Are you looking for a new graphic design tool? Want to read an in-depth review of Canva? Because it’s one of the tools, I like to use. I am also writing my first ebook using canva and will publish it on my site soon; you can download it for free. Let’s start with the review.
Canva has a web version and also a mobile app
What is Canva?
Canva is a free graphic design web application that allows you to create invitations, business cards, flyers, lesson plans, banners, and more using professionally designed templates. You can upload photos from your computer or Google Drive and add them to Canvas templates with a simple drag-and-drop interface. It’s like having a basic version of Photoshop that doesn’t require graphic design knowledge. It is best for non-graphic designers.
Who is Canva best for?
Canva is a great tool for small business owners, online entrepreneurs, and marketers who don’t have the time and want to edit quickly.
To create advanced graphics, a tool like Photoshop Gaze is ideal. To use it, you need to get to know its hundreds of features and familiarize yourself with the software, and it is also best to have a good background in design.
It would help if you also had a high-end computer with the latest version of Photoshop.
So this is where Canva takes place; Canva lets you do all of that with the drag-and-drop feature. It is also easier to use and free. An even more affordable paid version is available for $12.95 per month.
Free vs. Pro vs. Enterprise pricing plan
The product is available in three plans: Free, Pro ($12.99/month per user or $119.99/year for up to 5 people), and Enterprise ($30 per user per month, minimum 25 people).
Features of the Free Plan
250,000+ free templates100+ design types (social media posts, presentations, letters, and more)Hundreds of thousands of free photos and graphicsInvite members to your team to collaborate and respond in real time5GB cloud storage Canva Pro for free for 30 days
Pro Plan Features
Everything Free has plus: 100+ million premium and stock photos, videos, audio, and images, 610,000+ premium and free templates with new designs daily Access Background Remover and Magic Resize Create a library of colors, logos, and fonts with up to 100 branded kits Remove image backgrounds instantly with background removerResize designs infinitely with Magic ResizeSave designs as templates for your team 100GB cloud storage plan social media content on eight platforms.
Features of the Enterprise Plan
Everything Pro has plus: Visualize your brand with logos, colors, and fonts in multiple Brand Kits. Control your team’s access to apps, images, logos, colors, and fonts with branded controls. Built-in workflows to get approval for your designs. Set up what elements your team can edit and stay on the mark with template lockout. Unlimited storage log-in with single sign-on (SSO) and access 24/7 enterprise-level support.
How to use Canva?
To start with Canva, you’ll need to create an account by providing your email address and Google, Facebook, or Apple credentials. You then choose your account type between student, teacher, small business, large corporation, non-profit, or personal. Based on your choice of account type, templates are recommended to you.
You can sign up for a free Canva Pro trial or start with the free version to get an idea of it’s the right graphic design tool for your needs.
Sign in to Canva
Design with Canva
When you sign up for an account, Canva suggests several post types. Based on the type of account you set up, you can see templates divided into the following categories: social media posts, documents, presentations, marketing, events, advertisements, launching your business, building your online brand, etc.
Start by choosing a template for your message or search for something more specific. Search by social network name to see a list of post types on each network.
Templates
Then you can choose a template. Choose from hundreds of ready-made templates with customizable photos, text, and other elements.
You can start your design by choosing from various ready-made templates, searching for one that fits your needs, or working with a blank template.
Canva has many choices, so start with a specific search. If you want to make a business card, search for it, and you will see many templates to choose from
elements
In the Canva designer, the Elements tab gives you access to lines and shapes, images, photos, videos, audio, charts, frames, and grids. The search box on the Elements tab lets you search for anything on Canva.
For starters, Canva has a large library of elements to choose from. To find them, you need to be specific in your search. You can also search the following tabs to see different features individually:
photos
The Photos tab allows you to search for and choose from millions of professional stock photos for your templates.
You can replace the photos in our templates to create a new look. This can also make the template more suitable for your industry.
You can find photos on other stock photography sites like Pixel, pixabay, and many more, or you can upload your images.
When you choose an image, Canvas photo editing features let you adjust the photo’s settings (brightness, contrast, saturation, etc.), crop, or animate it.
By subscribing to Canva Pro, you can access several premium features, including the Background Remover. This feature allows you to remove the background from any stock photo in the library or any image you upload.
Text
The Text tab allows you to add headings, and regular and graphic text to your design.
When you click on the text, you’ll see options to adjust the font, font size, color, formatting, spacing, and text effects (such as shadows).
Canva Pro subscribers can choose from a large library of fonts on the Brand Kit or the Styles tab. Enterprise-level controls keep visual content on-brand, no matter how many people are working on it.
audio
Create an animated image or video by adding audio to grab the user’s attention in social news feeds.
If you want to use audio from another stock site or your audio tracks, you can upload it in the Uploads tab or through the more option.
Video
Want to make your videos? Choose from thousands of video clips. You will find videos with a range of up to 2 minutes.
You can upload your videos and videos from other stock sites in the Uploads tab.
Once you’ve chosen a video, you can use the editing tools in Canva to crop, flip, and adjust the transparency.
Wallpapers
The Background tab provides free stock photos that can serve as backgrounds for your designs. Please change the location of a template to give it a more personal touch.
styles
The Styles tab allows you to quickly change the look of your template with just one click. And if you have a Canva Pro subscription, you can upload your brand’s custom colors and fonts to ensure designs stay branded.
Logos
If you have a Canva Pro subscription, you will have a Logos tab. Here you can upload variations of your brand logo to use in your designs.
Canva also allows you to create your logos. Please note that you cannot trademark a logo with stock content.
Publishing with Canva
Canva allows free users to download and share designs across multiple platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Pro subscribers can create multiple post formats from a single design. For example, you can start designing an Instagram post, and Canvas Magic Resizer can resize it for other networks, stories, roles, and formats.
Canva Pro subscribers can also use Canvas Content Planner to post content to eight different accounts on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Slack, and Tumblr.
Canva Team
Canva Pro lets you work on visual content with your team. Anyone can make and track comments, edits, revisions through version history. Designs can be created in Canva and sent to your team members for approval.
Canvas Print
When it comes to printing your designs, Canva has you covered. With an extensive selection of printing options, they can turn your plans into everything from banners and wall art to mugs and t-shirts.
Canva Print is perfect for any business looking to make a lasting impression. Create inspiring designs that people will want to wear, keep and share. Hand out personalized business cards that leave a lasting impression on customers.
canva apps
The Canva app is available on the Apple App Store and Google Play. The Canva app has been rated 4.9 out of five stars by more than 946.3K Apple users and 4.5 out of five stars by more than 6,996,708 Google users.
In addition to mobile apps, you can use Canvas integration with other web services to add images and text from sources such as Google Maps, Emojis, photos from Google Drive and Dropbox, YouTube videos, Flickr photos, Bitmojis, and other popular visual content elements.
Advantages and disadvantages of Canva
Advantages:
An easy-to-use interfaceCanva is a great tool for people who want to create professional graphics but don’t have graphic design skills. Hundreds of templates so you never have to start from scratch. Wide variety of templates for multiple usesBranding kits to keep your team consistent with the brand colors and fonts create visual content on the go. You can find royalty-free images, audio, and video without subscribing to another service.
Cons:
Some professional templates are only available to Pro users. Advanced photo editing features are missing, such as blurring or erasing a specific area. Some elements that fall outside a design are difficult to find. Features (like Canva presentations) could use some improvement. If you are a regular user of Adobe products, you may discover Canvas’s capabilities are limited. He prefers to work with vectors. Especially logos. High business prices
Conclusion
Overall, Canva is an excellent tool for those who need simple images for projects. If you’re a graphic designer with experience, you’ll find that the Canva platform lacks customization and advanced features, especially vectors. But if you’re short on design experience, you’ll discover Canva is easier to use for most projects than advanced graphic design tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator. If you have any questions, let me know in the comments section.
