The “Best Ever” Canva Tutorial For Beginners

If you haven’t tried Canva yet, you really should. It’s a DIY playground for all things design. Canva is so simple to use that all you need going in is an idea and a little creative talent. However, as a new user, you may find its many features a tad intimidating. Thankfully, we’re here to give you the best ever Canva tutorial for beginners. 

Getting Started

First, there’s the obvious. Go to Canva.com. You’ll notice that my account is a Pro account. But since this is a beginner’s tutorial, I will only be using features available to new folks. 

On the top right corner, you’ll see “Create a design.” Click that and make your choice. You’ll see a wide selection of options for you to choose from. 

For our purposes, let’s select “Logo.” 

A new window will open and you are officially ready to begin your project.

Selecting A Template

There are plenty of templates to choose from. Under logos, you’ll find templates for Hospitals, Bands, Events, Fashion, Food/Drink, and so on. 

Pick the one best suited to your project. Let’s pick DJ Logo. 

Oh, and you should definitely name your project. It’s located in the top right corner. 

It doesn’t matter what you name it. I picked a nice boring identifier. 

Now, pick the template. There’s a lot to pick from. I chose this one.

Beginning Your Design

Now, DJs are certified non-geniuses, so they need all the help they can get. Let’s call our entertainer “DJ Oopsy Daisy.” Because why not? Who’s going to stop me? 

You don’t want to end there. Templates are there to make it easier for you as a beginner. You don’t want to stick with the template because then you’ll appear lazy and uninspired. Let’s start by changing the graphic at the top of the design. 

Now, we’re going to dive into elements. This is a fun part. 

Using The Elements

On the left-hand side of the page, you’ll see ‘Elements.’ Click that.

You’ll see quite a few options to pick from. Let’s find a DJ-related graphic. Click on the search bar, type in “DJ” and hit graphics to narrow your search. 

Find the graphic you like best and select it. I chose this one. Don’t forget to remove the template graphic!  

I then made the graphic larger using a simple click-and-drag. 

Editing Text

Let’s update the text a little and make it our own. You can select it from the “Text” option on the left-hand side of the page. 

Personally, I like the text options from the left-hand side of the page. They have a wide variety of text options that will really help your design pop. I chose this one.

I type out “DJ Oopsy Daisy” in the new text and boom. 

Is it a particularly good design? No. But, for our purposes, it doesn’t need to be, does it? This is a “Canva tutorial for beginners,” not a “Canva Here’s How To Make The Perfect DJ Logo.” 

Adding Texture

Kind of a boring design, right? Let’s add some background texture. When I’m searching for background text, I search in the Elements under “graphics.” “textured background” should be sufficient. 

I chose this one. 

But, as we can see, it covered the DJ graphic. How do we fix that? Right-click, “send backward.”

There. Now we have a design as pitiful as the name of our made-up DJ. In fact, I think my final design is worse than the original template. But, not really the point, ya know?  

If you choose to use a photo for your background, you can do so by clicking “Uploads” on the left-hand side of the screen.

Download, Export, and Share

Once you’ve finished your design. Simply go to the top right corner, hit download, and select the file type you want to download. It offers PNG, JPG, PDF, GIF, and so on. 

Download the file type you want and you have yourself a genuine DIY design!

Final Words

There you have it. There is your basic, step-by-step Canva tutorial for beginners. Hopefully, this is helpful in getting you started. But the best way to really understand how to use Canva is to simply dive in and play around! 

If DIY design is too intimidating here are some graphic design services to check out. Let someone else do it!