What I Love Using Canva for in Business (and everything else)

Hey friends!

Canva is my go-to tool for all things graphic design, and I use it constantly. Everyone does. I use it in business, I use it in teaching (I actually get the pro version for free being a teacher!)

Canva is incredibly versatile, perfect for a busy bee like me. Here's how I use Canva in my business:

- Graphic design: I mean, obviously.

- Background Removal: this is actually the best hack for making clean mood boards - backgrounds can make things look so messy and I prefer the minimal look!

- Building my Brand Style Guide: Keeping my brand consistent has never been easier with Canva's built-in brand kit.

- Motivational Backgrounds: Designing uplifting desktop backgrounds to keep the good vibes flowing.

- Invitations: Crafting gorgeous invites for all sorts of events or collaborations.

- Web-Sized Images: Storing optimised images ready for web use. I have SOOOOO many images in my archives. They're all stored meticulously in year, month and brand or location. All in high-resolution. However! When I just need a few images for socials or the website, to have to go through all of those albums every time is hell.

In Canva, I just use the 'Uploads' feature to store all of the images I've ever needed a web-size for (basically all of my favourites). You can just click the three little dots and download straight from the sidebar in any template design. I love it.

- Instagram Highlights Icons: Creating custom icons to make my Instagram look cohesive and stylish.

Canva’s organisational tools are fantastic:

- Folders: To be completely honest, I had no idea this was a feature until a few months ago and it's been great. Everything has its place, making it super easy to find what I need with the very little time I have.

- Shareable Links: I can share designs with a link, perfect for client collaboration or sharing with friends in the industry whose feedback I value.

- Teacher Perks: As a teacher, I get Canva Pro for free, which is an amazing bonus! I use it for EVERY THING as a teacher. I'd be completely lost without it.

Favourite Features

- Duplication: duplicating designs to save time and maintain consistency - not having to recreate the wheel AND you can even resize from there if you're working on a different text-type.

- In-Built Brand Style: Saves time going back and forth finding the right colours and fonts. Also - decision fatigue. I have one font. One colour palette.

Canva is essential for my day-to-day tasks:

- Pinterest Graphics: In all honesty, I need to improve my Pinterest game, but I'm working on it! I actually think there's a way to do this through my website dashboard - so maybe I can do that instead to make it more streamlined.

- YouTube Thumbnails and Intros: Making cute thumbnails and intros for my YouTube channel. I can upload the footage straight from my phone too.

What I don't use Canva for:

While I was setting up my current website, I used Canva to host my pricing guide and link in bio and it wasn't great. It's definitely something I could probably use in my teaching, but it's not super user friendly, and when it resizes for mobile, all of the elements move around and I couldn't really find a way around that.

In conclusion...

What a wonderful little app, we are all thankful for her and she's only going to continue getting cooler, making us all look like we know what we're doing.

Personally, I am forever thankful to whatever angel at Canva is responsible for honouring teachers with the gift of a free pro account.

I will love you endlessly if you comment below with any Canva tips or just to share how you use it in your creative process!

Lots of love,

Holly

P.S. if you want to hear more of my ramblings, sign up to my love letters below.