Originally published at: http://www.sitepoint.com/infographics-with-canva-tutorial/
With a whopping 800% increase in search traffic for the word “infographic” between 2010-2012, it is no surprise that infographics are a hot ticket item in 2015. Online applications like Canva are capitalizing on this infographic trend and making sharing information easier than before.
A few weeks ago everyone was talking about THAT infamous “dress”. For anyone who was away from Earth recently and that missed the biggest controversy of 2015, don’t panic! We’re going to put you “in the know” by creating an explanatory infographic in Canva.
That Dress and the Raw Numbers
Before we can start creating an infographic of any type we need to gather our data. The following statistics come from the good people at Facebook Data Science.
According to Facebook:
- 58% of Facebook users saw The Dress as white and gold
- 42% of Facebook users saw The Dress as black and blue
- Men were 6% more likely to see The Dress as black and blue
- More mobile users saw The Dress as white and gold
- Facebook users between the ages of 13-17 were more likely to declare The Dress as black and blue
- Facebook users between 55-64 were more likely to declare The Dress as white and gold
- By 12AM EST more users saw The Dress as black and blue as opposed to earlier in the day more than likely due to the dilemma being solved
Getting Started
For those who are not familiar with Canva, it is a free online web app that can be used to design all sorts of graphic design materials. From presentations to menus to social media headers, Canva makes designing a lot easier especially for non-designers.
Signing up for Canva really takes only a minute. You have the choice of either logging in via your Facebook page or creating a quick account.
Once you have registered and activated your account through the e-mail you were sent you will be taken to the main dashboard. Here you can see some of the design formats you can create.
Because Canva as of right now doesn’t have a design template designated for creating infographics you’ll have to settle for the Blog Graphic template. Don’t worry though because this template is more than doable to create most infographics you need to make.
Designing in Your Dashboard
Unlike a lot of web apps, Canva doesn’t give you a pop-up walkthrough but everything is pretty self-explanatory. The dashboard, you will come to find out is very easy to navigate for all your designing needs. To the left you will find 5 tabs that offer various designing elements and customizations for you to work.
Search
The Search tab will be your go-to area for most of your design elements. You will find various sub-groups like lines, illustrations and photos which will typically make up the basis for your design.
Layouts
Depending on the template you choose after login you will find different pre-made layouts for you to use and build upon if you choose to use them.
Text
Here beneath the Text tab you will find preloaded text options and layouts but can also customize how certain text formats will appear.
Background
With the Background tab you can very easily change the color of your canvas or add the textured or patterned backgrounds that are provided.
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