Days 11-21

Today is the last day of the 21 Days of Canva challenge. I just finished the last project in the challenge which was Instagram highlights. I'm celebrating the end of the 21 Days of Canva challenge with the last recap.

This recap is reflecting on the projects I've made during the past 11 days and what I've learned making these projects. During these past few days, I've made headers for different social media platforms, an invoice, a monthly planner, and a graph.

Day 11: August 7, 2020

Today I made the next project prompt in the 21 Days of Canva challenge. This prompt was an invoice. Canva has several templates available for different kinds of invoices.

When I searched invoice in Canva, the results showed service invoice, commercial invoice, and business invoice as well as invoice I just picked invoice in the search and I got all the template types. I decided to use the Design Play template for this project. Once the template was created in the canvas, I concentrated on changing the text.

This meant adjusting the fonts, font size, and colors in the header. I initially removed one of the headlines in the group for the logo, but I changed my mind during the project process. I tried making a group of headlines again but the logo headline made it hard to group with the headline text I moved from inside the template.

So I just did my best to get the spacing right between the two headlines and made sure everything was aligned with the client information on the right side of the header. The chart information didn't need too many changes. Instead, I spent the time adjusting the spacing and getting the charts in the right position.

I moved up the charts so they were closer to the top of the page. I deleted the headlines underneath the banking info sections and decided to add a notes section between the banking and contact information. This gave just the right amount of spacing for a freelancer to write any notes to a client as well as not pushing the contact information further down the page.

Day 12: August 8, 2020

I made a graph for today's project prompt in the 21 Days of Canva challenge. First, I searched graphs on Canva and took a look at the different templates. The prompt didn't specify what kind of graph needed to be made for the challenge so I decided to start by looking at the Canva templates in the search to see what was available.

I didn't find a template that I wanted to use so I decided to just create a blank template and make my graph. Once the canvas was created, I clicked elements on the menu sidebar and clicked the charts icon to see what kinds of charts and graphs were available. In the past, I created a pie graph for a previous project so I decided to make a bar graph for today's prompt.

I picked one of the bar graphs I found in the charts section and started to play around with the size of the graph. I added a square shape to create a header box at the top of the page. I added a headline in the center of the header box.

The rest of the time was spent changing the styles for the graph such as the fonts and font color. I added more items to the bar graph and body text for the graph description. I wish there was to change the size of the bars so they weren't so wide and there was more spacing between each of them.

Perhaps Canva has a way of reducing the size of the bars, but in the future, I'll play around with the spacing between the graph and the body text more. I'd like to move the body text a little bit lower down the page so there's more space between these elements.

Day 13: August 9, 2020

Today's project objective was to create a Facebook cover. This prompt was a much easier project to make since I've already made Facebook cover images for my blogs and personal Facebook page. In the past, my Facebook cover images have just been very simple with just a background color and text.

For today's project, I wanted to challenge myself a little bit more with this Facebook cover so it was different from the previous designs I regularly use. I did use a blank template for this project, but I took some time to take a look at the different templates to see how I might approach my cover photo. I noticed that several of the templates used different shapes and graphics in different positions to create unique designs.

I spent a lot of time playing around with background images and graphics to see what I could pick. It took some time playing around with the different backgrounds and images but I was able to find one that I wanted to use for my cover. The rest of the session was spent playing around with the text.

I added different shapes to position underneath my text but I decided to stick with a square. I was able to get more practice group text together. I found it helps to get all the text done first and then play around with the placement first.

Then I clicked outside the text to highlight what I wanted to group. Then I clicked the group feature. So the moral I learned today is to get all the text done first then start putting things into groups before I move them around the canvas.

Day 14: August 10, 2020

The next prompt in the 21 Days of Canva challenge is an animated social media post. I was a little nervous about making this project because I didn't have a lot of experience using animation in designs. I searched "animated social media" on Canva and took a look at the different templates.

Looking at the templates made me feel a bit better doing this challenge since many of the templates just use a little animation in their designs. After taking a look at the different templates, I decided to use the Yay of the Day 50% Off template for this project. Once the template was created in the canvas, I took a few minutes to look at each of the elements on the post to see how they added the animation over the different layers.

Then I started to tackle the text. I deleted some of the headlines and changed the fonts for the remaining text. I changed the colors using one of the color palettes Canva created.

I removed the dots around the text and tried finding something different to use around the design that had a similar effect. However, it wasn't easy finding animations in Canva. I ended up searching Canva to see if I could find some guides to help me figure out how to put animations on my post.

I didn't find much so I just added a simple border around the text. When I clicked on the post, I used the animation navigation to change the animation of the text from none to tumble. I'll have to do more research and googling in the future to figure out how I can be better at creating animated posts so I can redo this design in the future.

Day 15: August 11, 2020

Today I made a story for Instagram and Facebook. I don't use stories on either Instagram or Facebook but I have seen some of these stories used on other profiles that I follow. I searched stories on Canva and found search results for Instagram stories, Facebook stories, story ads, and even WhatsApp.

I searched Instagram stories and looked at the different templates Canva has available. Since I never made an Instagram story before, I found myself gravitating toward templates with simple designs. I ultimately went with the Living the Beach Life template.

Once the template was created in the canvas, I changed the background image. I rotated the image so it was vertical on the canvas instead of landscape. Next, I changed the text on the design and updated the fonts.

I initially was going to keep the white background layer over the background image, but I decided to delete it so I could have the text appear over the chalkboard. I began to play around with the position of the text and realized that there was enough space to add a couple more elements to the canvas. I did play around with the placement a bit more and realized there was enough room to add some more text and another graphic to the story.

I decided to use one of the stickers for this story. I searched Canva's sticker library and found an animated sticker to use. Once the sticker was added to the canvas, I changed the size of the sticker and added some text underneath. The rest of the session was spent testing the animation to see how the story would work and adjusting the size of different elements.

Day 16: August 12, 2020

Today I made a Facebook video. I have never made a video before so I was grateful that Canva has templates for Facebook videos since it made it easier to make this project. I searched Facebook videos and spent several minutes looking at the templates to see how the templates used the video on the designs.

Some videos looked like mini PowerPoint presentations since the videos felt more like transitions to different elements while others had a video as the background layer with the text placed over it. When I picked a template, I decided to go with the My Solo Trip template. This template uses a video in the background and has some text over it.

I decided it would be easier to make and would allow me to spend more time playing around with the video. Once the template was created in the canvas, I spent a few minutes taking a look at the entire template. It turns out that several pages within the video play after a couple of minutes just like a PowerPoint presentation.

After playing the video preview of the current template, I decided to keep my video as simple as possible so I removed many of the pages so I could make a basic video for this project. After I picked the pages I wanted to keep for the video, I started to change the videos in the template. I liked some of the rough edge frames but I couldn't find them in the frames library.

I instead used different shapes from the shapes library or copied existing frames from different templates onto other pages. I'll have to take some time in the future to look at how to put videos into frames. The rest of the session was spent changing the text including the fonts and colors. I used one of the Canva color palettes for this project but in the future, I will want to change the colors to best match the videos I'm using in the background of several pages.

Day 17: August 13, 2020

Today's project objective was to create a Twitter header. I was relieved to see this project prompt since was a project I am much more familiar with making. I've often made Twitter headers in the past so this project felt much easier to make since it was familiar territory than the last couple of projects I've made I don't have much experience using the things I was making so I relied on the templates a lot more on these projects.

I created a blank canvas in the canvas for this project. I often use background colors for previous Twitter headers so I wanted to use a background image for this header. After searching the image library, I added an image of a computer to the canvas and adjusted the image so the computer is placed just right on the header.

I even adjusted the image a bit so the computer keyboard appeared more on the right side of the image. The last addition to the header was the text. I added a headline subheading.

I highlighted the text to create a group for the headlines so I could move them around the canvas together and get the position just right so there was enough spacing around the headlines. It is still a simple design so in the future I might add a border around the text in the future to see how that looks with the background image.

Day 18: August 14, 2020

I made a monthly planner in Canva for today's project. I searched monthly planner on Canva to see what templates I could find. The search results had different planner templates to choose from so I picked a planner from the results to see all the templates available for planning.

There was quite a mix of templates but most were weekly planners. I eventually found a monthly planner template by Bartholomew Henderson. Once I opened the template in the canvas, I used the template tab to look at more templates to see if I wanted to change the template.

I ended up changing the Batholomew template to a personal planner template with a calendar at the top and a notes section at the bottom of the page. Now that I've picked a template for the planner, I started to change up the original design. I deleted the flowers at the top of the planner and the pink stripe at the bottom.

I was originally going to keep the pink stripe at the bottom of the page and change the color, but I didn't have enough room for the shapes so I deleted the stripe. I changed the fonts and colors for all the text. I used one of the palettes Canva put together for the colors on this project.

I added shapes at the top of the page to go behind the goals and notes sections. I added a couple of small pumpkins at the top near the headline. The biggest challenge was the calendar.

I am not happy with the layout of the numbers on the calendar. I tried changing the alignment of the calendar numbers but I wasn't able to find just the right position for the numbers so they were in alignment with the letters for the days of the week. In the future, I'd like to go back and play with the calendar and see if I can make the space for the individual dates a little bit bigger and try to get the alignment better.

Day 19: August 15, 2020

The next project I made in the 21 Days of Canva challenge was to create a Pinterest pin. I had mixed feelings about making this project. Pinterest pins are something I make often for the blog graphics for all the blog posts for my blogs BritishPandaChick Codes and Needlework Kits.

So this felt like familiar territory since it is something I regularly make. However, I felt like I needed to venture outside of my comfort zone for this project since my designs I often make a very similar and simple. I needed to vary my designs a bit more in this project so they were different from the Pinterest graphics I currently make.

I searched Pinterest pin on Canva and took a look at the templates Canva has available. Before I selected a template, I took a look at all the templates to get some inspiration on how I could play around with the design of my project. This project is using one of the Pinterest pin templates for this project.

I am using the Today's Quote template. As soon as the template was created, I changed the background image and deleted the quotation marks on the pin. Before I deleted the quotation mark graphics, I tried updating the color of the quotation marks so they would stand out more on the canvas but it didn't work.

The rest of the time was spent working on the text on the pin. I updated the fonts, colors, and font size for the text. I didn't spend too much time playing around with the spacing around the text.

My challenge with this project was making sure the text could be read on the pin. I added a white square shape as a layer to put underneath the text. This made the text easier to read, but it made issues with the spacing on the left and right sides of the quote.

I think a lot of these issues are due to the headlines being grouped. I made the font size smaller for the quote, but I don't think the issue is completely resolved. In the future, I might make the square shape more transparent to show more of the image, but I would ungroup the headlines and quotes so I can find a better position for each of the elements on the pin. I might add different shapes for each headline instead of using one solid shape for all the text.

Day 20: August 16, 2020

I'm in the home stretch of the 21 Days of Canva challenge. Today I made a Snapchat filter. I'm not sure how filters work so I set aside some extra time to look at the templates in the Canva library to get ideas of what I searched Snapchat filter on Canva and found a lot of search results just for Snapchat.

I picked Snapchat Geofilter since I thought I would see all the other templates for filters here as well. I took a look at the templates and decided to use the National Conference on Creativity template for this project. Once the template was created for this project, I deleted the graphics at the top of the filter.

I found a color palette on Canva to use for this project and changed the background color to gold. Next, I began changing the text. I changed the fonts, font size, and color. I didn't put the headline and subheading in a group.

Instead I just highlighted the two headlines and moved them to the top of the filter. The last thing I added was a couple of graphics. I put one graphic at the bottom of the filter.

I added another graphic near the top of the filter near the headlines. I rotated the graphic around so it was at a different angle. I was going to add a third image to the filter so it was underneath and angled around the headlines. I ended up deleting the graphic since I didn't think it would keep the filter very simple.

Day 21: August 17, 2020

The objective for today's project was to create Instagram highlights. I don't know how Instagram highlights work since I don't use them when I'm on Instagram so I knew I was going to rely a lot on the templates Canva provided. I searched Instagram highlights on Canva and looked at the templates for Instagram Story Highlight Cover.

After looking at all the templates, I felt the highlight covers were similar to the Snapchat filter I made yesterday since the designs were very simple. I decided to use the heart in the thought bubble template for this project. Once the template was created, I took a look to see what Canva provides in the template.

Canva provides several pages with different covers for different story highlights. Although there are 5 pages in this template, I deleted most of the pages so I was only working on two pages for this project. Now that I had two pages ready in the canvas, I deleted the graphics and the backgrounds on the page.

Then I started to add gradients to the page. The sizing was a bit of a challenge. Most of my time was spent adjusting the size of the graphics and background.

In the original version of the template, the backgrounds were locked into place. As I was working on getting the position right for the graphics, I locked the backgrounds into place so I didn't need to worry about moving the backgrounds by accident.

Conclusion

That's a wrap on the 21 Days of Canva challenge! The challenge may be done, but I plan on revisiting the projects I've made and improving them. Are you doing the 21 Days of Canva challenge?

Share your progress and projects in the comments below. Remember the projects I set up at the end of the second round of the Disney Codes Challenge? I'm starting a brand new coding challenge tomorrow.

The next challenge is the 7 Days, 7 Websites challenge. I'll be spending the next 7 days building all the projects I set up during the Disney Codes challenge. The next post will be a recap of what happened in making these seven projects and what I was able to make.

This post was originally published on August 17, 2020 on the blog BritishPandaChick Codes. I made minor changes to the original post for DEV.