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One of the easiest and most accessible ways to make your social media look professional is by using the graphic design platform Canva. There are so many options and ways to make your online presence visually more polished, more attractive, and altogether just…better! Let’s just jump into some of my favorite parts about Canva and how you can get easily get started.
If you need graphics for your blog, Instagram, YouTube, and more, Canva has the tools for you to set yourself apart. Canva is also a great platform for designing your profile on Chaturbate or infographics about upcoming shows and events. Sex workers wear many different hats and an unexpected challenge while managing your business can be graphic design. We don't always have the time to invest hundreds of hours into learning a new skill. This is why it is important to work smarter and not harder. Canva allows you to work smarter by providing user-friendly tools that will produce stunning professional graphics.
What is Canva?
Canva is a graphic design tool that allows you to customize templates or create your own design for a variety of platforms and uses:
Instagram posts, reels, and stories
Pinterest pins
Blog post graphics
Presentations
Newsletters
Sidebar graphics
Resumes
Logos
Business cards
GIFS
MP4s
Infographics
Sales
Events
And more! Really, the options are only limited by your own imagination! And thankfully there are so many enthusiastic Canva users that the tutorials, guides, and helpful hints out there are also endless.
You can easily sign up for an account for free and start taking a look around at what Canva offers either by using the search bar for your specific needs (type ‘Instagram’ or ‘business card’, whatever) or just by scrolling around.
Hands down, the best way to familiarize yourself with Canva is by taking advantage of their own Learn section. There’s design inspiration, branding tips, marketing guides, and more. They even offer some industry-specific help, such as guidance for non-profits or for educators. With such a user-friendly platform, the ideas will start flowing immediately.
Who is Canva for?
Canva has so many great uses that there isn't really a definitive target audience. Even design professionals can benefit from the variety of templates. The beauty of Canva is that it’s accessible for people of all skill levels and financial abilities. You can choose to pay for Canva Pro, which I’ll cover at the end of the article, or you can stick with the free plan indefinitely.
How do I use Canva?
The short answer to “how do I use Canva?” is, however you want! There are hundreds of thousands of free templates, photos, and graphics, so you can play around to your heart’s content.
Until then, here are the steps to getting started on Canva:
Set up your free account at canva.com and fill out your profile.
Use the search bar to narrow down (‘Instagram’ or ‘Christmas card’)
Explore templates or create your own design
Start creating!
All of Canva’s templates are fully customizable. You can change the wording, colors, icon placement, font, images, everything to make it totally yours. Some of the tools Canva provides to help your designs look as professional as possible include:
Color palette tool: Helpful color-matching guide as well as the history and meaning behind certain colors
Various filters: Enhance images and even set your own filter codes for brand consistency
Font pairing: Tips on how to attractively mix and match fonts for various applications, including print ads, resumes, social media posts, and more
So while you are free to design as you wish, Canva doesn’t throw you blindly into the design world. As you play with templates and designs, you’ll also discover that none of your changes are permanent until you download your image. You can tweak all you want without fear of messing up your creation.
You’re also not limited to Canva’s templates. You can upload your own images and start with an entirely blank canvas if that’s what works best for you.
Remember, practice makes perfect. Your first few designs may not be exactly what you envisioned, but as you become more familiar with Canva and all it has to offer, you’ll quickly and easily create eye-catching graphics.
Is Canva expensive?
Canva has a couple of plans available to choose from depending on your needs. I suggest the vast majority of users take advantage of Canva’s free plan, which includes more templates than you could ever use and 5 GB of cloud storage.
Another option is Canva Pro. For $12.99 a month of $119.99 a year, you and up to four members of your team have access to Premium photos, videos, audio, and templates, as well as 100 GB of cloud storage.
For companies and larger teams, there’s the Enterprise package which includes everything Canva Pro offers in addition to unlimited storage, multiple Brand Kits, and built-in workflows for your team. This plan requires contacting Canva’s sales staff for pricing.
Take a look at the plan comparisons below:
Canva is committed to providing free services to nonprofits and educators and also offers a number of helpful resources for those sectors. This kind of generosity is another reason I suggest Canva anytime I can.
I love Canva for its ease of use and beautiful, professional designs. I hope this guide was helpful, and please feel free to contact me if you need help getting started.