Wondering how to use gradients in Canva? In this Canva gradient tutorial, you'll learn
how to create a gradient in Canva, be it a solid to transparent gradient in Canva or
a transparent gradient blender. So let's get right into this Canva tutorial for beginners
with Canva tips and tricks and Canva hacks on using gradients in Canva to make the most
out of your visual marketing efforts.
First off, if you don’t have a Canva account yet, just click on the link in the description
box below to sign up for free. To use gradients in Canva, you'll first have to select one
of your existing Canva designs you wish to add a gradient to, or add a gradient in Canva
to a new Canva design by either searching for the design type of your choice using the
search bar up top, or using the Canva design suggestions by clicking on the options under
where it says 'what will you design'.
Let's say that I want to add a gradient in Canva to a new YouTube thumbnail design I
create. To do so, I'll click on the search bar, and search for 'YouTube thumbnail'. Once
that option populates, click on it.
There are a number of YouTube thumbnail design templates that you can choose from to then
add a gradient in Canva to, or you can click on 'create a blank YouTube thumbnail' up top
to start your design from scratch. You can even filter the YouTube thumbnail templates
by style, theme and color.
I'll go ahead and click on the 'blank YouTube thumbnail' option up top to show you exactly
how to use gradients in Canva. Once the blank template opens, feel free to add any element,
upload, photo, text, and more to your YouTube thumbnail design in Canva.
For an entire walkthrough of all of the available elements in Canva that you can add to your
designs, make sure to watch my video on ‘How To Use Canva’. I’ll leave the link to
it in the description box below.
Let's start adding some elements to this design so I can then show you how to use gradients
in Canva. The first thing we'll do is add an image to the design's background. To do
so, either click on 'uploads' from the left-hand side panel, and upload an image you already
added to Canva or click on 'upload media' up top to add a new one, which you can then
add to your design, or click on 'photos' from the left-hand side panel to add one from Canva's
extensive photo library.
Since I'm a Canva Pro user, I get access to over 75 million premium images, video graphics,
and audio, at no extra charge. If you wish to try Canva Pro out for yourself, just click
on the link in the description box below.
Once you've located a photo you wish to add to your design to then add a gradient in Canva
to, drag-and-drop it onto your design. Let's also add some text overlay to this design.
To do so, click on 'text' from the left-hand side panel, and then on 'add a heading'.
Say I'm adding a gradient in Canva to this YouTube thumbnail promoting a video on how
to use gradients in Canva. I'll type out the name of this video, 'how to use gradients
in Canva', make sure that the font is set to Raleway Heavy, the size is set to 80 pixels,
and that the text box is centralized on the design.
Now this is the fun part. Let's go ahead and add a gradient in Canva to this design to
make it stand out. I'll first show you how to add a solid to transparent gradient in
Canva and then a transparent gradient blender.
To add a solid to transparent gradient in Canva, click on 'elements' from the left-hand
side panel, click on the search bar up top, and search for 'square gradient'. Canva has
a number of square gradients that you can choose from, but make sure that when you click
on it to add it to your design, a color picker appears up top. This way you'll be able to
customize the colors in your gradient in Canva.
If you select a gradient that doesn't show the color picker up top, you'll be able to
use that gradient as is, both in terms of gradient color and style. I'll show you how
to make use of these gradients in a few minutes when I talk about the transparent gradient
blender.
Say I want to use this gradient in Canva which has the color picker up top. You can now click
on each color picker individually, and change that color to the color of your choice. I'll
select as the first color my brand's yellow color, and as the second color, my brand's
turquoise color.
Since I’m a Canva Pro user, which you can also try out for free by clicking on the link
in the description box below, I can add my own brand kit with my brand fonts and colors
to Canva.
If you want to know how to customize those, make sure to watch my video on ‘What Is
A Canva Brand Kit + How To Customize A Canva Pro Brand Kit’. I’ll leave the link to
it in the description box below.
Now that we've added and customized this gradient in Canva, let's resize and reposition it so
that it occupies the entire area of the design. Feel free to rotate the gradient so that the
colors transition from one into the next in the direction that you wish.
There are two things that we can do now in order to show the content we added underneath
this gradient. The first thing is to click on the gradient, and then on the transparency
icon on the white panel up top. Reduce the transparency to the percentage of your choice.
I'll go ahead and reduce it to 75%.
The second thing we can do is reorder the elements. Still with the gradient in Canva
selected, click on 'position' from the white panel up top, and then on backward. This way,
the gradient overlays the image that you added as your design's background, but the text
that we added appears on top.
I'll now click on 'duplicate page' on top of this design to show you how to add a gradient
in Canva using the transparent gradient blender which I mentioned earlier. I'll go ahead and
click on the gradient on this second page, and then on delete on my keyboard, but still
maintain the background image and text.
To add a transparent gradient blender in Canva, either click on 'elements' from the left-hand
side panel, click on the search bar up top, search for 'gradient' and select a gradient
option that doesn't allow you to customize the colors of, or click on 'photos' from the
left-hand side panel, click on the search bar up top, search for 'gradient', and click
on a gradient photo of your choice. I’ll go ahead and select this one.
Just like before, resize and reposition the gradient so that it occupies the entire area
of the design. Feel free to rotate the gradient so that the colors transition from one into
the next in the direction that you wish.
Just as the name implies, the transparent gradient blender in Canva uses the transparency
feature to work. So let's click on the gradient, and then on the transparency icon on the white
panel up top. Reduce the transparency to the percentage of your choice. I'll go ahead and
reduce it to 75%.
Once you're done using gradients in Canva, rename yourdesign up top, and then click on
the download button. Feel free to save your design as a PNG high quality image or as a
JPG small file size image, I'll select 'PNG high quality image', and then click on the
download button to save your design with a gradient in Canva to your computer.
If you're serious about using gradients in Canva, make sure to sign up for a free Canva
account by clicking on the link in the description box below, check out our Canva tutorials playlist
for even more Canva tips and tricks, as well as our FREE cheat sheet with brilliant tools
that you should use below this video to learn more about how to save time and boost your
productivity in your online business.
Leave a comment below and let me know what type of Canva gradient you'll be creating.
If you liked this video, make sure you give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel
so that you can navigate the tech side of online business with ease, and stay tuned
for our next video which is about how to add drop shadow in Canva. As you wait for my next
video to go live, check out these two videos I have right here, and I'll see you in my
next video.