It’s time to learn how to create your own social media graphics for free using Canva. You’ve seen other accounts posting interesting and catchy graphics for some time now, but you just don’t have that many images to work with. You don’t know how to put text on top of a picture let alone use your logo in a graphic. Well, look no further than Canva.

Canva is perfect for individuals and businesses that have no budget for a graphic designer or designer software. Canva offers free elements and at the most, you might have to pay $1.00 when using their premium stock photography. There aren’t any other fees associated with this platform.

You can open Canva in your web browser at canva.com or get the free iPhone, iPad, or Android app. It’s very easy to use because it does all the work for you, just follow these steps!

  1. Choose a template

It’s time to create a design. Choose from the available templates. You can choose from professional layouts for Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and many others. The nice thing about the templates is that they are automatically the correct size. You don’t have to do any research on the width and depth of an image so it looks right.

  1. Upload your files

Before you get started, upload your own photos or logos in the uploads section, so they are ready to use. If you upload a PNG file without a background, the image will be placed onto the workspace with no background. This is especially handy when using logos over the top of images. They will appear neatly cut out. While you can choose from free stock images on Canva, you might also consider using other websites like Pexels, Unsplash, or Pixabay to download suitable images.

  1. Customize your design

You can start your design with a free background or by placing an image on the workspace. Backgrounds are found in the left-hand menu of options. If you’d rather use a Canva free image, use the search box at the top of the page. If you’d rather use an image you uploaded, just click back over to uploads in the left-hand menu and click on or drag the image onto the workspace.

Now go to the left-hand menu and click on the text option. Choose from a preset block of text or simply click on add heading, add subheading, or add a little bit of body text to place the text on your workspace. Move it forward or backward by using the arrange tool at the top right menu. That’s also where you can edit everything about your text. Everything from font and size to color and spacing is at your fingertips. You can even add a link within the image (if you’ll be downloading the file as a PDF).

You can add other elements or little bits of clip art to your workspace, too. Click on elements in the left-hand menu and click on the type of graphic you’d like to select. You’ve got photo grids, photo frames, shapes, lines, illustrations, icons, charts, and more.

If you’re at a complete loss for how to arrange your workspace, you might just select a predetermined design. Just click on layouts in the left-hand menu. Pick something that might work for your purpose and customize the text and move stuff around if needed.

  1. Download or share

You can click the share button in Canva to post your graphics straight to Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. If you’d rather download the file to share later or manually, just click the download button at the top of the page. A PNG file is recommended, but you can download a JPG or PDF file. It will go into your downloads folder on your computer.

Now, how’s that for easy? Canva is a cool way to create graphics all on your own without spending any hard-earned cash. Attractive branding will help you build your audience and capture customer attention that can be converted to qualified traffic and finally sales. Congratulations for stepping up your visual game and let us know if you have questions about using Canva. Vervocity is here to help, just call (217) 222-1451 or email us to get started today!