Anyone used Canva?

[BastardtheCat]

I'm
Making personalised notebooks for friends and family - well, I'd like to.

The website isn't easy to navigate though and the tutorials (including those on YouTube) are confusing.

Anyone?

I actually find Canva really intuitive to use, the website is so much better than the app.

what are you struggling with?

I live on canva. What do you need help with?

I couldn't live without Canva ! I use it everyday.

It does get easier as you use it, I always use it on a desktop, rather than mobile app though.

What help do you need?

I use it every day for work, what are you finding hard? I love it, genuinely couldn't live without it 😂

I've used it a little bit, I found it okay but confusing at times although I persisted to produce the leaflet I wanted to get printed out. I'm no newbie to similar apps, it felt like something you get used to

I've used their templates to design a front cover in my first language - things that are meaningful to my different relatives.

When I try and add in the inner pages, my front cover seems to end up in the middle of all the pages that I create.

I also don't really know how many pages to add so I end up pressing the + sign about 60 times!

I can't add a back cover.

I can't see how to add a ring binder!!!!

Also, I couldn't grab the text boxes to move them into position. I'm a pretty good self-learned PowerPointer, but I just can't get into this!

Are you using one of the sample formats on canva? I tend to use A4 worksheet all the time and download as a pdf and print that way?

I have found it very intuitive to use - I'm a teacher and have faffed around with Microsoft word for so long canva was like a breath of fresh air.

You can just move the pages, there are little arrow buttons near each page or you can drag and drop.

I don't know about your ring binder question... What do you mean?

@bryceQ do I have to add in the ring binder in the design or will it automatically be included (if I've selected notebook as a design)?

Also, do I actually add the pages on myself or is it a case of just designing a cover ?

That's about the programme you're using to produce the notebook not Canva, you would never add ring to the design that's gone in production. You will need to look at their design specifications, I imagine it's a cover only

I definitely need an online tutorial. Can anyone recommend something?

It's a crappy dogs breakfast, my kids actually have to use it for school and moan about it constantly.

It has the double whammy of poor features, and a UI of unusual shit-ness.

There's a lot of better software out there OP.

I absolutely love Canva. Use it for a lot of design work for work. Far easier for quick projects that more developed design tools. Intuitive and easy for everyone to access.

This. Get GIMP. It's like Photoshop but free. Or if you can afford it, InDesign is better for a booklet project.

Sounding a bit astro-turfy there

I'm actually embarrassed for anyone using Canva to design stuff in a professional context for work. The end result really doesn't compare to that of professional design software and no designer worth their salt and with an eye for a decent finished product would use it.

It reminds me of the time I was working in publishing and someone sent me their "book cover" that they had made in Microsoft Word. It was just clipart stacked to overlap. With margins around the page. In A4. Just like a real book.

I really don't agree it's unprofessional. I've been a marketing consultant for 15 years and so many tech companies I work with use Canva every day for LinkedIn posts and email headers. Likewise small businesses use it daily for social media. There is no way a lot of these companies could afford everything to be professionally designed it's just not possible. All of the social media consultants I know use Canva rather than design software too.

Maybe it's beyond my comprehension. I only wanted it to design personalised gifts (notebooks, stickers/transfers, mugs) for Christmas for my family and friends!

I'm none the wiser tbh.