Canva Turned me into a Graphic Design Whizz

Today, in 3 minutes or less, you'll learn:   

1. What Canva is and how it can help you  
2. The reasons why I recommend signing up for the full version of Canva  
3. What you should focus on first once you have a Canva account  

Canva is such a fantastic program for all your graphic design needs. I have found it so easy to use, having had no design experience. Whenever I open Adobe products (Photoshop, Illustrator), I freak out at how complicated they look and close them down. This struggle all changed for me when I was introduced to Canva.  

Canva turned me into a graphic design whizz when I began using it. I couldn't imagine how costly and time-consuming it must have been for business owners to produce high-quality social media posts, documents, advertisements and videos before Canva.   

In today's newsletter, I want to share my responses to the three most common questions I receive from mamas about Canva as they start their business. Canva has the potential to be very useful in your business, too, so I hope you find this information helpful.  

Question One: What is it?  

Launched in 2013, Canva is an online design platform with a bold mission to "empower everyone in the world to design anything and publish anywhere" (Canva website).  

Canva will help meet all your graphic design needs, including:  

• Logos, banners and other branding  
• Social media posts  
• Images (Stock photos)  
• Business cards  
• Video creation and editing  

The best thing about it is that it is so easy to use and accessible for anyone without design experience. It has millions of amazing images and so many beautiful templates that it should be able to meet your business requirements, especially in the early stages.  

Question Two: Should I pay for the Pro version of Canva?   

There is a free version of Canva, which you can access to get started. The Pro version costs AUD 164.99/year for one person. I quickly subscribed as most of the images, templates and features I wanted to access were only available on the Pro version.  

From their website, the Pro version includes everything in the free version but also the following:  

• Unlimited premium templates  
• 100M+ photos, videos, graphics and audio  
• 100 Brand Kits to manage your brand  
• Quickly resize and translate designs  
• Remove backgrounds in a click  
• Boost creativity with 20+ AI tools  
• Plan and schedule social content  
• 1TB of cloud storage  
• 24/7 customer support  

There are also more advanced plan options for teams and enterprises.  

Given the value I have received, I have not looked back from subscribing and have continued to renew in future years. I have used Canva in so many ways in my business, including creating my first course (video, thumbnails, images and documents). The stock photos and templates are fantastic. I find it easy to use, and anytime I get stuck, I can answer my question in a YouTube tutorial, on the Canva FAQ, or using the help chat function. Canva has helped me set up my brand, including logos, colours and fonts, and I can use this across everything I publish. Canva has been a huge asset in my business. 

Question Three: Where should I start with Canva?    

The final question I often get is where to start with Canva once I sign up.  

The following are features I believe could be very useful for you:  

• Logo and banners: there are many logo templates you can turn to for inspiration and then customise to your particular needs, including your name and colours. You can also produce banners for social media (such as Facebook and Linked In cover photos) and your website.  
• Business card: you can preview many templates for business cards and then customise them to your needs. You can also have them printed by Canva for as little as AUD 17.50 for 50 cards. 
• Email signature: you can use a template to create an email signature to add to your professionalism and share all the contact details you need.   
• Branding: you can save your unique logo, fonts and colours in the Canva branding tool so that you can access them all with an easy click across all your future designs.  
• Social media post templates: there are so many designs you can choose from and many ideas for content you can use. All templates are also automatically sized to the dimensions preferred by each platform.   
• Content Planner: Canva also offers a content planner that enables you to schedule your social media posts. After you connect your social media business accounts to Canva, it can post automatically to your accounts.  
• Video: Canva has a fantastic video suite that allows you to record and edit your video ready to publish. The editing tools allow you to add slides to your video, split sections, and add or remove video, among many features.  
• Documents: there are a large number of templates that will help you meet all your business document needs, including welcome guides, lead magnets, pricing guides, workbooks, flyers, letterheads, calendars, proposals and reports.  
• Stock images: you have access to millions of images, and under the Pro licensing agreement, you can use them in your business with permission in so many ways.  

Canva is so fun to start playing in. I have even used it for posters and party invitations for my kids. There are some fantastic tutorials on YouTube if you get stuck on anything or want to explore more advanced options. It is worth checking out right from the start of opening your business.