Canva

Canva is a very popular on-line utility available as a free or paid pro version. It is ideal for creating social media images, often called a ’tiles’. It is not ideal for use in book printing but a savvy person might be able to use it successfully within its limitations.  It can be difficult to get bleed and crop marks set up suitable for print.

Getting colours right for printing can also be problematic.

Both digital and social media printing digital printing works with CMYK colours (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black), whereas RGB (Red, Green, Blue) is designed for screens such as phones, TVs, and computers. If your artwork is created in RGB, it can appear quite different once printed. That’s because RGB colours tend to look more vivid on screens, which are backlit and naturally enhance brightness and contrast. In print, however, colours won’t achieve the same level of brightness or vibrancy as they do on a screen.

To get the best possible print result, set your document to CMYK from the beginning when using design software like Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, or Photoshop. This helps ensure the final output matches your expectations more closely.

If you’re designing in Canva, your work will default to RGB using HEX colour values. However, Canva Pro allows you to export your design as a CMYK print-ready PDF.