CANVA

Introduction to Canva: A Comprehensive Guide

A Beginner's Overview for Creating Stunning Visuals

Mark Ruzzel B. Gavino

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 WHAT IS CANVA?

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 CANVA
CANVA IS A GRAPHIC DESIGN PLATFORM THAT
WAS FOUNDED IN 2012 BY MELANIE PERKINS,
CLIFF OBRECHT, AND CAMERON ADAMS. THE
IDEA FOR CANVA ORIGINATED WHEN PERKINS
WAS TEACHING STUDENTS HOW TO USE
DESIGN PROGRAMS, AND SHE NOTICED THE
COMPLEXITY AND STEEP LEARNING CURVE
ASSOCIATED WITH TRADITIONAL DESIGN
TOOLS.

The founders aimed to create a user-friendly platform that would make design accessible
to everyone, regardless of their skill level.

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 CANVA
CANVA IS A WEB-BASED GRAPHIC DESIGN PLATFORM
THAT ALLOWS USERS TO CREATE VISUAL CONTENT
SUCH AS PRESENTATIONS, SOCIAL MEDIA GRAPHICS,
AND POSTERS.
LAUNCHED IN 2012, CANVA HAS GROWN TO OVER 60
MILLION USERS WORLDWIDE, OFFERING EASY-TO-USE
DESIGN TOOLS FOR NON-DESIGNERS.

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 CANVA
DRAG-AND-DROP EDITOR
THOUSANDS OF CUSTOMIZABLE TEMPLATES
FREE AND PREMIUM CONTENT
EASY SHARING AND COLLABORATION

Show CANVA HOMEPAGE

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 HISTORY OF CANVA

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 TIMELINE
01/01/2012 08/08/2013 01/01/2014 01/01/2015

FOUNDING OF CANVA CANVA FOR CANVA REACHES

CANVA LAUNCHES WORK 1 MILLION USERS
PUBLICLY INTRODUCED
Canva was founded in After a year of Canva introduced its By January 2015,
January 2012 by development and premium subscription Canva reached a
Melanie Perkins, Cliff testing, Canva officially service, Canva for Work, major milestone,
Obrecht, and launched to the public in January 2014. surpassing 1 million
Cameron Adams. in August 2013. users.

Founding of Canva -
Canva was founded in January 2012 by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron
Adams. The founders aimed to create a user-friendly design tool that would allow anyone,
regardless of their design skills, to create visually appealing graphics.

Canva launches publicly -

After a year of development and testing, Canva officially launched to the public in August
2013. The platform quickly gained popularity for its intuitive interface and extensive
library of design templates.

Canva for Work introduced -

Canva introduced its premium subscription service, Canva for Work, in January 2014. This
service offered additional features and functionalities for professional users, such as team
collaboration, custom branding, and access to exclusive design elements

Canva reaches 1 million users -

By January 2015, Canva reached a major milestone, surpassing 1 million users. The
platform's ease of use and wide range of design options contributed to its rapid growth
and adoption by individuals and businesses around the world.

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 TIMELINE
01/01/2016 01/01/2018 01/01/2020 01/01/2021

CANVA RAISES CANVA CANVA EXPANDS CANVA REACHES

FUNDING AND VALUED AT INTO VIDEO 50 MILLION
EXPANDS $1 BILLION EDITING USERS
In 2016, Canva raised In January 2018, Canva In 2020, Canva By 2021, Canva had
$15 million in funding, reached a valuation of $1 expanded its offerings grown exponentially,
allowing the company to billion, making it one of beyond static graphics reaching a milestone of
expand its operations the few Australian tech by launching Canva 50 million active users
and hire more startups to achieve
Video. worldwide.
employees. "unicorn" status.

Canva raises funding and expands -

In 2016, Canva raised $15 million in funding, allowing the company to expand its
operations and hire more employees. This capital injection helped Canva further enhance
its product and reach new markets globally.

Canva valued at $1 billion -

In January 2018, Canva reached a valuation of $1 billion, making it one of the few
Australian tech startups to achieve "unicorn" status. This milestone demonstrated the
significant impact and potential of Canva in the design software industry.

In business, a unicorn is a startup company valued at over US$1 billion which is privately
owned and not listed on a share market. The term was first published in 2013, coined by
venture capitalist Aileen Lee, choosing the mythical animal to represent the statistical
rarity of such successful ventures.

Canva expands into video editing -

In 2020, Canva expanded its offerings beyond static graphics by launching Canva Video.
This new feature allowed users to create and edit videos using Canva's intuitive interface
and extensive library of templates, further solidifying Canva as a versatile design
platform.

Canva reaches 50 million users -

By 2021, Canva had grown exponentially, reaching a milestone of 50 million active users

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worldwide. The platform's continuous innovation, user-friendly experience, and extensive
design capabilities contributed to its widespread adoption and popularity.

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 WHY USE CANVA?
Easy for beginners and non-designers
Thousands of free templates and images
Ideal for both personal and professional
projects
Compatible with various formats (social
media, print, presentations, videos)

Canva is perfect for anyone who wants to create professional-looking designs without
needing advanced design skills.
Whether you are a student, educator, entrepreneur, or marketer, Canva provides the tools
you need to design with ease.

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 Canva Interface
Overview Dashboard
Sidebar (Elements,
Text, Uploads, etc.)
Canvas Area (Main
design space)
Top Bar (Save,
download, share)

-When you log in to Canva, the Dashboard is the central hub for all your designs,
templates, and project organization.

-The Sidebar provides access to templates, design elements, uploads, and more.

-The Canvas Area is where you create and edit your design.

-The Top Bar contains buttons for saving, sharing, and downloading your work.

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 Getting Started:
Creating an Account
Signing up with email, Google, or Facebook.
Free Plan: Access to thousands of templates and basic
features.
Pro Plan: Advanced features like brand kit, premium assets,
magic resize.
Enterprise: Collaboration and content management for large
teams.

Canva allows you to sign up using an email, Google, or Facebook account.

There are two main plans: the Free plan and the Pro plan.

While the Free plan provides a wealth of design tools and templates, the Pro plan unlocks
more features like the Brand Kit and Magic Resize.

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 Choosing a Template
WIDE VARIETY OF TEMPLATES: SOCIAL MEDIA,
POSTERS, PRESENTATIONS, INVITATIONS, AND
MORE.
HOW TO SEARCH FOR TEMPLATES (USING
THE SEARCH BAR OR BROWSING
CATEGORIES).
MODIFYING TEMPLATES: COLORS, TEXT, AND
IMAGES.

Canva offers thousands of customizable templates for every type of project, from social
media posts to business presentations.
You can search for templates by category or use the search bar to find a specific template
that suits your needs.

Show templates, search bar, modifying texts, colors and images

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 Design Basics

Adding and editing text: Font styles, sizes,

alignment.
Inserting and modifying images: Upload your own
or use Canva’s built-in image library.
Adjusting elements: Crop, filters, transparency.

Canva makes it easy to work with text and images. Simply drag and drop elements onto the
canvas, and adjust their size, color, and layout.
Use the Text Editor

Toolbar to customize your fonts, colors, spacing, and alignment.

Show adding text and images and text edit toolbar

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 Working with
Elements
Adding design elements (shapes,
lines, icons).
Customizing elements: color, size,
rotation.
Grouping and aligning elements for
a clean design.

Canva’s Elements feature provides access to shapes, icons, lines, grids, charts, and more.
These design elements can enhance your layout and make your design more visually
engaging.

You can customize elements by changing their color, size, and position.

Show elements, customize and group

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 Changing the background
color or texture.
Using grids for better Customizing
visual layout. Your Design
Aligning and grouping
elements for
organization.

Canva allows you to easily customize your design by changing background colors, using
grids for layout, and aligning elements neatly.
Use Grids and Frames to ensure your design has consistent spacing and alignment.

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 Advanced
Features
Brand Kit: Consistent branding across projects.
Magic Resize: Quick resizing for multiple platforms.
Adding animations and videos for interactive designs.

Canva Pro offers a set of advanced features designed to save you time and elevate your
designs.

The Brand Kit allows you to create a consistent brand look with custom fonts, colors, and
logos. The Magic Resize tool resizes your design for different platforms with a single click.

Add videos and animations for dynamic content.

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 Collaboration
and Sharing
Sharing designs: Edit vs. view access.
Canva’s collaboration tools: Comments and version
history.
Downloading designs: PNG, JPG, PDF, MP4.
Present directly from Canva or embed designs on
websites.

Canva makes it easy to collaborate with others by sharing your design for editing or
viewing. You can leave comments, track changes, and work on designs simultaneously.

Once your design is complete, download it in various formats or share it via a link.

Show how to edit and view access, comments, download, present

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 Practical Demo
1. Select a template (from social media
category).
2. Customize the text and replace the
image with a relevant one.
3. Adjust colors and elements to suit the
design.
4. Save and download the design as a
PNG or PDF.

Live demonstration of creating a simple design (e.g., a social media post or flyer).

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 Canva for Educational and
Business Use
Canva for education: Posters,
presentations, infographics,
worksheets.
Canva for business: Branding, social
media marketing, presentations.

Canva can be a powerful tool for educators and businesses alike. In education, Canva can
be used to create visually engaging lesson materials, presentations, and infographics.

Businesses can use Canva to create branded marketing materials, client presentations,
and social media content.

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 SAMPLES

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 Tips and Tricks for
Efficient Designing
Keyboard shortcuts (duplicate, undo, align).
Use pre-set color palettes and font
combinations for consistency.
Explore Canva’s design blogs for inspiration.

Boost your productivity with these Canva tips:

Use keyboard shortcuts to speed up your workflow and keep your designs consistent with
Canva’s pre-set palettes and font combinations.

Explore Canva’s blog for creative inspiration and new design techniques.

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 Canva Mobile App
Available on iOS and Android.
Key differences between mobile and
desktop versions.
Ideal for on-the-go designing and
editing.

Canva’s mobile app allows you to design on the go, offering many of the same features as
the desktop version, such as templates, design elements, and sharing options.
It’s perfect for quick edits, social media graphics, and collaboration on mobile devices.

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 THANK
YOU!

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