▶Watch it first
Watch: Your first design: a classroom welcome sign
Search a template, customize it, and change the words: your first Canva design, start to finish.
⏱ 1:16 · real Canva, step by step See all videos →In this chapter
You'll need
- A laptop or desktop computer
- Your school email address (helpful for Canva Education)
- A notebook and pen
- A cup of coffee (optional, but recommended)
⏱ About 30–40 minutes
Your goal: by the end of this chapter, Canva will feel less like a new gadget and more like your own familiar classroom.
1.1
Creating your account
Canva runs right in your web browser, so there is nothing to install. Your first decision is simply which kind of account to open.
Free for everyone
Canva Free
- Open it in a minute with your email, Google, Microsoft, Apple or Facebook account
- A generous set of templates and tools to get started
- Canva's premium features are not included
Free for verified K–12 teachers
Canva Education
- All of Canva's premium features, at no cost
- Thousands of ready-made educational templates for every subject and grade
- Invite students, share work and give feedback
A. Open a free account
- Go to canva.com/signup and select Sign up.
- Choose Continue with email, or one of the other options such as Google or Microsoft.
- If you chose email: enter your address, choose your account name, then type in the code Canva emails you.
- That's it. Welcome to Canva!
B. Apply for Canva Education
- Open the Canva Education sign-up page. (Curious first? Read about Canva Education.)
- Sign up with your school email address, or with your school or district's Clever, Microsoft or Google account.
- When asked, select that you are a Teacher, then choose the type of school you teach at.
- Enter your name, country, school name, school address and school website.
- If Canva recognizes your school email, you get access right away. Otherwise, upload a photo or scan of a document that shows your name, school and teaching position, then select Submit. (For teachers in the US, Canva's help pages ask for a copy of a teaching license.)
Who qualifies? Canva Education is for current K–12 teachers at formally accredited schools. A whole school can also ask Canva to roll it out to all of its staff, free of charge, which is worth mentioning to your principal. See Canva's eligibility guidelines.
1.2
Signing in
- Go to canva.com and select Log in.
- Choose the same method you signed up with: if you joined with Google, continue with Google.
- Canva opens on your homepage, your starting point for everything.
1.3
A tour of the homepage
+ Create1
Profile6
Search designs, folders and templates2
Presentation
Doc
Whiteboard
Poster
Custom size
4Recent designs5
?7
- 1Create (or Create a design): start something new, choose a design type or set your own custom size.
- 2Search bar: find your own designs or browse templates.
- 3Side menu: Home, Projects (all your designs, uploads and folders), Templates, Brand (logos, colors, fonts). Apps sits under More.
- 4Popular design types: one click opens a blank design in that format.
- 5Recent designs: pick up right where you left off.
- 6Profile menu (bottom left): Your account, settings, help and sign out.
- 7Help (the ? in the bottom-right corner): ask Canva's assistant for ideas and answers. Prefer to read? Visit the Canva Help Center.
Canva rolls out changes to its menus gradually, so your screen may look a little different. Can't find something? Look under More.
Sarit's tip
Always sign in with the same email. A different email means a different Canva account, and a very empty one. If your designs ever seem to have vanished, check which account you're signed in to before you panic.
1.4
The editor: where everything lives
The editor opens whenever you start a new design (select Create and choose a type) or open a template and select Customize this template. Every design you'll ever make happens here.
☰ File 1
↶↷ 2
Untitled design
8
- Design
- Elements
- Text
- Brand
- Uploads
- Draw
- Apps
3
4
Welcome, Class!
56
768%
- 1Menu and File: rename, resize, save options and settings.
- 2Undo and Redo: your safety net. Experiment freely!
- 3Side panel: templates, elements, text, Brand Kit, uploads, Draw, Projects and Apps. Click a tab to open it.
- 4Quick actions toolbar: appears above whatever you select and shows only the tools that fit it.
- 5Canvas: your page. Click anything on it to select it.
- 6Pages: move between pages, add new ones and reorder them.
- 7Zoom: slide to zoom in for detail, or out to see the whole page.
- 8Share: invite others, download or print (all in Chapter 7).
Three shortcuts worth learning today
Undo⌘ + ZCtrl + Z
Redo⌘ + YCtrl + Y
Zoom in / out⌘ + + / ⌘ + −Ctrl + + / Ctrl + −
Sarit's tip
⌘ + ZCtrl + Z is the most forgiving key combination ever invented. Press it as many times as you need: nothing you try in Canva is ever a mistake you can't take back.
Try it
Your first design, in ten minutes
Let's put everything together with a welcome sign for your classroom door.
- Sign in to Canva and find your way to the homepage.
- In the search bar, type classroom welcome sign and browse the templates.
- Choose one you like and select Customize this template. You're now in the editor.
- Click the main text and change it to your name and class. Watch the quick actions toolbar appear.
- Change something you don't love, then press Undo and Redo to see your safety net at work.
- Zoom in to check the details, then zoom out to see the whole page.
- Click the title at the top and give your design a clear name, such as Welcome sign, Grade 3.
- Return to the homepage and find your new design under Projects.
By the end of this chapter you can…
0 of 5
🎉 Wonderful! You've completed Chapter 1.
Your turn: share it
- In the editor, select Share.
- Set the link to anyone with the link can view, then copy it.
- Send it to the group, and tell us one thing you discovered.
Think about it: which design for your class would you love to make next?
Stuck? Message SaritOr browse the Canva Help Center