Get Creative with Canva

Canva is a great tool if you don’t have experience as a graphic designer, but want to add some graphics to your website or social media feed.

I have a little design background, from when I worked on the copy desk at a newspaper and designed pages. It was fun to try out Canva, to use my creativity in a different way.

I first used it to create Instagram posts, with quotes or for holiday posts with photos. Canva simplifies the process with templates for different size graphics, whether you want to create a post for Facebook or Twitter, a banner for an e-mail, or a Pinterest graphic. You can use your website colors or import your logo to personalize it further.

The free version, at Canva.com, has plenty of options. There also is a paid option with more flexibility. Once you get the hang of it, Canva can help you save a lot of time.

Easy to navigate

There are tutorials on the site, as well as on YouTube from many different designers. I enjoyed watching Katie Brimmer’s tutorial on creating graphics, even an easy way to create a workbook online. Solopreneur Sidekick also had simple advice on how to create blog post graphics.

I have used it for a couple client projects as well as personal projects. I recently created a newsletter for a local nonprofit. It is easy to pick colors, create text boxes, import photos and create an overall esthetic. 

For social media, just remember to stay on brand, you want to create your look and make sure people associate that with you. Try not to pick a different template each time, either create your own or use a simple one, but be careful about creating a confusing feed if you are using it to promote your work and own business.

You can use your own stock photos, as well as your brand colors to stay consistent and cohesive. Also for branding you can add your website or a logo to the bottom of the graphic for Pinterest or Facebook.

Make resumes, posters and more 

I also created a graphic resume for my website. I probably wouldn’t send this out, because I am too old school, but I think it is fun to get creative with it and use it on my website as a resource. There are a ton of layouts to choose from, you can use a photo or not, choose different colors and fonts to show your style and personality.

If you use a layout from Canva it is easy to plug in your own information in their format, or you can create your own using different ideas and examples.

There are many examples of clip art to illustrate documents, you can use free ones, pay a one-time purchase fee or upgrade to a paid version of Canva to access more. 

Whether you have experience in design, or just want to try it out, Canva is a great tool to experiment with and be creative.