Using Canva to bring your posts to life
Canva is a graphic design platform built for both non-designers and professionals, with its biggest strength being a drag-and-drop interface that simplifies the entire design process. If you’ve ever used PowerPoint, Canva will feel familiar, though some features work differently. Whether you’re creating an Instagram post, business presentation, or poster, its intuitive layout removes the usual complexity. From logos and videos to websites and pintables, Canva makes it easy to produce high-quality visuals—fast.
This guide will help you to get started with a free Canva account and start producing great designs for your social media posts.
Setting up your Canva account
Get started here: Canva Free | Design anything, together and for free
Set up a free basic account to access lots that Canva has to offer. You can do a lot with Canva Free, it has templates, an easy to use drag and drop editor, stock photos and 5GB of cloud storage – more than enough to get you started designing amazing graphics.
Top tips
- use a template to get you started – pick one that matches your design goals
- stick to one or two fonts to avoid a cluttered look
- add alt text to any images to ensure your design is fully accessible
- crop and resize images and other elements so each has room to breathe – don’t cram too much into one design
- be consistent with brand elements – colours, fonts and logos as well as the tone and style of your material
Canva has a beginners guide which is a great place to start if you’re new to this tool:
A beginner’s guide to using Canva
This series of videos from Design with Canva takes you from beginner to skilled user in bite sized videos.
