create your creations from start to finish without even leaving the app.
5. Compatibility: Canva has apps for iPhone, Android and iPad, as well as desktop apps for Windows and Mac. Canva does not need to download. All you need is the Internet to use the program.
6. Collaboration: Canva was created to work in teams. The higher the plan, the more opportunities for the team. The highest tier, Enterprise, even has branding controls to keep your designs consistent across the board.
Minuses:
1. Editing: Compared to powerful software such as Adobe Photoshop, Canva is limited in functionality and in-app editing. Resizing graphics and icons in the editor can be clumsy and difficult to manage.
2. Simplified, widely used templates: templates become obsolete over time and become too simple. You'll also be sharing the same template with thousands of other people using Canva, which means your work can be similar to others.
3. Online Only: Canva only works when connected to the Internet. You cannot work offline, which is bad if you are trying to work offline.
4. Lack of support: The only way to contact Canva support is by filling out online forms. They don't have a chat or phone function.
Brief summary
Canva is great for aspiring business owners looking to do DIY marketing. While actual editing is limited, Canva is a good choice for people looking for patterned models and easy creation without deep skills. Design your marketing faster than ever with Canva.
Functions
With Canva, you have tons of features at your fingertips. Let's take a look at what the web application has to offer:
1. Templates: There are thousands of templates at your disposal. Template types are everything from social media posts, presentations, flyers, videos, business cards, logos, and more. Templates are easy to manipulate and also change assets and vice versa.
2. Fonts: You can import your own or use one of the many fonts Canva offers.
3. Graphic Resources: There are many shapes, icons, and graphics available to you. You can search for keywords to find graphics that are suitable for your project.
4. Photos: You can search for stock images right on Canva. You can also import your own library.
5. Cloud storage: saves all your work and photos and makes these resources available from anywhere. Each plan comes with cloud storage, and the paid plans include more.
6. Accessibility: Canva is a web-based application. This means that you do not need to download the software to work with the program from another computer.
7. Music: Canva comes with an extensive music library. It has everything from soothing melodies to jazz or pop. To avoid Content ID claims, you can verify your music license for YouTube or other social media.
8. Brand Kits: To keep your brand consistent, Canva creates brand kits. This feature will support your projects with a corporate identity with colors, fonts and logos of your company.
9. Teams: On Canva you can create teams, which allows you to share folders. You can also comment on and discuss projects while you work.
10. Content Planner: This tool helps you plan content for social networks. Here you can strategize and schedule your posts for Facebook, Pinterest, and more.
11. Learning Portal: Learn all about Canva and hone new skills to help grow your business. Canva has an extensive portal and blog filled with resources.
Price
When it comes to price, canvas is very much appreciated. They have free and subscription-based plans designed for you and your team. Let's take a look at what Canva has to offer.
These are the tariff plans for 1-5 people on your team:
1. Free: This plan is completely free. You get access to over 250,000 templates with over 100 design types, as well as free photos and graphics to use in your projects. You can invite members to your team, collaborate and comment in real time, and get 5GB of cloud storage. All Pro assets must be purchased.
2. Pro: $ 12.95 per month for five people ($ 155.40 per year) up to $ 119.40 per year if you bill annually. You get everything in the free plan, plus a branded suite, Magic Resize, over 420,000 free templates, high-quality content, photos, videos, audio and graphic assets. You can also save template designs, store up to 100GB in the cloud, and schedule your posts with the social media planner.
3. Enterprise: $ 30 per month per person. You can contact a Canva Sales Representative to get a customized plan for your team. You get everything in the Pro plan, plus multiple brand bundles, brand controls, design approval workflow, edit permissions settings, blocking templates, unlimited cloud storage, single sign-on, and enterprise-grade 24/7 support.
For additional team members, prices will go up. You can see the prices on their price calculator, divided into groups of 10, 15, 50, or an arbitrary number. For teams of more than 100 people, Canva will customize pricing based on your needs.
Canva is also offered free to educators and nonprofits. Teachers can get Canva for themselves and their classes for free. There is no limit to the number of classes and the number of students they can invite.
While you can't buy Canva as a one-time purchase, their subscription costs are reasonable and easily scalable. They even offer a free plan. When it comes to price, Canva is a great value for money and a good choice if you need a graphic editor.
Compatibility
Canva is incredibly compatible. The program is a web application designed to work from anywhere. You don't need to download the program to your computer to get started. Canva has desktop apps for Mac and Windows. The program also has apps for iPad, Android and iPhone.
The only downside to Canva is that you can only use the program when connected to the Internet. You cannot work offline, which is a limiting factor for users who like to work on the road.
Overall, Canva is a very compatible program. You can work from your mobile or desktop computer and work anywhere on the Internet.
Education
Canva is an easy-to-learn software that allows users to get started right away without lengthy tutorials. That being said, Canva has a huge help center and learning platform designed to teach you how to get the most out of Canva.
Canva's design platform is very simple with a drag and drop user interface. After clicking the Create Design button in the upper right corner, Canva will create a drop-down list of different templates to choose from.
Template options vary greatly, giving you everything from designing a social media post to creating a presentation or logo.
Our course will help you quickly get used to this application and get the most out of your goals.
How to create a design?
The template library has a lot of ideas for you to play with. You can have fun trying different designs by changing them easily.
From here, the process is simple. You can drag and drop elements to your design. You can also upload your own elements, such as fonts (if you have a Pro plan or higher) and photos, to the custom design software.
Using the Brand Kit, you can also design around branding guidelines to keep your designs consistent across the board.
When you're done designing, you can quickly share your design with other team members and upload it to your workspace. You can even print directly into Canva by printing artwork on T-shirts, posters, flyers and more.
If you have any questions during this simple design process, the help button inside the design area will guide you through the app with step-by-step instructions. This tool even has a search function so you can quickly find a question.
Canva also has an extensive help portal available at https://www.canva.com/help. From here, you can go through the Getting Started guides or search for keywords and browse articles to help you get started with the application.
We offer you complete courses. The program includes everything from learning graphic design concepts to perfecting your social media strategy.
You can also check out the Learn blog, a resource with informative articles. All of these resources are free and great for improving your business.
Overall, Canva has a lot to offer to explore the app and get better at branding and marketing. Canva strives to make the design process a worry-free, accessible experience for everyone.
Support
Canva has limited support. While there are extensive libraries of tutorials and FAQs, it's almost impossible to contact Canva directly.
If you need to speak to a support specialist, you cannot reach them by phone or email. You must contact them via an online form. If you have an Enterprise plan, you will have priority. If you are looking for a refund, Canva invites you to fill out a special online form.
How do I report a problem to Canva?
If you want instant direct support, Canva is not for you. This lack of support can be frustrating if you want to get in touch with a living person.
Graphic design
Is Canva replacing graphic designer detail and customization? No. Is Canva a great DIY solution for small businesses? Absolutely.
There is a place in the world for both professional graphic design and software like Canva. Graphic designers can offer you great personalized branding with unique marketing assets.
Canva, on the other hand, has templates that take advantage of everything marketing gives you that can look a lot like everyone else. Professional graphic designers use their expertise to breathe life into advertising campaigns and create visually unique and interesting work.
Canva's templates are also very simplistic. They are meant for everyone, resulting in generic templates tailored to your area or niche.
Experienced graphic designers will feel limited by the software. The in-app editing tool isn't nearly as customizable as a powerful editing program like InDesign, Photoshop, or Illustrator.
While you can do basic layering, sizing, and filtering, you won't be able to make advanced edits in Canva.
Canva is great for people who have difficulty with advanced software. You can create a decent finished product in less than 30 minutes using templates.
Canva also includes fun resources to visually enhance your work, including shapes and stickers to brighten up your overall image. While the final design will not be revolutionary, the work will look professionally polished.
Cooperation
Canva is a great resource for business teams. The app is designed to be collaborative, allowing participants to comment on the work as it develops, providing real-time insight and feedback. Different command tools are available for each price tier, providing more resources the higher the plan.
Canva has a feature called Teams that lets you share projects and folders with other team members. Within a team, you can also create groups to further organize everything.
You can directly comment on your work by inviting and tagging other users to collaborate. Canva lets you create up to 20 free teams of 3,000 people each, including yourself.
Canva for Education is specifically designed with teachers to group their teams into classrooms. Only teachers or team admins can invite members to groups. These administrative restrictions make everything official and orderly.
Another collaboration tool is the Brand Kit. Each brand kit will include logos, colors, and fonts for your brand. Only team admins can set these options while maintaining brand design across the board. You get one Pro-branded kit and several Enterprise-grade kits.
Team roles and positions help define what each team member does for the project:
• The owner of the team is its creator.
• The administrator has full access to the team.
• Members can create projects and access folders / work shared within the team.
• Template designers can customize and edit brand sets. They can share and block permissions, preventing access to certain assets.
Canva Enterprise has additional features not found in the Pro and Free plans. Enterprise has a workgroup SSO that supports SSO services such as ADFS, Asure AD, Duo Security, GSuite, Okta, OneLogin, and Salesforce.
The plan can also control what team members can access by using brand controls and pattern locks to secure design changes.
One of the best features of Canva Enterprise is its approval workflow. Designated approvers can approve and reject projects during the review process.
When the design is ready for review, the designer will submit a request for approval. The approver can leave comments, tag other team members, and provide feedback on the design. The project cannot be published until the approver approves the work.
Canva is great for collaboration. Using the program, you can easily manage teams, branding, etc.
FAQ
• Is Canva Free?
Canva offers free and subscription-based plans, as well as full-featured free education plans.
• What is Canva for?
Canva is great for small businesses with small advertising budgets who want to do DIY marketing. Canva offers a variety of templates and guides to help you get started.
• What could be better than Canva?
Many design programs are better than Canva, such as Adobe Photoshop. However, Canva is great for beginners and people looking for a simple program.
• Do the pros use Canva?
Professional graphic designers will use feature rich programs like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator for the most creative control. Canva is limited in terms of in-app graphics creation.
• Is Canva better than Photoshop?
If you want maximum control over your graphics creation, you need to edit photos and you need a feature-rich program, Photoshop is the winner. If you're looking for a versatile beginner app that's easy to switch to, Canva is your best bet.
Final verdict
Should you use Canva? Definitely.
Canva is a great collaboration and creativity tool. There is a free version that lets you try out many of the tools without any obligation. If you subscribe, the price is very reasonable. You have tons of included resources and tons of templates to choose from for your projects.
If you have room for a larger marketing budget and want to step up your marketing, you can invest in a graphic designer.
If you're starting a business, Canva is a great choice. The plan is affordable, as is the software. You don't need excessive training to create beautiful finishes that you can easily share. Canva is a great tool to create DIY marketing materials for your business.
Visual content is the key to a brand's social media success. The data showed that high-quality, visually appealing images generally have higher engagement rates than text-only posts. With that said, your business should be focused on creating truly enjoyable content around the clock. Creating a single image on Canva can be done in minutes - yes, but it's important to note that you have to post constantly, which can be time-consuming for business owners if you have other important responsibilities. That's why we're here to help you! Talk to us today to find out how we can help bring your personalized content to life and turn social media into sales for your business.