How to Make Money Using Canva — Sell Your Design Skills
Joy Wallet is advertiser-supported: we may earn compensation from the products and offers mentioned in this article. However, any expressed opinions are our own and aren't influenced by compensation. To read our full disclosure, click here.
The size of the gig economy has been increasing at a consistent pace. According to Statista, the gross volume of the gig economy is projected to reach $455.2 billion in 2023. It stood at $401.4 billion the year before — nearly a 13.5% increase. As the gig economy fires on all cylinders, more and more people are looking for ways to make extra money or turn their passions into a legit side hustle.
Whether you're looking to pay off debt or save for a big purchase, endless opportunities are available in the gig economy. You could become a delivery driver, sign-up for a ridesharing service, provide online tutoring, join an e-commerce website like Shopify or Etsy, rent out your property on Airbnb, walk dogs (really), play video games, lend your voice on Audible, join a freelancing website like Fiverr or Upwork — I could go on and on! The internet has made monetizing your skills and making money online easier than ever.
In this article, we'll explore one such opportunity: Canva.com, a design powerhouse used by bloggers, graphic designers, and content creators for digital marketing professionals.
In this article
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
What is Canva?
Founded in 2013 by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams, Australia-based Canva is an online design and publishing tool. Remember those days when you spent hours upon hours trying to create graphics? Canva takes that away by doing all the heavy lifting in this creative market. In its early days as a startup, 750,000 users signed up on the platform in its first year. Today, the graphic design platform caters to over 100 million users per month. Canva hosts over 10 billion designs, and the platform is available for desktop, iOS, and Android.
So, what exactly can you make via Canva? Anything and everything really! Business cards, resumes, planners, infographics and charts, ebooks and logos, printables, and print on demand like -shirts and mugs are just some of the examples. Canva provides templates that you can edit with ease. You can choose an image from Canva's vast library, or if you've seen something on the interwebs, Canva allows you to add that too. The platform offers various design tools that can be edited to your liking.
But Canva is perhaps best known for its intuitive and user-friendly interface, which allows users to create designs without jumping through extra hoops. I've used Canva multiple times (mostly for resumes), and each experience was smooth. I've already mentioned the text editing part, but you can also change fonts, and the color palette, add images, and crop them to your liking and specific needs. There's also drag-and-drop functionality for quick and easy design creations.
Another standout quality is Canva's collaborative features. If you're working on an ambitious design and would like your teammates to pitch in, Canva allows team members to collaborate in real-time, share feedback and ideas, and assign specific roles and responsibilities to different members. The best part? The platform is integrated with apps like Dropbox, Google Drive, and Trello.
Canva offers a free and paid subscription plan with varying access levels to features and design assets. The free plan lets you access a limited number of templates; I will concur that it has enough tricks up its sleeves to meet most, if not all, of your design needs. But the paid version unlocks the platform's full potential and lets you add some oomph to your designs. Canva currently offers two paid subscription plans:
- Canva Pro: This one is aimed at individuals and professional designers looking for unlimited access to premium content. The free plan gives you over 250,000 templates, but Canva Pro unlocks unlimited access to premium templates and over 100 million premium stock photos, videos, graphs, and much more. The Pro account will cost you $54.99 per year.
- Canva Teams: Designed for teams of all sizes to collaborate easily, Canva Teams includes everything in Pro and then some. Canva Teams costs $84.90 annually for the first five people. If you add more team members to the plan, the price will go up.
Each of these paid plans comes with a 30-day trial, so if you think it's not for you for any reason, you can cancel before the trial period ends.
Canva is also 100% free for primary and secondary teachers, their students, and K-12 teachers and students. Overall, Canva.com is the go-to choice for creating quality designs quickly and easily. This makes it an excellent tool for creating visually appealing content.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
How to make money on Canva?
If you're interested in making money on Canva, there are several ways you can go about it.
Sell designs on Canva's marketplace
This is a no-brainer because creating designs and related digital products is what Canva is all about. Selling ready-to-use designs on Canva's marketplace is a solid way to monetize your creativity and earn money. As noted, Canva's marketplace has a vast selection of design templates, and graphics users can browse and purchase. By creating and selling your designs, designers can reach millions of people looking for high-quality design assets for their projects.
Officially called Canva Creators, you can work your own hours. That means no timesheets, no deadlines to worry about, and no quotas to meet. There are three design categories you can sell:
- Templates: These are your run-of-the-mill templates. Think resumes, infographics, and charts. You can either build free templates to get a feel of the platform and build your cred, or you can go pro and start earning some dough. It's important to have an existing portfolio because otherwise, you can't complete your application.
- Elements: This includes illustrations, icons, videos, and photos. The program was such a hit that Canva closed new applications for Elements. You can still register your interest, however.
- Educational resources: Open only to accredited teachers, educators, and trainers, the program is currently in beta. You'll be invited to sign up for this program upon a successful application.
To provide design services on Canva, you'll need to create an account on the platform and apply to become a Canva contributor. Once accepted, you can start creating and uploading your designs to the marketplace. Canva has specific guidelines for the types of designs that can be uploaded, so it's essential to review the requirements carefully before submitting anything for review.
As for the money, Canva employs a revenue-sharing model where designers earn a percentage of the sale price for each design sold. This can be a great way to generate passive income because whenever your design is purchased, you earn a royalty — literally earn money while you sleep. As a creator, you can track earnings and sales on Canva's platform, making monitoring your progress and optimizing designs for better sales easy.
Canva's marketplace allows designers to showcase their creativity and earn an income. By creating high-quality designs and leveraging Canva's extensive content on optimizing designs for better sales, you can earn good money and establish a strong presence on the platform.
Use Canva to create designs for clients
Calling all freelance designers! If you don't want to sign up for Canva Creators, you can use the platform to offer your services to clients and monetize your design skills. But to use Canva to create beautiful designs for your clients, you must understand the platform's ins and outs. Put another way; designers should have a grip on the platform's capabilities to create appealing custom designs that meet their clients' needs.
Canva offers a ton of design formats, including social media graphics, presentations, flyers, social media templates, and posters — and there's a lot more where that came from. On the money-making part: As a designer, you can create designs for clients and charge a fee for your services based on the complexity and scope of the project.
To create designs for clients on Canva, you should understand the basics of design principles, including color theory, typography, and composition. You should also be proficient in using Canva's design tool, including image editing, layouts, and customization features. But if you're new, Canva offers a vast library of resources and tutorials. You can use this content to improve your skills and stay up-to-date with the latest design trends and techniques.
Offer design courses or tutorials
This one doesn't involve Canva, but if you have a solid understanding of Canva's design philosophy, you could be making money from your knowledge. If you're passionate and like sharing your design experience and ideally have experience selling Canva templates, you can create design online courses and tutorials and sell them on platforms like Udemy, Skillshare, or Teachable.
- Udemy: Like Canva, Udemy has a revenue-sharing plan too. If someone buys a course using your unique link, you keep 97% of the revenue, less a 30% fee imposed by Apple's App Store and Android's Google Play. If a sale doesn't occur through your link, Udemy will pay you a 37% royalty.
- Skillshare: Teachers on Skillshare earn an average of $200 monthly, but more tenured teachers are raking in upwards of $3,000 monthly, according to accounts online. Skillshare says its top-earning instructors make over $100,000 each year. But it'll take a lot of time to get to that level, especially if you're new to the design world.
Whatever platform you choose, your courses and tutorials can cover various topics, such as design principles, Canva tutorials and best practices, and specific design techniques. As a designer, you can choose your medium of choice. It can be videos, articles, or interactive quizzes.
By offering these courses and tutorials, you can establish yourself as an expert in your field and build a loyal following.
Canva affiliate program
According to Influencer Marketing Hub, the affiliate marketing industry is set to grow to $15.7 billion by 2024. And if you have your own website that attracts a decent amount of traffic, you could seize this opportunity to make money.
Canva's affiliate program allows you to earn a commission by promoting its premium subscription service, Canva Pro. To begin, you must first register as an affiliate. In the application, you'll be asked questions about your business model — whether it's about content or reviews, deals or coupons, or whether you're a social influencer, to name a few. You can also choose where you'd like to promote Canva, like a website, a mobile app, a podcast, or a newsletter. Canva says the application takes five minutes to complete. Canva typically takes on design influencers, design educators, and people whose design-related website attracts over a million monthly visits.
Once you've signed up and are approved, you can promote Canva Pro. As an affiliate, you can earn as much as $36 for each new Canva Pro subscriber that signs up with your unique referral link. Canva's affiliate tracking software lets you track your results, and you get access to priority support via email and live chat.
Canva also offers affiliate resources to get the most out of this program. This includes how-to guides, ad templates dedicated to affiliates, community tips, and news.
Earn Real Money Fast by Filling Out Surveys!
- Sign up for FREE & complete your profile
- Earn points for taking surveys
- Redeem your points for cash or gift cards
- $55k+ Paid to Survey Junkie members daily
- Complete 3+ surveys a day, earn up to $100/mo.
Pros and cons
Pros
- Large user base: Canva has a vast user base — over 100 million monthly active users, to be precise. This makes it an excellent platform for designers to reach a wide audience and potentially earn more money.
- User-friendly: Canva's platform is user-friendly, intuitive and easy to navigate, removing any technical barrier for you to create and sell designs and make money.
- A ton of design formats: Canva supports a wide range of design formats, including social media graphics, presentations, newsletters, resumes, and much, much more. This provides designers ample opportunities to choose the medium they're proficient in.
- Revenue-sharing model: Canva has a revenue-sharing model, allowing designers to take a cut of the sale price for each design sold.
- Help on each step: Regardless of how you choose to leverage Canva to make money, there's a ton of educational material on their website to help you.
Cons
- Competition: With so many people offering their designs, competition can be stiff. This might make it challenging for new designers to establish themselves on the platform.
- Quality control: Canva has strict guidelines for the quality of designs offered on its platform, which may prove challenging for some to get their designs approved.
The bottom line
Canva offers an excellent opportunity for anyone to make money and turn their passion for design into a profitable side hustle or a full-time small business. With its large user base and generous revenue-sharing model, the platform allows designers to showcase their talents. On the flip side, it's essential to keep in mind the challenges that may come with it, such as competition and strict quality control guidelines. However, if you know what you're getting into and can optimize content for better sales, you can make bank. Glassdoor estimates that a Canva designer makes an average of over $88,000 per year.
Joy Wallet is an independent publisher and comparison service, not an investment advisor, financial advisor, loan broker, insurance producer, or insurance broker. Its articles, interactive tools and other content are provided to you for free, as self-help tools and for informational purposes only. They are not intended to provide investment advice. Joy Wallet does not and cannot guarantee the accuracy or applicability of any information in regard to your individual circumstances. We encourage you to seek personalized advice from qualified professionals regarding specific investment issues. Featured estimates are based on past market performance, and past performance is not a guarantee of future performance.
Our site doesn’t feature every company or financial product available on the market. We are compensated by our partners, which may influence which products we review and write about (and where those products appear on our site), but it in no way affects our recommendations or advice. Our editorials are grounded on independent research. Our partners cannot pay us to guarantee favorable reviews of their products or services.
We value your privacy. We work with trusted partners to provide relevant advertising based on information about your use of Joy Wallet’s and third-party websites and applications. This includes, but is not limited to, sharing information about your web browsing activities with Meta (Facebook) and Google. All of the web browsing information that is shared is anonymized. To learn more, click on our Privacy Policy link.
Images appearing across JoyWallet are courtesy of shutterstock.com.
Writer
Jasir Jawaid is Joy Wallet's Assistant Editor. He has more than 13 years of experience as a journalist covering Wall Street, equities, financial policy and regulation, and cryptocurrency and blockchain.
Share this article
