How to Use Canva: 101 Passive Income Products + Designs You Can Create (Includes PDF) (2024)

Disclaimer:

PLEASE NOTE: The designs featured and mentioned in this blog post are for inspirational purposes ONLY and serves as a resource guide to help you understand how to use Canva in ways you NEVER imagined you could!

Now on to the post!

I did something crazy last weekend....

I challenged myself to come up with an extensive list on how to useCanva for graphic and visual design.

101 ways to be exact...

Crazypants I know....

But I never back down from a challenge y'all.

Why?

Well because in my world of digital marketing and branding, Canvais seriously #BAE for me.

In two of my most recent blog posts about Canva for bloggers and Canva course creators, I covered several ways that peeps can use the program for their visual design needs.

But my obsession with Canvadidn’t stop there.

Last year, I wrote a blog post that talked about how I usedCanva to build out my entire visual arsenal and even created ready-made notebook and journal templateslike this one and this oneto help folks get on the fast track to creating passive income products.

As I grew more confident with figuring out how to use Canva and some of the main features of the program, I decided it was time to take things a step further.

So I did something crazier....

I've created several digital productsand a community for journal lovers using pre-made Canva templates called the Journal Creators Collective to show brand owners like you how powerfulCanva can be for creating passive income products.

I guess you can say that I have an unhealthy obsession and addiction withCanva yall.

If you are a Canva user (or even if you are not) friends...you are in for a treat.

I’ve put together a mega list that covers how to use Canva for visual design and passive income products.

Since this is such a mega list and round up of content, I’ve added a table of contents to the post.

You can use the table of contents section below to skip to a section that you are interested in using Canvafor.

And off we gooooooo!

In this busy online space that we live in, a boring blog will not get you very far.

If you are starting a blog or run an existing blog,Canvamakes it easy to turn your blog’s blah to beautiful.

After I launched the YCG blog, I wanted to add some pizzaz to it but I didn't want to spend a lot of money on branding. So I turned toCanvato do it.

InCanva, I got superrrr creative and cranked out different images to brand things like:

• My blogs sidebar

• My blog post graphics

• Pinnable Graphics in Pinterest

• and more...

What I loved most about Canva is this:

There are hundreds of pre-made templates that you can download and use to DIY your blog's design.

Here’s a few examples:

Canva for Blog and Website Graphics

If you are struggling with web design, did you know that you can use Canva to design certain elements of your site?

Yep that's right!

With just a little bit of creativity, you can crank out attractive graphics to add to the homepage of your site, design a graphic for your email newsletter and even create a logo for your website

Wanna know the best part about all of this?

You don't have to spend all day to do it...

In fact:

Even if you have zero web design or blog branding skills, Canva makes it easy to inject creative blog design that gives your site a professional appearance that your visitors will appreciate.

And on that note...

I present to you 10 types of visual designs you can create withCanva for your blog with some examples.

1. Blog Post Image Template

2. Sidebar Graphics

3. Blog Email Newsletter Header

4. Lead Magnet

5. Content Upgrades

6. Email Opt-In Mockups

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7. Blog Post Graphics

8. Blog Post Infographics

9. Tip-O-Graphics

10. List-O-Graphics

11. Blog Media Kit

Consistent branding is imperative to establishing an unforgettable online presence.

Here's the dealio...

With so many brands vying for attention online, it is d@mn near impossible to stand out ....

UNLESS...

Your branding is on point.

Before I learned how to use Canvafor branding on the visual front things were all over the place. At times, it looked like my brand was run by four different people.

I made a lot of mistakes with my branding like:

• I tried using too many fonts in my designs

• Every time that I created a new blog post, I designed a different image for each one

• My color choices were…not visually engaging or eye-grabbing enough

Can you guess what happened?

My brand was not recognizable (at all)...

To be honest, it was brand confusion and frustration with designing branded graphics that led me toCanva!

Now:

I loveeeee Creative Market...like for realz. They have a lot of pre-made templates that I have purchased in the past for various branding projects.

But:

In an effort to scale back my expenses and create branded materials the "lean way", I turned to Canvato create a lot of the items in my brand arsenal.

Canva for Branding Examples

Instead of buying brand templates from Creative Market, I used Canva to design them.

After I got a handle on what consistent visual branding meant, I amped up my branding efforts using some of the templates fromCanva.

The more confident I grew with usingCanva for branding, I started using the tool to design brand collateral for my clients and web design projects.

I loved doing this two for two main reasons:

Canvagives my clients creative control over their designs and lets me share designs with them.

As an example:

With the sharing feature, my clients can make updates to their brand collateral etc., as they need to.

Ten brand items that you can design beautifully with Canva include:

1. Logo

2. Brand Identity Kit

3. Stationery

4. Brand Color Scheme

5. Mood Board

6. Brochure Design

7. Project Proposal Template

8. Note Cards

9. Gift Certificates

10. Style Guide

As of 2017, based on data published bySmart Insights, nearly 2 billion people are using social media networks.

What does this mean for you?

It means that it’s super competitive out there…

If you are using social media networks or are planning to use them to market your business, there’s something you should know:

Visual content is #Winning!

Social media users are much more likely to engage with posts that have “visuals” tied to them.

Thankfully, with DIY graphic design tools...like Canvayou don't have to spend a lot of money to create graphics for your social media accounts.

Canva for Social Media

Here’s the best part:

You don’t have to hire a professional designer. WithCanva, you can design your own social media graphics like a PRO.

I made a decision a while ago to use the program to DIY design my own graphics for social media since I can easily store all of my graphics in one place.

Plus:

Canvahas a lot of pre-made social media templates that you can edit, update and publish in minutes to your social media networks.

The key to creating graphics with Canvafor your social media networks is to keep your designs consistent.

Consistent designs are the key to increasing your brand’s awareness and will help your community spot your branding easier.

I can tell you from experience, there is nothing more rewarding than having a reader mention to you that they “saw something you posted” because they recognized your branding on social media.

On that note, here are 10 types of visuals you can design withCanvafor social media networks:

1. YouTube Cover Art
2. Twitter Cover Image
3. Facebook Fan Page Cover Photo
4. LinkedIn Post Quotes
5. Instagram Posts
6. Animated GIF’s
7. Photo Stories
8. Quote Graphics
9. Pinterest Image Template
10. Quick Tip Graphics

Much like social media, in the world of digital marketing, visual content reigns supreme.

Things we do online like…

• Email marketing

• Marketing Automation

• Search Engine Optimization

• Paid Advertisem*nts

• Content Marketing

These kinds of activities are forms of digital marketing that is taking place on the internet.

As I was researching data for this blog post, here’s some information that I found surprising:

Two million blog posts are published every day (Marketing Pros)

Andddd....more than 1.3 million pieces of content are shared on social media every minute. Let’s not forget about email. It seems like it's never ending.

Well at least for me it isn’t.

With so much content to compete against, from a marketing and promotions perspective, most of the digital assets that you have in your arsenal will need some form of visual representation if you want them to stand out from the pack.

Canva for Digital Marketing Examples

If you have a blog, visual graphics bring your content to life. With your email newsletter, creating a branded email newsletter header will dress up your email marketing campaigns.

That eBook that you are thinking about writing or a freebie that you want to promote online to grow your email list needs “mockups” to make them tangible and more real to your audience.

And let’s not forget about paid advertisem*nts like Facebook Ads.

To promote your ads on Facebook, you have to use a graphic to promote your ads.

Fortunately for you,Canva has ready-made graphics like Facebook Ad templates that you can use to design your ads in minutes.

Heck, I was surprised to discover that the folks over at Digital Marketer have usedCanvato design their ads.

In the spirit of digital marketing, here are 10 types of designs that you can create with Canva:

1. Media Kit

2. Digital Marketing Kit

3. Presentations

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4. Paid Advertisem*nt Graphics

5. (Digital) Flip Book

6. Online Based Event Graphics

7. Fillable PDF’s

8. List Building Offer Graphics

9. Inspirational Quote Graphics

10. Discount Promo Images

Digital Marketing is all the rage these days, but there may come a time when you will need to use print marketing collateral to promote your business.

As with mockups of digital products, print marketing materials will help bring your offline marketing assets to life in print form.

I know that you may be thinking:

“Are people even using print materials anymore”?

The answer:

Of course they are still being used

Think about it:

When you attend live events like conferences, seminars and other networking events, what kinds of marketing collateral do you see people using?

Print marketing and promo materials right?

Canva for Print Materials Examples

So here's the thing:

Attending these types of events present the perfect opportunity for you to share your print marketing materials with attendees.

WithCanva, designing branded print materials for your business is a breeze!

The biggest perk to using Canvais this:

You don’t have to start from scratch to design things. Canvahas a lot of done-for-you templates that you can use to create branded print materials for your business.

In fact:

The only thing that you will need to do is add your brand color schemes, logo, and fonts to the templates and that's pretty much it.

In a matter of minutes, you can design gorgeous print materials for your business that you can proudly show off to the world. Ten types of branded print materials that you can make withCanvafor your business include:

1. Letterhead

2. Checklists

3. Invitations

4. Resumes

5. Coupons

6. Business Cards

7. Flyers

8. Stationery

9. Banners

10. Magazines

Online courses are extremely popular nowadays.

It seems like nearly everyone and their uncles are getting into the game and I can understand why.

For starters:

The online course market is a107 Billion Dollar Industrythat is showing no signs of slowing down. Secondly, online courses make it easy for you to teach what you know and profit from it.

I can tell you from experience as an infopreneur:

There is nothing like waking up, checking your email inbox and finding that someone has purchased one of your courses while you were sleeping.

Then there’s the mega success reports that you’ve probably read from course creators like Melyssa Griffin and Pat Flynn.

What I love about reading their stories is this:

Income diversification is super important and passive income is very MUCH possible!

This is what online courses offer to infopreneurs and digitalpreneurs too!

Canva for Course Collateral Examples

When I decided to start making online courses though, I struggled with figuring out what kind of collateral I was going to add to them.

My searched landed me on Pinterestas I saw that a lot of folks were adding things like:

• Worksheets

• Workbooks and ...

• Printables ….

to their courses as collateral to give to their students.

As I got more into infopreneurship and course creation I didn't want to spend a lot of money to create my course materials.

So I HAD to get creative...

Canva came to the rescue!

Now...I use Canvato create all of the collateral for the courses and digital products that I sell from my blog.

If you’re looking for some ideas for collateral and marketing materials you can create for your courses in Canva, here is a list to consider:

1. Workbooks

2. Worksheets

3. Fillable PDF’s

4. Course Promo Graphics

5. Course Animated GIF Graphics

6. Course Testimonial Graphics from Students

7. Course Sales Page Graphics

8. Course Completion Certificates for Students

9. Product Preview Graphics

10. Course Mockup Graphics

If you are a freelancer, consultant or coach, thenCanvais an excellent resource to use in your business.

As a service based business provider, there will come a time when you will need to create branded digital and offline marketing materials.

Case in point:

After I decided to add web design services to my list of service offerings, I needed a way to create specific branded materials that I could give to my new clients.

Here again, I didn't want to hire someone to design these materials for me.

So I turned to Canvato get the job done.

As an example, the service listings sheets that I give to prospective clients...I used Canvato design it.

The Welcome Kit that I give to my new clients in the onboarding process, I usedCanva to create it.

Canva for Freelancers and Consultants Examples

The Services promo images that I market out on social media...you guessed it, I used Canvato design those too.

So if you are starting a service based business or run one, Canvaaffords you the ability to design all kinds of goodies for your clients.

Things like toolkits to onboard new clients or welcome kits to your new clients are easy to design.

Examples of resources that you can design for your service based business with Canva include:

1. Services Listings Sheet

2. Marketing Kit for Prospective Clients

3. Brand Identity Kit

4. Welcome Kit to New Clients

5. Testimonial Booklet

6. Digital eGuide Testimonial Graphics

7. Project Proposal Template

8. Client Workbook or Resource Guide

9. Slide Deck Presentations for Prospects

10. Price Listings Sheets and Overview

Do you run a blog, website or some sort of web property that you want to sell products from?

Are you looking for a resource that you can use to design your products with?

If you are, then learning how to useCanvawill give you a jumpstart to your creating digital products that you can monetize and sell online.

True story:

Before I started usingCanva to design the majority of the products that I sell from my blog, I tried using programs like MS Word and Google Docs.

But...I didn’t like using these programs for several reasons:

• On the design front, MS Word is very limited to me

• Word doesn't have enough built in design features and things that you could use to accessorize your designs

• Google docs is great for creating content...but like MS Word has limited design capabilities

• I couldn’t get as creative as I wanted to…

Digital Products Designed with Canva

So...

I stopped using Word and leveragedCanvato design my products.

In fact, I usedCanva to design all the products that I sell from my store. The workbook covers, the interior pages, eBooks you name it...

I used Canva to design them...

And….

Whenever I launch new products and need to design promo images for them...I.useCanva. The program is seriously friggin addictive!

If you need some ideas for products that you can create with Canva, here’s a list to get you started:

1. Product Preview Graphics

2. Product Launch Graphics

3. Product Cover Templates

4. Digital eBooks

5. eGuides

6. eKits

7. Kindle Book Covers

8. Product Mockups

9. Product Promo Graphics

10. Guidebooks

Who doesn't love a good printable?

They are super nifty resources that help with productivity, organization, tracking and more.

Maybe you’re thinking of designing printables to sell from an Etsy store.

Or...

Perhaps you want to design printables to help you organize a certain area of your life. Either way, you can most certainly use Canvato do it.

Believe it or notCanvahas loads of ready-made printables available that you can use in various ways like:

• Cheat sheets that you give away from your blog as content upgrades

• To-Do-Lists that you can leverage as an entrepreneur to keep you on track every day

• Forms that you can use to take down information at events you are hosting

• Calendars...to keep track of important dates, times, events and etc.,

• Goal Planning Sheets - to help you track business or personal goals

Canva for Printables Examples

If you’ve ever put on a live event, then you already know that things can get very expensive. There’s the location to think about, speakers you need to invite, food, marketing materials to produce and more.

I've heard repeatedly that the PRIMARY objectives for holding live events is this:

To get as many people into the event as possible...

To do this, you will need to market your event like crazy...both from a digital and offline perspective.

The thing is with live events (from what I’m told), marketing the event is the greatest challenge that folks have and the costs associated with it.

Using Canva to Design Materials for Live Events Examples

To keep your marketing expenses low for your events, you can leverageCanvato create your marketing, promotions and other collateral.

That’s rightttt folks!

Everything from conference registration forms to the flyers that you use to market the event, you can fire up Canvaand use the program to design your items.

But:

It doesn’t have to stop there, you can also create your digital marketing media too for your events and items like these:

1. Swag Bag Inserts

2. Notebooks

3. Event Program

4. Event Specific Notecards

5. Event Agenda

6. Conference Flyers

7. Event Invitations

8. Event Digital Promo Graphics

9. Conference Registration Forms

10. Food and Drink Menu

Two things:

#1: Head over to my YouTube Channelto check out my free 2 part video series that shows you How to Create Journals in Canva for Amazon KDP for passive profits.

#2: If you want access to templates and resources that put you on the fast track to creating your FIRST passive income product, you can check out the templates available inmy online shop right here.

I Want to Hear from You!

Are you using Canvafor Visual design or to create products? If so, how are you using it and what tips did you like most from this list? Pleaseeee leave your comments below.

Thanks soooo much!

Kim George

#ACanvaFanatic!

Oh and Here's a Nifty Infographic that you can download and use as a reference! And yes, I used Canva to Design it...LOL!

101 Ways to Use Canva for Visual Design