A blog post is incomplete without visuals and graphics to capture our attention. After all, a picture tells a thousand words. We all want to jazz up our words with a succinct little picture to complete our story. So today, I’ll show you how to create beautiful and attention grabbing visuals with Canva.
Canva is free to use, but with added features if you pay for it. Paid version comes in at $12.95 per user per month ($9.95 if billed annually), but unless you need to do something a lot more advanced or need transparent PNG files, I find the free version to be more than sufficient.
Easy to use templates
Why do I love Canva? Well, first of all, it comes with a ton of useful template defaults. I used to find myself scrambling to find the best dimensions suited for posting to Facebook and Twitter posts, and then another set of dimensions for designing their respective covers. But with Canva’s friendly templates, it’s easy to select and get to work.
To choose a template, simply go to the menu, scroll through till you find social media, and then click on the one you need.
They also have templates for flyers, posters, presentations, book covers, and almost anything you would require some visuals for.
Templated designs to choose from
Canva also has friendly design starters to kick us off, especially for those of us who have no design sense whatsoever (me), and needs as much help in this area as possible.
Let’s say you’ve just gotten back from a holiday or went for some food tasting, and want to show off some of your photos in a moodboard collage, Canva can help you with that!
Some of the templates are free, others may have premium images that you’ll need to pay for. But if you have your own images, and only want to utilise the layout, simply swap it out for your own image and you’re golden.
Ease of use
One of the things that struck me and really endeared me to canva, was the ease of use. I have near to zero design background and experience, and of course, I’m not saying any of my visuals are pretty, but it has definitely helped in peppering the blog with some nice break of images and not look too wordy or clunky.
If you have a blog, or are heavily invested in social media, be sure to get acquainted with Canva. In fact, make Canva your best friend today!
Pricing
Basic canva would always be free, and you can pay for various templated elements such as premium images. Canva for work is priced at $9.95 per month if billed annually per team member per month.
Here’s a look at the free features vs the paid ones that will be unlocked in grey.
Personally, if you’re a solo blogger working on your own site and social media profiles, my opinion is that the free version works well enough.