Add graphic elements and text to a design - Canva Tutorial

- [Instructor] The videos in this chapter will go through the core tools of designing a graphic project and this video will set the background in a design, then add simple objects and text. So I'll start by clicking Create a design up at the top and just have a project in mind. I'm going to make a design for an Instagram post. So now I have my new design. I'll click on the name field up at the top and type in the name that I want to use and hit the Return key. So we start with an empty workspace. Whenever you select something in your design, you'll see formatting tools in the bar up at the top, and we can actually see this even in an empty workspace. If I click on the background, we get a few formatting tools for the background, and one option is to click this color box and change the color of the background. So I'll set that to a light blue. Then if I click outside of that control panel, it resets it and at this point, if I click away from the background, you'll see it will reset that formatting bar. Next, the sidebar on the left has lots of options for adding content to your design. I'll go to the Elements tab and these are objects like basic shapes and simple graphics that you can add to your design. We'll start with shapes and I could click this arrow to scroll through or I could click See all to see more options. But once you find one that you want, you can click on it or drag it to your workspace. So now I have a shape and it is selected. If I click outside of it, the shape is not selected, but if I click on it once, it is selected and since this shape is selected, I can see the formatting options up at the top are set specifically for that shape. So these formatting options will be different depending on the type of object you have selected. And the reason we see controls for text is that a shape can be used as a text box. If you double click on a shape, you can actually type some text directly into it, but I don't want to do that in this case. So I'm going to delete that text, and then I'll reset by clicking away from the shape. Then click on it once to select it, and then I'll make some adjustments using these formatting tools. If I click this button, I've got the option to put a border on this shape. So I'll make a solid border and make it thicker. If I click this box, I can change the color of that border. I'll set that to a dark green, and if I click on this box, I can change the color of the inside of the shape. So I'll set that to white. Then I'll click outside of that control panel to reset it. Also, you can change the size or proportions of most elements by dragging the handles that appear around the object when it's selected. So I could grab a corner and change the size of it, or I could drag one of the sides, which will change the proportions. Also, you'll see that there is this curved arrow button below it or beside the shape. You can drag that to change the rotation, but for now, I'll click the Undo button up at the top to undo that change. Then naturally I can drag it around and place it where I want it to be in the design. Also when an object is selected, you'll see this floating panel either above or below it. You can click the trashcan button to delete it, the duplicate button to make a duplicate of it, or you can click this button with three dots to open this menu for even more options. But for now, I'm just going to click outside of that shape so it's no longer selected. So that's one shape. Back to the controls on the left, I'm still looking at the list of shapes. I could click this Back button up at the top, and from here I could browse through other elements, and we'll cover some of these in other videos. But next, I want to add some text. So on the far left side, I'll select the Text tab. So you could add a basic text box. You could add a header or one of these pre-made text styles. Select the one that you want, and you can click on it or drag it to the workspace. So this text object is selected. To change the text, you can double click on it, and then you can drag to select the text that's there. I'm going to delete that text and then type in the text that I want to use. Then with the text box selected, I can use the formatting tools up at the top. So I could change the font, or I could use the controls here to make that bigger. And there are also options for text effects. I'll select that, and from here you can add some effects, or if you had started with a pre-made text style, then it may already have some effects applied to it that you can adjust. But I'm going to apply a shadow to this text and I'll change the offset a little bit. Then I'll click outside of that panel to reset it. Then naturally, I can drag this text box around and place it where I want it to be in the design. So now I've added a few basic elements to my design, and we've also learned controls that you'll use to add and modify all types of other objects as we go through this course.