From boosting your followers on social media to creating brand identity, we know very well the importance of good design—which is exactly why us, most of the time, end up staring at a blank canvas waiting for inspiration and motivation to strike. Where to begin? Whether you run your own business or are in the process of cultivating your own personal brand, being an extraordinary visual communicator is critical with regards to having an impact in 2021.
While starting off a task can at times feel like an overwhelming possibility, be assured that we’re all fit for making something both excellent and effective with a touch of direction en route. And for this reason, today we present to you ten innovative ways to improve your canva design skills.
10 Innovative Ways To Improve your Canva Design Skills
1- Observe, learn & Apply
“From art books, articles, videos, podcasts to simple signage you see in the city. Design is everywhere, literally. You just have to observe more of the world around you to see it.” says Paul Gernale, a graphic designer who has worked alongside international brands such as Native Shoes, Herschel Supply Co. and Columbia Sportswear. “Gathering inspiration on a daily basis is one of the simplest tricks, I believe, to make any design look good and fresh,”
Keen observation is the key. Whether you stumble across a color or particular font, an image, video or any kind of design that resonates with the look you’re trying to achieve, consider collecting it all together in a mood board that is going to serve as the inspiration for your design project.
2- Research
Before initiating any project, first, do a bit of homework. Try gathering some background information. Remember, “The key to good design is research”. Do some brainstorming and ask yourself questions like,
- ‘Who is going to see this design?’
- ‘In what context?’
- ‘In what medium?’
This will help you set a direction. Another important factor to keep in mind is that, while design is about creating aesthetically pleasing things, the priority is still conveying information in an understandable and clear way. Once you’ve established the fundamental purpose of your design, you can then move on to deciding the colors and fonts that you want to use.
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3- Typography Matters
The art of selecting fonts has a fairly bad reputation in the world of design for newbie designers. With all the different fonts available online, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed to make the right choice. Not only that, you also need to understand how to pair fonts together in a design to make it look appealing and cohesive.
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We recommend you use tried and tested pairings of fonts to bypass the stress of trying out a million combinations. If you ask professional designers, you will come to know that despite the fact they love new and exciting fonts, they only use a handful of classic fonts mostly.
4- Simple is Better
Keeping it simple is one of the best approaches to create better designs. A design overwhelmed with fonts and images is always difficult to understand. To keep things simple, use less text and fonts, keep the colors under control and the visuals balanced.
5- Use a cohesive color palette
Color schemes and pallets are as crucial as the message you want to convey with your design. Choosing the right color combination might not always be easy, but when done correctly boosts your designs to the next level!
6- Consider the visual hierarchy
Visual hierarchy means setting visual importance of elements. For example it’s how in a design, headers are set larger than subheadings. The principle of visual hierarchy applies to all your design elements such as images, graphics, icons and even colors. Visual hierarchy rules are important to bring attention to a focal point in the design.
7- Always use white space
Though it is called a white space but trust us it is not exactly “white”. White space essentially means that there is an empty space without any text or element on it. It’s that area of the design, where it breathes. Using appropriate white spacing in your designs is an innovative way to improve your Canva design skills.
8- Make good use of spacing
Good spacing is an important aspect to be taken into consideration when it comes to creating balanced compositions. Enough spacing in margins, between words, lines, shapes, pictures, and even between letters help you align elements, keep them balanced and complement each other.
9- Know the dimensions you need beforehand
Despite the fact that you can change the dimensions later, it’s better not to start a project without knowing exactly what size it needs to be. Some important dimensions include:
● Facebook Cover Photo: 820 x 312
● Facebook Event Image: 1920 x 1080 (Recommended)
● Instagram Photo Thumbnails: 161 x 161
● Instagram Photo Size: 1080 x 1080
● LinkedIn Company Logo Image: 300 x 300
● LinkedIn Company Cover Image: 1128 x 191 (recommended)
● YouTube Channel Profile Image: 800 x 800
● Youtube Channel Cover Photo: 2,048 x 1,152
10- Stay organized!
Staying organized while you design is extremely necessary. It is as important as choosing the right colors and fonts. You save time and concentrate more on creativity, when you have all your assets organized.
Some tips for you:
● Create a main folder for your project
● create subfolders with types of assets
● Always use proper naming for the files so they are easier to find when needed
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