How To Create A Logo In Canva [Tutorial]

Having a well-designed logo for your business will serve you time and again. Logos are branding elements that you’ll use on your website, social media networks, newsletters, and marketing materials. Many people hire graphic designers to create their logos, but did you know you can easily make your own with zero graphic design skills? Learn how to create a logo in Canva following my step-by-step tutorial.

What Is A Logo?

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A logo is a small graphic or symbol that visually represents your business and depicts ownership of your brand. If I were to show you some big name logos, you would immediately be able to identify the company they belong to.

Logos are also important for portraying brand loyalty because people will come to recognize your brand upon seeing your logo. This recognition serves to build brand awareness, which is always a good thing.

Quick test – whose logo contains golden arches? How about a black apple? Or a red circle inside a larger red circle? If you answered McDonalds, Apple, and Target – you would be correct. Get my point? Logos depict a company’s flavor and personality. It’s this unique aspect of your brand that will set you apart from other businesses.

Logos contain pertinent information, including your company’s name, tagline, and contact information. When creating a logo, keep in mind the branding colors and fonts specific to your business, along with the general look and feel you want to convey in regard to your company’s mission and purpose.

Disclaimer: affiliate links ✔️

The Purpose Of A Logo

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Your logo will be used for a variety of applications, among which are:

• Makes your brand easily recognizable
• Portrays professionalism and personality
• Builds brand loyalty and trust
• Are used on marketing materials, such as business cards, banners, posters, resumes, and letterhead
• Will be immediately identifiable on landing pages, newsletters and emails
• Used for product promotion and packaging.

How To Create A Logo In Canva | Tutorial

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Now that you know what a logo is and the importance of using one, let’s learn how to create one.

Begin by going to Canva.com. Canva is free to use. For additional features, you can upgrade to the Pro version, which will give you access to additional photos, fonts, and elements, along with resizing and download options.

Navigate to the “Templates” area in the top bar, or click on the icon entitled “Logo” on the first line, to see the various templates.

You’ll see a ton of templates come up. Below is a just a small sampling. Browse the templates until you see one that catches your eye. Keep in mind, you’ll be swapping out colors, elements, and fonts so look for a basic template design that appeals to you.

I’ll be customizing the first one on the left so I’ll click on that:

This is where it gets fun. I’m going to put in the company name I’m designing the logo for.

The font is obviously too big so I’ll change that. I also want to spend some time playing around with the different fonts. Go up to the left-hand side of the editor and click the dropdown arrow to the right of the fonts to see what’s available.

Your personal preference – keeping your branding top of mind- will determine what fonts you like. The two main font typefaces are Serif and Sans Serif. You know those little strokes on the end of some fonts? Those are called “Serifs.” Sans Serif fonts don’t contain those strokes. Hence the name “Sans Serif “( “sans” means “without”).

Check out some cool fonts HERE 

Since Serif fonts include the decorative designs or strokes on the end of the letter, they’re considered more formal and traditional-looking compared to Sans Serif fonts that have a minimalistic look and modern flair. You’ll see as you get familiar with the font options that fonts have the ability to convey a certain mood.

What is the mood you want associated with your business? The colors and images you use alongside the fonts will also help determine your choice of typeface. Serif fonts convey elegance, as opposed to the simplicity of San Serif fonts. Fontspace is a fun site if you want to learn more about typefaces.

Serif typefaces are easy to read, especially in small sizes, whereas, Sans Serif typefaces stand out when used in large headings or titles. A good rule of thumb when designing any type of graphic is to have no more than two different fonts in a design. One could be a Serif, and one a Sans Serif.

I like the Cormorant Garamond Light font:

Make sure the font is easy to read. Some fonts – although beautiful – can be hard to read. You don’t want that. If you know the name of the font you want to use, type it in the search bar:

To the right of the font, you can choose the size. Some fonts come with multiple choices in regard to the weight of the font. See below. A little crown next to the font means that only Pro users can use that typeface. This applies to elements and images too.

Now I want to add an element to my logo. Click on “Elements” under the “Photos” icon. Search for the type of element you have in mind in the search bar or simply browse the different options. Look how cute that blue snowflake is? They even have animated elements.

See the element I chose below:

To rotate an image or element, click on the little icon below it and adjust it to where you want it to be. Looks better, right?

Moving right along. I rotated my little flower icon and am now going to add a tagline. To do that, I went to the “text” bar on the left and dragged a subheading to my logo.

I’ll now add my tagline:

Almost there – now I’m going to add another text box for my phone number. You can also include your name, email address, website url, links to your social media networks, and phone number to the box. For simplicity’s sake, I’m just adding a phone number:

Once I have the phone number added, I can play around with the background color:

You also change the opacity by going to the icon made up of little squares in the right-hand corner of the top editor bar:

To change a color go to the color box. If you don’t like any of the options available, you can choose a new color. I’m going to use both pink, blue, and the original background to see which one my client likes best. Your colors will depend on both the mood you want to portray, along with your branding colors.

If you’re designing late at night like I do, I would advise that you revisit your design in the morning when you’re not tired. That way you’ll be able to see it with fresh eyes – guaranteed you’ll know then which color works best:

Hmmmm – blue or pink?

Here’s my final logo. I’m pleased with it. See how I used only two fonts? One is a Serif and the other a Sans Serif. The font I used for the phone number is the same as the tagline font – only I made it bold by going to the “B” in the editor bar.

You can also italicize your fonts, underline them, or use all caps, as well as, change the alignment. Using too many fonts, colors, and elements, rather than adding to a graphic, can actually distract from it.

The last step is to download your logo. If you’ll be using it on your website, I’d suggest downloading it as a JPG due to the small file size. Large files can affect the speed of your website, which is a key marketing metric when it comes to ranking. PNGs are larger files and are great for social media. Check out the options:

Key Points

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See how easy it is to create a logo in Canva? Be careful though – creating graphics might become your new addiction. If you don’t yet have a logo that depicts your brand, get busy creating one RIGHT NOW. You’ll use it repeatedly for years.  Having a professional logo is essential to the growth of your business.

I use my logo everyday in my affiliate marketing business. Check out my #1 recommended resource for building an online business. You can also read my review or click on the banner below to learn more.

 

Have you designed a logo before? Let me know in the comments:)