I fully believe anyone can create beautiful, cohesive graphics and branded designs without investing in expensive software, which is where Canva comes in to play. However, if you’re considering the Adobe Creative Suite, read my article about knowing when the right time to invest for your business is!
Canva is my go-to resource to create quick graphics easily. It’s straight-forward, has a very user-friendly interface and is (best of all!) FREE! Here is a list of 17 things you can create totally free on Canva!
1. Social Media Posts
Take your social posts to the next level with custom branding, sizing and all sorts of fun design elements with Canva! You can of course use your own dimensions, or use the preset dimensions for Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and Tumblr.
2. Social Media and Digital Ads
When you advertise on social media sites, or even boost posts, there are specific dimensions, file types and guidelines for each site. Canva makes it easy by offering templates in the specific sizes to advertise on social media. As a bonus, there are also templates for other digital banners in horizontal, vertical and square shapes!
3. Social Media Branding (banners and icons)
Take your branding to every corner of the internet with your customized social media pages. Use Canva’s templates for headers that are pre-sized for Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, Etsy, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn and SoundCloud. There are fun templates for each of these sites that you can customize, or start from scratch!
4. Presentations
Sick of all the boring, overused PowerPoint templates? Step up your presentation game with Canva! There is an abundance of free options, some of which even include different layouts for your entire slideshow. Don’t worry, these are all customizable, too!
5. Resumes
You can read my thoughts on the importance of a good-looking resume (and how it helps you stand out from the crowd) here! Canva is an amazing resource for creative and unique resume designs. All set to 8.5×11, you can mix and match fonts, colors, icons and anything else you need to put your best foot forward!
6. Charts and Graphs
You can now create custom charts and graphs in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors with Canva. Input your own data and customize the look and feel! You can add these to social media posts, presentations or download as individual files.
7. Publication Design (Book and Magazine Covers)
Are you writing a book? Maybe you’re contributing to a magazine. In any event, whatever publication you’re working on, Canva has templates in various sizes for magazine and book covers! When you have to make a great first impression to get readers to pick up your publication, the cover is important. Canva is a perfect place to start!
8. Blog Graphics
In the blogging world, the header graphics are incredibly important to drive readership and convert passive social media browsers to readers. Canva is full of all the tools you need to develop your own look and feel to create custom blog graphics!
9. Infographics
Everyone loves a good infographic because visualizing data is a lot easier to do in picture form than spreadsheet form! The free templates are vast, clean and easy-to-use. You can add your own colors, pictures and icons to further drive your point home.
10. Posters and Promotional Print Materials
Though most of this list is digital, you can create plenty of print materials on Canva, too! Design flyers, posters and other print collateral to advertise anything from a sale to a concert.
11. Brochures
Speaking of print materials, you can create gorgeous brochures in Canva. The trifold brochure templates all include a front and back design, so you can create 6 amazing panels with all the information you can fit!
12. Icons and Illustrations
Canva has a TON of free resources that you can use for anything on this list or on their own! Browse their extensive library (over 1,000,000 images!!!) of icons, illustrations and other features. By adding an icon or illustration to a blank white page, you can download the icon with a transparent background by saving it as a PNG file.
13. Business Cards
Business cards are a fun way to express your brand and share it with anyone you meet. Perfect for networking (or as an identifier if you leave your purse at a restaurant, which has happened to me!), business cards are a quick way to further build your brand. Canva offers plenty of customizable templates that you can use, or add your own logo, colors and fonts!
14. Email Headers
Working on building your email campaigns and growing your subscription list? It’s important to have visually appealing emails, and while many email providers offer pre-made templates, sometimes all you need is a banner.
15. Invitations
Canva has such a great selection of templates for invitations. Choose templates for every kind of invitation you can think of! Customize it with your own photos, too!
16. Greeting Cards
Personalized cards are so heart-warming to receive. Create your very own for any occasion with Canva! Because you can add in your own photos, logos and icons, you can really take your birthday cards to the next level.
17. Stock Photography
Last, but not least, is stock photography. As I mentioned earlier, Canva has over 1,000,000 images in their library for you to use. A lot of these are stock images that you can add to your other designs or download on their own (by first adding them to a document). Search their extensive library to find just what you’re looking for.
Canva is a powerful tool that I recommend for all bloggers and small business owners. It’s easy to use and you can do just about anything for free. There is, of course, a lot of premium content you can pay for, too. The premium content starts at just $1, though, so it’s not going to break the bank if you find something you’re just dying to use!
