Class Details
Canva Course: Introduction
Course summary
In this half-day Canva training course, you’ll learn how to create beautiful, professional graphic designs, even if you have no prior design experience. Effortlessly create eye-catching graphics using Canva’s intuitive templates, drag-and-drop features, and extensive content library, and explore Canva AI and Magic Write. You will design portfolios, presentations, marketing material, print material, posters, videos, social media posts, and web layouts from scratch with Canva, an all-in-one design tool.
Aims
The aims of this course are to:
- provide you with the skills and knowledge to create professional-quality graphic designs using Canva, regardless of prior design experience
- provide hands-on training to help you understand and utilise Canva’s features effectively, enabling you to produce stunning and impactful visuals
- confidently create and customise graphic designs for various purposes, such as presentations, social media posts, portfolios, and more, using Canva’s tools and resources
- show you how to navigate Canva’s user-friendly interface, utilise its drag-and-drop functionality, choose and customise templates, and access its vast content library to design professional-quality visuals from scratch.
Learning outcomes
By the end of this course, you should be able to:
- navigate the Canva Editor
- create a new document from scratch
- use and customise templates
- upload and use photos
- use Canva’s design elements
- work with text
- work with colours
- work with graphics and images
- upload videos and audio
- share your designs in multiple formats.
Content
Opening Canva and exploring Canva’s homepage
- What is Canva?
- Logging into your Canva account
- Account settings
- Free versus Pro versions
- Homepage overview
- Navigating the various Editor panels & tabs
Creating your first design
- Multiple ways to start a design
- Using the Quick Start icons
- Creating a design button
- Search bar
- Creating a design using a template
- Creating a custom size
- Setting width & height dimensions
Canva Editor
- Canva Editor
- Design tab – templates
- Design tab – styles
Elements
- Elements tab
- Element types
- Shapes & graphic elements
- Arrange & align layers
- Rearrange layers
Typography
- Creating text
- Text toolbar controls
- Editing text
- Creating a QR code
Photos
- Uploading images
- Editing images
- Frames and grids
Video and audio
- Creating a video
- Editing a video on the timeline
- Adding transitions
- Adding text and graphics
- Adding audio
- Creating an animation
Projects and settings
- Project panel
- Settings
Share and download
- Sharing and downloading
- Collaborating
- Creating a public link
- Publishing to social media
- Downloading finished designs
- Printing with Canva online
Who this course is for
This course is ideal for beginners with little to no graphic design experience, who want to learn how to use Canva to create professional-quality designs.
Prerequisites
You should be familiar with the basic functions of a computer operating system such as navigating the environment using a mouse and keyboard, starting applications, copying and pasting objects, formatting text, creating folders, opening files, saving files, accessing the Internet, and using common web browsers.
Delivery style
Half-day workshop using your own device.
Delivery modes
- Face-to-face, presenter-taught training using your own device
- Online training via the platform Zoom
Materials
Any course materials are provided electronically using Dropbox.
What you need to do before the course
You will need a Canva account (free or Pro) to participate. Please bring your own device and account login details to class.
To participate in this course, you will need Canva installed on your device and an Canva (free or Pro) account.
- Recommended operating system: Windows or Mac
- Required software: Latest version of Canva
Face-to-face classes
Please bring your own laptop with all required software pre-installed.
Online classes
For the best experience, we recommend using a computer with a large monitor or dual screens/devices. Small laptop screens can make it difficult to follow the facilitator’s display while working in the software.
Sessions
Location
Face-to-face (CCE Building, Sydney)
Public transport
As bus and train timetables regularly change, we suggest you visit the Transport for NSW trip planner before you set out.
The nearest train stations are Newtown Station and Macdonaldtown Station. Macdonaldtown Station is closer by distance than Newtown Station, however trains do not stop as frequently as at Newtown Station.
Other information
Parking
Nearby parking is available at Wilson Parking - RPA Medical Centre Car Park (entry via Elizabeth Street off Carillon Avenue).
A Flexi Saver Rate is available but must be booked in advance online and includes the booking fee. Bookings can be made via the Wilson website or by downloading the Wilson Parking App. Otherwise, hourly parking rates will apply, as advertised on the Wilson Parking website.
Meet the facilitators
Antony Brown
Antony is an Adobe and Apple certified instructor with over 15 years of experience teaching design software. He began his training career at Adobe in London, delivering courses in Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, Premiere Pro, After Effects, Adobe XD and Captivate. He has trained with leading London-based training providers and worked in the film and television industry in Soho.
Antony is deeply committed to sharing his expertise and takes pride in the positive impact his training has on his clients.
He has delivered training for a wide range of organisations, including Microsoft, Yahoo, Westpac, the Australian Federal Police, the London 2012 Olympics, and many others.
Antony is an Adobe Certified Expert in Photoshop CC, After Effects CS5, Premiere Pro CC and Audition, and holds Adobe Certified Instructor status in Photoshop CC, After Effects CS5, and Premiere Pro CC. He is also Apple certified in Final Cut Pro X and Final Cut Pro 7.
In addition, Antony holds multiple Canva certifications, including Canva Essentials, Canva for Work, Canva AI in the Classroom, Canva Teacher Essentials, Marketing with Canva and Canva Graphic Design Essentials.
