Design app
Canva
Online design tool for social posts, presentations, posters and video.
Canva is an online design tool for social media posts, presentations, posters, documents and short videos. You start from a template or a blank page and build the design by dragging in text, photos and graphics, so it needs no design training.
Canva launched in 2013 in Perth, Australia. Much of it is free, including text effects such as curved text. Canva Pro adds premium templates and tools such as Background Remover, and schools can use Canva for Education at no cost. In 2024 Canva bought Affinity, a set of professional design apps.
01Is Canva free?
Canva’s free plan covers most everyday designs: thousands of templates, text effects such as curved text, and downloads as PNG, JPG or PDF. Canva Pro is a monthly or yearly subscription that adds premium templates and stock photos and tools such as Background Remover. Teams pay per person, and Canva for Education is free for eligible teachers and students. Prices differ by country and appear in your currency on Canva’s pricing page.
02How to start using Canva
- 1
Go to canva.com or install the Canva app, and sign up with an email address or an existing Google, Apple or Facebook account.
- 2
Type what you want to make, such as Instagram post or presentation, in the search bar on the home page, then pick a template or a blank design of that size.
- 3
Click any text or picture on the template to change it, and drag in your own photos from Uploads.
- 4
Select Share, then Download, to save the design as an image or PDF.
- 5
For a first effect, follow how to curve text in Canva.
03Is Canva safe?
Who can see your designs
Designs are private to your account until you share them. A link set so anyone with it can view or edit reaches whoever it is forwarded to, so share personal designs with named people instead.
Protecting the account
Turn on two-step verification in Settings, under Login & security, so a stolen password alone cannot open the account.
Photos you upload
Uploaded images stay in your account and are only seen by others when you share or publish a design that uses them.
