As a self-taught Adobe user, I (Jennifer) may know how to use Photoshop and Illustrator and other fancy tools, but I sometimes wished for a quicker graphic creator that had fewer settings. Plus, I often had clients asking how to build or resize images without access to said fancy tools. In comes Canva boasting users can design anything in minutes. They provide a way for the tech-savvy and everyday computer users to be able to build graphics for home or business. Now, when I need to make a quick graphic (one that doesn’t need to be a scalable vector graphic), I can turn to Canva.
Canva: Design anything in minutes
We use Canva to generate quick graphics now and again, but mostly to point our clients to an easy-to-use software for building, resizing, and combining images. Whether you are creating a social media campaign, setting up promotional emails, or making an invitation for next month’s event, Canva has simple tools that allow you to craft eye-catching graphics with ease.
Features
- Templates: You can simply search what type of media you want to build, select a template that has the look you’re going for, and swap out colors, pictures, and text. Voila! There is a finished graphic. Or, you can use templates as inspiration and build your own graphic from scratch.
- Brand Kit: Load your own colors, fonts, and logo in to make building cohesive graphics a streamlined process.
- Elements: Add shapes, frames, illustrations, icons, and more. You can even load a “grid” which is basically an empty collage. Drag and drop images in for a perfectly-arranged layout!
- Photos: They have a plethora of stock images that are loaded in from several of the main stock image websites like Unsplash.com. This means you don’t always have to download, upload, and resize other stock images. (And yes, you can easily upload your own)
Training & Recommendations
- Resizing Images: If you have a blog or shopping cart on your website, chances are you upload a lot of images. Over time, that will bog down the site and server until your page load speed is in the tank. In order to prevent this, the best option is to upload images at the exact size they will show up on the website rather than their original (likely massive) size. We have created tutorial videos on how to post blog articles on your own WordPress and Divi site and made sure to include a “how do I resize my featured image” segment. Canva is the tool we utilize in the demo because it is intuitive and flexible. (Resizing is included in the paid version, but you can always create a custom size graphic that is the final size you want and upload there rather than change an existing graphic’s size.)
- Simple Graphics: A lot of our clients want to be self-sufficient once we launch their website or finish a campaign. This is why having tools that they feel comfortable using is so important. Canva is one of those recommendations we share to, hopefully, make life and marketing that much easier on them in the long run.
As you can see, Canva has a lot to offer for people with a wide variety of technical skills. Whether you are creating for your business or your family, with Canva it really is true that you can design anything in minutes. If you have any questions about Canva or how your team can increase productivity or results with tools like it, give us a call at 503.602.9074.