A lot of the artwork we get these days comes from Canva, and that’s great. It’s easy to use and you can make something that looks really good. But a few settings make all the difference between a file that prints perfectly and one with white edges or text cut off.
If you want the general version of this, we have a guide to getting any artwork print ready. This one is just for Canva.
1. Start At The Right Size
Don’t start from a social media template and resize it later. Click Create A Design, then Custom Size, and choose millimetres. Type in the finished size of your print. Some common ones:
- Business card: 85 x 55mm
- A6 flyer: 105 x 148mm
- A5 flyer: 148 x 210mm
- A4 flyer or letterhead: 210 x 297mm
Each product page on our site shows the sizes we print, so check there first if you’re not sure.
2. Turn On Print Bleed
Bleed is a little extra background past the edge that gets trimmed off. Without it, you can get a thin white line round the edge after cutting.
In Canva, open the File menu, go to Settings and tick Show Print Bleed. A dashed line appears round your design. Stretch any background colours and photos right out to the outer edge, past that line.
3. Keep Text Inside The Safe Area
With bleed turned on, Canva also shows a margin inside the edge. Keep all your text, logos and anything important inside it. Anything outside can be trimmed off. As a rule of thumb, stay at least 3mm in from the edge, more on small things like business cards.
4. Use Good Quality Images
Canva will happily let you use a small image and stretch it, and it will look fine on screen. In print it will be blurry. Upload the original photo, not a screenshot, and don’t enlarge it much past the size it was.
5. Watch Out For Thin Lines And Tiny Text
Very thin lines and text under about 6pt can disappear in print. If you have to squint to read it on screen at 100%, it’s too small.
6. Download As PDF Print
This is the bit most people miss. Click Share, then Download, and choose PDF Print (not PDF Standard or PNG). Then:
- Tick Crop marks and bleed.
- Tick Flatten PDF, which stops fonts and effects shifting.
- If you have Canva Pro, set the colour profile to CMYK. If you don’t, it’s still fine to send, just know very bright colours can print a touch duller. We explain why in why you can’t print RGB colours.
7. Double Sided? Two Pages
For a double sided print, make page one the front and page two the back, in the same file. Download them together as one PDF.
Send It Over
Upload your PDF when you order and we’ll check it over before anything is printed. If something isn’t right, we’ll tell you. And if Canva just isn’t your thing, choose Use Our Designer and we’ll set it all up for you. Our artwork guidelines have the full details.
