Canva is an amazing tool for designers of all levels, from beginners to experts. With its user-friendly design and intuitive interface, it's no wonder that Canva has become a popular choice for creating stunning designs.
Whether you're looking to create eBooks, blog banners, infographics, Facebook posts, Instagram story, Pinterest Pins, brochures, logos, or anything else, Canva has the tools to help you get the job done.
In this blog post, we'll explore some of the best Canva tips and tricks to help you become a better designer.
These cool Canva tricks will help you create stunning visuals.
Let's get started.
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Recommended video: How to create an eBook in Canva for free. You can check out this video from my YouTube Channel. The video is in Hindi language. English language users can follow the English sub-titles included in the video.
What is Canva?
Canva is an incredibly popular graphic design platform that makes it easy for anyone to create stunning, professional-looking designs in no time.
Founded in 2012 by Melanie Perkins, Cameron Adams, and Cliff Obrecht, Canva is now used by individuals and businesses of all sizes.
The main reason for Canva’s success is its easy to use beginner-friendly interface. With a wide range of pre-made templates and design elements, users can quickly and easily create designs that look amazing.
Plus, with Canva's drag-and-drop feature, design elements can be effortlessly added and manipulated. Users can create designs for their blog, YouTube channel, social media page, business and more.
Not only does Canva offer a Brand Kit for creating a consistent look and feel across all of your designs, but it also allows you to collaborate with colleagues or clients on projects. This makes it a great tool for boosting productivity and unleashing your creative potential.
On top of being easy to use, Canva is also incredibly affordable. With a range of pricing plans, including a free plan, Canva's pricing makes it accessible to people of all budgets.
And users who may want to try out the premium features before subscribing to the paid plans, can join the Canva free trial.
Whether you're a beginner or a pro, Canva makes it easy to create high-quality designs at a price that won't break the bank.
Importance of Canva in Designing Graphics
Using Canva, you can create eye-catching visuals for your business, website, social media posts, ads, and more. It is is also an excellent tool for creating branded graphics for your business.
Canva can help you save time, money, and energy. With Canva, there are no costly design programs or expensive courses to invest in. Plus, Canva’s user-friendly interface allows anyone to start creating professional-looking designs in no time.
Thus, it is an important tool for creating engaging graphics for a variety of reasons. Below I have highlighted some of the important one:
Ease of Use:
Canva's intuitive drag-and-drop interface and professionally-designed templates make it easy for users of all levels to create stunning visuals in no time.
Whether you're new to design or an experienced user, Canva provides the tools to quickly and easily create high-quality graphics without having to spend hours learning complex software.
With Canva, even those without design experience can create engaging, eye-catching graphics in no time.
Professional-Looking Designs:
Canva's professionally crafted templates and design elements make it easy for even those with limited design experience to create designs that look polished and professional.
This is essential for businesses and individuals looking to establish a strong brand identity and make a lasting impression on their audience.
With Canva's powerful and intuitive tools, you can create beautiful designs quickly and easily, giving you the confidence to make a powerful statement.
Range of Design Options:
Canva offers an incredible selection of design options to meet any project need. With a wide range of templates for social media graphics, presentations, flyers, posters, and more, Canva has a template that can be easily customized to fit your exact requirements.
No matter what type of design project you're working on, Canva has the perfect template to help bring your ideas to life.
Brand Consistency:
Canva's Brand Kit is the perfect tool for businesses looking to create a cohesive and recognizable brand identity.
With this powerful tool, you can easily create a consistent look and feel across all of your designs, which is essential for building trust and recognition with your audience.
From fonts to logos to webpages to social media posts, Canva's Brand Kit ensures that your brand stands out and looks professional everywhere it appears.
Time and Cost Savings:
Because Canva is easy to use and offers pre-made templates and design elements, users can save time and money compared to creating designs from scratch, buying costly graphic design software like Photoshop or hiring a professional designer.
Overall, Canva is an important tool for creating engaging graphics because it makes it easy for users to create professional-looking designs quickly and affordably. This is important for businesses and individuals who want to make a strong impression on their audience and build a consistent brand identity.
Tips for Designing with Canva
#1 Selecting the Right Template
Choosing the right template is crucial when creating a design on Canva. Here are some tips on how to select the right template for your project:
- Determine the Purpose: Before choosing a template in Canva, it's important to identify the purpose of your design. If you're creating a featured image for your blog, social media post, eBook cover, a business card, resume or a flyer, you need to choose the relevant template that are specifically designed for that purpose.
- Consider the Content: The content of your design is also an important factor when choosing a template. Are you including a lot of text or images? Does the design need to be minimalistic or eye-catching? Look for templates that best match your content and design goals.
- Customize the Template: Keep in mind that all the Canva templates are fully customizable. You can experiment with different fonts, colors, and images to make the design your own. You can also add or remove elements from the template to suit your requirements.
- Preview the Design: Before finalizing your design, make sure it looks the way you want it to. This is especially important if you're creating a design for print. Check the dimensions, resolution, and color scheme to make sure they're suitable for your intended use.
Choosing the right template is essential to crafting a professional-looking design that meets your specific needs.
With Canva's extensive library of templates, you can make an informed decision by evaluating the purpose, content, style, and customization options available.
Whether you need something simple or more elaborate, you're sure to find a template that is perfect for your project.
#2 Utilizing the Design Elements - Grids, Shapes, & lines
Canva offers a variety of design elements such as grids, shapes, and lines that can help you create visually appealing designs.
Below I have mentioned some tips on how to utilize these design elements effectively:
- Grids: Canva makes it easy to create organized and visually appealing designs with our range of grid options. To access the grid, simply go to the "Elements" tab and select "Grids". From there, you can choose from a variety of options such as a simple grid, a circle grid, or a complex grid. Each grid has its own unique properties that you can use to bring order and balance to your design.
- Shapes: Canva offers a range of shapes that can be used to add visual interest to your designs. "Shapes" are also available under the "Elements" tab. You can choose from a variety of shapes such as circles, triangles, rectangles and more. Shapes can be used as a background, to highlight text, or to create a visual hierarchy.
- Lines: Canva offers a range of lines that can be used to add structure and visual interest to your designs. Under the "Elements" tab, select "Lines" and choose from a variety of line styles such as solid, dashed, or dotted. Lines can be used to create borders, dividers, or to emphasize a specific element.
- Combine Design Elements: You can combine design elements such as grids, shapes, and lines to create complex designs. For example, you can use a grid to organize your design elements, add shapes to create visual interest, and use lines to emphasize specific elements.
- Customize Design Elements: You can also customize design elements by changing their size, color, and transparency. This allows you to create designs that are unique to your brand and stand out from the rest.
Utilizing design elements such as grids, shapes, lines, border, background, gradient, texture and more can help you create visually appealing designs.
By combining and customizing these design elements, you can create designs that are unique and visually appealing. Canva offers a wide range of design elements, making it easy for anyone to create professional-looking designs.
#3 Customizing Fonts and Colors to Match Your Brand
Customizing fonts and colors in your design is an essential step to create a cohesive, recognizable look for your brand.
And Canva makes it easy to do just that. With a wide range of customizable fonts and colors to choose from, you can find the perfect combination to make your design stand out.
Here are some tips on how to customize fonts and colors in Canva:
Select a Font:
Canva offers a wide selection of fonts to choose from, so you can find the perfect one for your brand. From simple and modern to decorative and script fonts, you can pick a font that reflects the personality and message of your design.
Plus, consistency is key – keep your font choices consistent across all of your designs for a cohesive, professional look. Just click the "Text" tab and then select the "Font" option to access the font options - font style, font size, color and spacing.
Choose a Color Palette:
Canva offers a range of color palettes that can be used to customize your design. You can access the color palette by clicking on the "Colors" tab and then selecting the "Palettes" option. Choose a color palette that matches your brand colors or create your own custom color palette.
Customize Colors:
Once you have selected a color palette, you can customize the colors in your design. Click on the element you want to customize and select the "Color" option. Choose a color from the color palette or create a custom color by entering the color code. One of my favorite website that I use quite often to choose the perfect color combinations for my designs is https://coolors.co/.
Save Custom Fonts and Colors:
Once you have customized your fonts and colors, you can save them for future use. Brand Kit is a premium feature offered by Canva in their paid plans. Click on the "Brand Kit" option and select "Add Fonts" or "Add Colors" to add your custom fonts and colors to your brand kit.
Customizing fonts and colors in your design is an important step to make sure your design matches your brand identity.
Canva offers a wide range of fonts and color palettes that can be customized to match your brand colors and personality.
By keeping your font and color choices consistent throughout your design, you can create a cohesive and professional-looking design.
#4 Using Canva's Photo Editor to Edit and Enhance Images
Canva's photo editor is a powerful tool that allows you to edit and enhance images directly within the platform.
To access the photo editor, click on the "Uploads" tab and select the image you want to edit. Click on the image, and then click on the "Edit Photo" option.
This will open up the photo editor where you can crop the image, add effects and adjust brightness, contrast, color, texture and white balance.
Here are some tips on how to use Canva's photo editor to edit and enhance your images:
- Crop and Resize Images: The photo editor allows you to crop and resize your images to fit your design needs. You can select the "Crop" option to crop your image to a specific size or shape. You can also select the "Resize" option to adjust the size of your image.
- Adjust Brightness and Contrast: The photo editor allows you to adjust the brightness, contrast, and saturation of your images. Click on the "Adjust" option and then select the "Brightness," "Contrast," or "Saturation" option to adjust the settings. This can help enhance the colors and overall quality of your image.
- Apply Filters: Canva offers a range of filters that can be applied to your images to add a unique look and feel. Click on the "Filter" option and select a filter that matches your design style. You can adjust the intensity of the filter by using the slider bar.
- Add Effects: Canva's photo editor also allows you to add effects such as blur, vignette, and noise to your images. Click on the "Effects" option and select the effect you want to apply. Adjust the intensity of the effect using the slider bar.
- Save Your Edited Image: Once you have edited your image, you can save it by clicking on the "Download" button. You can choose to download the image in a range of file formats, including PNG, JPG, and PDF.
The photo editor by Canva is a powerful tool that allows you to edit and enhance your images directly within the platform.
By using features such as cropping, adjusting brightness and contrast, applying filters, and adding effects, you can create visually appealing images that match your design style.
#5 Adding Animations to Make Your Designs Engaging
Adding animations to your designs can help to make them more engaging and visually appealing.
Canva offers a range of animation options that can be applied to elements within your design.
Here are some tips on how to add animations to your designs in Canva:
- Select an Element: Choose an element within your design that you want to animate, such as text, an image, or a shape.
- Access the Animation Options: Click on the element to select it, and then click on the "Animate" option in the toolbar. This will open up the animation options. For example, for text, you get Basic, Writing and Exaggerate animation while for image, Canva offers the Basic, Exaggerate and Photo Movement.
- Choose an Animation: Canva offers a range of animation options, including fade in, slide in, and bounce. Choose an animation that matches your design style and message.
- Customize the Animation: Once you have chosen an animation, you can customize it to suit your needs. You can adjust the duration and delay of the animation, as well as the direction (including reverse exit animation) and intensity.
- Save and Share Your Design: Once you have added animations to your design, you can save it and share it with others. Click on the "Download" button to save your design in a range of file formats, or use the "Share" option to share it on social media or via email.
Adding animations to your designs in Canva can help to make them more engaging and visually appealing.
By choosing an animation that matches your design style and message, and customizing it to suit your needs, you can create a design that stands out and captures the attention of your audience.
#6 Creating a consistent design with Canva Brand Kit
Canva Brand Kit is the perfect way to create a consistent, professional look across all of your marketing materials. With its intuitive interface, you can easily define your brand's visual identity, such as colors, fonts, logos, and other design elements.
This ensures that every design you create looks polished and consistent, making it easier for customers to recognize and trust your brand. By creating a Brand Kit, you can ensure that your brand maintains its visual identity every time you create something new.
Here are some tips on how to create a consistent design using Canva Brand Kit:
- Define Your Brand Identity: Start by defining your brand's visual identity. This includes your brand's colors, fonts, logos, and other design elements. Choose colors and fonts that represent your brand's personality and message.
- Create a Brand Kit: Once you have defined your brand identity, you can create a Brand Kit in Canva. Click on the "Brand Kit" option in the sidebar, and then click on "Create a Brand Kit." Add your brand's colors, fonts, logos, and other design elements to the Brand Kit. Please note that the Brand Kit features is not available under the Canva free plan.
- Apply Your Brand Kit: Once you have created your Brand Kit, you can apply it to your designs in Canva. Click on the "Brand Kit" option in the toolbar, and then click on "Apply Brand Kit." This will apply your brand's colors, fonts, and other design elements to your design.
- Use Templates: Canva offers a range of templates that are designed to work with your Brand Kit. Use these templates to create marketing materials that are consistent with your brand's visual identity.
- Save and Reuse Designs: Once you have created a design that uses your Brand Kit, save it as a template for future use. This will make it easy to create new marketing materials that are consistent with your brand's visual identity.
- Share Your Brand Kit: Sharing your Brand Kit with other members of your team is the best way to ensure that your brand's visual identity is consistent across all marketing materials. By providing your team with access to the same colors, fonts, and design elements, you can be sure that everyone is on the same page when it comes to creating materials that represent your brand. With the right tools, you and your team can collaborate and create materials that are cohesive and engaging.
Creating a consistent design using Canva Brand Kit is essential for building a strong brand identity.
By implementing the above mentioned Canva tips you can define your brand's visual identity, creating a Brand Kit, applying it to your designs, and using templates, you can create marketing materials that are consistent with your brand's message and personality.
Canva Hacks and Tricks
#1 Keyboard Shortcuts to Speed Up Your Design Process
Keyboard shortcuts are an invaluable tool for speeding up your Canva design process. Using these shortcuts can help you execute commands and navigate menus and options quickly and efficiently, saving you time and energy.
Here are some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts to get the most out of your Canva experience:
- Copy and Paste: To copy an element in your design, select it and press Ctrl/Cmd + C. To paste the element, press Ctrl/Cmd + V.
- Duplicate: To duplicate an element in your design, select it and press Ctrl/Cmd + D. This will create a copy of the element directly on top of the original.
- Group and Ungroup: To group elements together, select them and press Ctrl/Cmd + G. To ungroup elements, select the group and press Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + G.
- Align: To align elements, select them and use the following keyboard shortcuts:
- Align left: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + L
- Align center: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + C
- Align right: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R
- Align top: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + T
- Align middle: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + M
- Align bottom: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + B
- Resize: To resize an element, select it and use the following keyboard shortcuts:
- Increase size: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + >
- Decrease size: Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + <
- Increase size by 10%: Ctrl/Cmd + ]
- Decrease size by 10%: Ctrl/Cmd + [
- Zoom In and Out: To zoom in or out of your design, use the following keyboard shortcuts:
- Zoom in: Ctrl/Cmd + +
- Zoom out: Ctrl/Cmd + -
- Fit to screen: Ctrl/Cmd + 0
- Undo and Redo: To undo an action, press Ctrl/Cmd + Z. To redo an action, press Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + Z.
By using these keyboard shortcuts, you can speed up your design process in Canva, allowing you to create high-quality designs more efficiently.
#2 Using Canva's Magic Resize feature
Canva’s Magic Resize feature can save you valuable time and energy. This feature allows you to quickly and easily resize any image, graphics, or design to fit the perfect dimensions for any project.
And the best part is that you don’t need to be a Photoshop expert in order to use it! Canva’s Magic Resize feature is simple and intuitive.
All you have to do is select the image you want to resize, choose the dimensions you need, and click “resize”. Canva will then resize the image to the dimensions you specified, and you can save the newly resized image with a single click. It’s really that simple.
In addition to quickly and easily resizing images, Canva’s Magic Resize feature also allows you to preview the resized image before you save it. This way, you can make sure that the image looks just the way you want it to before you go ahead and save it.
Another great benefit of Canva’s Magic Resize feature is that you can use it to quickly and easily resize an entire folder of images. This is great for those times when you need to quickly resize a large folder of images for a project.
All you have to do is select the folder, choose the dimensions you need, and click “resize”. Canva will then resize all of the images in the folder to the dimensions you specified.
Here's how to use it:
- Create your design: First, create your design in the original size that you want. You can use any of Canva's templates or create your design from scratch.
- Click on "File" and "Magic Resize": Once you have finished your design, click on "File" at the top left corner of the screen and select "Magic Resize" from the dropdown menu.
- Select the sizes you want: In the Magic Resize window, you'll see a list of preset sizes that you can choose from. You can select multiple sizes if you want to resize your design to several sizes at once.
- Customize your design: You can also customize your design for each size by clicking on the "Customize Size" button. This will allow you to adjust the layout, text size, and other design elements to fit the new size.
- Click on "Create new design": Once you've selected the sizes you want, click on "Create new design" to generate the resized designs.
- Review and edit the resized designs: Canva will generate a new design for each size you selected. You can review and edit each design to ensure that it meets your requirements.
Once you're happy with the resized designs, you can download them in the format you need or share them directly from Canva.
#3 Using Canva's background remover
With Canva's powerful background remover tool, you can easily and quickly erase the background from your images, giving you the freedom to create stunning visuals for your projects. It allows you to isolate the subject of an image and use it in a variety of contexts.
Here's how to use it:
- Upload your image: To get started, upload the image you want to remove the background from. You can do this by clicking on "Uploads" in the left-hand menu and selecting the image you want to use. Click on "Edit Photo" and select "BG Remover" under the Tools option.
- Download or share your image: Once you've removed the background from your image, you can download it in various formats such as JPG, PNG, or PDF. You can also share your image directly from Canva by clicking on the "Share" button and selecting the platform you want to share it on.
By using Canva's background remover, you can quickly and easily remove the background from your images without having to use a separate image editing tool. This can save you time and effort, allowing you to focus on other aspects of your design.
#4 Collaborating with Others on Canva Designs
Collaboration is an essential aspect of any design project. Canva makes it easy to collaborate with others by allowing you to share your designs with team members and clients. Here's how to collaborate with others on Canva designs:
- Share your design: To share your design with your team members, click on the "Share" button in the top right-hand corner of the screen. You can then choose whether you want to share your design with people, groups or team. You can also create a collaboration link that you can share with others.
- Add team members: If you want to share your design with specific people, click on the "Add People" button and enter their email addresses. You can also choose whether you want to give them view or edit access to your design.
- Collaborate in real-time: Once you've shared your design, you and your team members can collaborate in real-time. This means that you can all work on the same design at the same time, making changes and providing feedback as you go.
- Use comments to provide feedback: Canva also allows you to leave comments on specific elements of your design. This can be a useful way to provide feedback or suggest changes without altering the original design.
- Manage access: If you need to remove someone's access to your design, you can do so by clicking on the "Manage Access" button in the top right-hand corner of the screen. From here, you can remove team members or change their access level.
By collaborating with others on Canva designs, you can ensure that everyone is on the same page and working towards the same goal. This can lead to a more efficient design process and a better end result.
#5 Canva's Design School to Learn New Design Skills
Canva's Design School is a great resource for anyone who wants to learn new design skills or improve their existing ones. It offers a range of courses and tutorials that cover everything from basic design principles to more advanced techniques.
Here's how to use Canva's Design School to improve your design skills:
- Access Canva's Design School: To access Canva's Design School, go to the Canva website and click on the "Learn" link in the top right-hand corner of the screen and select the option - Design School. This will take you to the Design School homepage.
- Browse courses and tutorials: Once you're on the Design School homepage, you can browse the available courses and tutorials. There are free courses on topics such as branding, typography, and layout, as well as tutorials on specific design tools and techniques.
- Enroll in courses: If you find a course that interests you, click on it and you will get immediate access to the course. Canva's courses are self-paced, so you can work through them at your own speed.
- Watch tutorials: Canva's Design School also offers a range of tutorials that cover specific design tools and techniques. These can be a useful way to learn new skills or brush up on existing ones.
By using Canva's Design School, you can improve your design skills and learn new techniques. This can help you create more engaging and effective designs, whether you're designing for personal or professional use.
Recap of the Canva Tips and Tricks
We have discussed various tips and tricks that can help you create engaging designs using Canva.
Here's a recap of the main points:
- Exploring the different templates and design options: Canva offers a wide range of templates and design options to help you create engaging graphics. You can browse templates by category or use the search function to find specific templates.
- Selecting the right template for your project: When selecting a template, it's important to choose one that matches the style and tone of your project. You can customize templates to fit your needs using Canva's design tools.
- Utilizing the design elements such as grids, shapes, and lines: Canva's design elements, such as grids, shapes, and lines, can help you create a more polished and professional-looking design.
- Customizing fonts and colors to match your brand: Using your brand's fonts and colors can help create a consistent look and feel across all your designs.
- Using Canva's photo editor to edit and enhance images: Canva's photo editor allows you to make quick edits to your images, such as cropping or adjusting the brightness.
- Adding animations to make your designs more engaging: Canva allows you to add animations to your designs, such as animated text or graphics, to make them more engaging.
- Creating a consistent design with Canva Brand Kit: Canva's Brand Kit allows you to store your brand's fonts, colors, and logos in one place, making it easy to create consistent designs.
- Keyboard shortcuts to speed up your design process: Canva's keyboard shortcuts can help you work more efficiently, allowing you to quickly access commonly used tools and functions.
- Using Canva's Magic Resize feature to quickly adapt designs to different sizes: Canva's Magic Resize feature allows you to quickly adapt your designs to different sizes and formats, such as social media posts or email headers.
- Creating mockups with Canva: Canva's mockup templates can help you visualize how your design will look in real-world settings.
- Removing backgrounds from images with Canva's background remover: Canva's background remover makes it easy to remove the background from your images, making them more versatile and usable.
- Collaborating with others on Canva designs: Canva allows you to share your designs with team members and clients, making it easy to collaborate and get feedback. You can also leave comments on specific elements of your design to provide feedback.
Wrapping Up
Now that we've discussed various tips and tricks to create engaging graphics with Canva, it's time to put them into action.
By incorporating these techniques, into your design process, you can enhance your design skills and create visually stunning graphics that effectively communicate your message.
Canva's user-friendly interface, extensive template library, and design tools make it accessible to users of all skill levels. Whether you're a graphic design novice or a seasoned professional, Canva offers a variety of features to help you bring your creative vision to life.
Incorporating these Canva tips and tricks into your design process can help you enhance your design skills and create engaging graphics that effectively communicate your message.
So why not give it a try? Start exploring Canva's design tools and see how you can take your graphics to the next level.
Canva offers a completely free plan for first-time uses. It also offer a free trial on its paid plans. Users who may want to try out the Canva premium features before upgrading can join the free trial. No credit card is required to join the free trial or the free plan.