What the font?
Okay, so the font issue is branding. Let's say you are a small business and you want to use Canva for your marketing material, if you jump right in and start using whatever template sparks your fancy and release it to the world your "branding" is essentially "whatever-is-popular-in-Canva."
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A brand is made up of fonts, colors, design elements and more. As a quick example, the flyer below on the left is the content and branding reference, the center flyer is the Canva template, the one on the right is a FedEx branded version of that flyer (no, I do not work for FedEx, I just wanted a recognizable example). The logo, colors and the fonts make it FedEx.
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Most fonts in Canva are Canva only (you need to have Canva Pro to upload your own fonts) so if you are going to use the Canva free version (either but starting free or needing to drop down in the future) you will need to use Canva fonts. This may not seem like a big deal until you or a future designer wants to use a different program for something, like anything from Adobe, or a cool new animation app (Creatopy looks interesting, haven't tried it yet but who knows).
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So the answer is to start your branding by deciding on 2-3 brand fonts that are available in Canva AND the outside of Canva. Google Fonts is free and after you download the font, it's yours. Note: if you are only using Canva you do not need to download fonts from Google, they are already in Canva (couldn't hurt to keep in on file though)
Download the pdf list above, if your main brand fonts are from this list, you and/or your designer(s) can use any program to create designs and always have your font available. Now and in the future.
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After you choose your fonts, use them from the font drop-downs in Canva or add them to your Brand Kit ("Brand" in the left navigation bar).
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In case you just landed on my site, welcome!
Just a bit about me
I am a professional graphic designer (Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, Indesign, Animate, Figma, Wix etc.) who has always been drawn to the new programs and apps that repel other designers, Microsoft Word templates, PowerPoint, GoLive. They say "Canva is basic," "Canva is limited," "Canva is stealing our jobs."
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I'm here to work with, not against what is available, and to meet you where you are. I think that means; to use a tool like Canva but look like you used professional tools like a professional designer. For you it might mean; use a tool, like Canva and make it look as good as the original Canva piece, branding be damned! Ouch, but okay.
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Take a look around, if you have not tried Canva yet, I have a simple walk through on this page (about halfway down the page) on how to edit a flyer. It's not a video, it's a screen-by-screen so you can go at your own pace and play around with it :)
