Learn and develop essential graphic design skills using the Canva website and create engaging projects such as infographics, animated videos, social media posts, and logos.

In this interactive 4-week beginner class, learners will have the opportunity to explore, create, and receive teacher support and coaching with 4 different graphic design projects on the Canva website. Canva has become an essential program for designing professional-looking presentations, posters, logos, greeting cards, short videos, infographics, social media images, and more! This class will build learner proficiency in graphic design skills including effective arrangement of text, images, lines, and shapes; and choosing fonts, colors, photos, and clip art that suit the style and purpose of a design. Learners will explore various ways to create designs that communicate a theme or message effectively using the Canva tools available to them.

During each class session, learners will have the opportunity to work on a specific Canva project (different each class) that will help them explore important features of the Canva program in context, and allow them to showcase their personal interests. 

**CLASS SESSION AGENDAS & PROJECTS:
Lesson 1: Infographic describing yourself and your personal interests (8.5 x 11 inch page design)
- Skills taught: Overview of text options, using Canva image menu (clip art, photos, video), importing your own images, shapes, lines, arrangement of items, color choice, background

Lesson 2: Logos for a pretend business of your own choosing
- Skills taught: Developing a brand identity through choice of colors, fonts, and signature images; designing a logo in various formats (circle, square, rectangle, banner, etc.)

Lesson 3: Social media graphic (Instagram “carousel” post style) providing information about a topic that interests you (ex: tips for success in a certain sport or activity, facts most people don’t know about a topic, reasons to be concerned about a particular cause, advertisement for a product/service, etc.)
- Skills taught: Using design options to effectively convey a main idea and supporting details across multiple pages in a specific space, maintaining design consistency from page to page

Lesson 4: Short animated video about yourself and/or a topic that interests you (Horizontal “YouTube” style OR vertical TikTok/Instagram Reels style)
- Skills taught: Designing video frames/slides, text/image animation options in Canva, frame/slide timing, transitions, flow of video to convey a message effectively

Learners are encouraged to freely explore the various options in the Canva menu when creating projects during class and figure out how the options can be used for the class session’s specific project. The teacher serves as a coach and guide for learners by demonstrating various design techniques and menu options, troubleshooting learner projects, and helping learners develop ideas through questions and conversation. Time will also be provided at the end of each class session for learners to share their work with classmates, if they wish.

**WHO SHOULD TAKE THIS CLASS?:
- Students with some previous Canva design experience who want to develop their skills and learn more about graphic design
- Students with no Canva experience (or very little) who want to learn the basics

**TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS:
- A laptop or desktop computer is REQUIRED for this class. (No tablets, please!) 
- A Canva account is REQUIRED for this class and this Canva account should be created specifically for the learner only. (This can be a Canva account you already have OR a new one if you’ve never used Canva before.) **NOTE: All learners in this class are 13 years old and up so Canva accounts can be managed by the learner themselves. However, Canva does require an email address for sign up. If the learner does not have their own email address, please verify with a parent which email address to use instead.
- Canva is a FREE online program, but does offer a paid PRO version. Either the Free or Pro versions are suitable for this class.