How to Create Amazing Instagram Posts in Canva

Gone are the days when we had to hire a graphic designer to create flyers, banners or beautiful logos. Eye-catching social media posts can be created on the go with software solutions like Canva, Adobe Spark, and Desygner. Among them, Canva tops the popularity charts with thousands of templates designed for specific needs. For example, you can create awesome Instagram posts in Canva to attract followers using the built-in Instagram templates. Here’s how to do it.

Canva has made a name for itself in the design community over the years. This is largely thanks to the number of templates included in the software. The template experience is at the heart of Canva software, and we highly recommend starting with them to create beautiful Instagram posts.

Choose a Template

First, we will select a relevant template to begin the design process. Canva has over 100,000 templates. It can be overwhelming for new users out there. Fortunately, the company has neatly divided the templates into relevant categories to make it easier for the end user.

Stage 1: Open Canva on the desktop.

Step 2: Sign in using your account credentials and browse to the Canva homepage.

Stage 3: When you hover the mouse cursor over the Templates section at the top, you will find Social Media templates.

Step 4: Select Instagram Posts under the Social Media heading.

As you can see from the screenshot below, Canva has over 38,000 Instagram templates to choose from. Fortunately, the company has neatly divided them into various categories.

For this post we will create a Sale banner to use on Instagram.

Step 5: Select Sales.

Step 6: You’ll see hundreds of Sales templates for making changes to Canva.

You can choose a relevant Instagram template based on your brand or product. For example, Instagram posts about selling beauty products can choose a template in a pink theme. You can also choose from a variety of fashion sales templates.

Hover your mouse over a template and you’ll see which templates are free and which require a Canva Pro subscription.

Step 7: Choose your preferred template and you will see all the relevant details like the original creator, customization options, mobile friendly and more.

Step 8: Select Customize this template and Canva will take you to the editing interface.

You can also create an Instagram post from scratch. However, this defeats the purpose of using software like Canva. It is time consuming and requires knowledge of color, contrast, fonts, image selection and more.

Regular users may find it quite difficult to find great Instagram posts on Canva. So it’s better to stick with templates.

Edit Instagram Template

Now that you’ve selected a relevant template to edit in Canva, it’s time to edit it in Canva.

change color

Everything in the template is customizable. For example, if the default color theme does not interest you, change it to another theme using the color wheel at the top.

Change Picture

The default image in the template can also be changed. Click on the image background and select Delete. You can upload your custom image from computer or choose from thousands of built-in images.

While you’re here, try using different filters and effects to add a spark to the images in the Instagram post.

Apply logo

Do you know that Canva is also ideal for creating brand logos? Yes, you can easily create professional-looking logos in Canva in minutes.

If you’ve already created one, I highly recommend adding it to your Instagram post. It will create and increase your brand value.

Replace Text

You want to remove the default text from the Instagram template and add your own. First, click on the text and remove it. Then add a new text style from the left sidebar. As for text customization, you can change the text color, style, size, and more.

Play With Animation

This is our favorite from the group. Canva lets you apply different animation styles to your Instagram posts. It lives up to all the charm of your Instagram feed. Add your preferred animation effect and your post is ready to go.

Export Instagram Post

Finished editing your Instagram post in Canva? It is now ready for export. Click the Download button at the top and select the export option.

If you’ve added an animation, Canva recommends exporting the post in MP4 format. You can export the Instagram post as GIF or go with the regular PNG or JPG image formats.

Make Beautiful Instagram Posts on Canva

You can also use the Canva mobile apps to create Instagram posts, but the whole experience is best served on the web. The mobile app is good for making minor edits.

Have you created Instagram posts in Canva? Show us your creativity in the comments below.