The 3 Biggest Design Mistakes You Are Making in Canva
Canva seems to be the tool that EVERY small business owner, content creator, or marketer uses to create the content that they need for social media… and for good reason!
This powerful design tool allows you to create content that is engaging, and impactful, and saves you a ton of time, energy, and money by not having to hire a designer or invest in Photoshop for a simple graphic you need on Instagram!
But with any DIY approach, mistakes are often made when creating all of these designs. Mistakes that are easily avoided, and easy to learn from…
The text is too small
There is not enough contrast
There are too many distractions
The main thing you have to consider with each of these mistakes is that your design is going to be viewed on mobile devices about 99% of the time. So here are a few visual tips and tricks for you to follow:
ONE: The text is too small
While the text you use might look great on a computer screen, the text might be way too small to view on a phone. Make sure when you design something it uses at least 18pt font or higher so that your viewer can see the content you worked so hard on.
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TWO: There is not enough contrast
That super neutral background with a fine type font, fits all your branding and aesthetic vibes, and the minute you see that design on a phone screen, you can hardly see a thing! Contrast is key when it comes to designing for Instagram.
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THREE: There are too many distractions
Canva has SO MANY different elements, frames, graphics, pictures, videos, and designs. That doesn’t mean you need to overload your Instagram design with every element you like. Make sure you keep your design crisp, clean, and neat so that your audience isn’t overwhelmed. This doesn’t mean that your designs have to be plain, just know when to edit and pull back!
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VIDEO TUTORIAL: How to Design an Instagram Post in Canva
Now that you have learned all of these design principles, let’s modify a Your Template Club Instagram Canva template as a quick lesson on how to design content for mobile viewing.
And if you want to make content creation easier for Instagram, check out some of our best-selling templates in the shop… yes - including Reels Templates!
P.S. If you are a member of Your Template Club, you can find all of these templates when you log in to the portal.
check out our best-selling Instagram canva templates
You can grab our favorite Canva Templates inside of the shop that you can customize for your business to help you batch create Reels content!
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Manu Muraro is the founder of Your Social Team, an Instagram training membership and template shop that help social media managers and Instagram-savvy small business owners to grow engagement and sales using Instagram and content marketing, without the overwhelm. Born and raised in Brazil, Manu moved to the U.S. in 2000 right out of college to work for Cartoon Network, where she made an award winning career in creative and strategy. In 2021, Manu started Your Template Club, a Canva template subscription service to help social media professionals and Canva-savvy business owners to create content that performs on Instagram, add more Instagram features into their strategy, such as Instagram Lives and Reels, and save time.