Canva: A Beginner's Guide!

Canva Pricing and Reviews

For those that don't know, Canva is a fantastic (mostly-free) software that is built to help users design a variety of graphics using a range of templates, elements and more. It is available as online software and as a phone application for those who prefer being creative on the move! It is a fantastic choice for graphic designers of any level as it is easy to use with professional results, providing many tutorials for those who wish to learn more on how the software works and any tips and tricks to making using it that little bit simpler.

One thing that I would say makes Canva stand out in particular above any other free design-based software is the large variety of templates. Not only can you customise the size of the design you want to work with from scratch, but there are thousands of pre-made templates to choose from, separated by colour, style and type, from advert banners to Instagram posts. I would go as far as saying that there probably isn't one person who couldn't find what they're looking for using just the pre-templates, which is great for those who want something quick and easy to post, or perhaps aren't that skilled in design themselves.

If you are one of those people who like me, much prefers designing templates from scratch, as this is what Canva is mainly catered for, you will have no trouble at all designing your very own graphics. With images and elements galore, you can turn a blank document into a compelling poster in minutes, literally minutes. It has a mainly drag-and-drop system for inputting just about anything into a design, text included, but this allows for the precision most designers need to make their work truly their own, rather than constantly fighting with awkward pre-made margins or having to disable alignment, which is one of the biggest issues I find with alternate software.

Here are some tutorials I found best explaining how Canva works:

★ How To Use Canva: Beginner's Guide - Howfinity

★ Quick Start Canva Tutorial For Beginners: Beginner to Expert in 1 Video - Jason Whaling

★ How To Use Canva For Beginners: 2020 Canva Tutorial - Sandra The Mom Boss

★ How to Use Canva For Beginners: A Video Guide Tutorial - Delmain

Would it surprise you to hear that I use Canva for graphics for my own blog? The images I provide on each of my posts have been designed in Canva, making use of their beautiful array of simple borders and easy to use resizing tool to fit the images just right. The vast variety of photo editing tools make it a good choice for those who take pride in making their photographs look the best they can be, along with a detailed colour wheel and a custom colour palette generator to give their templates a well-designed and professional feel. The implementation of those tools alone make it very suitable for use in the social media and advertising sector.

It is worth mentioning that Canva do offer a subscription service called Canva Pro, in which users have access to premium-only templates and images without the pesky watermark over the top. It also gives users a variety of tools that non-paying customers aren't able to use, a particularly simple but helpful tool being the ability to edit the dimensions of a template you have already created. If you are tasked with designing something to a particular size but find that after finishing it that it doesn't fit (a great example of this would be the varying cover photo size for Facebook pages on mobile and desktop), Canva Pro will allow you to go back to that template, and resize it as many times you please until you find the perfect fit. Even if you want multiple copies of the same design for a variety of uses, with the subscription, you can do just that without the bother of having to start from scratch every single time.

Publishing Your Canva Design

Although I rarely set up subscriptions for anything, just because of how brilliant Canva is at basic level, I have no doubt that the subscription to Canva Pro is well worth the money, particularly if you are a keen graphic designer who will make use of the tools that upgrading will grant you. For casual users, I still think that you will benefit from the subscription, but be wary of investing your money into it if you are already satisfied with what Canva Basics can offer, which for the average person, is much more than any other design software will offer.

If you have any concerns about the service or have any further questions, Canva's support team is fantastic, they provide both knowledgable and open-minded support to a variety of users no matter their issue and are very receptive to feedback. One bug I found on the mobile app in the early release eventually got fixed after I had reported it, and responded to me straight away with little issues, actually thanking me for my report. In cases where you just feel like you need to get to know the software more yourself, there are plenty of tutorials provided by Canva (and some other graphic design users elsewhere on the Internet) with short snippets on how to use a certain tool. New to the platform? There's a tutorial for that. Want information on Canva Pro? There's a tutorial for that too. You will rarely find yourself completely stuck with what detailed tutorials Canva have to offer, and worse case scenario? You have plenty of Canva users all over the world who do exactly what I have done, and have written a post of their own about what Canva offers, others have perhaps made their own tutorial on YouTube, or are generally helping out new designers through other means, so you will not be on this journey alone!

Time to get creative, fellow graphic designers!