A Fission team training for our graphic designer on how to use the free design tool Canva to create great social share images.

1. Featured Images
on Canva Training
Marice Sy

2. Featured Images Must Be
Simple(so they’re easy to make)
Beautiful(to attract audiences)
Informative(to support content)
Legal (to keep us out of trouble)

3. Image Specs
1720 x 1066 px
72 dpi

4. INSPIRATION

5. A Good Photo
#1

6. Decorative Text + Photo + Overlay
#2

7. #3
Icon / Illustration + Background

8. #4
Icon + Text

9. #5
Collage

10. #5
Text Driven

11. Hall of Nope
Good image, but low res. Good image, wrong dimensions. Good image, but add a vignette. Wrong dimensions, image does not
inform the content.

12. Hall of Yup
Simple, high-res image that informs
the content it is advertising.
Simple, informative, beautiful, and
totally legal.
Subtle vignette helps the white
background.
Informative and beautiful

13. Yay Kristin!

14. Featured Image Checklist
❏Your featured image is sized at 1720 x 1066
❏You do not have all-white edges on your image.
❏The image is bright, friendly, and beautiful.
❏The text in your image is legible.
❏Your featured image informs the content.
❏You have attributed the photographer/icon maker in your blog post.

15. Royalty-Free Stock Photo Resources
Pexels (https://www.pexels.com/)
Pixabay (https://pixabay.com/)
Gratistography (http://www.gratisography.com/)
Little Visuals (http://littlevisuals.co/)
New Old Stock (http://nos.twnsnd.co/)
Picjumbo (https://picjumbo.com/)
Unsplash (https://unsplash.com/)
SplitShire (http://www.splitshire.com/)
Superfamous (http://images.superfamous.com/)
Stockvault (http://www.stockvault.net/)

16. More Resources
Flickr Creative Commons (https://www.flickr.com/creativecommons/)
IMCreator Photos(http://www.imcreator.com/free)
You can also check out https://blog.bufferapp.com/free-image-sources-list for a free list
of more stock photo options.
The Noun Project (https://thenounproject.com) is a great resource for free icons,
although many of them require attribution.
When you download a PNG that requires attribution, simply crop out the
attribution line and credit the maker at the bottom of your blog post and in the
Featured Image description.

17. Writing a blog?
Noice.
Read the Blog Checklist first.

18. Canva Tutorial

19. A Quick intro to the Canva Interface

20. Setting Up Your Featured Image
1. Click “Use Custom Dimensions” in the upper-right.
2. Enter 1720 x 1066 px
3. Click “Design”!

21. Uploading Your Own Image
1. Click “uploads” on the left sidebar.
2. Drag + Drop your image into your browser, or click

22. I want to collaborate on designs!
1. Great idea!
2. Click on “share” on the upper-right corner
3. Enter the email address of the person with whom you want to collaborate
4. Tick “Share/email as a collaborative design”.
5. Here’s Canva’s tutorial on how to do that.

23. Canva is really intuitive.
You really don’t need an instruction manual to learn how to use it.
The best way to learn how to use it is to play around with it for a few minutes.
To guide you on your way, here is the Canva Tutorial Page.