Among all of the things I say I love, graphic design is one of the top three on that list. I love being able to bring what’s in my brain out into reality. Sadly, I can’t do that on my own because my hands are unsteady and I can never seem to get drawings just right. That’s kind of why I didn’t apply for the visual arts course here at MSA. Enter Canva. Now I promise this isn’t paid for, just my humblest of humble opinions. Canva is my favorite thing on earth. Even the free version is great, though now I have Canva Pro (thank you for feeding my addiction Ms. Hannah-Shea). I’ve only had Canva Pro for a couple days now but I LOVE IT. It offers more options for editing photos and general projects, templates, and elements. I can use tools and elements that were previously locked behind that blasted paywall. I’ve been handling the Instagram posts for our school newspaper, along with a couple projects for our Halloween festival happening in October. Now not too many details about that. Can’t ruin the surprise, can I? 😉
Canva allows you to create a multitude of things, from logos to posters, and much much more. It has an extensive library of graphics, fonts, images, and effects for animations. These graphics come with a transparent background which is incredibly helpful. If you like graphic design or digital art then I’m sure you’ve gone through the pain of finally finding an image you like on Google, thinking it’s got a transparent background, then putting it into whatever your program of choice is and then realizing that it is, in fact, not at all transparent. Noooooo, the pain!!!! Yes, I am dramatic.
Along with the graphics, fonts, and images, there are also templates! These templates are preloaded, predesigned and everything. This means that a stunning Instagram post is as easy as 1 2 3. You only have to fill in the information and replace the stock photos and you’re done! I’ve never used Canva for my personal social media, frankly because none of my photos are ever nice enough for graphic design, but I know that it is incredibly useful in those applications.
With these graphics you can also change the colors with ease, which makes it incredibly easy when you like the design of something but don’t necessarily like the colors.
Canva has become one of my most used websites in a matter of weeks because of the ease with which you can use it. It is incredibly simple and gives you a tutorial when you first make an account. I hope you come to use it as much as I do!