How to use Canva

CANVA.COM 4 MAY 2021

HOW TO USE +06176569045
CANVA: A

SIMPLE GUIDE
TO THE
GRAPHIC
DESIGN

PLATFORM

ZUHAIRI ROSLI

WILL LET YOU
CREATE

EVERYTHING
FROM INSTAGRAM

POSTS TO
BUSINESS LOGOS,
FOR ABSOLUTELY

NO COST

MAE-TURNER, A. (2021, JUNE 10). HOW TO USE CANVA: A SIMPLE GUIDE TO
THE GRAPHIC DESIGN PLATFORM. MASHABLE.
HTTPS://MASHABLE.COM/ARTICLE/CANVA-HOW-TO

WHAT DOES CANVA
OFFER FOR FREE?

The "free forever" features include
more than 250,000 templates, over
100 design types (social media posts,
presentations, letters, and more), and
hundreds of thousands of photos, font

01 styles, and graphics

All users with free accounts can also
enjoy 5GB of cloud storage and the
ability to invite friends to your Canva
"team" to collaborate and comment

02 on designs in real-time

Once you've made a Canva creation,
the platform makes it very simple to
download it to your computer, share it
with others, and, in some cases, post it

03 directly to other websites

SOURCE: MAE-TURNER, A. (2021, JUNE 10). HOW TO USE CANVA: A SIMPLE GUIDE TO THE GRAPHIC DESIGN
PLATFORM. MASHABLE. HTTPS://MASHABLE.COM/ARTICLE/CANVA-HOW-TO

WHAT ARE THE PAID-FOR
CANVA OPTIONS?

All the design content on the platform
will be unlocked for you which means
you'll have unlimited access to over
420,000 templates with new designs
added daily.
You can also enjoy working with more
than 75 million premium stock photos,

01 videos, audio, and graphics

Going "Pro" allows you to create a
"Brand Kit" to upload your own fonts,
brand color palette, and logos to use
across the entire Canva platform.
You’ll also get access to Canva's
impressive "Magic Resize" tool, which,
with a couple of clicks, allows you to

02 change a post you've created

SOURCE: MAE-TURNER, A. (2021, JUNE 10). HOW TO USE CANVA: A SIMPLE GUIDE TO THE GRAPHIC DESIGN
PLATFORM. MASHABLE. HTTPS://MASHABLE.COM/ARTICLE/CANVA-HOW-TO

HOW TO USE
CANVA

With the free version of Canva, you
can create a plethora of posts for
many social media platforms,
meaning you can make professional-

01 looking content

Canva's design process is the same
across the type of content you create,
so if you can make a basic social
media post, you'll be able to go on to

02 create more advanced designs

Canva's interface treats each part of
your creation as a separate element:
The image is one element, colors are
other elements, text is another

03 element, and graphics are another.

SOURCE: MAE-TURNER, A. (2021, JUNE 10). HOW TO USE CANVA: A SIMPLE GUIDE TO THE GRAPHIC DESIGN
PLATFORM. MASHABLE. HTTPS://MASHABLE.COM/ARTICLE/CANVA-HOW-TO

Once you've signed up for a Canva account,
you're ready to start designing. From the home
page, hover over the "Templates" menu and a
window will pop up with popular options

Along the top of the screen, you will see trending
search terms, in this instance coronavirus, food,
sale, birthday, and summer.
There is also a color menu you can click on to
narrow down the search results to search your
preferred palette
Also have the choice to create your own
Instagram post from scratch using a blank
template. To open a template for editing, simply
click on it and then click "Use this template."

This opens the template in a new editing
window, which has your design on the right of
the screen, your editing options in a bar on the
left of your screen, and your download and
share options to the top right

Now, if you click on the Photos menu on the left,
you can see the photography available to you
within Canva

You can do a keyword search to find a suitable
image, select from your "Recently used" photos,
or scroll through the trending images for
inspiration. If you want to use any images you
see, simply click on them
Alternatively, you can upload your own images
from your computer. To do this, click on the
Uploads menu on the left

This will show you any images you have already
uploaded, and give you a big blue "Upload
media" button that lets you upload new images
from the device you're using

Now we want to change the templated text. To
change the text element, simply click on it to
highlight it

Then you can overtype the pre-loaded text with
your own choice of wording. Once you've
clicked the text element, you'll also see all your
text editing options appear along the top of
your screen

Next, you can add in some free icons and
shapes. Start this process by clicking on the
"Elements" menu option to the left of your screen

From here you can keyword search for what
you're looking for and select the free versions
available. Alternatively, you can scroll down
through the elements menu to see what's
available.
This includes shapes, arrows, lines, frames,
stickers, and a whole, huge selection of themed
graphics. Once you click on what you'd like to
add, these will appear on your design

When you've finalized your design, look to the
top left of your screen for your sharing and
downloading options. Hitting share lets you
share the image with your Canva team members,
to an email address, or you can generate a link
to your creation

As you download, you do have further settings to
consider. For free Canva users, this is whether
you want to download your creation as a PNG,
JPG, PDF, or GIF file
And that's it! Creating with Canva is a very
simple, step-by-step process. With this free tool
available to everyone, there is no excuse for
sub-standard social media posts ever again

CANVA.COM 4 MAY 2021

MAE-TURNER, A. (2021, JUNE 10). HOW TO USE CANVA: A SIMPLE GUIDE TO
THE GRAPHIC DESIGN PLATFORM. MASHABLE.
HTTPS://MASHABLE.COM/ARTICLE/CANVA-HOW-TO