Canva is a free graphic design platform that allows users to collaborate and create social media graphics, presentations, posters, and other visual content. It has several templates and a massive library of stock images, vectors, icons, designs, and photos that you can use to create any type of visual piece.
How to get started with Canva
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Go to Canva.com and sign up for a free account
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Create your first design.
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Choose from a pre-made design, create your own using custom dimensions, or choose from a wide range of templates.
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Add photos (drag and drop), choose from existing stock images, add elements such as graphics and illustrations, change the background, replace existing text or add your own message.
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Once satisfied, hit the download button to download your design
Here’s an example of using Canva for Golf Kamloops
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Original template chosen.
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Changed the photo by uploading our own photo
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Changed the template fonts to our branded fonts. Changed the font color to white.
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Lowered to fonts on the image and updated the template text to relevant messaging.
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Changed the bottom bar color to match our brand colors.
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Added our logo to the bottom. Finished FB graphic ready to be shared.
Helpful Hints
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The pre-made templates are a great starting point and source of inspiration. However, it’s important to customize the templates to fit your brand. Change the colors, fonts, and graphics to truly make the template your own.
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A free Canva account is suitable for most people and offers over 8,000 free templates, 100+ design types, and hundreds of thousands of free photos and graphics. A paid Pro account might be necessary if your brand doesn’t use an open-source font, if you want to save branding elements to your account, or if you want access to even more templates, stock images, and graphics. Tourism Kamloops uses a Pro account.
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Now is a great time to dive into Canva’s Design School. They have a variety of classes to enhance your Canva skills. To start, we’d recommend the Getting started with Canva course.
