Five Ways to Level Up as a Canva Designer
Graphic design is one of those skills that almost anybody can make use of. No matter what industry you work in, anybody can make use of well-designed graphics to promote themselves or their products. So why haven’t we all become masters of Photoshop and InDesign? Well unfortunately, the barrier to entry of the entire Adobe Creative Suite is astronomically high. It takes hours upon hours of experience to even become proficient with these programs. And while they can be incredibly instrumental in unlocking maximum creativity from those who use them, most of us don’t have the time to make that a reality. So where does that leave us? Dead in the water with no design paddle? Enter Canva. Canva is a free (premium subscription available), easy to use, design tool that can be utilized within minutes.
1. Get Canva Pro (If you can)
Let me start by saying that Canva is a powerful tool whether you pay for the extra features or not. Anybody can make the site work for their needs using the free version. However, Canva Pro offers users a range of extra tools and templates (including some in this list) that make the experience easier and your designs better. Whether it is the ability to use a brand kit, or the extensive library of premium design templates made available to you, Canva Pro is well worth the money. And while this value pays for itself, you don’t necessarily need to pay for it with your personal funds. If you are working with a company or another professional who has allocated a budget for design and branding, Canva Pro is an extremely easy sell. By highlighting the high value that the tool brings at a low price (especially compared to Adobe’s Creative Suite), you should be able to easily gain access through a company account.
2. Utilize Your Brand Kit
One of the very best features included with Canva Pro is the ability to create and implement a brand kit. This consists of your logo, brand colors, fonts, and other smaller features. Whenever you are in the middle of a design, all of these elements are made easily accessible to you, and you do not have to go searching for that specific shade of blue that your company consistently uses. This feature is even more relevant to you if you are working with a team. Canva Pro makes collaboration insanely easy, with all team members having access to every design made on the account.
3. Keep It Simple
This tip is one that anybody can use regardless of their account status with Canva. Whether you are designing a social media post or a promotional poster, nobody likes looking at a cluttered, distracting image. Often times, when designing is made as easy as Canva makes it, we begin to feel the need to keep adding to our designs to make them livelier. In reality, the design looked better before the layers of elements that have been added. Whether you are designing from scratch or working from a template, make sure you get other opinions than your own and try to keep the number of elements low.
4. Stick to the Templates
While I briefly mentioned working from scratch to create a design in the last tip, this is a strategy I do not recommend. Realistically, unless you are hoping to create a design that is extremely specific, Canva has a template for what you are trying to do. These templates are often designed by professionals which takes the work of nailing that perfect aesthetic off of your shoulders. Templates allow you to simply add the colors and information to an already impeccable design.
5. Spend Adequate Time Browsing
Canva is stocked to the brim with various templates with more being added every day. To be specific, there are 400,000+ templates for you to use if you have Canva Pro. This means that there are a ton of choices when choosing one for your project. I implore you to be patient when scrolling through options for a couple reasons. For starters, other Canva users won’t be as patient as you and you could end up using the same template as another business. How embarrassing. Another reason is that by searching deep into the library of templates, you are bound to find that one that just fits your project perfectly. Don’t settle for “good enough” when you know “perfect” is out there somewhere. Use some of the time that was saved avoiding that 30-minute photoshop tutorial to really search hard for the correct template for you.
Canva’s tools and templates can help anybody add star graphic designer to their list of skills. Using these tips alongside the tool will allow you to promote your brands and products with ease. That being said, there is nothing that will help you as much as working with the platform on your next big project. So go ahead and get started on your next great promotion!
