Branding for Social Media with Canva

1. Class Introduction: Hi everyone, Ronnie here. I'm here with a lovely Diana, and we are excited to be here with you today to teach you about using Canva for social media branding. In the following lectures, we'll cover everything you need to know to create a strong recognizable brand identity across your social platforms. And we'll do it all with Canva. First up, we'll dive into choosing the perfect colors and fonts to represent your brand's personality and values. I'll share some tips on color theory and font pairing, so your designs always look on point. Then we'll see how we can bring your brand to life with the right visuals. We'll go over how to select photos, graphics, and illustrations in Canva that align with your brand aesthetic. I'll teach you how to use imagery to connect emotionally with your audience. One of the most valuable things you will learn is how to build complete brand kits in canvas. These kits allow you to store all your visual assets in one place for EC access. I'll guide you step by step through the process and we'll create a brand kit together. And don't worry, we also have an alternative for, for users as Bankit is a Cava pro feature. We'll also create standing profile pictures and write compelling social media bias that attract your ideal followers. After working through all that content, your personal brand will be shining bright like a diamond in the sky. What shine bright like a diamond? We're beautiful, diamonds in the sky. Okay, Okay guys, whether you are new to branding or simply want a refresher, these lectures provide useful techniques to create a cohesive visual identity that reflects your brand's values and mission. Let's get branding. 2. Create Beautiful Color Palettes: Let's dive into the exciting world of colors. Our mission for this lecture is to help you craft the perfect color palette for your brand. Making sure your logo colors pop two. To achieve this, we'll start with brand identity. Explore color theory together with the meaning of colors. And uncover where to find color inspiration using Canva. It's quite obvious that colors matter, but how? Well, instead of taking my word for it, let's see what some of the most renowned artists have to say about colors. For example, Georgia Keefe said, I found I could say things with colors and shape. I couldn't say any other way. Things I had no words for. Pablo Picasso said colors like features, follow the changes of the emotions. And famous painter Kandinsky said color is a power which directly influences the soul. Now, there is no need to be a famous painter to appreciate colors. Colors impact everyone, and it is therefore crucial that you as a content creator choose your color palette carefully. The right color palette will set the foundations for establishing a strong brand identity and creating visually appealing content. Understanding color theory is important for creative, effective designs because it can help you choose colors that work well together and convey the right mood or the right message. And lucky for us, we have an awesome tool for that. Let me introduce you to the color wheel. In a nutshell, the color wheel is one of the most basic tools in color theory showing the relationships between different colors in a super simple way. By playing with the color wheel and trying out various color combos, you can create designs that are not only easy to the eyes, but also convey your brand's message effectively. Just so you know, Canva offers a super cool color wheel. Yeah, it's super handy. You can find it at Canva.com slash colors. The color wheel is typically divided into 12 sections, with each section representing a different hue or color. The three primary colors are red, blue, and yellow. And they are located at the three points of the triangle in the center of the color wheel. They are often used to create bold, eye catching designs with a sense of energy, passion, and strength. Examples of brands that use primary colors in their branding include Coca Cola with the red, IBM with the blue, and Mcdonalds, red and yellow. Now, secondary colors are created by mixing equal parts of two primary colors. Purple, for example, is made of blue and red. Blending blue and yellow creates green. And mixing yellow and red creates orange. Now if we look at the color wheel, you will logically find these colors between the primary colors. They convey a sense of creativity, innovation, and playfulness. And when I think about secondary colors, I can picture logos like Yahoo, Fedex, Orange. Well, that was an easy one. Amazon, Android, Starbucks. Those are just a few examples that come to my head. And last but not least, tertiary colors are created by mixing a primary color with a secondary color. And they are located, you guessed it, between the primary and the secondary colors on the color wheel. For example, mixing red with orange creates a reddish orange color. While mixing blue with green creates a bluish green color. If you keep on, you would also get yellow, orange, yellow, green, blue purple, and red purple. If you're looking for sophistication, elegance and balance, these would be good choices. It's also what Tiffany and Co, the blue green, Netflix the red purple, and the Whole Foods market yellow and green went for. Did you know that different colors could have different psychological effects on us? Just remember, this is not an exact science and perceptions can differ from one person to another. Here is a quick peek at some common color associations and symbolism. Red is typically the color of danger, excitement, and energy. It can make you act before you think. Pink is a girly, sentimental, and romantic color. Hot pink is youthful and bold. Orange is fresh, vibrant, and full of life. It's creative, adventurous, and cost effective. Yellow, one of my favorite colors, is optimistic and playful. Bringing out the fun loving child in all of us. Blue is calming and trustworthy. Green is sustainable and reminds us to take care of the planet. Brown is earthy and honest, often used for organic and wholesome products. Purple is majestic and mysterious, often associated with spirituality. White is pure and simple, often with a minimalistic feel. Now, black is sophisticated and elegant, often used for formal or luxurious styles. And then you have multi colored branding that show that a company is open and maybe wants to embrace diversity. Now that's all great, Ronnie, but how do I choose my brand colors? I always suggest kicking things off by selecting the main color for your logo, and it will be crucial in shaping your brand identity. Your logo and its color are the first things people will notice, and they are what will make you stand out from the crowd. Not sure where to begin. Check out what other businesses in your sector or in your industry are doing. Do you run a vegan or a meat lover restaurant? Maybe you're a brilliant IT problem solver or perhaps you're offering luxurious Tropical escapes. My advice is that you take a good look at your competitors logos and then ask yourself what sets my brand apart? And remember, the way you showcase your brand should not only mirror your values but should also resonate with your ideal customer. Aka you buyer persona. Also keep in mind that the main color you end up choosing will go well beyond your logo. It will serve as the foundation for your color palette, which will be splashed across various elements like your social media, post your website, business cards and much more. Browse the pantone catalog or stroll through the paint aisle at a hardware store. So many colors. Gosh, how do you choose four or five that truly complement each other? No worries folks. The Canva websites got you covered with info on how to mix and match colors so they can harmoniously work together for your brand. In branding and design, there are three primary color schemes you will want to get familiar with. Number one is monochromatic, number two analogous, and then you have number three complementary colors. We refer to these color combinations as color schemes. Let me break it down for you. You might have guessed it already. Mono means one and chromatic refers to color. This scheme is created using various shades of a single color. Once you've picked your base color, use the color wheel to help you select different hues of that same color. Adjusting the saturation and tone to find lighter or darker shades. Using a monochromatic scheme is perfect for creating a sense of calm and serenity or for portraying a sophisticated and elegant vibe. Plus, it is easy to manage and always looks balanced and visually appealing. Now on the other hand, this kind of color scheme obviously lacks contrast. Bear in mind that it may not appear as vibrant as other schemes. Analogous basically means having similarities. Analogous colors will sit side by side on the color wheel. Typically, an analogous color scheme consists of a base color, often a primary or secondary color, and a supporting color, usually a secondary or tertiary color. Here are a few examples, Red, orange, orange, and yellow, orange, blue, green, green and yellow, green, red, orange, red, and red, violet. Analogous colors create a calming and peaceful look as they naturally look harmonious together. And evoke a natural and organic feel that can appeal to specific audiences. Plus, since analogous colors are so closely related, blending various shades and tones is a breeze. There's no need to worry about colors clashing with one another. On the flip side, the limited contrast between the colors might make your logo appear somewhat flat and not as eye catching as other color combinations. Lastly, a complementary color scheme features two colors that sit opposite to each other on the color wheel. If you have a primary color, its complementary color is the one directly across from it on the color wheel. For example, blues, complementary color is orange, while red counterpart is green. Complementary colors produce a striking bold and attention grabbing contrast, making them an excellent choice for helping your logo stand out and capture people's interest. They are especially fitting for brands that aim to convey a sense of balance or harmony between contrasting elements, like And fire the ying and yang or light and dark naturally. Using complementary colors also comes with a few drawbacks that are worth considering. They can be overpowering or jarring if the colors are too bright or too intense, which might not suit all brands or industries. Striking a balance can be tricky if one color dominates the other, potentially making the logo appear unbalanced or awkward. Finally, pairing complementary colors with other hues, other colors can be challenging, as they may clash. If used thoughtfully, need inspiration for your color palette. Canvas got your back. Let me quickly show you how to use canvas color palette generator along with some other color palette tools within Canva in order for you to find the perfect color scheme that will match the vibe of your brand. All right, so the first tool I would like to introduce to you is Canva.com slash colors with an S. Colors plural. And you will land on this landing page right here. It's a subpart of the Canva website that has a bunch of different resources that have to do with colors. The first tool that we see here, the color palette generator. Let's start with this one. I'm going to click on it and Canva will immediately explain to me that there is an easy way to extract a four color palette from any photos. We see an example right here with this photo right there. We can see that Canva has extracted four dominant colors from this photo. What we can do from here is that we can upload our very own image. I'm going to do this, I'm going to click on Upload An Image. I have an image right here. I'm going to upload it. I have this image right here of this old couple per cute photo. And Canva has generated these four colors for me. And I see that I can copy the hex code of any of these four colors simply by clicking on it. If I click here, you see a little check mark here. It means that my color has been copied. I can now come back to Canva and for example, change the color of the background right here by creating a new color and pasting my hex code. So now I have the exact same color that was generated from my photo right here. That is this color right here. Now let me show you another way you can work with colors in Canva. And for that, I'm going to start from the photo library, from your home page, head over to templates, then locate photos right here in the left side column. And this should take you directly to the photo library. Okay, I'm going to recall that photo of the old couple right here. And Canva will always give me, for any photos, a color palette. This is another way you can extract a color palette from a specific photo from the Canva library. This time, this works with any photo, So let's take the same couple with a different outfit. Canva will also generate these five color palettes that is pretty useful. Similarly, I can simply click on the color. It will be copied to my clipboard. And then I can come here and just use that hex code. Use that color by simply pasting it right here in this box. And since we are within the editor, let me show you how to work with colors. From here, it always starts with the color button right here. So if I click here and I want to find another color, one way of doing so is just to use the search box. So the search box you see on top of your screen right here, to type a color. So if I type yellow, Canva is going to start generating different color palettes or different color combinations that use the color yellow and show me different shades of yellow. So if you like a very bright yellow, you could go for this one if you like something a little bit less aggressive for something like this, or if you need something darker, you could go for something like this. And then maybe this one, if you want to represent the gold color, et cetera, et cetera. You have a bunch of different yellows. Simply using the search box to type the name of a color will bring up a lot of different options for that specific color. Then one last step I want to give you to find interesting colors and color options in Canva is to use the style button to find the style button. Head over the design tab right here. Then once you're here, make sure you click on the style stab. That should be the second one right here. Click on Style, and then here you should see different color font combinations. Okay, you should see your brand kit combination if you're a Canva pro user. But if you scroll down all the way to color palettes right here, there's a section called Color Palettes. Click on Hole, then Canva will show you a good 30 to 40 color palette examples. These are popular color palettes that you can actually use in your Canva designs. If you click on it, Canva will shuffle if you had different elements here. So let's add a couple of circles like so. And one more. Okay, I have three circles. If I start shuffling my colors, Canva will use the different color from that specific palette. You see, I can change my palette by going to this one, for example. As long as I shuffle my elements, it will apply the different colors. That is also a great source of inspiration for colors right there within the editor. That is also a great source for finding interesting colors right here in the Canva editor. And this is where I'm going to leave you for this lecture. In the next one, we'll start talking about fonts. 3. Select your Brand Fonts: Your brand phones or brand typography are all the distinct typefaces that you consistently use throughout all of your branding materials like your logo, your website, your ads, and so on. Remember, it's not just about what you are saying, but also how you say it. Now, why is choosing a brand fund so important, Ronnie? For starters, a brand fund conveys your company's personality and values. Different font will communicate different things. Consider the impression you want to make on the world. For instance, a lawyer's office might prefer a clean and modern font such as Avanir Montserrat or Proxima Nova to convey a professional and sophisticated brand. Alternatively, an amusement park or childcare center might opt for a bolder or more playful font like Cooper Black Tan, or Amatic SC to exude a fun and approachable brand. Secondly, much like your brand colors, a brand font contributes to creating a consistent and recognizable visual identity for your company. It's another critical component for establishing brand recognition and awareness over time. By using a consistent brand font across all your branding materials, you can achieve a cohesive and professional look for your brand. Creating a sense of unity and making your brand appear more polished. There are really only three font categories that you should know about. Serif, Sanserif, and display font. Seriphonts have small lines or legs called Serif at the end of the strokes that make up the letters. Times New Roman is one of the most well known examples of a seri font. But there is also Georgia, Baskerville, Garamond, and Bodoni. These are often seen as more traditional. Elegant and former Seriphonts are often used in print materials such as books, newspapers, and magazines, as they are believed to aid in legibility reading flow. Sunsaryphonts like Arial Helvetica, Open Sans, Roboto, and Lato on the other hand, don't have these little legs or seraph attached to their letters. They are considered more modern, sleek, or informal. And they are often used in digital mediums such as websites, mobile apps, and social media, as they are likely to be more easily readable on screens. Serfonts may be appropriate for a law firm or financial institution, while a tech start up may opt for a Sunsaryfont to convey a modern and innovative identity. And then there are the display funds that are also known as decorative funds or fantasy funds. They are designed to be used in larger sizes, typically for headlines for titles or other types of acts and texts. Examples of display funds include Scrypt funds, which mimic handwriting. And board blocky funds with unique shapes and designs. Display funds can also include specialty funds, such as those designed to look like old type writer keys or vintage advertisements. And since they have such a strong, powerful personality, it's best to use display fund with care and in small doses. Some examples of display funds for you to play with might include brush, script, lobster, bebas, neue playfair, and display. Now I would like to show you different ways of working with typography, working with funds within Canva. The first way once you have a text box is simply to select that text box. And then you should see this menu pop up on top of your screen. And the first box right here should carry the name of the font being used in your text box. In my case, right here it is, Monserrat, Extra bolt. From here you can obviously scroll down and go through multiple sections. You have your document funds, you'd have some recommended funds recently use funds, your brand funds, if you have set up a brand kit, some uploaded funds if you are kind of pro users and have uploaded your own fund and then a whole lot of recommended popular funds in Canva. So that's pretty much what you will see here when you scroll down. Something else you can do is to simply search for a font, for a font name. For example, if you are trying to find bebas, noe, just start typing the name. And then you should see all of the different funds that carry these letters as the first letters of their name. You can also search for a category of funds. For example, you want something bold. So you can click board and Canva will suggest you a bunch of different board funds, okay? So for example, this fund right here, quite bold, this one right here. Not very nice, but bold, et cetera, et cetera, you'd have a list of bolder fonts. Okay? Similarly instead of board, you want something with Serif, Just type Serif, and then Canva will suggest a bunch of different Serif fonts. Okay, CMO, Serif, another one right here. Source Serif, Pro. So all of these will have these Serif, or the little legs at the extremity of the letters. That is for what you can search for. I believe you can also search for specific feeling. For example, if you are searching for something more fun, I type in fun. And then I have some kind of fun looking type of fonts right here like the Tan family, Hitch cut, Kuba. So these are like fun funds. Similarly, you could type handwriting, handwriting, fund like. So you will have some more handwritten type of fund. You can really use this search box in many different ways. Something else that you have here is textiles. Okay, so the textiles are going to be only for the pro users who have set up a brand kit. You see here Team Rondi, I have my headings, subheadings and body because this is something I set previously via my brand kits and an I will show you how to set up your brand kit later in this course. Let's come back to our fonts here. I will re initiate to my default font which is a Monterat extra bold. Because I want to show you the second way of working with font in Canvas. So let's imagine you are here and you don't see any font in your side panel right here. The second way of working with fonts, instead of clicking on my text box, I'm simply going to click on that text button right here in my object panel. So if I click on text, it will bring me to this section right here. Again, I should see my preset right here, my text tiles that are set in my brand kit. And then if I scroll down a bit, I see a couple of font combinations you see are preset font combination that can vac, created for us. Some of them are free, those that don't have the little crown, and others are for pro users. Only if you are a free user, you won't have access to the pro ones. But if you continue scrolling down and pay particular attention to the ones that are just one color, white color, these are free. Let me delete this piece of text right here. For example, bring on one of these text combinations. I have two different fonts right here, if I ungroup this, I can see the name of each font I have, Chewy, and the second one right here is Leak Spartan, just like. So you can find a bunch of different font combinations. Let's find one that I like. Let's see this one right here. Again, I'm going to ungroup. And here we have three different text boxes. We have all this is allo in italic. And then I have Pissantce here, my bolder font. I like using these font combinations because they give me ideas. Canvas, suggest different fonts that go well together. Have a look at this resource and don't hesitate to scroll quite a bit because some of the best ones are hidden at the bottom of the list. Since we are at it, let's talk a bit more about pairing funds. Choosing the right font can be a little bit like picking the right outfit for a job interview. It needs to make a positive first impression while also revealing some of your personality. I can see your feeling lost again, Let me give you five tips to combine font like a boss. Number one, choose fonts with contrasting styles. Pairing fonts that are too similar to each other can make your design look dull and uninteresting. Instead, shoot for contrast. For example, a playful script font may pair nicely with a clean and modern sansory font. While a bold block font will go well with font. Think tall versus short. Big versus small. Fat versus thin, rounded versus straight contrast. Number two, think about the mood you want to convey. As we've seen, different fonts can convey different moods and emotions. For example, a script font can create a romantic or whimsical mood, while a bold sensory font can create a more modern and confident feel. Number three hierarchy rhymes with key strategic font pairing. Like pairing a bold font with a thin font, or playing with different font sizes can create a visual hierarchy and make important information stand out in your text, making it easier to digest by your reader. Number four, keep it simple. Using too many funds can make your design look cluttered and confusing. Stick with two or three different funds at most, and try to stay within the same fund family. And number five, test your design. Once you've chosen your funds, test your design to make sure that these funds work well together. There are no hard and fast rules when it comes to fund pairing, so have fun, try different combinations and see which one looks the best. 4. Fine tune your Brand Imagery: What we call brand imagery is all of the visual elements that represent your brand's messaging. It's anything from photos, to videos, graphs and charts, icons and shapes, illustrations, stickers, you name it. Think of imagery as the icing on the cake, the cherry on top, or that extra umph that brings your brand to life. Be careful, though not to confuse this concept with that of brand image, which is the image your brand evokes in the mind of the consumers. Those are two different things. Your brand imagery is the sum of the visuals that make your brand memorable, that give it personality. The goal of brand imagery is to make people feel a certain way when they think about your brand. By creating a consistent and positive visual identity, you can build a strong emotional connection with your target audience and make your brand more memorable and recognizable. So far we've talked about logos, colors, and fonts. It is now time to complete our branding puzzle by adding the final piece imagery, AKA the cool visuals that represent your brand. Remember that your brand is merely a feeling, right? A feeling in the mind of your target audience. The visual elements that you choose for your brand need to be a perfect match for that audience. That means they should reflect your brand's personality, values, and mission. So that they can attract the right target customers or user persona. And of course, keep everyone else away. But let's face it, finding the perfect photo or illustration in Canva is like trying to find a needle in a haystack with so many choices. It's easy to feel lost. We've all been there. No worries. Stay cool. I have some tips for you that will help you narrow down your options and find the visuals that truly represent your brand. Tip number one, stick to your brand. Don't go for a picture just because you find it funny, or pretty, or original. Make sure it aligns with your brand's overall style and that it resonates with your target audience. Tip number two, let's get emotional. Your images should tell a story and evoke emotions that connect with your viewers. And if an image fails to establish an emotional connection, I would suggest you keep searching for the right one. Determine what kind of reaction you want to cause within your audience. And then test your images with a small group of friends or colleagues to make sure your visuals evoke the right emotions. Tip number three, use the Rule of Thirds. The Rule of Thirds reigns in social media campaigns. In order to get more engagement, you want clean and de clattered photos with a lot of negative space. So just say no to busy photos. Here's how it works. The rule of thirds breaks an image into a 33 grid and places points of interest in the intersection of these lines. For some reason, people's eyes will naturally gravitate towards these points, so make sure your subject is placed there to draw the viewer's attention. Tip number four. No cliches, please ever avoid, by all cost, any stock images that feel too cliche, generic or over used. If you need a corporate photo, but don't want to use your own team and offices, maybe try a more conceptual approach with illustrations or maybe with animals. Invest some time in finding the right concept for your project so it looks and feel authentic and you will stand out from the crowd. Tip number five, color, tune your visuals, keep your visuals consistent and on brand. By choosing images with similar tones, colors, and composition styles, this will create a strong and memorable brand that your audience will recognize Will identify and connect with tip number six. Go for high quality. Always use high quality images that are clear, sharp, and in focus. Low quality images, on the other hand, can harm your brand's credibility and turn off potential customers. Tip number seven, Diversity. Yes, but only if. When choosing visuals, try to use pictures that show people from different backgrounds, like different ethnicities, genders and abilities. This is important to show that your company cares about everyone and wants to promote inclusivity. And guys, be careful, however, to approach diverse imagery with care and intentionality. You should embrace diversity and show it in everything you do, not just the visuals in your annual report or on your website. Be genuine about it, and don't use diversity as a marketing gimmick. Tip number eight, consider accessibility. Make sure that the visuals you use are accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. For example, use alt text to describe the images for screen readers and avoid relying solely on colors to convey important information. And finally, tip number nine. Keep it simple. In general, simpler images tend to be more effective in communicating your message. I would recommend you stay away from complex images that may be difficult for your audience to understand. 5. Develop your Brand kits in Canva: All right, the right enough theory for now, it's time to get our hands dirty. We gather all the visual elements that represent our company and put them into one place. Our brand hub in Mva. Now there is something you should know free and pro Va users will have different brand hub experiences. Pro users get access to extra features like the possibility to create more than one brand ket under the brand hub. But before we get into the nitty gritty of what pro and free users can do, let me explain why it is important for all of us to use some form of brand kit or hub. Your brand hub or brand kit is like your reference book for all things visual. It is where you can find all the important elements that visually represent your brand, like your logo, colors and funds. Using a brand kit is important because it helps ensure that all your visual projects, like website ads and social media post look consistent and on brand. The Brand Hub makes it easier for your creative team to stay on track or remain on brand, but also to work faster while designing with Camp Plus. Studies show that using consistent imagery and messaging can lead to more revenue for your company. Now pay attention to this because there are quite a bit of differences between the free and the pro versions of the brand hub also. And this is a disclaimer. What I'll show you is what is currently available in Va today as in the day when I'm filming this lesson. Okay, this might change and evolve over time depending on when you are watching this, your brand hub might look slightly different. Now if you ask me the pro brand up experience with all the pro only features is one of the main reasons I believe upgrading to Cava Pro is worth it. That is of course, my personal opinion, and not everyone will agree or have the money to upgrade to Capa Pro. Ultimately, the decision is yours. I hope that what I'll show you now helps you decide if you are fine working with the free Bran kit or if you need the extra features and therefore need to upgrade to Capa Pro. If you're using the free version of Canva, your brand Hab will be limited to only one Bran kit. In this free version of the branded, as you can see, a lot of the features will not be available to you. The only thing you can do is to set your color palette and even here, you'll be limited to only three colors. Now let me switch over to my vac count to show you what the brand hub looks like. From there, when you click on the brand hab, I can now see multiple brand kits that we have set up previously. Producers will be able to create up to 300 brand kets. Now that gives us a lot of flexibility to create specific visual identities to work on different projects, or even to take on clients projects, and create a brand kit that is specific to their brands. Now let's click on one of these brand kits and see what differences we can find there. With a Cavapraccount, you'll be able to upload your own logos and you can do it with this button that says Add New here. You can also add unlimited colors to your color palettes. So in this case, I have four colors, but if I wanted, I could keep adding colors with this plus icon to my color palette. There is also the possibility to add more than one color palette with this button right here. Let me scroll down to show you where you can set up to eight different textiles. You can upload your own phones to add a personalized touch to your designs. You can also upload your photos, graphics, and icons. And you can even add brand guidelines to leave instructions to your team on how to use these visual assets like logo outlines. One of the coolest thing about Cava Pros brand Ket is the option to create brand templates for your designs. That means you can create a consistent look and feel across all of your designs. Save these designs as brand templates. And make sure everybody on your team stays on brand. When talking about teams, Cava offers advanced brand control features that make it easy for you to ensure your team uses the right colors and features in their designs That is super useful and prevent the less design saving your team from going off brand. Brand controls also include design approval. Which lets you pick a person within your team, like a graphic designer, for example, who will approve a design created by somebody else in the team before it gets published. And I think that's it. I showed you the major differences between the free and the pro brand experience. Now let's put all of that into practice and set up our new brankets to create a new branket. We're going to go to the brand hub In here, we're going to click on the Ad new button and we're going to name our Branket. Click Create. Now we are ready to start setting up our Branket. We can add a logo by just dragging and dropping it in this gray area. Or you can also click on the Add New button and then Upload Logos. Select your Logo and then click Open. Va is going to automatically take the colors from your logo and create a new color palette. You can either keep it or remove this color pallet. I'm going to keep it because using Canva Pro, I can have more than one color palette. I'm going to keep the logo color palette and create a new one. You can also change the name of your color palette. So I'm going to name this one logo colors. I'm going to name my second color palette, Va. For social media course, I'm going to start adding new colors to my color palette. I'm going to click on this plus icon. And I'm going to insert the hex code of the colors that I want to have on this color palette by typing it in this box. I'm going to continue adding some more colors to this color palette and we are ready. We are done with our color palettes and now we can set our font styles. You will have access to change the font, the size, and make it bold or italics. Let's go for a font called monserrat. I'm going to select the extra bolt for the title. I'm going to left the size as it is, 42. By default you can make it bold or italics. Once you are done, click on the check icon and that's it. You can change the settings for the following font styles by following the same steps to spice up your designs with a custom font. You can upload it this way. Click on the Add New button. From here, select Upload a font. You can drop the file in here or click on this button to choose the file from your computer, select the phone that you want to upload to Cava. Click open in here. You need to confirm that you have the right to use this font. If you have the right, you can upload the phone to Canva and select Upload away my custom fund was successfully uploaded to Cava. We can see it now in uploaded funds, you can set it up as any of your font styles. So let's say that I want to add my custom fund as a title. I'm going to click on the Edit button. Go to Funds From here. If you scroll down, you should see the uploaded funds section. I'm going to select the fund that I just uploaded. There you go. I have a custom fund in Canva ready to use. You can also upload photos, graphics, and icons to your brand kit. And you can do it the same way by clicking on the Add New button or dragging your files into this gray area. Let me quickly upload some photos, graphics, and icons. Lastly, you can add guidelines to every single section on your brand kid by selecting this option that says add guidelines. In this box, you would like to write the guidelines to help your team understand how to use the media uploaded into every single section of your brand hub. This Brankid is looking awesome now let me show you how to use it to design faster and remain on brand. I think we did a fantastic job creating our brand kit. Now let's take a look at how to use it inside the editor. I'm going to take a template available in Cava. I'm inside the presentations category, and I'm going to select the template right here. Now let me show you how to use the brand kit while designing to make your designs look more on brand. We are right now inside the template section. So let me go back. We are under the design tab. At the moment we are under templates, you would like to go to styles. From here you can select the brand kit that you want to use on this design. At the moment, we have Team Rondi 2023, but by clicking on this arrow, I can change the brand kit that I want to use on this design. For this project, I would like to use the brand kit that we just created. It is this one cava for social media with the Rondi. Now with just one click, I can change the fonts and colors on my design. First, let's change the fonts. At the moment, we are using collective on all of these textboxes. When you click on my brand fonts, all the fonts in the design changed to Monserrat, which is the font that I used on my brand kit. Similarly, I can add or change the colors on my design for my branded colors With just one click, I have my color palette in here. I'm going to click one time. As you can see, the design now has my branded colors. If you want to shuffle the color combination of your color palette, you can continue clicking on this icon and see the different color combinations that Mva offers for your design. Now let me show you how to access the Brand Hub From the editor. On the left hand side, you will see an icon called Brand Hub. When you click here, you will have access to your brand templates. If you have set up any template before, you can also insert logos to your design by just clicking on your logo. Which is pretty handy if you want to design faster and make your designs on brand. Also, if you click Seal, you will have access to the guidelines you created in the brand hub. In this case, I added a short guideline that says, do not add any effect to the logo. Do not held, rotate. Let me go back. Because from here I also have access to my color palettes and I can also have different color combinations by clicking on the color palettes in this section, the Brand Hub, It is pretty easy to access all the color palettes that you have available because you will have them listed in here. You can also insert text boxes with the phones you have set up in your brand hub. And you can click Seal to preview all your different phone styles. And let me go back because from here you also have access to your photos, graphics, and icons. This will allow you to work faster because you avoid copying hex codes. You will have them all at hand in here. You don't need to search for your logos, You don't need to go to the upload section to find your photos, graphics and icons. Everything is at hand, and you can add any media with just one click to make your designs on brand. What if Cava Pro is not an option for you? Well, that's not a problem. Cava has thousands of style guide templates in its library that will help you put together similar guidelines. It is not as practical as the Brankets because you lose the ability to use all of these assets directly from inside and the editor. But it's a good alternative for those who don't want or cannot pay for Va. 6. Create the Perfect Profile Picture: Before launching a campaign, make sure your profile picture looks fresh in a world flooded with information. The first impression is everything online. Your profile picture is often the first thing people will notice about you or your brand. Your profile picture is like the cover of a book that tells your story. If you are like me and have been to a bookstore or a library recently, you know very well that the cover of a book can make or break a reader's interest. If the cover is appealing, you might pick up the book and start reading. If it's not, there is a good chance you'll walk by. Well, the same happens with your profile picture. If it looks good, it will awaken people's interest to learn more about you and what you do. Creating an attention grabbing profile picture is key. In this lecture, we'll share our best tips to help you design yours with Mva. But before we dive in, let's dig a bit deeper and see why profile pictures are important beyond your first impressions. Anudated or unprofessional Profile picture can negatively impact how your brand is perceived online, ultimately harm your marketing efforts, just like a rude waiter can ruin your dining experience and damage a restaurant's reputation. A profile picture that is pixelated, poorly lit, or that is inappropriate can send the wrong message and make people think that you are not serious or professional. Additionally, it can make it harder for people to connect with you or remember who you are. It is essential, in my opinion, to take time to create a great profile picture to ensure that your brand's image is as appealing as your marketing message. If your profile picture looks polished and professional, it shows that you are taking the time to present yourself in the best possible way, which can help build trust and credibility with potential clients, employers or business partners. But that's not all. Your profile picture is a crucial part of your personal brand. It communicates your identity and personality to your audience. It is therefore essential to have a profile picture that aligns with your personal brand and the message you want to convey. For example, smiling profile picture can communicate friendliness and approachability, while a more serious and corporate looking photo can indicate competence and confidence. Finally, having a recognizable profile picture can help people identify you quickly, especially if you have a common name. It can also make it easier for people to find you on social media or at networking events. There you have it. These are all very good reasons for you to take the time to craft a profile picture that represents you, but also creates a positive first impression. Now let's see how to do that with Canva. We're going to go to Va.com This is the homepage. And we're going to start by uploading a document. I'm going to click on the upload button. I'm going to choose a file by clicking on this button, or you can also drop your file on this area. This is the photo I'll be using for this profile picture. Once you have selected your photo or photos in case that you want to upload more than one, click open Va is going to open this pop up window, and you need to click on this purple button that says use in a new design. Now you will see a huge list of suggested Canva documents. But I'm going to go for a custom size because I want to make sure that I'm using a square document. I'm going to leave the width and the height as 1080 by 1080 pixels and then hit create new design. There are endless ways to create a profile picture. You can be as creative as you want. Of course, this will depend on your brand and the message that you want to convey with this profile picture. But I'm going to show you a couple of tricks that you can use. I took this photo in a studio, so that's why I have a blue background. You can use any photo and any background for the trick that I'm going to show you. Now, I'm going to click on the photo, then select Edit Photo. This time I'm going to select the background remover. You can see a little crown in the bottom right corner. This means that this feature is available for Va producers. I'm going to click on this feature, Cava will remove the background of my photo so I can add anything in the background. I'm going to remove the excess of this photo. Then I'm going to make it a little bit bigger because we want our face to be recognizable on any social media platform. Now I'm going to go to the Elements section in Canva. Go to the Photos category, click All. Then you can type for anything that comes to mind and that aligns to your brand. Let's type for something like hit Enter. As you can see you have so many different options to choose from. I do suggest that you use a photo with a slightly blur effect like the one that we see here. And then we're going to click on the photo. This is going to bring the photo to our design by having the photo selected. We're going to click on the three dots and then select Set Image as Background. We have here one version of a profile picture. Now I'm going to duplicate this page, or this design to try to get a completely different vibe on the second profile picture. Instead of Park, I'm going to type office hit Enter. Now let's add one of these photos to my profile picture to have a completely different vibe. I'm going to go for this photo right here following the same steps, replace as background and there you go. You can do the same process with different kind of images in the background, like for example, a pattern and get a more creative look on your profile picture. There you go with the same photo. We have created three profile pictures that have completely different styles. Now that we've got a look, let's move on to the next lecture and learn how to write a magnetic social media bio. Let's go. 7. What Should you Put in your Social Media Bio: Your social media bio is like a little elevator pitch that tells people who you are, what you do, and what makes you special. Even though it's a short statement, your bio can have a significant impact on your online presence. It's worth investing time and effort crafting it carefully. Here are some key things to consider when writing your social media bios. Your name, Make sure to include your full name or the name you go by professionally. This will help people find you and recognize you easily. Your professional expertise. Clearly state your job title or position if you are an employee or your specialty or area of expertise if you are an entrepreneur or a business person. Next is your brand mission or your brand tag line. If you have a brand or business, include a mission statement in the form of a catchy tagline that tells people what you do and what you stand for. Also worth adding to your bio are links to your associated accounts, if any. So what you want to do is to link your other social media account or website to help people find and connect with you across multiple platforms. Branded hashtags. Consider using branded hashtags related to your brand. Could be your personal or your professional brand to make it easier for people to find and engage with your content. Next is simply your location. If you are a local business or work in a specific area, include your location in your bio to help people find you if they are around you. A link to your offer, that is typically for content entrepreneurs. If you have a product or service to sell, make sure to include a link to that offer in your Bayo. Make it easy for people to buy from you, and last but not least, your personal touch. That's when your own personal magic kicks in. Pour your personality into your bio by including something unique about yourself, like a hobby, an interest, or even a personal goal that will help you stand out and connect with your audience. Just remember, your bio should always, always be short and sweet. Only include the most important information that a stranger should know about you. Also, just like your profile picture, you want to update that bio regularly to reflect any changes in your career or entrepreneurial journey. You might like them or not, but I have to admit, I have found AI tools like Chat, GPT very useful when used correctly. Here is how generative AI tools can help you find you in your social media bios. First, you can feed the AI your existing or current social media bios and then ask for suggestions on how to improve them. And so for this I'm going to be working with Cha GPT right here and I'm going to use this particular prompt. You are a conversion copywriter, specialized in writing social media content. This is my current Facebook bio. Okay. So I'm going to give it my current Facebook page bio. I would like you to analyze it and give me some constructive criticism. Is this a good bio? Will it catch people's attention? Break down each of the things that I could improve. Keep it under 280 characters. And then I feed Cha GPT my existing bio which is Learn with me, grow your online business and live life on your own terms. So I'm going to run this prompt to see what Cha GPT thinks of it, like the constructive criticism. So it says your current bio is a good starting point, but there are a few areas where you can improve to make it more attention grabbing and compelling. Here is a breakdown of the changes you can consider. Number one, make it more personal. Instead of starting with a general statement like learn with me, try adding a personal touch to connect with your audience. For example, join me as we learn together. So make it more personal. Number two, focus on the benefits rather than just mentioning grow your online business. Highlight the specific benefits people can expect. For instance, discover proven strategies to skyrocket your online business. Okay, so more specifically pointing out the benefits. Number three, create a sense of freedom. Instead of mentioning live life on your own terms, try conveying a stronger sense of freedom and independence. For example, achieve financial freedom and live life on your own terms. Okay? And number four, incorporate urgency or curiosity. Consider adding a sense of urgency or curiosity to make people curious and more likely to take action. So for instance, unleash your online business potential and start living life on your own terms today. So that's the urgency by adding kind of like a notion of time. These changes your revised bio could be. Join me as we learn together, discover proven strategies to skyrocket your online business, achieve financial freedom, and start living life on your own terms. Today, that's pretty good. I like this revised bio that coming from Learn with me, grow your online business and live life on your own terms. This revised version highlights the benefits, adds a personal touch, and creates a sense of urgency, making it more attention grabbing and compelling within the character limit. I think that this prompt right here, and you can definitely screenshot this prompt. Is going to help you get some very constructive criticism. Second, you could ask the AI to generate a list of relevant keywords or key sentences that are related to your niche or your industry. And then use all of that in your social media bio to optimize it for search. By doing that, you make sure your bio speaks to the right target. Audience pushes the right button and therefore attracts the right people. So here again, let me show you a prompt that will help you generate this list of keywords. So I'm going to be using this prompt right here, Generate a list of keywords that are related to the niche, and then you can add pretty much any niche here. So we are going to the niche of, let's say, Pokemon card collectors. Okay, the niche of Pokemon card collectors. Think in terms of what this target audience might be looking for on Google. So I'm going to run this prompt. Here is the list of keywords of relevant key sentences that I should probably include in my bio when I write it, because these are the search terms that Pokemon cards collector are likely to use in search engines. Pokemon cards, Pokemon TCG, I don't know what it stands for. Pokemon card collecting rare Pokemon cards, Pokemon card values, Pokemon card price guides, et cetera, et cetera. We have a bunch of different keywords here. You could do this with a different niche, a completely different niche. So let's say healthy vegan meals. And then I will get another list like vegan recipes, plan based meals, healthy vegan diet, et cetera, et cetera. So here again, this is the prompt. You can simply replace what's between the bracket right here for your own niche. Next, you could feed the AI a bunch of social media bios that you find well written or very effective. And then ask it to generate a couple of options for your own bio based on the example you fed it. All right, so in order to do this I am coming back to chat GPT and I'm going to be using this prompt right here. What makes this a good then social media platform bio. So the social media platform right here can be switched for of the platforms you are actually going to work with. In this case, I'm going to put Instagram because I want to write a new bio for my Instagram. Let's assume Paste the good bio example here. All right. I have a good bio example right here from my friend Sandy from Sandy Solutions. I think she has a very good Instagram bio. I'm going to copy the Instagram bio like all the way to here. Control C. Coming back to chat GPT, I'm going to paste the good Instagram bio example right here. And then I have this right here. This is my bio. So I need to go fetch my bio, which is this one right here. Control C, Come back, chat GPT, this is my bio. Paste your bio. There you go. How can I take the elements that makes the first bio good and make mine better again? Let's review this entire prompt. What makes this a good Instagram bio? I have Sandy Solutions, Canva verified experts, so the entire post from Sandy, right here. And then I have my bio. How can I take the elements that make the first bio good and make mine better? I'm going to run the prompt to make your bio better and incorporate elements from the first bio. You can follow these suggestions. I have six suggestions. I'm going to go through them very quickly. Introduce yourself and highlight your expertise. Emphasis your specialization. Add credibility. If you have any certification, achievement recognition, showcase your unique selling points. Okay. Highlight what sets you apart from the others in your field. Incorporate personality or personal touch and include echo to action or CTA taking these elements into account. Here's an example of an improved Bio Ronnie Hermosa, Canva expert digital product and content designer creating click worthy graphics that stay true to your brand certified Canva expert. Check out my Canva tutorials on and then the link of my Youtube channel. Remember, the goal is to showcase your expertise, establish credibility, highlight unique selling points, and provide a clear call to action to engage and attract your target audience. So here again the prompt. And let me paste the prompt once more for you guys without all the modifications. The prompt is this one right here. So you can screench at this. Try it for yourself. This is a very good way, once you already have a couple of bios that you find well done to leverage these to really improve your own bio. So this is the prompt right here. And then finally, if you want to add a little bit of personality to your bio, you could just ask the AI to generate some emogies to illustrate your bio. To do that, very simple you would just simply fed the AI your text bio and ask it to generate the appropriate, the relevant emogies. For this one, you could use a prompt like this one. Here is my Facebook bio. I want you to read it and suggest relevant emogies to spice it up. Do not change nor revise the bio. Okay, so then I paste my Facebook bio. If you want an Instagram bio, you would just simply swap the keyword Facebook for whatever platform. Okay, so my bio, I teach people how to use Canva to grow their online business and career. Let's run the prompt and see what emoji chat GPT comes up with. So I can see I have a pile of book, I have a pen, I have the growth emoji, someone studying in front of a laptop, a lady, and a light bulb. Okay, so if you want more alternative, you can always ask chat GPT. Good. Give me a few alternative alternatives, just simply this. And so you see after asking for alternatives, chat GPT gave me four different suggestions right here with different imogs. As you can see, there are many ways to use DAI to find some inspiration or even improve your social media bias. But don't expect them to do all the work for you though, remember that your personal touch is essential and ultimately it is what will make the difference. The AI's job is to help you generate ideas, refine your phrasing, and maybe find more followers by using the right keywords. But it's not to write your bio for you, and that is because they are not you. They're merely machines that can predict the next logical words. Al, right now that you have crafted a bio that truly reflect who you are and what you offer you, my friend are ready to fly. 8. Class Project: Now that we are at the end of this course covering branding social media with Canva, and having learned from color palettes to brand fonts, imagery style to canvas brand kits, you've mastered them all. Now it's time to harness this experience, your task craft, your branded social media cheat sheet. And this isn't just a mere task, Take this opportunity to develop and shape your brand identity.