Posts

,

Why you need Canva in your world for your social media graphics

canva for social media graphics

Let’s talk about Canva – can we? If you’ve ever had any coaching with me or asked a question about graphics on social media, you will have heard me talk about Canva.

This episode even includes a freebie I’ve made, just for you! It’s called ‘Five steps to great social media graphics’ and it’s on my freebies page alongside the Instagram Stories freebie.

Before I go any further – I just want to be clear that this is something I have made on my own and it’s not in any way endorsed or sponsored by Canva. I’m sharing this free software and some ideas of how to use it because, to me, it’s been a game changer. And I get lots of comments from people who I recommend Canva to saying what a game changer it is. And it really is.

Why you need Canva for your social media graphics…

If you’re looking to create graphics such as quote graphics, top tips, testimonials or anything like that, Canva is going to become your new best friend. In this episode of the Small & Supercharged Podcast, all about why you need Canva in your life, you will hear…

  • Why I use Canva and a quick tour of some of the different sizes available and when you might use them. I talk about a few of the common ones I use and how I use them.
  • How you can use Canva’s own templates for your social media graphic design, but how you can also design your own.
  • How you can learn more about Canva through the free resources on their website.
  • Why I don’t tend to use Canva’s templates- but how it’s really easy to create your own templates, either through choosing their sizes of artwork or setting one with your custom dimensions.
  • How I created my TEDx talk slides on Canva (I imported the slides into Powerpoint) because I wanted more control over the artwork, colours and fonts.
  • Why Canva allows you to really stay on brand – you can even pick the exact hex colour to match to yours.
  • We chat through headings, sub headings and text, and how you can then select fonts, sizes and colours.
  • Why I add boxes behind the text to make the words really pop out… and what might have happened when the elements disappear (and how to get them back).
  • How you can use your own images as the background, how Canva has a pretty extensive free library of images, and how you can use their ‘frames’ option to organise your images, display them in a frame, or a mix of the two.
  • Why you might want to add your logo to the downloads file, why getting a logo with a transparent background is a good idea, and that that’s called a png.
  • How to decide what kind of file to download as from Canva. This will depend on whether or not you’re printing the design or using it on social media.
  • Why I use Canva AND work with graphic designers. I am a huge advocate of using graphic designers for big jobs and for the ground work when the brand identity is formed. When you have your brand assets, with things like colours, fonts, etc organised, you can create quick graphics inside Canva using these guidelines. It might also be worth telling your graphic designer you plan to do this – they might be able to even create templates for you.
  • Don’t forget to download the freebie called ‘Five steps to great social media graphics’ – there are some examples of what I do inside the freebie too. As I’ve mentioned a few times, I am no graphic designer – neither do I pretend to be – but I wanted to share how I use it and how you might too.

If you have a go at Canva as a result of this podcast of the freebie, I’d love you to tag me – I’m @rheafreemanpr on Instagram and /rheafreeman on Facebook!

five steps to great social media graphics
/by
, ,

Let’s talk about 7 apps that make running a business easier | Rhea Freeman

Oh… apps. My iPhone is full of them! Some are fun, some are useful, some are a huge waste of everyone’s time…and some I can’t remember when I last opened them. Yeah, I should probably delete those. Anyway, this episode of the Small & Supercharged Podcast isn’t about apps I don’t use, it’s about apps I do use. Apps that make running business easier. For me at least!

Have a listen here…

Let’s talk about 7 apps that make running a business easier

Show notes for the Small & Supercharged Podcast – Episode 10 – apps that make running a business easier… what you’ll hear in this podcast episode…

  • The apps aren’t the ‘obvious’ ones, like Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, etc… they’re essentials in my world!
  • First up is Audible. If you’ve followed me for any time at all, you’ll know I’m a huge fan of audiobooks. I know you can listen to them in a variety of ways, but the way I’ve been enjoying most is Audible. I do have a subscription which is about £8 a month. This might sound a lot, but for that you get a book each month. If you pay per audiobook, it’s a lot more. And you can’t get many new books for that price either. Here’s more about my obsession with Audible.
  • Quickbooks is the second one. I’m still not sold on the whole concept of invoicing software BUT I can completely see how it can be hugely useful. There are lots of different ones available that allow you to invoice on the move. The concept of invoicing via app is definitely a time saving one.
  • Lightroom – I know – I was surprised at this one too. I don’t use filters on my Instagram images but there’s no doubt that my images could do with a little tweaking. I decided I loved it when Sophie Callahan set up the presets for me and now I use them on the vast majority of my images. I take most of my images on my phone and, not being a photographer, I don’t know what I’m doing editing wise, so using something like this is great. It take seconds to get from Camera Roll to Lightroom and back again too.
  • WordSwag. This is a paid for app – it’s a few pounds – but it allows you to create nice graphics on your phone with ease. Perfect for motivational quotes and lots more. Have a look on my Instagram grid for an example. The pale green posts with the interesting fonts are done through WordSwag.
  • Canva. This is one app that I do like BUT I LOVE the desktop version. I do a lot more on the desktop version, but it’s very useful to have it on the phone for minor things I need to do on the move. I do also think they have upgraded the app version. I wouldn’t personally create graphics through the mobile app on my phone (but that’s my personal preference), but the desktop version is superb. And together they work really well. If you’re not sure about Canva or haven’t used it before – here’s my quick guide to how to use Canva.
  • Repost. I do admin a few Instagram accounts for businesses, so Repost is good for me. User Generated Content is a really big deal, and Repost is a good way to repost images properly, with credit (but you still need to ask permission!)
  • DropBox – I use the desktop version a lot, but I do use the app for sharing quite a lot too. It’s a great way to share big files, and I also use it a lot for videos, podcasts and lots more. I also use it if I’m out and about and might need to access files when I’m out – I did this with a seminar I was giving as I knew the slides would be accessible if the tech failed.

All links above lead to the websites, but if you nip over to the App Store, you can view and learn more about the app versions.

There are lots of apps out there that can make running a business easier – these are just seven that really help me.

 

Subscribe to the Small & Supercharged podcast on iTunes

/by
, , , ,

How to use Canva

How to use CanvaCanva. One of my favourite online places to be. I am a HUGE fan of Canva and regularly recommend it. I still find it amazing that not everyone knows about Canva, so I thought a blog that gives you the basics of how to use Canva would be a good call. Because it is such a game changer.

What is Canva?

Canva is a free – yes FREE – graphic design ‘tool’. It’s accessible online, it all works through the internet (you don’t need to download anything) and it is genuinely amazing. With loads of inspiration, design templates and even online tutorials about how to use Canva, it’s a really superb space. There are also paid for options (whether you want to buy an individual image or upgrade your package) but I’m not going to talk about them because I can honestly say I am yet to use them. I think as I have a lot of my own images, that helps a lot. Although the resize function would definitely be handy… so I’m not ruling it out. The reason I mention this is because there are so many platforms that are free to use, but if you want to do anything else, you have to pay. And when I mean anything else, I’m talking basic functionality here. I’m not having a pop at these kind of sites as everyone needs to make a living – I get that- but you can really create quality graphics, ads, posts and a LOT more for nothing through Canva.

How to use Canva

I am not saying that Canva should replace quality design – it shouldn’t. While I like to think I am OK-ish on the design spectrum, I am not a graphic designer. Graphic designers don’t just know how to use clever bits of software, then KNOW how to design. This can make the difference between an OK design and something that’s superb.

But, in my experience, Canva is incredible for making a graphic designer’s work go further. So if you want to add your beautifully designed logo to – I don’t know – a quote, Canva allows you to do this. So you’re using the graphic designer’s work with Canva. Equally, if you’ve taken an image you want to put onto social media, Canva allows you to do this. Ideally, you’d have a brand manual too, which would give you things like the hex colours, font families and other guidelines and how to use your marketing collateral so it stays on brand. But these guidelines can (and should) be integrated into anything you create through Canva.

I have also used Canva for bigger things – I have designed adverts through Canva. This is not something I like doing (but that’s because of my skillset, not Canva!), but it has that functionality as you can download your design as a print ready PDF, set the dimensions so it’s sized correctly, and even add bleed if needed. This means that Canva is more than just a tool for online graphics, memes, quotes and more, it’s also very, very capable of creating artwork for print too.

Canva templates

As I said, Canva has a huge range of templates available for you to use, for free. These will, usually, be to the correct size for what they say – like ‘Facebook Cover’ for example. However, if you have something specific in mind, you can just set your own dimensions – that’s the beauty of Canva – it lets you create what you actually need. When you’ve done your stunning piece of artwork, you can then download it in a range of formats, making it great for online as well as print.

Some of the template options are completely designed ready for you – you just change the words and the images as you like and they’re ready to go.

How to use Canva – what do I do?

I actually created a draft of my logo in Canva and then had a graphic designer refine and tweak it, but as I had the framework I could really show what I was thinking! Day to day, I use Canva for social media posts and blog images above everything else to be honest. It means I can quickly create the graphic I want with zero compromise, and I can use the elements I have had designed by a graphic designer in my designs too.

How do YOU use Canva?

If you haven’t used Canva yet, I would urge you to go and have a look on the Canva website here. There is also an app version that I have on my phone, but I have never really got on with that. I can do minor tweaks to designs and then screenshot them if I want to use them on Instagram, for example, but in my opinion the desktop version is head and shoulders above the app.

If you do you Canva, I’d love to know how you use it and why! Pop on over to Facebook to get involved!

/0 Comments/by