Canva is an online store that offers a wide range of graphic design tools and resources for both professionals and beginners. It is a user-friendly platform that allows users to create stunning designs for social media, marketing materials, presentations, and more. One of the best things about Canva is its vast library of templates, graphics, and fonts. Users can choose from thousands of pre-designed templates for various purposes, including social media posts, flyers, posters, business cards, and more. The graphics and fonts are also diverse, making it easy for users to find the perfect elements to complement their designs.
Canva is a graphic design tool that was created in 2012 by Australian entrepreneur Melanie Perkins. It utilizes a drag-and-drop format that will be familiar to the average user as well as design professionals. It features fonts, graphics, vectors, and templates, and in 2019, the company purchased free stock photo sites Pixabay and Pexels, giving users access to a diverse array of free photos in the program itself. The website also offers photo filters, millions of images, free icons and shapes, and hundreds of fonts. There are thousands of templates to choose from.
Some of the more useful ones for librarians might be related to social media, including meme generators, SnapChat geofilters, and Instagram Story templates. Canva also has various marketing templates, including brochures and business cards. Once a design is complete, it can be downloaded in a variety of formats including joint photographic experts group (JPEG), portable network graphics (PNG), and portable document format (PDF). For printing purposes, Canva suggests downloading PDFs in PDF-Print format. Canva offers printing services in 3-5 days.
As of December 2019, a t-shirt template has been added. Canva is available in 190 countries and in over 100 languages, and works with all operating systems. New users to Canva Basic can go to canva.com and register for a free account. The app is also available from either the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store. Once designs are uploaded, they can be edited as often as necessary. There are various upgrades, and some content is premium, so users can pay as they go. The basic program does have a very large selection of free photos, illustrations, and vector graphics, but users can upload their own photos as well.
Most premium photo prices fall in the $1-$5 range, and as of the writing of this article, all proceeds from photo purchases are going to Australian bush fire relief. Multiple people can work on the same projects in Canva, as the program easily facilitates group work. Basic. The basic Canva plan offers 1 gigabyte (GB) of storage for photos and assets, 2 folders to organize designs, access to over 8,000 templates, uploading of personal images, and access to millions of free photos with the option of pay-as-you-go premium content, if needed. Canva Pro.
Canva Pro offers unlimited folders, team functionalities, 100 GBs of storage for photos and assets, access to over 4 million photos and graphics, custom fonts and a color palette, animated graphics interchange format files (GIFs), priority support, 1-click editing options, saved team templates, search tools, and the ability to resize designs into custom dimensions. This is available free to nonprofits, pending verification of qualifications.
Canva for Enterprise. Canva for Enterprise includes everything in Canva Pro plus unlimited storage, multiple brand kits, the ability to review and comment on team designs, single sign-on support, 99.5% service level agreement (SLA) uptime (basically how often the service is available and operational online), and enterprise support.
Another great feature of Canva is its collaboration tools. Users can invite team members or clients to collaborate on a design project, making it easier to work together and share feedback. This feature is especially useful for businesses and organizations that need to create consistent branding across different channels. Canva also offers a range of pricing plans, including a free version with limited features and a paid version with more advanced tools and resources. The paid version is affordable and offers excellent value for money, making it accessible to businesses of all sizes. Overall, Canva is an excellent online store for anyone looking to create professional-looking designs quickly and easily. Its user-friendly interface, vast library of resources, and collaboration tools make it a top choice for businesses, marketers, and designers alike.
Canva makes design and video editing amazingly simple (and fun)! Create stunning logo & poster designs with your photos and videos-even if you're not a design expert!
A versatile free graphic design app: full editor, Instagram story maker, video maker, video collage creator, logo maker and poster maker, book creator & mood board creator - Canva is the ultimate editing app.
Design your Instagram Highlight cover, Instagram Story or no crop posts, create a logo and banner for social networks: Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter. You can also make birthday invitations & wedding invites.
Stay on brand with our logo creator or logo designer for your business cards, posters or Instagram posts. Available on your phone & computer to jump back into your design anytime, anywhere.
How to Use Canva
Canva is an easy-to-use graphic design platform that provides users with the tools needed to create high-quality designs for various purposes. With over 60,000 templates created by professional designers, including logos and videos, Canva allows users to start from scratch or use a ready-to-use design.
Creating a Design
When creating a design on Canva, users have the option to use a blank canvas or a pre-made template. These templates are created by professional designers and are available for free to users. Users can easily edit the template and add their own personal touches to make it unique.
Using Images
Canva provides users with a library of premium photos and illustrations that can be used in designs. Users can also upload their own pictures and videos from their device gallery.
Adding Text
Adding text to designs on Canva is easy. Users can add quotes or multiple text to any graphic and have the option to change the font, size, color, spacing, and position.
Image Editing
Canva's free image editor allows users to apply photo filters, change brightness, add vignette, and more. This tool is perfect for those who want to edit their pictures like a pro.
Sharing Designs
Users can share their designs directly to Instagram, WhatsApp, email, or save it to their device. Canva makes it easy to show off your designs to the world.
Canva for Social Media
Canva is a great tool for creating designs for social media. Users can create Instagram Highlight covers, Instagram highlight icons, Facebook posts, Facebook covers, Pinterest and Twitter banners and thumbnails, and use the video editing app for YouTube. Canva can also be used as a picture maker, poster creator, and logo creator for all social media.
Canva for Everything
Canva is not just for social media. It can be used for any project, including logo design, book cover, and blog design. Users can also create evites for any event, such as a birthday card maker, wedding invitation maker, or evite creator. Canva also serves as a simple, free image editing app and can be used for creating a photo collage, flyer, or banner for any occasion. Additionally, Canva can be used to design motivational quotes, humorous memes, stunning Instagram Story templates, and even as a free Instagram video and movie maker editor.
Creating Designs Quickly
Using the search function, users can find templates faster by typing in their desired theme. For example, "birthday card," "baby photo collage," "sale flyer," "save the date card," "music poster maker," "beauty social media post," and more.
Collaborating on Canva
Canva allows users to create a free team to easily share and edit designs with friends or colleagues. Teams can work together on presentations, business cards, brochures, and other design needs. Upgrading to Canva Pro allows users to set their brand colors and upload brand fonts.
Ownership of Graphics
Canva has five license agreements that users should be aware of when using the platform. While anything that is uploaded to Canva is considered the user's "User Content," the original creators of individual design elements retain ownership. Users are granted a license to use these elements in their designs, but the individual elements are still owned by the original copyright owner/creator. Canva's licensing agreements provide important information regarding any restrictions around using the designs created on their platform, including restrictions for the use of stock images. It is important for users to play by Canva's rules when using the platform.