Are you using Canva? Why Not?
If you mention Photoshop to someone their initial response is often 'Oh that's too complex for me'. Which if you're not used to it it can be true. My question to them is Are you using Canva? Why not?. Canva came onto my radar a few months back when I signed up to a free trial. I'd heard people rave about it but I've stuck to Affinity as I'd been designing posters, website graphics on it for the last few years.
Canva has two different packages, the first one is free and that allows you to design but it is limited, certain graphics are locked or you can buy them, resizing is restricted. Or you can pay £10.99 a month for the Pro package which unlocks everything, allows you to create a brand kit; this features your colours, logos and fonts so they are always to hand. You can give their 30-day trial a go - Canva Free 30 Day Trial.
What is Canva?
Canva is a graphic design platform that allows users to create social media graphics, presentations, posters and other visual content. It is available on web and mobile, and integrates millions of images, fonts, templates and illustrations.
Although you can edit photos on Canva it's certainly not a replacement for Lightroom or Luminar, I tend to upload my already edited photos rather than unedited. What it is amazing for is creating dramatic, eye-catching social media posts. It has a huge range of sized templates for you and then within that, there are hundreds of ideas for you. If an event is coming up like Christmas, Mother's Day etc then they have ideas for you. Once you've picked an idea you can customise every aspect of it, colours, photos, elements, there is nothing you can personalise to suit your brand.
If you imagine you've got an extra pair of hands in the office who is giving you all these ideas, some you'll like some won't fit the style you're looking for but it might spark an idea for you. Of course, if none of these is quite right then start with a blank canvas. You can even animate your creations to come to life.
What do I use Canva for?
At SSX Creative I've been using Canva for the past 3 months, probably since the start actually. What have I used it for...well a couple of logos were created with it, business cards, a certificate, a flyer, countless Facebook and Instagram posts for the main account and also clients accounts.
If you've struggled with design software in the past this is nothing like that. A very simple to use drag and drop set-up but don't have the impression that it's not a professional piece of kit. From hundreds of font combinations, pre-installed logos, graphics, backgrounds, it means when you've got Canva loaded you don't need to go looking for additional things to add to the creation.
Favourite things about Canva
I'm just going to give a few quick things I like about Canva, these are the tools I've found most useful to me. I want any software I use to be simple and quick, I've other projects to work on. One of the great things is that they now have a Mac app, this for me is a lot easier to use rather than the website. The plus of this is that all designs, uploads and ideas are synced between, mobile app, web and desktop and it's super smooth and instant. I've tried it to test timing and it's there within seconds.
Another favourite of mine is the templates, not just the designs but templates for social media in the correct sizes, YouTube thumbnails, headers, Pinterest they are all there. They also have templates with different designs which is an ideal place for ideas and all of these can be edited to your brand colours, add a logo or change it completely.
I could carry on listing so many things such as info graphs, leaflets, booklets, or how I designed my new business cards on there. At £10.99 a month it has more than paid for itself. Grab a trial and see for yourself, it has become an important tool for SSX Creative.
