As a digital marketer, there’s a good chance you’re familiar with Canva. Over the last decade, it’s become an invaluable tool for content creators, entrepreneurs, and marketing professionals alike. Canva is widely recognized as a beginner-friendly platform, so long-time users likely have the basics down already. However, even seasoned designers may be unaware of useful Canva hacks that can save time and enhance their creations. Keep reading to learn vital tips and tricks to help you become a Canva pro!
What is Canva?
Canva is a graphic design platform that allows users to create social media posts, presentations, business cards, posters, websites, and other digital marketing assets. It’s known for being an accessible tool that users of any skill and experience level can master with ease. To date, over 15 billion designs have been created on Canva, proving its value to digital marketers across the globe.
Helpful Canva Tips for Digital Marketers
As intuitive as Canva is to navigate, even for new users, there are plenty of lesser-known features and shortcuts the site has to offer. Here are our top tips for leveling up your Canva knowledge and design abilities as a digital marketer!
- Create a Brand Kit for Uniform Aesthetics
Establishing strong branding is one of the most crucial parts of a digital marketer’s job. Branding is how you express your business’s identity to potential consumers. Thus, when it comes to your brand’s aesthetics, consistency is key. But creating graphics that adhere to your brand’s style to a T is tricky, especially when you’re in a time crunch. That’s where Canva’s brand kit feature comes in.
On Canva, you can craft a comprehensive brand kit to build off of for all your digital assets. Simply select the fonts, color palette, and imagery (logos, photos, etc.) that characterize your brand. Then, access these brand elements at any time while working on a design by selecting the “brand” tab in the left-hand menu. You can easily share your brand kit with members of your Canva team and even outside collaborators to ensure everyone’s work fits your style.
- Create Custom Templates for Reusable Branded Graphics
Creating graphics from scratch requires a ton of time—a luxury many digital marketers don’t have. To keep up with the constant flow of content you need to upload to various social media platforms and other marketing channels every day, templates are a necessity. That’s why, along with a brand kit, many digital marketers create branded templates. With Canva, you can make templates of everything from social media posts to flyers, newsletters, and much more. This feature allows you to efficiently produce designs that match your brand aesthetic, saving you the time and hassle of crafting a brand-new asset each time.
Canva has tons of pre-made templates available, so you can always choose one of its designs as a starting point. Or, if you’d rather begin with a blank canvas, you can build your own templates. Then, once you’re satisfied, click “share” in the upper right-hand corner, select “brand template,” and save your design to a folder of your choosing. After that, access your template anytime to make creating graphics a breeze!
- Organize Your Assets With Tags and Folders
Staying organized is one of the best time-saving practices. When you know exactly where to find the asset or information you’re looking for, you don’t need to waste precious time scouring every nook and cranny of your computer for it. If you’re a digital marketer, you likely create countless graphic designs each week. Meaning, things can get lost easily if you don’t properly organize your Canva account.
Fortunately, keeping your Canva assets in order requires only a few steps. First, take care of your uploads. Whenever you upload an image or video to Canva, you can change its file name, add relevant tags, and place it in a folder in case you need to come back to it later. If you only need it once, delete it after you’re done to declutter your account. When it comes to your Canva creations, make sure to give them a name and put them in an appropriate folder for easy access.
- Sharpen Your Skills With Canva’s Design School
Even though Canva is one of the most intuitive graphic design platforms out there, it never hurts to brush up on your skills every once in a while. Canva offers a multitude of free, quick classes through its Design School. Here you can learn anything from how to create a logo to how to make a Pinterest post, how to design print advertising materials, and so much more. So, whether you need a refresher on the basics or want to learn a new skill, the Canva Design School is the place to go to make the most of what Canva has to offer.
- Save Time With Keyboard Shortcuts
Time-saving tips are a total game-changer for digital marketers, who are always jumping from one task to the next. One of the most underutilized efficiency tricks for Canva users is keyboard shortcuts. Here are some of the most essential shortcuts to know before creating your next Canva masterpiece:
- Save: Command-S (Mac) or Ctrl + S (Windows)
- Undo: Command-Z (Mac) or Ctrl + Z (Windows)
- Redo: Command-Y (Mac) or Ctrl + Y (Windows)
- Group elements: Command-G (Mac) or Ctrl + G (Windows)
- Lock element: Option-Shift-L (Mac) or Alt + Shift + L (Windows)
- Bring element forward: Command-] (Mac) or Ctrl + ] (Windows)
- Move element back: Command-[ (Mac) or Ctrl + [ (Windows)
- Decrease font size: Shift-Command-, (Mac) or Shift + Ctrl + , (Windows)
- Increase font size: Shift-Command-. (Mac) or Shift + Command + . (Windows)
- Add comment: Option + Command + N (Mac) or Alt + Ctrl + N (Windows)
Canva is a must-have marketing app for anyone looking to create engaging graphics. Try out the tips above to elevate your Canva skills!
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Sources:
4 Time-Saving Canva Hacks for Busy Digital Marketers
Canva Tutorial: Create A Brand Kit in 5 Steps
How to get the most out of Canva Pro: Tips for solopreneurs, bloggers and social media marketers
How To Organize Your Canva Account Like A Pro
