Canva - a simple design tool

Published in Features on 5 May 2015

If you want to present information in a more creative, engaging and memorable way but have no design skills, Canva can help you. Canva is a really simple design tool that requires no experience or formal training in graphic design programs such as Photoshop or Indesign. It enables you to create posters, flyers, infographics, website graphics, invites and even presentations without any fuss, and in no time at all. And it's free to use. Simply set-up an account and start creating designs.

Canva works on the premise of choosing a template or design (there are costs for some designs but there's a wide variety of free ones available) and dragging and dropping it onto a blank canvas. Templates are sorted by category, for example, posters, cards and Facebook header images. When a template has been chosen you can choose a background colour of choice and even upload your own images to the design. There are also many text fonts and styles available.

In the search function there is a series of shapes, charts and graphs, illustrations and icons that can be used for data visualisation purposes. Canva is especially useful for presenting and reporting data more visually. An example might include the presentation of key facts and figures from a report as part of an executive summary. All created designs can be easily downloaded as PDFs or images and can also be exported for print production.

Not only is Canva easy to use, you'll also have fun doing it!

Try out Canva.

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