so you've been looking for ways to make your videos more engaging I've got you covered
then you should seriously stop I'll take it from here go on anybody else relieved that
part of the videos over a simple but effective way you can make your videos more engaging is by
using graphics and slides today I'm going to show you a free and easy to use tool to help you make
beautiful graphics for your videos even if you're not an expert let's get into it hello creators
I'm Ben Toalson from Podia where we empower creators like you to make a living doing what
you love there are lots of free tools for creating graphics for your videos but today we're going to
focus on one of my favorites called canva canva is a web-based design tool that is easy to use
but very powerful as I walk you through how to use canva to make graphics for your videos I'll also
share some basic design principles that will serve you no matter what program you're using later in
this video I'm gonna show you how to make a new document from scratch but before we do that we're
going to take a look at canvas templates you might find a template set that works with your branding
or that you could make small adjustments to that would save you tons of time after you click on
the templates link on the Left you'll look under browse by categories and choose presentation these
templates already have the correct dimensions and you can see that there are tons of different
options available they've also been made with design principles in mind so they already look
great right out of the box as an example let's say we're making a course about turning your
hand lettering into physical products and we want a graphic at the beginning of the course series
that gives an overview of what will be covered in the lessons I'm gonna go ahead and use this
one now I'm going to find the panel that matches the presentation style I'm going for in this case
I want to present the info as a list with some basic info so let's go with this one now all I
have to do is fill in the information each element of the design is editable with different options
for each type of object I want to edit the text so I'm going to double click on the text I want
to change and type in my copy now we're done so we can click on the download button click file type
and select the format we'd like to use PNG is best for how we play to use it click the select
pages drop-down and select the specific page we'd like to download you'll notice it wants to charge
us for use of a graphic that's because we're using the free version of canva if we click on
the drop down we can see which graphic they want to charge us for and then either choose to use it
replace it with something else or simply delete it then we can click the download button and choose
where we'd like to save our graphic if you want to make a graphic from scratch you may want to add
your brand colors first to do this click on the brand kit link on the left and then choose your
brand colors click the Create a design button on the left and choose presentation this will
give you a blank page to work from in the right dimensions the first thing we're going to do is
set our background there are two ways you can do this the first way is to click on the background
button on the left you'll see several choices of patterns and gradients if you don't see your
brand color but see a pattern or gradient you like click on it and see if it has options to
adjust the colors another way you can set your background is to click the elements button and
use the solid shape you can stretch the shape across the entire background and then choose
your color make sure to use a color that fits your brand and also allows your text to be easy
to read if your background color is darker you'll want to go with lighter text and vice versa now
we're going to set our graphic elements graphic elements can add visual interest to your design
and can also highlight your brand if you already have a logo or other graphic elements saved on
your computer you can click the uploads icon and then find and upload your graphics if you
don't have any graphic elements you can still add visual interest by clicking on the elements
icon and choosing lines or shapes you want to keep it simple but it can still go a long way
toward making your graphics more interesting if there are elements you would use for every slide
go ahead and make duplicates so you don't have to repeat the work you've done so far you can do
this easily by clicking the copy page icon just above your design now it's time to add your text
like the templates I showed you earlier there are some pre-made text arrangements that are already
well-designed and may work for your purposes click on the text icon on the left to see the different
options if you like a specific arrangement but not the font you can always change the font after you
add it to your design if you'd like to create your own text from scratch you can simply add
heading subheading or body text to your design there are a few things you want to keep in mind
while adding text make sure the text is easy to read this means the font is legible and
the colors of the text contrasts well against the background use hierarchy in your text to
help your viewer have a better understanding of the content use additional formatting like bold
italics or bullets to make your content even more clear the last thing we're going to talk
about is adding images in the photos tab there are many options for free images you can use in your
design if you can't find what you're looking for in canva you can always go to a royalty-free image
site like unsplash.com or pixabay.com save your image and then upload your image to canva in the
upload tab once you've found an image you like just double-click on it and it'll automatically
be added to your design or you can click on it and drag it over you can resize your image by clicking
and dragging the transform points or you can crop your image by holding down the shift key as you
drag the transform points a couple more things to remember you can change the layering of objects by
selecting an object and then clicking on position in the upper right hand of your screen you can
move objects backwards or forwards depending on how you'd like your elements to display for all
of your design elements another important design principle to keep in mind is spacing you want to
allow for a bit of margin around each of the elements and in most cases you want to try to
Center objects within the space they occupy you want to keep this process relatively simple don't
try to get too involved or do too much before you feel comfortable just a little bit of work can go
a long way toward making your information easier to comprehend and your course videos more engaging
are there other free design tools that you've used to make graphics for your online course
videos tell us about them in the comments below if you found this video useful and you want more
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not to miss any of our future videos thank you for watching and I'll see you next time