Here Is A Free Graphic Design Tool That You Can't do Without

Have you ever used Canva before?

Here I am continuing on from our recent blog topic theme of sharing some of our online tools that we use to manage, promote and represent our business online.

I am going to assume here that most small businesses, have at some stage of their business life encountered the need for some graphic design work.

Graphic designers are a breed of their own and possess advanced technological skills to be able to design content from scratch. Furthermore, usually graphic designers use advanced, difficult to use software to be able to layout design to match a pre-prepared brief. All of this typically comes at quite a cost (ask me - I know first hand).

In August 2013 an online design program named Canva changed all of that. Once the domain of graphic designers, high quality design results are now available to consumers online without extensive design software or skills. Furthermore, I should add that Canva is free. There is a paid version (approx. $10 per month) that offers more complex personalisation but the free version should satisfy your needs for a fair while depending on your demands.

Best of all is it is easy to use - even for non designers.

In Canva’s own words you can “easily create beautiful designs + documents with their tool. Use Canva's drag-and-drop feature and professional layouts to design consistently stunning graphics”. 

Although the possibilities are endless, these are some examples of common tasks that can be quickly and easily completed with the tool:

Templates

• Trading Hours Signs
• Social Media Graphics
• Event Announcements
• Posters
• Invitations
• Advertising graphics

Images

• Stock photos
• Filters
• Icons and shapes
• Hundreds of fonts

Either online or in print, it is a great tool to project a professional image to your business' interactions with clients.

This is just the tip of the iceberg in regard to what is achievable with Canva. The best way to see if the tool has anything to offer you is give it a go and try some design ideas. A handy feature that I see in my team is the pre-sized templates that are specific to the different image size requirements across the different social media channels i.e. Publishing size parameters, Facebook cover pics and profile pics, LinkedIn background etc

Just quietly, I think you will be surprised at how valuable Canva will become to you in regard to your graphic design needs once you give it a go - save it in your favourites.

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