All faculty and staff in the College of the Liberal Arts at Penn State University Park who are responsible for creating promotional materials for their unit may utilize the Liberal Arts Office of Strategic Communications’ paid Canva account. Canva is an online graphic design website that makes creating flyers, posters, programs, social media posts, etc. super easy.
Finding your designs
To find all of your previous designs, click on the CLA Strategic Communications team on the left side. This is where you’ll find all of your designs, folders, templates, and the brand kit.
Any new designs you create from here on out will be under All Your Designs.
If you’re trying to find one of your previous designs quickly, either type the file name into the search bar or go to your unit’s folder.
Speaking of file names, we would like to request that you make your file names descriptive. If your file name is “Copy of Twitter graphic” it’s going to make it really hard for you to find later when you go to search for it, but if you named it, for example, “LER kick-off event Twitter” you’ll be able to find it easier.
Using folders
You can find your unit’s folder in the CLA Strategic Communications team or by clicking Folders on the left side and then clicking on Shared with you. All of your previous designs should be saved in your folder.
It’s a good idea to get in the habit of saving your designs to your folder as you’re creating them. When you’re editing a design, you can do that by clicking on File > Move to folder > Shared with you > Click on your folder > Click Move.
You can also create subfolders within your folder if you’d like to get even more organized. When you’re in your folder, you’ll see three icons in the top right corner next to Upload and Share. Click on the folder icon that has a plus sign on it. Enter a folder name, leave the sharing permissions as is, and click Create and share folder. You can then drag your designs into your new subfolder.
Using templates
Click on the Brand folder under Tools in the left toolbar, and then select the Brand templates tab at the top under Brand. Click on the template design you want to use, and then click on Use this template. That will automatically make a copy of the design for you. Just remember to update the design’s file name at the top.
We have templates for commencement programs and invitations, social media graphics, Zoom slides and backgrounds, email graphics, event programs, banners, and more.
Creating and downloading designs
If you’re creating a design that you plan to print, use Serifa, Proxima Nova, and Proxima Nova Condensed as your fonts. If you’re creating a design that you plan to distribute electronically via an email listserv or publish on a website, use Roboto Slab, Roboto, and Roboto Condensed.
When you download your PDF, select PDF Print and then the CMYK color profile option if you plan to print physical copies. If you plan to distribute digitally, select PDF Print and then the RGB color profile option instead.
If you have any Canva-related questions, please email Kirsten Smith.