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Canva: PDFs and JPGs
Canva: PDFs and JPGs
Many of us are using Canva to make beautiful flyers and graphics.
While Canva is excellent for making beautiful looking materials, it is not good at generating the metadata and accessibility information that screen readers need for PDFs. Therefore, we recommend that you not use Canva for making any PDF documents you send out digitally. It is okay to make a PDF flyer in Canva that you plan to print out.
Canva can be used for generating image files like .jpgs or .pngs. Image files are different than PDFs. They do not have additional metadata embedded in the file.
You can create a free Canva account here. You will need a free account to access the template files offered in the templates section below.
Graphics vs flyers
Graphics vs flyers
A graphic is designed to be seen and understood quickly. It should have an eye-catching image (a photo or interesting graphic element) accompanied by sparse text. The text should include the name of the event or program being promoted and important dates or times. It should feature the logos of any host organizations.
You can include one short sentence to describe the program or event, but less is more!
A graphic will be shared in an email or on your social media page, so the context can be in the body of the email, in the post caption, or in a Facebook event page description. Graphics are like a headline to catch your audience’s attention and direct them to look for more information, rather than needing to give them the whole story.
A flyer is designed to be printed and displayed where your audience has more time to read all the details. This might be hung up in a community center, library, or your Extension office, and will have all the information about the event or a QR code to learn more. Since it will be viewed “in the wild,” flyers can have more text to give the full context of the event or program.
When you convert a flyer into a JPG or PNG and upload it to social media, it gets compressed and is hard to read. It also has so much information that it’s difficult to write appropriate alt text. Any interactive features (like clickable links or QR codes) are lost when it’s posted to social media, as the links are flattened, and most folks use social media on their phone and can’t easily scan a QR code while scrolling.
But wait! There's not enough information in the graphic! Where is the registration link?
But wait! There's not enough information in the graphic! Where is the registration link?
A graphic does not have as much information as a flyer!
When you share a graphic, you always share it along with accompanying text. For example, you post it on Facebook along with a caption that has details. You share it in an email and type details in the body of the email. Putting the bulk of your event information in the actual text of your post, Facebook event, Instagram caption, website etc. is critical, not only for accessibility, but for search engines to be able to return your event as a search result should someone search for it!
Nobody can click a picture of a registration link and be taken to your registration website. If someone is on their phone and sees your event graphic, they cannot use their phone to scan a picture of a QR code. Please stop posting photos of QR codes online!
You will need to paste the URL registration link in this accompanying text.
Flyers
Flyers
When approaching event promotion, we recommend that highly designed flyers only be used for print. (unless you are skilled at PDF remediation in Acrobat). Highly designed flyers are difficult to make digitally accessible.
Instead, use an alternative, such as a social media post.
Before you create a highly designed, consider what you are going to use it for. If your intent is to print it out and hang it up, then you can do that but that flayer should not be used digitally. If you are not going to print this flyer and do not plan to remediate it to make it accessible, you do not need to make this flyer.
In the past, you might have also emailed a flyer or posted an image of it on social media. Since social media posts need to be digitally accessible, posting highly designed flyers is no longer a best practice.
For this reason, we ask that everyone please stop posting images of flyers on social media!
See this page for information on emails with flyers attached.
Creating an accessible social media post or email using a graphic
Creating an accessible social media post or email using a graphic
After you have created an eye catching graphic, it is time to post it on social media or send it out to your email list. In both circumstances, you will be including additional details about your event along with the graphic. The graphic does not need to have the whole story.
Tip: Do not put QR codes or links on your graphic. Since you will be sending the graphic with additional text, you can include the hyperlink in your text and do not need to replicate it in the image, where it cannot be clicked.
You can also create a Time.ly event (ask your agent or AFA to create it) or a Facebook event with additional details. You could use the event link to provide more details.
When you post this graphic or insert it into an email, make sure you apply alt text that includes all the text on the image.
For example, the alt text for this graphic would be, “Event announcement with photo of apples, VCE logo, and text reading 'Grafting for beginners. Take home two apple trees! $40 Registration limited.’”
Social media graphic templates
Social media graphic templates
These templates are starting points or examples of what you can do. Please swap out the logos as appropriate and change the photos and text to match your event.
Square template
Square template
These templates are starting points or examples of what you can do. You can add local association logos, swap out photos as appropriate.
Horizontal template
Horizontal template
These templates are starting points or examples of what you can do. You can add local association logos, swap out photos as appropriate.
Vertical template
Vertical template
These templates are starting points or examples of what you can do. You can add local association logos, swap out photos as appropriate.
What if you need to send supplemental information?
What if you need to send supplemental information?
What if you have a lot of details about your event that are not appropriate to put in the body of a social media post, in the body of your Timely event, or in your email?
Put additional details (e.g., registration details, prerequisites, etc.) in an accessible Word document (use Word’s built-in checker) or a Google Doc (checked with Grackle) to distribute along with (or instead of) the graphic. Use the non-peer-reviewed pub as a template. You can also put additional details on a webpage, provided that the webpage and website meet digital accessibility standards.
Scenario walkthrough
Scenario walkthrough
Starting point: Flyer
Starting point: Flyer
Imagine you have created an attractive flyer to print out and hang up. If you are not going to print out this flyer, and you do not plan to remediate it to make it accessible, you do not need to make it.
In the past you might have also emailed this flyer or posted an image of it on social media.
Step 2: Converting this content for digital distribution
Step 2: Converting this content for digital distribution
Since you cannot email your flyer or post an image of it online, you instead create an attractive social media graphic. You post this graphic along with the plain text details of your event in the post caption or in the body of your email. Do not put QR codes or links on your graphic.
For example, the alt text for this graphic would be, “Event announcement with photo of apples, VCE logo, and text reading 'Grafting for beginners. Take home two apple trees! $40 Registration limited.’”
You also create a webpage, Time.ly event, or Facebook event with details. You could use the link to this event to provide more details.
If you want to send out this graphic in an email, see the emails page.
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