CANVA TUTORIAL – How to use CANVA in 2023 (Beginner’s guide)

hello and welcome to this canva tutorial for complete beginners when i first started designing websites 20 years ago one of the biggest obstacles was to create eye-catching graphics i could add to my web pages it required specific design skills and expensive software i didn't have at the time and i wish canva had been available then more than a tool canva is a free graphic design platform for anyone who isn't an experienced designer with zero design skills you can create stunning graphics or videos which you can add to your website post on your social media channels including a newsletter and much more using drag and drop technology combined with thousands of free pre-sized professionally designed templates to fit every need canva makes it easy to create any design you want in just a few clicks since canva is a web-based application there is no need to download any program on your computer and you can even create designs on the go using the canva app canva has a plan to suit every budget starting with a free account giving you access to over 250 000 templates thousands of photos and five gigabytes of storage which is what we will be using for this tutorial hi my name is luke duran the founder of ranking academy and today i'm going to show you everything you need to know to get started with canva to make this course as easy as possible i have organized it into chapters so even if you don't watch all of it today you can easily come back to it later and start again from where you left off using the timestamps on the timeline of the video if you're ready let's start with the first chapter [Music] before you can start using canva you'll need to create a free account to make sure we all start from the same page you can either go to rankingacademy.com uk canva or alternatively you can click on the link in the description below from this page click on the get canva free button you can quickly sign up using an existing google account a facebook account or an email address the choice is yours i'm going to use the gmail account option within a few seconds you will land on the canva welcome screen from there you can specify what you will be using canva for let's pick the option personal you can skip the following popups which will take you to your canva homepage congratulations you've created your canva account let's go through the homepage together so you know how to navigate your way through it [Music] your homepage is divided in three main areas the top bar a side navigation menu which will appear if you click on the hamburger icon and the main area let's have a look at each section one by one starting with the top bar [Music] next to the home button you should see four drop down options you can choose from hovering on these options will reveal their content the first one is called templates what makes canvas so easy to use is the ability to create designs using professionally pre-designed templates these templates will be categorized by theme under this section whether you're designing content for your social media channels a presentation for work a brochure or anything else you'll be able to choose a design from thousands of templates using this menu just click on a design type within a theme let's say you want to create an instagram post for example this will take you to a screen where you can choose from tons of options over 220 000 in this case which fits the exact measurements and characteristics of an instagram post you probably won't want to scroll through all the designs option as it would take too long to narrow down your search and speed up the process i suggest you start filtering your results but first while we are on this template results page i'd like to draw your attention to a very important aspect of canva although you have signed up for a free account not all the suggested templates or design elements you will be seeing can be used for free templates displaying a currency symbol like this one means that one or more elements in the template has an associated cost if you want to use it most of the time the cost is related to a stock image which is either very inexpensive to purchase around one or two dollars or can be swapped to your own image at zero cost more on this later the other symbol you will come across is a yellow crown which means the template can only be used if you subscribe to a pro account templates that display no symbol whatsoever are a hundred percent free to use since this course is all about using canva for free we're going to exclude the templates designed for pro accounts from the results from the left hand side menu tick the free radio box this will eliminate all the templates with a yellow crayon and reduce the results quite a lot but will also reveal two new sets of filters you can use to filter your results further one for style and one for theme both of which can be expanded i personally think it makes more sense to filter by theme first let's say i run a beauty salon in which case i will use beauty as a theme then narrow it down further using the style filter let's go for elegant you can filter your results even further by choosing a color let's say orange i'm now down to only 35 templates from which quite a few are completely free to use like this one to use a template just click on it a pop-up window will appear and provide information related to this template in this case it is a hundred percent customizable you can share it and publish it anywhere and edit it on the mobile app to add your personal touch to it all you need to do is click on the customize template button which will launch the canva editor in a separate window of your browser but let's not get ahead of ourselves here as i will cover how to use the editor in a few minutes remember we're still covering the top bar of the homepage either click on the home button of the editor to go back to your home screen or close the editor window altogether as we've now covered the template section let's move on to the next one called features under this section first you'll find two massive libraries one for photos and one for icons which are also organized by categories you can click through to a specific category let's say i'm looking for photos of animals for example so i can simply click on the animals link under photos which will take me to the photo library showing me images of animals once again you can choose to exclude images reserved for pro accounts and filter your results with preset animal types alternatively you can use the search bar to be specific search for a photo you like that doesn't have a currency icon on it which will indicate it's totally free once you've found what you're looking for just click on the image to bring up its details you should see a free to use label to use the image in a design just click on the use in a design button specify which design you want to create let's say a facebook post for example this will again trigger the canva editor for the exact dimensions of a facebook post which you can now design to your taste let's close the editor for now and the image pop-up and look at the second massive library within the features section icons just like the photo library you can either click on a specific category or search through the entire library itself by clicking on it then search for what you are looking for don't forget to exclude paying results follow the same process to use an icon in a design as you would with an image the next feature is for those of you who want to create designs to be printed on products the most popular categories such as mugs postcards and t-shirts are listed here but if you click on seal you'll have access to a wider range of products it works in the exact same way as templates images and icons all you need to do is click on the categories you're interested in let's say custom mugs browse the available templates and choose the one you want click on the customize this template button the canva editor will open with your chosen template that will fit your product which you can now customize let's close the editor so we can get back to our menu the next feature is all about integrating third-party apps directly in some of your designs such as a google map animated gifs using giphy qr codes youtube videos and more once again this works exactly as the other features we've already looked at just select the one you're interested in and use it in your design use the explore feature if you want to create your own camera design team so multiple people can all work on the same designs together if you're into video editing canva also has a free video editor since this is a beginner's guide i won't cover video editing as it would warrant a tutorial on its own but at least you know it's there if you need it the last item of the explore feature is for those of you who are into graph and chart which you can create using the canva graph maker once again i think this is beyond the scope of this course but feel free to explore it in your own time you don't have to use canva online and can use it on a local device such as a desktop or mobile phone by simply downloading the app using the link in the download feature we've now covered the two main sections within the top bar templates and features the next section called learning is very straightforward and includes educational resources if you want to improve your camera expertise it is very useful especially if you are starting out and it includes courses tutorials and blog articles a lot of which use videos which makes it very easy to follow the last section is all about pricing and the various plans canva offers which you might want to consider once you've become familiar with the free version and want to take your designs to the next level further to the right you'll see a question mark icon which when clicked on will give you access to the canva help center which is really helpful if you get stuck and have a burning question which needs an answer the cog next to it is all about controlling the settings of your account and where you can change your password details the email address you are using and upload a profile photo for example the next button called create a design is as you've probably guessed it another way of creating a design within canva clicking on this button will open a drop down where you can search for the type of design you want to create if i search for facebook for example you'll see a list of all the facebook design options that are available which have been created to fit the exact dimensions of where they're supposed to be used there are hundreds of content types to choose from if you can't find what you are looking for you can always create your very own content type using the custom size option and specify the exact width and height once you've found the content type you are looking for just click on it this will take you to the canva editor where you can start creating your design the big difference when using this method to create a design is unlike the template option where you start off with a pre-made design which you can customize here you'll start with a blank page let's close the editor for now the last element of the top bar is related to your account and includes elements we've already covered such as your account settings the help center and so on this is also where you can sign out this takes us to the end of the top bar area let's move on to the next section [Music] similar to windows explorer if you use a pc or app finder if you use a mac the side navigation menu is where you can organize all your designs right below the home button which i guess i don't need to explain you'll find a link that will take you to your most recent designs as you can see the three designs are used in the previous chapters are being displayed right here whatever designs you've been working on will automatically be saved in this section your most recent designs will also be accessible in the main area of your homepage in a much more visual way which is very useful if you want to quickly access the one you want to update the next section called your project is where you can organize and store your designs using folders as time goes on the number of designs you create will grow very quickly while the recent design section is helpful retrieving a design you have worked on a few weeks ago will probably involve scrolling down a very long page which is not something you will want to do organizing your designs using folders will help you manage your work by default this section will include three different folders one for designs you have purchased one for designs you have starred because you like them and one for designs you have uploaded yourself like a photo an icon or anything else your recent designs will also be displayed in this section as well as all of your designs you can toggle through the option using the tab functionality right here to create your own folder click on the plus button in the top right hand side of the window then select the folder option and give it a name you can grant access to the folder to other members of your team if you have created one let's call this folder instagram posts for example then click on create folder all you need to do now is drag and drop whichever design you want into your folder and that's it with a free canva account you can create two folders in addition to what is already available the next section of the sidebar menu is called shared with you which is where you'll find designs that have been shared with you by other members of your team or someone who has a canva account and is inviting you to join their team the next section is fairly straightforward this is where you'll find designs you have deleted whenever you want to delete a design just hover on it then click on the three dots in the top right hand side this will show a menu with multiple options such as copying it downloading it or move it to a folder but also moving it to the trash when you select the move to trash option the design will be put in the trash section to delete it permanently just click on the trash section click on the three dots then choose the delete permanently option it's important you keep your account tidy and delete whatever design you think will not be used remember the free plan gives you access to five gigabytes of space so you want to make the most of it let's move on to the next section called create a team canva gives you the ability to create a team and invite other people to work on your designs with you i think this is a great feature especially if you run a business and are short on time and want to hand over some of the work to someone else but still have control over it to create a team just give it a name and invite people via their email address the last two sections are only available to users who have a pro account so i'm not going to expand on them very much but if you decide to upgrade your account here is what you need to know the brand kit option is where you can add your brand design identity such as your logo your brand colors and your text fonts adding these into your account will help you be consistent with your brand across all of your designs on canva the content planner is for those of you who publish a lot of content on your social media channels with a content planner you can schedule your designs to be published automatically on your channels by syncing canva with them which will save you tons of time these are two great features that will help you sharpen up your game and i would encourage you to consider upgrading to a pro account later down the line to benefit from them this covers the sidebar menu let's move on to the next area [Music] the most prominent element within the main area of your homepage is the search bar as we've seen while exploring the templates option in the top bar there are hundreds of thousands of templates to choose from the search bar is just another way to search through them just like you can search the web using google you can search through canvas templates using the search bar of the home page enter a keyword related to the design you want to create you can be fairly broad and pick a topic for example food then filter your results using the filters on the left hand side which we've already covered in one of our previous chapters alternatively you can search for a design type like instagram posts for example where you can also apply filters if you want you can be even more granular and search for a combination of both for example instagram post food which will narrow down your results to only instagram post templates related to food if you worked on many projects you can use the search bar to search through them too you can also use the search bar to import an image which you can start editing directly through the canva editor or even import a document i can't remember if i mentioned it but both these options can also be found under the create a design button from the top bar in summary the search bar is probably the fastest way for you to find the templates you are looking for and create the designs that you want next to the search bar you have the option to customize a design to your preferred size if you can't find a suitable precise template from your search this option is also available from the top bar when you click on the create a design button right under the search bar you'll see a range of icons which relate to specific categories and is another way from which you can start your designs the for you category will be selected by default and will display the template types that you use the most when flicking through the various categories the list of template types will update according to the category you've clicked on so you can pick the one you want as you can see there are many ways of creating a design using canva wherever you decide to start from is entirely up to you as you get more familiar with the tool you'll have your own preference but in the end they will all lead to the canva editor which is what we are going to look at next [Music] by now you should know how to start the design by either choosing from a pre-designed template a graphic type with pre-sized measurements or create your very own design using custom dimensions regardless of which method you choose you'll always end up in a canva editor which is where you can customize your design today i'm going to show you how to use the editor while creating an instagram post from scratch this will open the canva editor in a separate tab of your browser to the exact measurements of an instagram post just like the home page of canva the editor can be split in three different areas a side panel which is where you'll find all the elements you can drag and drop onto your design a menu bar which sits at the top of the editor and helps you control your document features and the main design area which is currently blank just like we did with the home page let's go through each section starting with a menu bar [Music] clicking on the home link of the menu bar will take you back to the canva homepage which we covered in the first part of this tutorial please note when starting a design the editor is launched in a separate browser tab clicking on the home link will take you back to the canva home page in that very tab which means you may end up with several tabs open on the home page when using this link the next feature is called file when clicking on it a drop down will appear giving you access to a number of options to help you create your design from there you can start a new design altogether and search for something else using the search bar let's say i want to create a facebook ad instead of an instagram post for example i can do it using this option the next item on this list is called show rulers clicking on this will add vertical and horizontal rulers to your template and help you create your design with more precision clicking or moving an element in your design will show a grey highlight on the rulers and will help you know the elements dimensions let me show you this in action when i drop an element using the left hand side panel which i will cover in a minute notice the grey area highlights in the rulers as i drag the element along right below the rulers is the show guides option selecting this option will enable you to add line guides to your design which will help you align elements you can drag line guides from the rulers anywhere dimensions are in pixels and shown at the top as you drag them as you can see this template is 1080 pixels by 1080 pixels which is the exact size of an instagram post under the show guys option you'll find something called sure margins when you click on it dotted lines will appear on your design indicating what the safe area of your design is which is where you should add your important information so it doesn't get cut off if printed the next option in the file menu is the short print bleed this is for those of you who want to do print work selecting this will enable you to avoid white gaps when printing to the edge of the paper or a card although canva automatically saves your work there is a save all changes option within this menu you might want to use this to make sure the very last update you've made is saved you can save the design you are working on directly to a folder you've created using the save to folder option just click on it and fetch the appropriate folder you've created which we covered earlier in the video if you've created a team and multiple people are working on the same design they can add comments to them the resolved comments option will help you respond to these comments and help progress the creation process the version history option allows you to go back in time and restore a previous version of a design if you think you preferred it the yellow crown next to it means it is only available to pro users so if you need this feature you will need to upgrade your account clicking on the make a copy option will open another canva editor tab with the exact same design which you can customize once you've finished creating your design you can download it from here or continue working on it locally using the desktop app finally there is a help option which will open a pop-under which you can use if you encounter any issue or have any question moving on from the fire feature on to the next item called resize this is another option only available to pro users as it displays the crown symbol next to it if you become a pro user you can use this feature to resize your design to different formats in just one click this is extremely useful if you want to create one design which you want to publish on multiple platforms quickly and efficiently and another reason to consider upgrading to a pro account next to resize you'll see two arrows called undo and redo use the undo function to reverse a mistake you've made and the redo function to restore any actions that were previously undone using the undo this is just the same as using ctrl z or control y on your keyboard further along you can use this box to give your document a name let's call ours first instagram post if you want to upgrade to a pro account you can click this button note you can upgrade your account for free for 30 days i think it is definitely worth giving this a shot you can cancel at any time and will receive a reminder three days before the end of the trial the next option is for those of you who want to share the design with someone in your team or a canva user you can either share your design to be edited to be used as a template or for someone just to view it the camera inside feature is only available to pro users so i'm not going to expend too much on this more of an analytics tool it helps you understand the performance of your designs and will track how many people have viewed and interacted with them next is a download option which is the same as we saw within the file features you can download your file in different formats such as a gif a jpeg an mp4 and more last the three dots next to the download button is a list of recommended actions you should be taking next such as sharing your design downloading it printing it and so on that's it we've now covered the menu bar time to look at the side panel [Music] i very briefly touched on the side panel in a previous chapter when i brought a random element in the main area to show you how the rulers work using the side panel you can drag and drop templates photos texts and more directly on your blank page which you can customize in just a few clicks so you can create professional looking designs in no time the side panel is divided in six different tabs each of which representing a specific category when opening canva editor the side panel will automatically display the templates tab by default you can minimize the panel altogether by clicking on the arrow right here clicking on any of the tab will expand it back let's have a look at the first tab template from this section you can find a selection of templates which will match the dimensions of the design type you've chosen which in this case is an instagram post if you like one of them just drag and drop it into the main area or simply click on it after which you'll be able to customize it there are plenty of templates to choose from if you don't want to scroll down indefinitely you can filter through them using the search bar at the top search for a specific topic for example to narrow down the selection to something more relevant there is also a filter feature in the search bar itself which enables you to filter results by language or and colors let's move on to the next tab called elements this is essentially a collection of various elements you can add to your design once again there are tons of options available here such as lines and shapes graphics photos videos audio files charts and tables frames and grids you can also use the search bar to narrow down the results or click on the specific category to see what's available within it moving on to the next tab upload when using the upload tab you can bring in your own media into canva whether it's an image a video or an audio file all media types are covered here if you want to upload a file directly from your computer just click on the upload media button alternatively if you click on the three dots next to the upload button you can also import files from third-party platforms such as google drive facebook dropbox and others by connecting your canva account directly to them you can also do this using the logos right here if you're planning on uploading a lot of your own media you'll be able to search through them using the search upload option right here last but not least there is also a feature which enables you to record your computer screen which i think is pretty neat next in the side panel is the photo tab the photo tab will give you access to a massive photo library which contains millions of photos enter a keyword in the search bar for whatever you are looking for and a selection of related photos will appear drag the one you want into the main area to use it you can also use the filter option to select the photo orientation such as square horizontal or vertical and even select cut out option only let's move on to the text tab if you want to add text to your design this is where you need to go at the top you'll find some common text features such as heading subheading and simple paragraph just click or drag the one you want to use on your design area and customize it to your taste if you prefer you can also choose from hundreds of font combinations or pre-formatted text holders which you will also be able to customize watch out for the ones that display the crown symbol as they are only available to pro users time to look at the last tab more under the more category you'll find even more design features which will help you come up with your final creation the first feature is style this will modify the look and feel of any of your design in just one click let me show you how it works by picking a random time plate first from the template section using the style feature i can apply a new theme style to this template in just one click the entire color palette as well as the fonts will change based on my selection if you only want to change the colors of your design just pick a color palette from the colors tab and the font will remain untouched inversely if you just want to change the font and keep your color palette just use the fonts tab notice that when you use one of the options from the more category it will be added into the left hand side panel other features available under the more category include audio which is a library for audio files a lot of these will only be available to pro users so if you are planning on using a lot of audio files when creating your design i suggest you upgrade your account a video library is also available you can filter through the video library using the buttons here or specify what you are looking for using the search bar there is also the option to record yourself which we already saw under the upload tab the next feature on the more is for backgrounds which is where you can select a specific background for your design you can pick from a solid background a gradient one or simply choose an image if you want to include any type of charts as part of your designs you'll find them under the more tab as well each chart is customizable with your own data changing the data will update the designs which is very neat the last item on this list is for folders which is only for pro users you can create or import even more content using the various apps available within the more section i'm not going to cover these today but i would suggest you explore some of them in your own time this brings us to the end of the side panel exploration let's now have a look at the main design area [Music] armed with everything you've learned so far you should now be able to create some stunning content this is what we're going to cover in this chapter using the design area right here i'm still going to work on a design using an instagram post template type it doesn't matter which template you choose it could be a pre-designed template or a blank page like mine the customization process will work exactly the same let's say i'm a real estate agent and want to create a post for a beautiful property that has just come on my books from the side panel in the template tab i'm going to see what's available if i search for real estate there are plenty of options available some for pro users and some for non-pro users let's pick one that doesn't require a pro account like this one which i'm going to drag on my workspace before we start editing this let's have a look at the bar that sits right below your design from there you can add some notes zoom in and out of the design or pick a pretty fine view display your design in a grid view which is useful if you are working with multiple pages at once or preview your design right above your design you'll find a toolbar that will enable you to customize each and every element of your design individually hovering on your design will highlight the various components of it with a turquoise outline to customize an element simply click on it once it's outlined and the toolbar above will update with the options that are available to customize this exact element let's start by changing the color of this box right here from the toolbar i'm going to click on the color option and change it to something a little brighter i'm also going to change the color of these other two boxes to an orange hue which i think looks better the next thing i want to change is the main title of the post firstly i want to change the copy to do this i just need to double click in the text box so i can amend the content inside of it the toolbar will have updated accordingly with all the available tools if you've used a word processor before you should be familiar with most of them already first i'm going to change the font type to something a little different such as open san extra bold then i'm going to increase the size of the text you can do this by either using the minus and plus button from the toolbar or drag one of the handle of the text box itself every element of a design can be resized in the exact same way i need to reposition it too as it now seems misaligned to reposition an element just click and drag it wherever you want if you want to rotate it just click on the icon below it you can change the color of your text make it bold italic capitalize the letters or switch to lower case change the alignment or use lists you can also modify the spacing of it which is very useful if the font you've chosen makes the text too squashed for example there is an option to add effects to your text for example i feel the left effect works well each effect has its own settings which you can toggle through you can even change the shape of your text and curve it which can be very effective for some designs the last option you can use to customize text elements is animation hovering on an animation will show you a preview of what it will look like before you apply it i would advise to use animation sporadically otherwise it could be irritating for viewers the next thing i'm going to do is change the images as you can see there are currently two images that have a canva watermark on them you may remember that at the beginning of the video i mentioned that some templates display a currency icon meaning that some of the elements contained in them need to be purchased if you want to use them this is one of those templates if you click on the images you'll have the option to remove the watermarks by purchasing them although the cost is generally very low you can simply replace the images for free either upload your own photos through the upload tab on the side panel or use a free option from the photo library for the sake of this example let's use images from the photo library let's delete the first one and search for a suitable replacement using the search bar i'm going to search for images of a house i think this one will do so i'm going to drag it on my workspace as you can see it doesn't fit very well it's too small and sits on top of the other elements this is because canva uses layers each element sits on its own layer and layers are stacked on top of each other just like a pile of paper to change this make sure the element you want to reorder is selected in our case the photo we've just dragged in from the toolbar click on position from the pop-up menu you can reposition your picture using the various options available to send an element one layer below you'd need to select the backwards option if you want to send an element to the bottom of all the layers just click on the two back option you can do the reverse using the forward and front options in this case i want my image to be sent behind all the other layers so i'm going to click on to back all i need to do now is resize the image so it fits the blank that was left when i deleted the previous one using the handles and bring the orange box and the 20 copy a little higher up so it looks nice and neat you can edit your photos further using the tools available in a toolbar for example you can adjust the brightness contrast saturation add filters and more you can also crop it flip it or animate it the second image is easier to replace i just need to delete it and drop a new one in the placeholder last couple of finishing touches let's drop an eye-catching element in the dead space above the price using the elements tab from the side panel let's go for an arrow that will be pointing at the photos of our imaginary condo just like before you can customize elements using the tools available in the toolbar let's make the arrow a bit thicker and change the color so it fits with the overall color scheme to round it up and to make my post really eye catching i'm also going to apply animations to the arrow and the book now button as i feel it will work very well once you finish designing you can see a preview of your work using the preview button below your design if you're happy with the outcome all that remains to be done is to download it and publish it which is what we're going to look at in our next chapter [Music] once you've finished creating your design all that is left to do is to download it publish it or print it depending on what you chose to create this is really easily done to download your design click on the download button in the top right hand side of your window a drop down will appear suggesting which file type you should use to download your design in this example the suggested file type is an mp4 this is because my design contains animations other options however are available if you click on the arrow next to the suggestion giving you the option to download your file in other formats if you are not sure which file type you should be using there is a small description right under each of them to help you make a decision generally speaking if you want to download your design as a still image you should use either a png or a jpeg if your designs contain animations you should use the mp4 or gif format once you've picked a suitable file type just click on download and your design will automatically start to download when the download is completed your file will be available in a download folder of your computer where you can retrieve and publish it wherever you like alternatively you can also publish your designs directly from canva to your favorite social media accounts click on the three dots next to the download button here you'll find a range of options for the most popular social media platforms which you can connect your canva accounts to once you've connected your canva account to your social media accounts you'll be able to publish straight to them if you've designed something to be printed just select a printing option and canva will do all the leg work for you and send it to your home that's it guys you're now all set and should be able to start creating content you can be proud of and brag about to your friends most importantly you will be able to publish eye-catching designs that will grow your audience and your business don't forget to subscribe or like the video and if you have any questions post them in the comments below until next time happy marketing

Channel: Ranking Academy

Views: 91,891

Keywords: canva tutorial, how to use canva, canva tutorial for beginners, design with canva, how to use canva for beginners, canva tips, canva tips and tricks, tutorial canva, canva design, canva for beginners, learn canva, canva tutorials, canva full tutorial, canva tutorial 2022, tutorial canva 2022, canva tips and tricks 2022, how to use canva tutorial, canva tips for beginners, canva for business, complete canva tutorial, learn to use canva 2022, canva professional design

Id: 70WNlkwZ0ew

Length: 40min 52sec (2452 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 08 2022