February 20, 2022

CANVA

So first things first, I have to say that regardless of how AWESOME Canva is as a productivity tool the fact that an online graphic design platform would advertise on an "old school" billboard is bloody BRILLIANT!!! When I am driving or walking I actually look at signs and billboards because they are physical while I get ads all day long on my computer that I don't even notice anymore. I either "SKIP AD" or do something else until the ad is finished but I cannot ignore a giant billboard or come to think of it an ad in a magazine that I read frequently. Back to basics for some things but I digress. That is not what this bit is about today.

Today is all about Canva. Canva is a graphic design tool website. A simpler, more user-friendly platform than Photoshop, a drag and drop system that virtually anyone with absolutely no experience can grasp. Did I mention that it's free? Well, the basic version is free from which you can do quite a lot but as with all things that are free to do the really good stuff you must pay for the PRO version where you have access to over a million photos, graphics, and fonts.

With Canva, you can customize thousands of ready-made templates to create logos, business cards, website banners, printed material of all sorts, and visuals for all types of Social Media.

Speaking of....this week's assignment was to create a banner for my LinkedIn profile page to set me apart from the rest of the pack (well, at least those that don't also have a banner).

This is one of the templates that are available in the PRO version. By the by, Canva offers a 30-Day Free  (there's that word again....free) Trial of the PRO version. They will send you an email three days before to remind you that the trial is going to end and that you will be charged if you choose not to cancel.

Anyhooooo, I also created an animated banner, unfortunately, LinkedIn doesn't seem to support animated profile visuals thus I had to make the stagnate banner that you see above. Seems like it's time for LinkedIn to get an update.😉

I don't know if it's Canva or Blogger but this platform doesn't seem to like this animation either....while the idea is very cool, the quality is lost in translation.

And then I made an animated logo for my business.....

While I did already have a banner on my LinkedIn profile page I had never really thought about a logo for my business. My work has generally been word of mouth.... again.."old school" but having the templates to help me get some inspiration was really helpful to me. 

I personally love the designs I was able to create in Canva. It does have its limitations but for something, easy and quick Canva is a great tool to have in your back pocket.