Free, high-quality graphic design tools + gorgeous pre-made templates + slick, easy-to-use interface = Canva.
Great imagery is a vital element to any marketing campaign. And by now, we all know and understand how crucial it is to our online marketing efforts as well. Canva is a new(ish) online tool still in beta that provides the average non-graphic design person the ability to create professional-looking images for their blogging and social media campaigns.
Canva offers 10 different design templates, including a Facebook cover, business card, poster, and photo collage. Canva is free to use, with sales to be made through purchases of the stock photos provided on the site (located through the ‘Search’ function). Each image (that isn’t free) is a $1, and you don’t pay until you complete your work. Canva also allows you to upload your own images.
You don’t need a design vision when using Canva. Their customizable ‘Layouts’ (customizable images) are already beautiful. Just drag and drop them into the white square to begin customization.
One great perk of Canva’s is all of the pre-made graphics that you can customize with your message and colors. You’ll also notice as you search through their pre-made, customizable images that some were created with social media engagement in mind. The coffee vs bacon image below is one example of that. .
Add text to your own images that you upload, or to any of the ready-to-use images they provide.
Add a pre-made background to your image and choose your own colors.
Once you’ve completed your Canva masterpiece, you have the option to share to Facebook and Twitter, and save it as an image or PDF.
Because Canva is still in beta, you need to sign up with them and wait for an invitation. For me, it took less than 2 weeks to receive my invitation. You can sign up here.
On a scale of 1 to 10, how important is creating imagery for your social media and blogging efforts?
Thanks for the great blog post, love how you have cut up the graphics to make it so visual. Let me know if there is anything we can ever do to help out 😀