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Canva For Dummies
The essential guide to the popular, beginner-friendly graphic design platform
Canva For Dummies is a beautiful full-color reference, covering everything you need to create dazzling visual materials in Canva Free and Pro versions. Discover all tools, templates, and features at the ready, plus utilize expert tips and tricks to improve your design and visual communication skills.
Start with basic functionalities and graphic design principles, and then work your way up to more complex design tasks with ease. Canva For Dummies also covers Canva's new AI tool, Magic Studio, so you'll be up to speed on everything this cool app can do. Plus, the useful case studies and practical design projects inside are sure to ignite your creativity. Create effective social media posts, presentations, brand style guides, and everything in between, thanks to the helpful guidance in this book.
Understand the Canva interface and get a primer on graphic design Explore advanced tools and techniques, including Canva's new AI tool, Magic Studio Create engaging visuals for business, social media, and beyond Utilize Canva hacks and trends to make your graphics pop This handy guide is for everyone, answering all your questions whether you're new to the platform or a current user. Rock your next design project with Canva For Dummies!
Canva For Dummies is a beautiful full-color reference, covering everything you need to create dazzling visual materials in Canva Free and Pro versions. Discover all tools, templates, and features at the ready, plus utilize expert tips and tricks to improve your design and visual communication skills.
Start with basic functionalities and graphic design principles, and then work your way up to more complex design tasks with ease. Canva For Dummies also covers Canva's new AI tool, Magic Studio, so you'll be up to speed on everything this cool app can do. Plus, the useful case studies and practical design projects inside are sure to ignite your creativity. Create effective social media posts, presentations, brand style guides, and everything in between, thanks to the helpful guidance in this book.
Understand the Canva interface and get a primer on graphic design Explore advanced tools and techniques, including Canva's new AI tool, Magic Studio Create engaging visuals for business, social media, and beyond Utilize Canva hacks and trends to make your graphics pop This handy guide is for everyone, answering all your questions whether you're new to the platform or a current user. Rock your next design project with Canva For Dummies!
272 pages, Paperback
Published January 29, 2025
8 people are currently reading
15 people want to read
About the author
Jesse Stay
23 books64 followersHi – I’m Jesse Stay! As a 13-time author on social media marketing and techonology books and former professor of social media advertising and advocacy, I founded Stay N Alive as an answer to multiple requests by companies wanting a very unique strategy to growing their audiences through digital and social media marketing.
As a software developer in my original days, I consulted and helped build some of the top apps on Facebook. I actually worked for Facebook and helped develop some of the original documentation for Fortune 50 companies to integrate their websites and apps into Facebook Connect. Companies saw this talent and before I knew it they were asking me how they could grow their Facebook, Twitter, and other audiences. I combined my knowledge of APIs, data, and pixels to begin building unique strategies for growth and focus on conversion goals to success for clients, and before I knew it Stay N Alive was born! This is my baby and my dream – I want to show you the future of marketing!
In 2008 I embraced the “Facebook developer dream” by building apps, and helping companies build apps on the newly-released platform for developers. Before I knew it I was helping out some of the top apps on Facebook, and even spent time building the developer documentation for Facebook during the launch of Facebook Connect. I even developed initial design specs for We’re Related, which made it to number one in the app store (yes, there used to be an app store on Facebook!). Soon, I was being asked to help companies grow their audiences using my deep knowledge of social media.
Around 2009, I built an app called SocialToo.com, built as a solution to help brands grow their Twitter audience and following. We built tools to help brands grow, and produced some of the first analytics for Twitter showing how many, and who were following the brands utilizing our service. Our customers included @pepsico, @brittneyspears, and even @mchammer!
I spent 3 years kicking off and running all social media initiatives for the LDS Church, including not only the religious elements during what Newsweek defined “The Mormon Moment” with the candidacy of Mitt Romney, launch of The Book of Mormon Musical, and launch of the “I’m a Mormon” campaign, but I also helped launched social channels for Brigham Young University (BYU), the online bookseller owned by the Church DeseretBook.com, the real estate developments of City Creek Mall, and the International growth initiatives throughout Asia and Eastern Europe and Africa. I even led the launch of FamilyShare.com and growth of over 20 million followers and 1 million pageviews within its first month of launch through our unique growth technique and use of “Passion Pages”, or verticals within social media branding channels.
I was named by Mashable as one of 20 Developers to Follow, and one of 10 Essential Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter. I have been regularly featured on Techcrunch, Mashable, Venturebeat, Readwrite, AdWeek, Forbes, USA Today, The New York Times, and other publications. I designed and taught LDS Business College’s SMM160 Social Media Advertising and Advocacy course, and have written 9 books on the topic. I have written numerous online courses on social media marketing. Much of my writing, blogging, and teaching has lead to what many of my own competitors are using to grow their clients. And I will continue pioneering new techniques to grow my clients!
If I haven’t convinced you yet, contact me at jesse@staynalive.com – I’d love to give you a half hour consultation and show you how we might help your brand grow!
As a software developer in my original days, I consulted and helped build some of the top apps on Facebook. I actually worked for Facebook and helped develop some of the original documentation for Fortune 50 companies to integrate their websites and apps into Facebook Connect. Companies saw this talent and before I knew it they were asking me how they could grow their Facebook, Twitter, and other audiences. I combined my knowledge of APIs, data, and pixels to begin building unique strategies for growth and focus on conversion goals to success for clients, and before I knew it Stay N Alive was born! This is my baby and my dream – I want to show you the future of marketing!
In 2008 I embraced the “Facebook developer dream” by building apps, and helping companies build apps on the newly-released platform for developers. Before I knew it I was helping out some of the top apps on Facebook, and even spent time building the developer documentation for Facebook during the launch of Facebook Connect. I even developed initial design specs for We’re Related, which made it to number one in the app store (yes, there used to be an app store on Facebook!). Soon, I was being asked to help companies grow their audiences using my deep knowledge of social media.
Around 2009, I built an app called SocialToo.com, built as a solution to help brands grow their Twitter audience and following. We built tools to help brands grow, and produced some of the first analytics for Twitter showing how many, and who were following the brands utilizing our service. Our customers included @pepsico, @brittneyspears, and even @mchammer!
I spent 3 years kicking off and running all social media initiatives for the LDS Church, including not only the religious elements during what Newsweek defined “The Mormon Moment” with the candidacy of Mitt Romney, launch of The Book of Mormon Musical, and launch of the “I’m a Mormon” campaign, but I also helped launched social channels for Brigham Young University (BYU), the online bookseller owned by the Church DeseretBook.com, the real estate developments of City Creek Mall, and the International growth initiatives throughout Asia and Eastern Europe and Africa. I even led the launch of FamilyShare.com and growth of over 20 million followers and 1 million pageviews within its first month of launch through our unique growth technique and use of “Passion Pages”, or verticals within social media branding channels.
I was named by Mashable as one of 20 Developers to Follow, and one of 10 Essential Entrepreneurs to Follow on Twitter. I have been regularly featured on Techcrunch, Mashable, Venturebeat, Readwrite, AdWeek, Forbes, USA Today, The New York Times, and other publications. I designed and taught LDS Business College’s SMM160 Social Media Advertising and Advocacy course, and have written 9 books on the topic. I have written numerous online courses on social media marketing. Much of my writing, blogging, and teaching has lead to what many of my own competitors are using to grow their clients. And I will continue pioneering new techniques to grow my clients!
If I haven’t convinced you yet, contact me at jesse@staynalive.com – I’d love to give you a half hour consultation and show you how we might help your brand grow!
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
June 15, 2025
Really clear and helpful! I've used Canva to design things like party invitations a couple of times, but I had no idea how many things you could do with it. This book breaks down a lot of really interesting ways to use Canva. More of the functions would appeal to me if I were running a business, but it's still neat to know about them.
Two little nitpicks about the book:
1. It would have been nice if the author had mentioned earlier that a lot of these functions require a paid account. Unless I missed something earlier on, the book lists a ton of cool features and then sort of casually drops toward the end that most of them aren't available with a free account.
2. The author seems uncritically enthusiastic about Canva's use of AI, which is a bit of a pink flag for me. How was their AI trained? Did it train on writers' and artists' work (not in the public domain) without their permission? Because that is how a lot of AI has been trained, and that is stealing.
Overall, though, a handy book that's easy to read and gave me some interesting ideas.
Two little nitpicks about the book:
1. It would have been nice if the author had mentioned earlier that a lot of these functions require a paid account. Unless I missed something earlier on, the book lists a ton of cool features and then sort of casually drops toward the end that most of them aren't available with a free account.
2. The author seems uncritically enthusiastic about Canva's use of AI, which is a bit of a pink flag for me. How was their AI trained? Did it train on writers' and artists' work (not in the public domain) without their permission? Because that is how a lot of AI has been trained, and that is stealing.
Overall, though, a handy book that's easy to read and gave me some interesting ideas.
December 13, 2025
I was pretty disappointed in this. I found the organization a bit confusing, since I don't really fit into the categories of user that the author chose.
I use Canva a lot, and I am sure I am not utilizing it to its best purpose. But I could not find the materials I was really hoping to find, such as a reference list of the fonts, or how to create reels, or the myriad other things that I know it can be useful for. Maybe they're in there somewhere, but I could not find anything in the index that addressed the issues I was hoping for help on.
And since the book was published (2025), AI has become a big component in Canva. Suggestions for working with it would have been very welcome.
Instead of.. teaching color theory?? Hmm.
Maybe a better idea would have been to take some examples of successful creations, and then deconstruct them, to show how they were made.
Glad this was only a library book. Hope I can find a better guide.
I use Canva a lot, and I am sure I am not utilizing it to its best purpose. But I could not find the materials I was really hoping to find, such as a reference list of the fonts, or how to create reels, or the myriad other things that I know it can be useful for. Maybe they're in there somewhere, but I could not find anything in the index that addressed the issues I was hoping for help on.
And since the book was published (2025), AI has become a big component in Canva. Suggestions for working with it would have been very welcome.
Instead of.. teaching color theory?? Hmm.
Maybe a better idea would have been to take some examples of successful creations, and then deconstruct them, to show how they were made.
Glad this was only a library book. Hope I can find a better guide.
June 1, 2025
This book should appeal to anyone who has and maintains an on-line presence, for example, on social media, a web site, or some kind of on-line business for whom a brand is important. The author is a digital media expert in digital marketing. Thus the book emphasizes digital presence, branding, and marketing. While the book does talk about digital design and includes sections that provide guidance on color, layout, and other design elements, it is more about examples of using Canva. The author emphasizes the look of digital designs and how to use Canva to create work products based on those designs, primarily for marketing purposes.
January 19, 2025
I think this book might be more helpful for someone interested in business applications. I am retired and using Canva for other reasons, so it was not as relevant for me. It does contain many illustrations and examples.
January 2, 2026
This is not a “dummies” book
This book is not beginner’s friendly.This book is designed for people with prior experience in Canva. This book was a disappointment and a waste of money for me.
This book is not beginner’s friendly.This book is designed for people with prior experience in Canva. This book was a disappointment and a waste of money for me.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews