Canva is an amazing design website that helps you create everything from postcards to resumes using a collection of pre-made templates.
It's perfect for people who are short on time and need a quick design, or for people who don't have design experience but still want to create something great.
However, if you are using Canva and want to create a poster for an event, how do you go about it? Here's how to make a flyer in Canva suitable for any occasion.
Step 1: Find the right model
The first thing you want to do to create a flyer is log into Canva. Or, if you haven't already registered for an account, do so first, then log in.
After signing up and logging in, you will see a home page very similar to the screenshot above. Below Create a design you will see a list of the most commonly used templates.
You can also search for a template under What would you like to design?
Luckily, Prospectus is one of the most popular designs on the site. You just have to click on its icon, visible here highlighted in red. No research is necessary.
Once you open the Flyer template, you will be taken to a blank page. On the left side, you'll see templates divided by the purpose they're best suited for.
We already talked about these categories in our tutorial on how to find the perfect resume using Canva. If you want to learn more about this step, we recommend reading this article.
Step 2: What is your event about?
The type of event you are hosting will influence your design. It will also influence which Canva template works best for it.
For this tutorial, let's say we're designing a flyer for an upcoming birthday party. The birthday recipient's name is Bill, and Bill's party theme is "Bad Movies."
Because our event is movie related, I went to the Event Flyer section and found a template that looks like it has to do with movies. This particular template is a free template that I can modify, so let's choose it.
Step 3: Edit your flyer text
The next thing you'll want to do after choosing your template is enter your event information. For posters, I like to enter the text first, because the information about my event will affect the rest of my design and how it will be organized.
To edit the text, simply click on each section so that the text bounding box is highlighted. Clear the placeholder information and enter your own.
To learn more about this step, check out our tutorial on how to create a resume from scratch using Canva.
Step 4: Change the color of your elements
Now that you've corrected your text, it's time to adjust the visuals on your page. It's important to note that the steps we're going to use here can be used on any type of visual element in any of the other templates, regardless of the shape of the element.
To modify the elements, click on one of them. Its bounding box will appear in faint gray lines, and you can see which one we're referring to here by the extra red highlight around it.
In the upper left corner of your workspace, you'll see a new set of tools— Color , Crop , and Flip .
Let's change the color.
To change the color, click on one of the color boxes that matches the color you see in the item. In this case, I clicked on medium blue.
When you click on the individual color swatch, your Color panel appears. You can choose a default color from there.
Since this party is about bad movies, and off-green colors can convey a feeling of “nausea,” let’s go with a lime-green hue to cut through that effect.
If you don't like any of the default colors currently available, you can also choose a custom color .
To choose a custom color, click the + in your Color panel, highlighted here in red. It will bring up your color picker and you can add a custom color from there.
Repeat this step until all of your elements have been adjusted to your preferences.
Step 5: Text Color
Now that you've changed the color of the elements, you might have a better idea of the overall mood or tone you're going for in your flyer.
If you haven't changed the color of your text yet, or if you don't like the colors you chose before, you can simply click on each individual text box to fix it. Then click on Text Color option seen here at the top of the screen.
You don't have to highlight text to change its color, by the way. Just make sure the entire text box is active, not the cursor to type new text. Canva will read the box as a single unit and modify all text accordingly.
Step 6: move your elements
Finally, you might decide that you don't like your visuals in their current position. Maybe it looks too uniform or there are too many photos and you want to switch things up.
To move your items, click on the item you want to adjust. Then click and drag it on the page to the desired position.
If you want to get rid of the element entirely, select it so that the bounding box appears. Then press delete on your keyboard.
If you accidentally delete an item or decide you don't like the way your poster looks after it's gone, this is an easy fix.
Just go to the top left corner of your workspace. Along your blue navigation bar, you'll see one (or two) curved arrows, depending on the steps you've taken so far in your document.
The left-facing arrow is the Cancel button. The right arrow is the redo button.
Click the Undo button to return to a previous step in your design.
Step 7: Export your design for printing
Now that your flyer is complete, do a final check to make sure everything is spelled correctly and all elements are where they should be.
Once you're done, click the down-facing arrow in the upper-right corner of your screen. When you do, Canva will show you a few different options for downloadable file types, as well as the option to add crop marks and bleeds.
You can also check out the option to order prints directly with Canva.
PDF printing is recommended for print files. Once PDF Printing is selected, click the blue Download button. It will prepare your model.
While the file is preparing, a screen will appear saying Preparing your design…
During this step, you have the option to cancel your download. Hopefully just let it run and it will ask you to save the file to your device once it is done.
And There you go! You have finished.
You can do so much more with Canva
Creating a flyer takes a lot less work than a resume or cover letter. And if you are planning a party with your friends, you also have the opportunity to do something really fun with the design. By following the tutorial above, you should now know how to create a flyer using Canva.
Looking for advice on other uses for Canva? Here are some of the things you can create using Canva.