Creating your Course Banner in Canva
What is the first thing you notice when you go to a website? Many users skim the content without actually reading it and try to locate the information they need. They also look for the website navigation to figure things out, but what is one thing that makes a website stand out or lose its audience? It is the website's visual design. First impressions always count! Visuals on a website or in your course matter because they keep the users interested and make the content more engaging. They also play a role in communicating to the user what your content is about, evoke emotion or reinforce content. For this reason, using banners in your course modules is good practice.
When you choose or create graphics for your course, they enhance your message and are directly related to the course content. You do not want to select any abstract concepts that students will not understand or use too many graphics that the message is lost. When you design your course module, you may want to use a banner in the module overview to set the module's tone and help reinforce the text of the module overview. Although it may seem like it would be a lot of work to create a banner, many free programs help you design it without any graphic design background. Creating a banner is good practice and will also help you gain some valuable skills as an instructor.
I will go over some of the programs you can use to create banners and show you how to create a simple banner for your course module.
Let's start with the most commonly used program that instructors use to design graphics. Canva is a graphic design platform that allows you to create graphics ranging from posters to presentations to many more visual content types. It is free to use, but you can subscribe to the Canvo Pro for added functionality.
Pricing:
Free: You can design a lot with this option
Canva Pro monthly: $12.99 per month
Canva Pro Annual: $119.99 per year
What I will Cover:
Video Tutorial
1. Creating a Canva Account
Go to http://www.canva.com
Click on the "Sign Up" button to sign up for an account.
You can also choose to sign up with your Google or Facebook account.
2. Banner Dimensions
Common banner image size is 800px by 150px or 900px by 160px (px stands for pixel). It depends on how big or small you want your banner, so play around with sizes to see which size you prefer.
Once you login to Canva with your account, click on "Create a Design" and select "Custom Size", to enter the size of your banner.
Enter 800 for width and 150 for height and click on "Create new Design".
3. Banner Dimensions
After you determine the size of your banner, you can now have fun! Let's start by adding a background. Select "Background" from the left side navigation. Here you can use solid colors, patterns, and other abstract shapes. For this tutorial, let's select a solid background. You can click on the colors located on the top row of the background options for solid colors.
4. Selecting Graphics
Let's add some cool graphics! First, let's add a photo. You do this by clicking on "Photo" and searching for the type of photo you had in mind for your banner. Once you do that, click on the image and it will appear on the banner. You can then place it exactly as you want it to show in the banner . Next, click on "Elements" to search for graphics. Please note: photos and elements free to use will have the word "Free," while images that are available for Canva subscribers will have the word "Pro".
5. Adding Text
Once you are happy with your graphics, let's add some text. Click on "Text" and you will see different text options. For this tutorial, let's choose the "Title/Heading" option. Once you click on it, it will show on your banner. You can then edit the text to whatever you want.
6. Downloading Banner to Computer
After you add your background, graphics, and text and are happy with your design, you can download it to your computer. Click on "Download", select the file type PNG - Portable Network Graphic (is the one most recommended since it is ideal for digital art)
Please let me know in the comments below, if you tried doing a banner with Canva. Did you find it easy or hard to use?
I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. Happy Designing!
