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Canva for Work Part 1: 3 Unique Ways Course Creators Can Use Canva for Visual Design

Hello there!

Welcome to the first of a 3-part series on Canva for Work. In my humble opinion, Canva for Work is one of my favorite graphic design tools in the marketplace today.

I created this series to show peeps in different industries unique ways to use Canva.

If you’ve been reading my blog for any length of time, then you know that Canva is a staple in my visual design and branding arsenal.  So much so…that I created Lights Canva Action as an ode to the platform.

As I’ve continued to use Canva for Work, I’ve learned that it is much more than JUST a graphic design tool.  Canva is a resource that any DIY’er can use to create professional designs in minutes.

If you want to see how I use Canva for branding and visual design, read this post.

 

Canva for Work for Course Creators? Sayyy Whatttt???

Yes! You heard that right. Canva is a course creators best friend — in more ways than ONE.

Initially, I thought Canva was JUST another graphic design tool. Beyond graphic design, I didn’t think there was much else that you could create with the platform.

Until, I started creating courses……

When I was ready to add courses to my mini university, I struggled to brand them. I didn’t know what tools I could use to package them up nicely or “how” I was going to create course collateral to give to my students.

Because… while Canva is certainly an amazing resource, I didn’t think there was much that you could design with it outside of graphics.

As I continued to use the platform, Canva went from being “just another design tool” to a one stop shop for most of my design needs.

Three main benefits  Canva for Work offers to course creators:

• I use it it as a one-stop shop for 97% of my visual design needs.  At one point I was using all kinds of design tools. I used PicMonkey to design graphics, Pixlr to design another type of graphic.  In short, my designs were all over the place. This sh#$ was driving me nuts because I was having a hard time keeping up with all of my designs. Canva for Work solved this problem. Now, the majority of the designs and content that I create and package with my courses are designed with Canva. 

• My outsourcing costs were lowered. Don’t get me wrong, I will outsource projects when I need to.  But…outsourcing for every project started to get a tad bit expensive. Canva helped me overcome this issue. Instead of spending money to outsource design work for my courses, I just “templatized” everything in Canva. This brings me to my next point… 

• I created “templates” for all of my course designs! Yipeeeee! I’m pretty sure “templatized” is not a word but hey…I figured I would use it anyways. This is one of the features that separates Canva from other design networks. Whenever you need to create course collateral, you can just create a template of your design in Canva and reuse it over and over again.

 

How Can Course Creators Can Use Canva for Visual Design?

For a lot of stuff…

Aside from graphics, here are some unique visual designs and course collateral that you can create with Canva:

#1:  Course Images and Mockups

Whenever you are creating images for your courses, it’s always a good idea to “mock” them up.  Mockups are just a tangible “visual representation” of what your course includes.

What do mockups do?

They pretty much help bring your course to life on the design front and give them a “sneak” peek of what they can get if they decide to enroll.
 

#2. Workbooks

Woo hoo for Workbooks right?  When I discovered that I could create workbooks with Canva it was GAME.OVER!  

I mean really….

As I browsed through Pinterest, I ran across some gorgeous workbooks and designs on Pinterest that people were cooking up.  I kept wondering “what on earth are these peeps using to create these workbooks”.

I did a little bit of digging to find out.  Come to find out some people were using Apple Pages, others MS Office.

I really didn’t want to purchase Apple pages and I didn’t want to use MS Office either. So I embarked on a mission to see if I could create one with Canva.  

And what do ya know….. it worked like a CHAMP!

When I figured out that I could use Canva to create my workbooks, I could have done a backflip.

I mean, this was a HUGEEEE win for me because I like to give students that enroll in my courses workbooks to use.  This helps them work through the course material easier.

Here’s one that I created for my Lights Canva Action course.
 

#3. Worksheets aka “Printables”

Worksheets are an excellent type of visual design and collateral that you can create for your courses.

Like workbooks, they make it super easy for your students to document and keep track of their progress as they are going through a course.

Here again, Pinterest was the first place that I started seeing a lot of “Pretty Printables” that people were creating.

Suffice to say.. It blew my mind.  I figured that “hey, If I can create workbooks with Canva, surely I can create worksheets too”.

It was on and poppin after I designed my first worksheet. Now…anytime that I want to create a worksheet for a course or to give away as a printable from my blog I use Canva.

 

Package your Courses Like a Pro and Sell them with Confidence

Visual design is the silent ambassador of a product. I liken visual design to going out on a blind date.

Imagine that you were heading out to meet someone for the first time on a blind date.  You show up to the date excited and looking Swaggerific.

Then this happens. Your date shows up looking like they just rolled out of bed and didn’t put much thought into their appearance at all.

The same thing goes for branding and visual design.  

This is exactly why I created Lights Canva Action a visual design and branding course for “non” designers that want to package and sell products like champs. If you are struggling to package your products and design them professionally, click here to learn more about Lights Canva Action.

You will be amazed at what you can learn about designing and packaging material for your courses with Canva.

So tell me….what tools have you been using to design and package your courses? Please share your resource below in the comments section.

Cheers!