Course description

You can already make a post or a flyer in Canva. The hard part is making everything look like it comes from the same business: the social posts, the shop signs, the price labels, the business cards, the email header and the slides you show a new customer. This course shows you how to build a simple, consistent brand and then a full marketing kit in Canva, step by step.

It's a full course, not a quick tour. There are 10 sections and 50 written lessons. You follow the owner of a small refill shop in Ilkley from January to June 2026 as she audits 24 mismatched designs, works out what her shop stands for, builds a new logo, colours and fonts, sets up Canva so everything stays on brand, and launches a new look across social media, print, her website and a pitch to a trade customer. Every section has a worksheet, model answers, a cheat sheet and ready-made checklists, specs and spreadsheet workbooks.

What you'll learn

• Brand foundations: a design audit, knowing your customers, positioning, three brand words, a tagline and a brand voice on one page.
• Visual identity: a logo built from shapes and type, logo versions and files, brand colours with checked contrast, fonts and a type scale.
• Photos and guidelines: a photo style, using stock content within Canva's licence, layout rules and an eight-page brand guide.
• Canva set-up: a Brand Kit, master templates with locked elements, folders, sharing templates safely and a pre-publish checklist.
• Your marketing kit: social posts, stories, covers and a content calendar; business and loyalty cards, posters, shelf labels, signs and packaging labels; email headers, website banners, gift vouchers, a pitch deck and documents.
• Launching and keeping it consistent: a launch plan, using AI tools carefully, accessibility, a consistency review and updating your brand over time.

Who it's for

UK small business owners, sole traders and their staff, and anyone who runs a charity, club or community group, who already knows Canva basics. You can follow it on Canva's free plan; lessons point out what paid plans add. It ends with a final project: your own brand guidelines, Brand Kit, templates, marketing kit and launch plan.

What will I learn?

• Audit your existing designs and decide what to keep, redo or retire
• Write a one-page brand strategy with positioning, three brand words, a tagline and a voice
• Build a logo from shapes and type with every version you need, within Canva's licence
• Choose brand colours and fonts that pass contrast checks and work on screen and in print
• Set up a Brand Kit, master templates and folders, and share templates safely with helpers
• Make a social media kit, a print kit (cards, posters, shelf labels, signs and packaging labels) and a digital and sales kit
• Get print files right, with bleed, PDF Print and proofs
• Launch a new look, check every design with a pre-publish checklist and keep your brand consistent

Frequently asked questions