In this article, let us explore Canva a bit more in detail.
Designing is an art that cannot be taught but one can definitely learn a tool like Canva and try exploring his or her creative side. For any designing tool, the menubar and toolbar play a key role. The people who are expert designers are well-versed with both the menu and toolbar of the tool. Let us understand the Canva editor by understanding about its menu and toolbar.
To explore the menu and toolbar, click on any template. I am clicking on social media (1080px X 1080px).
- Home
- File
- Resize
- Saving Status
- Design name
- Try Canva Pro
- Share
- Download
Let us understand the features in the Menubar one by one.
Home
When you click on Home, you will be taken to the home page of the tool.
File
The File feature will open a drop-down with the list of features like Create new design, Show rulers, Show margins, Save, Download, etc. You can also see the dimensions of the canvas here. The design name can be edited too.
Resize
The Resize option is not available with Free Canva. The purpose of this feature is to allow one to resize the dimensions after having created a design.
Saving Status
In the menubar, next to the Resize feature, you can see the saving status. It is usually "All changes saved". In case of any error, while saving, you will get a message here.
Design Name
By default Canva names the design as "Untitled Design". You can edit the name by clicking on it or through the File feature too.
Try Canva Pro
This is an advertisement by Canva to make you try Canva Pro for Free for the first 30 days.
Share
You can share your designs with other team members. Multiple members can work on a single design. Type the name or email of the person with whom you wish to share the design. Sharing has 3 options,
- Share a link to edit
- Share a link to use as a template (Available only with Canva Pro)
- Share a link to view
Just select the option of your choice and copy the link & give it to the person.
Download
This lets you download the design. There are various file types available. Also if you click to the dropdown arrow next to the download button, you can directly share the design to your social media, Google Drive, MailChimp, etc
Canva - Toolbar
The toolbar is located below the menubar. The contents of the toolbar change on the basis of the elements selected in the Canvas. In order to explore the toolbar in a better way, let us select any template from the left-hand bar.
The template design will be loaded on the canvas. Now click on the elements in the canvas and you will see various options at the white color toolbar which is below the menubar.
As you can see in the screenshot above, I selected the text in the template and the toolbar displays options to change the font, font size, color, alignment, etc.
If you select the image, the options will be to add some effect to the image, filter, crop, etc.
On the basis of the element that is selected in the Canvas, the toolbar will display the relevant options.
The toolbar has the option of Position which helps you to move the element at the top or bottom of the other elements. It also helps in aligning the element on the canvas.
Select any templates from the left-hand panel and try exploring the various options in the toolbar.
Unless you try exploring and experimenting, you cannot learn any tool. So, if you have not yet opened Canva and tried what you have just read, try it now :)
In the next article, I will explain to you about the side panel and its tabs in detail.
Stay tuned. Happy Learning!