In this week’s Tech Corner, we explore a burgeoning design service that is easy to use, creates beautiful designs, and is right on budget.
Canva is a platform that gives you full access to your inner graphic designer. Sign-up is quick—all you need is an email address and a password to set up an account. From there, watch the 23 second tutorial and you’re ready to start designing.
Just what can you use Canva to design? This service works for:
- presentations;
- business cards;
- email headers;
- property flyers; and
- Pinterest and other social media posts.
Canva is free. The only charge is for premium images, and then it’s $1 for each image, paid upon downloading your finished product. If you want to make a change to a design that you’ve put money into, you have 24 hours to change and download again.
You also have the option to share your designs with others by making them public, get feedback from other designers, and follow favorite designers for inspiration. If you’re truly a beginner, Canva offers “design school,” with tutorials, tips for getting started and finding your creative side.
You can create on Canva using a computer or an iPad, using the free Canva app.
Now, I’m no artist. So I decided to put Canva to the test. Here is the first attempt:
It took a few minutes to figure out the features, but all in all it was a straightforward process for this non-artist type, taking about half an hour, including the time to choose and upload photos.
A few drawbacks of Canva:
- very few of their images are free;
- other than basic structure or image design, users are on their own for content-heavy materials, such as FARM letters and email newsletters.
However, marketing flyers won’t be too much of a hindrance, since they rely on pictures of your clients’ properties. Further, for FARM letter templates and content tailored to California real estate, see first tuesday’s FARM Letters, free to journal readers.
The Australian-based design company has grown exponentially since opening in 2013, with 1.5 million users today. Now you can add one more to that list of users, because this writer is sold.
