Ever had to design a product for school, and didn’t know where to start? Or have you ever tried to start your own website, and found it frustrating to customise your own logo?
Try Canva!
Canva is a free website which you can use for designing virtually anything. Canva’s potential is as endless as your imagination – and creativity. With thousands upon thousands of templates, elements and cartoons for you to choose from, Canva is a great tool when it comes to aesthetics. Plus, Canva has many different features for you to explore to spice up your design. Let’s take a look at 3 tips for using Canva!
Caveat: To unlock some of these features, you may need to be a Canva Pro subscriber. But don’t fret – the school has got that covered for you! Simply key in your school email to sign in to Canva, and you will unlock many more elements and convenient features for you to use to your advantage.
The Hidden Features of Canva
1. Website-Transformer
That’s right – Canva can turn your creation into a website! You can even choose which type of website you want – Presentation, Scrolling, Classic Navigation and Standard.
- Presentation: Multi-page site which allows the viewer to navigate to other pages using the left and right arrows.
- Scrolling: Single-page site which allows the viewer to scroll up and down to navigate to other pages.
- Classic Navigation: Multi-page site that has a navigation bar for viewers to navigate to other pages.
- Standard: Single-page site that allows viewers to navigate to other pages via scrolling or by using a navigation bar.
To access this function, here is what you need to do:
- Click on the “Share” button
- Click on “More” and select website
- Choose the desired type of website
By creating a website, you offer viewers an interactive and engaging experience in which you can share your passion and interests.
Here are some interesting examples for turning your personal projects or hobbies into websites!
- Create informative websites to increase awareness of an issue or cause that you are passionate about instead of conventional posters and infographics
- Create a website as a blogging platform to share your stories
- Create websites as an interactive way of presenting information to your peers instead of presentation slides
2. Background Removers and Photo Blurrers
Have you ever thought of removing or blurring the background of an image? Maybe you have an interest in photography, and want to learn how to edit and refine the end result? Canva has got you covered.
To access this function, here is what you need to do:
- Click the image and select “Edit Image”
- Select background remover and refine until the background has been cleanly erased
- Add another copy of the original image
- Select “Edit image” for the 2nd copy and press “Blur”
- Add the first copy onto the 2nd copy
3. QR Code
When we make posters or infographics on Canva, we may want to include a QR Code that will direct the reader to another website, instead of allowing the reader to type the whole link – which takes time. So, how do we do that on Canva?
To access this function, here is what you need to do:
- Scroll down on the left toolbar and click on “Apps”
- Click on the QR Code Symbol
- Type the link for the QR Code
- Canva will generate the QR Code for you!
Here are just some fun (and underrated) features Canva has to offer. Now, let’s take a look at how we can use these features not only for school work, but for our own interests as well!
When to use Canva
- In School
As mentioned above, the school has subscribed to Canva Pro for you – it would be a waste not to use Canva for your school work!
As students, we are often assigned tasks such as:
- Class presentations
- Poster design
- Infographics
When it comes to these types of assignments, Canva is your best friend. It allows you to refine your design and add aesthetic elements to make it look beautiful.
You may have noticed that Canva is even integrated into IVY. This is the Canva LMS, which facilitates teaching and learning interactions between you and your teachers. It is the platform where you can submit your Canva designs to your teachers for marking. This allows both teachers and students to easily navigate between Ivy and Canva.
- For Personal Hobbies or Interests!
Away from the busy life of school and work, we may choose to pursue our passions in our free time – which is great! You can learn and explore new things, and find some time to relax and entertain yourself in the midst of the burdensome examinations and homework. Let’s look at some of the ways you can use Canva for your passions.
- Spicing Up Videos
Have you ever thought about being a Youtuber and creating content for public entertainment?
You can start now with Canva!
Whether it is to gain experience for your future career, or to spice up your videos to generate content now as part of your free time, you can use Canva to edit your videos and have fun.
Canva allows you to tweak the duration of your clips, add effects to enhance your video and even background music! Canva will be an excellent launch pad to boost your experience and knowledge in videography!
- Expressing Yourself Through Aesthetics
Time and time again, we may have different opinions and thoughts we want to make known to the public. Maybe we feel something is not right in the world – or maybe it is to spread the word about our passions to the general public. When you’re looking at creating publicity materials, you may want to look to Canva. Canva offers you many opportunities to express yourself through visual means! If you identify with this desire strongly, start exploring the features of Canva today!
Conclusion
From a school presentation to a Youtube video; from functional websites to an infographic, Canva is a treasure trove of graphics, templates and effects. Use it not only in your studies, but also in your passions and interests. Canva is really as endless as your imagination.
