It’s easy to scroll past all the incredible advertisements in magazines and social media and think your only option is to spend hundreds of dollars a year on Photoshop to compare. But that’s simply not the case. Many of the things you can achieve with Photoshop or other expensive photo editing tools can be done for a fraction of the price using Canva.
One of these techniques is outlining. You can outline images, text, or shapes to make them pop right out of the page and catch your viewer's attention. It may look fancy, but it's actually incredibly easy.
How to Outline Images on Canva
The secret to any sort of advertisement or graphic design is doing something unique and interesting that people don’t see very often. If you crop diagonally on Canva, for example, instead of vertically, you can increase your chances of catching someone's attention. Outlining your images is another one of these examples.
Your images are great on their own, but giving them a bold or colorful outline gives your final product a more polished and professional look.
To begin, upload your image to Canva and drag it across to your project.
You can add an outline to your photograph now, but it will outline the whole thing rather than just the subject. To get the best result when outlining your image, you will need to remove the background using Canva’s Background Remover tool. This tool is only available with a Canva Pro subscription.
If it’s just a one-off image you are creating, you could always begin a free seven-day trial and cancel it later if you are no longer interested. There are plenty of things you can make on Canva as an online creator, however, so you might want to consider staying subscribed.
To remove the background of your image, select it and press Edit photo from the menu at the top of your project. Select Background Remover from the Tools section, and wait for Canva to work its magic. Sometimes the Background Remover might remove a little too much from your image. If that's the case, press Erase and Restore to tweak your image.
Once you have your final image, you’re ready to outline it. To do so, select your image, press Edit photo again, and scroll down to Effects. The tool you want this time is called Shadows. Once you find and select it, choose Outline from the provided options.
From there, you can tweak your effect by using the sliders until your outline is exactly the way you want it to be. Play around with your color options, too, to make your image stand out even more.
If you would like more of a soft shadow, select Glow instead of Outline from the Shadow options. This blurs the edges of your outline, so it is more subtle than the harsh line effect that the Outline feature gives you. You can also tweak your Glow settings to make it softer or harsher, depending on your preferences.
How to Outline Text on Canva
You will be happy to know that outlining images on Canva is by far the most difficult technique. Outlining text is even easier. It's also one of the most basic yet important graphic design tips when it comes to placing text on images. Busy backgrounds often have colors that blend in with your text, making it harder to read. Giving your text a nice, bold outline creates the clearest message possible.
To begin, select the Text icon from the side menu and choose Add a Text Box. Type your text of choice into the text box, and choose Effect from the menu at the top of the screen.
Select the Outline effect to outline your text. You can change the color and thickness of your outline using the sliders and other settings on the left side of the screen.
How to Outline Shapes on Canva
Outlining shapes is an incredibly useful technique, particularly if you are creating a logo on Canva for your company or brand. The process of outlining shapes on Canva is a little different but just as easy, and there are two methods you can choose from.
How to Create Outlines by Stacking Shapes
To begin, head to Elements and select a shape from the Shapes section or look for it directly in the search bar. Once you've got your shape at the ready, select it and change it to the color you want your outline to be. Then make a new shape and create a slightly smaller version of it.
You can make an image or shape larger or smaller by selecting it and dragging one of the four corners up or down. Place the slightly smaller shape in the middle of the larger shape, and you have made yourself a perfect outline.
How to Outline Shapes Using Border Style
Alternatively, you can select your shape, and then choose Border Style from the menu running along the top of the screen. Border style is the small icon with three horizontal lines beside the color selection icon. Select one of the border options from the drop-down menu.
Once you activate the border, a new color box will appear beside the Border Style icon, allowing you to change the color of your border. You can also select the main color of your shape and make it transparent if you only want the outline to be visible. This is particularly handy for creating instructional images.
Up Your Graphic Design Game by Outlining Images on Canva
Outlining on Canva takes all of a few minutes but drastically improves your final product. Whether you're outlining a shape, text, or images, these skills can be applied to any project you can put your mind to.
Canva doesn’t have many design tutorials, which can make finding and utilizing these tools to their full potential difficult. But thankfully for you, you have us to walk you through the process, so you can start designing like a pro.
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