Canva is a great software that opens opportunity for everyone to become a graphic designer. Al least for personal use. This graphic design software enables anyone to create simple designs like birthday invitation to more complex ones like marketing materials such as flyers, brochures and so on.

Canva is a web-based application so you don’t have to install new app on your machine to run it. Just access Canva from your web browser and you can start working. For freelancers who frequently involving graphic designs on their projects, and they don’t have a design skill, Canva is absolutely a great solution. They don’t have to hire graphic designer to create the needed design-related materials.

Other benefits of using Canva is that you can work collaboratively with your team on certain designs. Canva itself is a freemium graphic design software. In order to get the most out of this software you better upgrade your free account, especially if you use it as a tool to support your business.

Despite its main function as a graphic design tool, there are other things you can do with Canva. Below are 5 things you can do with Canva.

1. Create better social media posts

Today, nearly all businesses have social media channels to promote what they sell. Maintaining social media accounts is not an easy task. You need to create as attractive as possible contents to gain more interactions. Many studies showed that posts containing images have better performances in gaining interactions. The problem is, not all social media managers have the capability to design something for social media posts.

This is how Canva comes into play. This tool will help you to create social media materials. Whether you need to create social media materials for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram to Pinterest, you can get them done with Canva. There are thousands of attractive layout design you can choose from. Starting from free to paid ones.

2. Create your own ebook cover

Some people say to not judge the book by its cover. It’s great. Content is the king, do doubt. However, the outside part of something remains important. In the context of book, a good cover can provide a good impression as well, which can affect the reading interest of those who see it.

If you want to be an indie book writer, you can take advantage of Canva to create an attractive cover of you work. There are also thousand layouts yo can choose from so you can choose which one best suited to the concept of your book. In addition to book cover, Canva can also helps indie musicians who want to sell CDs. You can also use this design software to create CD cover.

3. Create marketing materials in minutes

If you are are someone who work in a marketing division at certain firm and often get a task to create marketing materials, Canva is also a great tool to get them done, in minutes. You can take advantage of this tool to create marketing materials such as poster, flyer and brochure. Again, there are thousand layouts you can take advantage of. All you need to do is just replacing the default contents of the layout you choose and tailor it with your needs.

4. Create beautiful event invitations

Want to create an event invitation but have no idea about the concept? Or you have no design skill to create one, may be.

Anytime you are in such situation, try to visit Canva to get some enlightenment. There are thousand ready-to-use invitation layouts you can use. From birthday invitation to wedding invitation.

5. Earn extra money

This is the point of this post anyway. Many people have known that Canva is a great online tool to create designs. As I have mentioned above, there are plenty type of designs you can create using Canva. From social media posts, marketing materials to event invitation. However, I am pretty sure that only few of you knew this. You can also take advantage of Canva to generate extra money. Really? Sure.

If you are a photographer or illustrator and want to earn extra money, you can submit your works to Canva. As you can see when creating design in Canva. When you search for certain photos or layouts, you will sometimes see paid results. All paid contents available at Canva, whether photos or illustrations, are coming from contributors. In Canva, they are licensed for $1 under Canva’s One Time Use License. Contributors will earn a 35% royalty every time their works get used in a Canva design. 35% of $1 is $0.35. It’s a bigger amount than commission from iStock for a single photo sold. Not bad. Visit here to try your luck.