Understanding how to apply text to your design work is incredibly important.
It's the difference between design that communicates well and design
that, well, doesn't communicate.
In this lesson, we are going to look at how to get the most out of your text in Canva.
Starting from the home screen, let's create a new design.
There are lots of options here, but we'll keep it simple and click on Instagram Post.
We're taken to a Canva Editor with a blank square document.
Now, look for the object panel that runs down the left side of the editor.
Click on the T button for Text. At any point,
you can also hit T on your keyboard to create a new text box.
Click Add a heading. This creates a line of large text on the page.
You'll see that it is already selected ready for you to edit.
Type in a heading
While that text box is still selected, you'll see a toolbar across the top of your editor.
Canva's fonts are located in a drop down menu here.
Click to view and scroll through a long list of what's available.
Many typefaces have multiple styles and weights. You can use the search field at the top.
I'll type in Arvo and click to select the font.
You'll see the text on her page change accordingly. Nice one.
Now, how big does our header need to be?
Further along the same toolbar,
you will see options to change the font size by clicking the + and - buttons.
Another option is to select the point size number with your cursor
and type in an exact amount. Let's type in 90 points and hit enter.
Further along the toolbar, let's click on the text color button here.
This will open up a color palette. You can click the Add a new color
button here and use the Add a new color tool or type in a hex code.
What if you only want to edit one word?
Simply use your cursor to click and highlight a single word. Let's make it bold.
There are also italic and underline options to further style your text.
These buttons will be visible in the toolbar
or hidden away behind the More button depending on your screen size.
Let's move the header to the top. If you ever get stuck when trying to select an object,
just click outside the object and click back again.
For text boxes, double-click to edit the text itself.
Okay. Let's drag this into position.
Now, de-select by clicking out again and let's click Add a subheading for a new text object.
To format a subhead, we need to think about hierarchy.
A subhead needs to be somewhere in between the header and body text.
Let's make this a bit bigger. Using the handles on the corners,
make your text box bigger. This is another way to resize text.
Now, make the text bold by clicking Bold or holding Cmd+B.
You can change the lowercase text to capital letters by clicking the uppercase button.
Notice how some guides appear to help us along in finding that centered position?
These are really handy to achieve alignment.
Here, we can see the X alignment and here, the Y alignment.
And here we are exactly in the middle.
Now, let's click add a little bit of body text for another new text object.
Click and drag the side handles to make the text box a little bit narrower.
Make your body copy go over two lines.
From the toolbar, you can change the alignment of your text.
There are options for centered, left, justified, and right-aligned text.
If you're ever in doubt, left-aligned text is always more readable,
at least in Western countries.
Let's go ahead and format our body text.
It's handy to remember that there are also options to make a bullet list
or click again for a numbered list.
The spacing button allows you to adjust the space between letters and lines
to give the subhead a little more space in between the letters.
Drag the slider to increase the space a little.
You can also increase the space between the lines of body text. Drag that slider.
Now move the body text into position. Use the guide to align it in the center.
Now, we have a neat set of text. The hierarchy is clear,
but how might we use this text on actual design?
Let's imagine this text was to appear in a business card.
Perhaps the business name would be the header. The individual's name is important
so it is formatted like the subheading.
And the contact details can be body text with some styling to help organize the information.
Or if this was going to be the text for a flyer, what would we do?
What information can't be missed?
Well, the header might be the eye-catching announcement.
Large, short, and bold.
Our subhead might move to the bottom of the page
and become a call to action. Something that is visually important and a clear instruction.
Product details and descriptions can be smaller as body text.
The final thing to mention is font combinations.
You may have noticed this when you opened the object panel.
If you scroll through this,
you'll see a number of font examples using attention-grabbing effects or styles.
If you scroll down even further, you'll find pre-made combinations of fonts.
These are fonts that were built to go together some have a heading in body text.
Some even include a subheading. Select one of these and it will appear in the editor.
You'll notice the text boxes are grouped. This means you can move them around together.
Double-click to change the text or color.
You can ungroup by right-clicking and select Ungroup. Alternatively, you can hit Cmd+Shft+G.
So there we have it. The basics of styling short and long text in Canva.
Take the time to format your text and create some hierarchy.
Your designs will look stronger and your message will be so much clearer.