A step-by-step guide to

designing from scratch

You’ve got the vision, and Canva is here to bring it to life. Turn imagination
into a finished design in minutes with this step-by-step tutorial for designing
from scratch in Canva.

Canva’s templates provide a shortcut to good design: they’re fully customizable,

so you can change the colors, images and more to suit your taste. We’ve got
tens of thousands of templates for every design need.
But sometimes you need something completely custom-made. How do you
ensure what you create actually looks good?
In this article, you will learn:

• How to create a design from scratch using Canva

• Quick tips to make your designs look good

• How to choose the dimensions for your design

• How to create a background for your design

• How to add text, images and more

Watch the video to see for yourself how simple it is to design from scratch in
Canva.

Design tip: Sketching a rough outline of your design on paper before you begin
can help you bring your vision to life. It doesn’t need to be perfect. Consider
what you’d like to include in the design, and where it might look best.
Ready? Let’s get started.

01. Choose the right dimensions for

your design
To begin, choose your design type from the Canva homepage. These are set to
the optimal dimensions for each graphic, whether it’s a social media
post, flyer or more. Or you can use custom dimensions by searching for “custom
size”. You can choose from pixels, millimetres or inches.
02. Choose a background
The background for your design could be a color, or an image.

Background colors
Design tip: Different colors tell different stories. Purple is associated with
individuality, orange relates to activity, and green conjures images of nature.
Think about what colors best suit your needs. For help choosing a color palette,
try Canva’s Color Combinations tool.

Of course, you can always use a white background too.

To choose a color, use the Color Picker tool in the toolbar at the top of the
editor.

Background photos
To use a photo as a background, first add a grid. Once placed on a grid, photos
can be resized, cropped, flipped and layered to create a variety of visual effects.
Next, search Images or upload your own. Then drag and drop your image onto
the grid: it will snap to fit.

You can add filters to change the brightness, saturation and clarity of the photo.
This can help when layering text and elements.
Design tip: You can add background images or feature images to your design.
A background image supports the message of the content. If there's too much
going on in the background, it’s hard to overlay things like text or illustrations.
When you are choosing a background image for your design, consider texture
over structure. You can crop images to find pockets of texture that will work
better—this way you can also remove any space or features in the image that
creates too much noise.
The image below uses a close up photograph of a rose to add textural interest to
the design, but its main role is to act as a vehicle for the text.
A feature image becomes the focus of your design: this image sits high in the
order of visual hierarchy. Use a single, or split-cell grid to apply clever feature
images and help your content sing.
The image below uses a grid to balance the visual hierarchy of the design. The
user’s eye is drawn to the photograph.
3. Add your elements
Your design might include text, icons, photos or illustrations. These need to be
combined in a way that is visually appealing.

Canva graphic designer Lynneal Santos says it’s a matter of balance. “Consider
the balance and composition of all the elements in the design. When you're
laying out your elements, ask are the elements balanced? Are they centered?
And ensure they’re not too close to other elements or the edge of the page.”

Her number one tip? “Keep it simple.” Don’t overload your design with too
many elements, as it can confuse the visual message of the image. This is
something designers call visual heirarchy, which involves the arrangement of
elements according to their importance. Try playing with size, color, and
placement in order to see what works best.
If you want to add a photo to your design, try using one of Canva’s frames. You
can find these under “elements” in the side panel.
Design Tip: Harness the power of negative space. Negative space, also known
as white space can be any area within a design that is free from text, images, or
embellishments (it doesn’t have to actually be white). Designers love it because
it can help create grouping, add emphasis and improve legibility.

4. Choose the right fonts

The look of your fonts can have a huge impact on your design. Take a look at
this playful typeface: perfect for a fun beauty brand. Not ideal for a law firm.

Choosing one font is hard enough. But your design may need more than one
typeface. Canva suggests never using more than two fonts in a design, as too
many fonts tends to make a design look “messy”. You’ll want to choose
complementary fonts, which add visual interest while working well together.
You can learn more about which fonts look good together, and why, in
Canva’s Ultimate Guide to Font Pairing.
Canva has hundreds of pre-set font combinations to choose from. You can find
these in the Text tab in the side panel.
Or you can create your own combination. Again, simple is best: if you’re
choosing an elaborate font, ensure you pair it with a simpler font so your design
is balanced. Canva’s Font Combination tool can help, and Traditional
combinations like a sans serif font and a serif font can be very powerful.
Don’t forget about readability. If your fonts are too complicated, they can
detract from your message.
Design tip: Typographic hierarchy establishes the order of importance given to
different design elements. By applying different fonts, color and scale to your
text, you can dramatically change the way your message is received.
You don’t have to study for hundreds of hours to be good at design. But, like
most things in life, you’ll get better with practice, so don’t be disheartened if
your first design doesn’t turn out perfectly. Instead, keep practicing and keep
creating. You’ll be creating brilliant, polished images in no time.