Canva is an service for graphic design that lets you make visual materials without knowing much about graphic design. The tool is mainly used to make social media graphics, simple videos, presentations, slides, posters, and other visual assets.
Users can do this easily with a wide range of customizable templates and royalty-free images. To make it more accessible, Canva has a mobile application for Android and iOS users.
Learn more about the Canva app’s features, content, and price below.
- What Is the Canva App?
- What Is Canva Social Media?
- How Can You Replace a Background in the Canva App?
- How Can You Edit Text and Other Elements on the Canva App?
- Is Canva Free?
- How Does Canva Compare to Adobe?
What Is the Canva App?
Canva's message is that anyone, no matter how good they are at art or graphic design, can use simple drag-and-drop tools to make visual content on any device, anywhere in the world.
Small businesses can use this all-in-one app to make social media images, slide decks, data visualizations, reports, animated Instagram posts, Facebook ads, and other branded assets that look professional.
Large companies can use the tool to give their internal communications departments control over all the content created by their employees to make sure it fits with the company's brand. The app has a lot of templates, a large image library, and free workshops where you can learn the best ways to do things.
Canva's greatest strength is that is doesn't require any previous design experience. Because of its high usability and range of features, it is a worthy investment. For this reason, it has been chosen as an Editors' Choice winner among similar apps for teamwork.
How Can You Start Working With Canva App?
The Canva app is free on the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store. When you first open the Canva app, there are two tabs at the bottom: Templates and Designs. The Canva templates you can use and change to your liking are in the Templates tab.
You'll find some pre-made templates of different sizes, categories, and types, like WhatsApp stories, Instagram posts, Facebook covers, invitation cards, logos, resumes, etc.
The graphics you make are stored in the Designs tab. You can change and edit them. You can use an existing template or start with a blank template to create a graphic in Canva. In both cases, a template includes text, shapes, etc.
What Is Canva Social Media?
Once you've set up your social graphics, it's great to have the Content Planner, a team calendar where you can schedule social media posts in advance.
You click on the plus sign, choose one of your creations, choose which social media channels you want to show up on, and then schedule it to run. It's helpful to see and schedule the content from the same screen.
Another benefit of using one calendar is that everyone on the team can see what's happening and when at a glance.
You can choose Instagram Business, Facebook Page, Twitter, Facebook Group, Pinterest, LinkedIn Profile, LinkedIn Page, Slack, or Tumblr as the destination when you schedule posts from the Content Planner.
What Is the Canva Presentations Feature?
The Presentations part of the Canva Worksuite lets you make pitch decks, games, financial reports, and other visual materials you can show other people. The best idea for Presentations is the remote control you can use with Canva.
Now, multiple presenters can connect virtually to move through and control the slide show, whether in the same room or not.
It's good to know that you can start over if your slides are already in another app, like PowerPoint. With just one click, you can import existing decks and turn them into content you can change and improve within Canva.
How Can You Replace a Background in the Canva App?
Tap the picture once to change the background (or any other image). At the bottom of the app, you'll see four new options: Gallery, Image, Color, and Filter.
The gallery is where all of the photos on your phone are kept. So, you can replace it with your pictures and set them as your background. You can even take a picture if you tap on the camera icon in the Canva app.
Canva has a lot of free images in the "Images" section. Tap on any picture to replace it with a picture you already have.
But if you want a solid background instead of an image, you can tap on the Color tab and choose a color. Lastly, you can add a filter to your picture to improve it. Tap on "Advanced Filters" to change each area's brightness, saturation, and color, separately.
How Can You Change an Image's Size on the Canva App?
If you use your own picture, the app will add it to the original size. Sometimes the background and area of the image are different, leaving a blank space. You can avoid that by changing the size of the image.
Tap the picture once to choose it. Then, use the pinch-and-zoom gesture to make it bigger or smaller.
How Can You Edit Text and Other Elements on the Canva App?
It is easy to edit text on Canva, as you only need to tap it to make the options show. Tap it once to change its color. At the bottom, you'll see a white icon that looks like a pencil, which you'll need to select to make it change color.
In the same way, if there are any other parts, their colors will be in the bottom section. The Transparency slider can also be used to change the level of transparency. To save the changes, tap the check mark.
You can also change any text element by tapping on it. If you tap it once, you can change its size, color, spacing, alignment, etc.
Even though Canva created the primary template, you are free to modify it however you like. The floating add icon allows you to insert any item. You can select from various formats, including text, image, illustration, shape, etc.
How Can You Start a New Project on the Canva App?
You can also start with a blank template if you know your design skills. Go to the app's home screen and tap the floating "add" icon at the bottom. You must first choose the right size template.
At the bottom, you'll see a list of different image sizes based on their type, such as Instagram posts, invitations, posters, wallpaper, etc. Scroll through them until you find the one you want. You can also go to that section of templates on the home screen, where the first one is a blank template for the same thing.
If none of the sizes work for you, you can also make a picture with your own measurements. Tap the "Add" button, and tap the "Size" button at the top. On the next screen, enter the size you need.
Is Canva Free?
Canva has three price levels: Canva Free, Canva Pro ($12.99 per month or $119.99 per year for one person), and Canva for Teams ($14.99 per month or $149.90 per year for the first five people). Each extra person costs $7 per month if you have more than five people.
Canva is free for schools, teachers, and non-profit organizations that have been verified and signed up. People with free accounts can only make two folders and store 5GB of data.
In the Free plan, you can work with others, but you need to get some features, like making custom templates with your brand's logos and fonts or posting your work directly to your social media accounts.
What Are the Features of the Canva Pro?
The Pro account has unlimited folders, 100GB of storage space, custom templates, and the ability to publish directly to social media.
This plan comes with 100 Brand Kits where you can save your logos, colors, and fonts so your brand looks the same everywhere. You can also access more design tools, templates, and stock photos.
How Does Canva Compare to Adobe?
Canva's prices are about the same as those of its competitors, but it depends on what level of service you want. Adobe Express, a similar web app from Adobe, costs less, though. Express, like Canva, is made for people who need to learn how to design but need to make content.
The Free plan gives you 2GB of storage space and access to a subset of templates, images, and fonts.
The Premium plan for Express costs $9.99 a month or $99.99 a year, but if you already have an Adobe Creative Cloud subscription ($54.99 a month for a huge suite of apps), you don't have to pay extra for it.
With the paid plan, you get 100GB of storage space and all of Adobe's premium assets, features, and tools. Canva has more useful templates and parts than Adobe Express, such as live mind maps, complex data visualizations, and a website builder that lets you scroll more freely.
How Does Canva Compare to Visme and Prezi?
Visme is a close competitor, but it's less well-known than Canva. Its paid accounts start at $147 per year, and its Business accounts start at $297 per year.
Prezi is not a direct competitor of Canva. Still, it is similar in that it helps people of all skill levels make compelling visual business products, mostly talking-head videos and presentations.
There are almost a dozen different levels of service for Prezi, which costs between $36 and $708 per year. If you're buying a license for yourself and not a whole team, you can expect to pay between $3 and $7 per month. Expect to pay between $14 and $18 monthly for extra business features.
Conclusion
Canva is a complete design tool for anyone who isn’t an experienced designer. Although it is most commonly known as an image-editing program, its capabilities extend beyond that.
The scope of what you can create is enormous: from printables and PDFs to bills and flyers and Infographics and Websites.
