The beauty of running a digital product business is that you do not need to have a degree in graphic design or be a creative genius to build a product that is valuable, appealing and worthwhile for customers.
Take me for example! I certainly do not consider myself an artist but I’ve managed to harness the power of the accessible graphic design website, Canva, to build incredible digital products that have made me a killing online!
Canva is a user-friendly, primarily free platform to use that is very intuitive, making it ideal for creating your digital products. However, there are some rules around licensing and copyright, which you must be aware of.
What is Canva?
Canva was founded in Perth, Australia, by Melanie Perkins, Cliff Obrecht, and Cameron Adams in 2013. Since its creation, it has boomed in popularity due to just how excellent it is.
Canva is a website and app that is a graphic design tool that can be used for a wide range of creative designs, from social media, and website designs, to video and education tools. It also offers photo editing, layout design, and plenty more.
Canva is a heck of a lot easier than other graphic design tools, such as Adobe Illustrator or Adobe Photoshop, making it possible for anyone to make high-quality digital designs.
While you can get creative and make your own designs from scratch, Canva also offers more than 250,000 templates and stock photos, videos, animations, and graphics. You can opt for a free membership or go full steam ahead with a paid membership that gives access to even more templates, photos and graphics. The prices range from $30/USD a month to $119/USD a year, depending on your specific needs.
Those who opt for Canva for free can remove an image’s watermark by purchasing a license to use that specific content for $1 without needing a requirement.
Anyone can make a Canva account using either an email, Google account, or Facebook login.
Can I Sell What I Create on Canva?
The general rule of thumb for staying within the legal caveat of Canva is that it’s not allowed to use an existing Canva graphic template, then add your own information, and then sell it for profit. Using a Canva template and adding your own designs, even if they are your own images, is not considered original work, making it strictly against the law and violating Canva’s copyright.
If you do not intend to sell the Canva template that is personalized with your own information, it is absolutely allowed for marketing purposes! This means that you can use Canva’s templates for marketing pieces like business flyers, advertisements, blog posts, social media photos, social media videos, graphics, etc.
Aside from the templates, Canva offers completely free content that can be used for resale, commercial and non-commercial use. This includes Canva’s photos, music, and video files. So yes, you can use their free content, however, you must do so on a completely original template, 100% made by yourself.
Another interesting point is business logos. Yes, you can create your business logo on Canva, and many people do! However, it needs to be 100% original, which means you cannot use free content (images, photos, graphics etc) to form your logo. You can, however, use Canva’s fonts, basic shapes and lines to create the logo.
You can learn more in my Digital Shop From Scratch masterclass about Canva for some important tips and tricks!
What Are Canva Terms and Conditions To Be Aware of?
When you sign up to use Canva, it comes with a unique set of terms and conditions that you have to agree to. We’re all guilty of hitting “I Agree” without a ton of thought, right? Well, here are a few terms on Canva to be aware of:
- When Canva grants you one of its licenses, by paying for it, you cannot transfer that license to a third party, since you don’t have permission to do that. If you do it, it is called sub-licensing, and it’s illegal.
- You cannot use Canva trademarks on your work or use a watermark that closely resembles a Canva trademark.
- You cannot sell, license, rent, modify, distribute, copy, reproduce, transmit, publicly display, publicly perform, publish, adapt, edit or create derivative works from any Canva Content—that is not 100% originally yours, as explained above.
If a user is not careful, Canva can suspend or terminate your account, or worse, there can be legal repercussions.
Who Has Copyright Ownership Of Canva Creations?
Copyright and ownership all come down to the design. If you go on Canva and create an original design, you’re then the copyright holder.
However, if you used any third-party content (such as stock photos available on the Canva library) in your digital product, the ownership is subject to those third-party rights.
Which Digital Products Can Be Made on Canva?
As Canva is easy to use, you can get started on your beautiful digital product today! I’ve curated some ideas below to inspire you on what you can create on Canva:
- Workbooks: workbooks can cover self-care, learning a language, organizing your closet, etc. The options are endless!
- E-Books: eBooks can be on whatever subject you want! The book can focus on a particular concept, business idea or sell something. This is a popular choice for bloggers, writers and entrepreneurs.
- Templates: Templates are very versatile and popular. Interesting templates include resumes, social media, invoices, budgets, website designs, and more!
- Stationary: Customized stationery makes a great digital product! You may think letters are a thing of the past, but the truth is far from that.
- Invitations: Selling beautiful, personalized invitations for life’s big events such as weddings, birthdays and baby showers are a great digital product.
- Organization Tools: Items like journals, shopping lists, and calendars are extremely popular products that everyone can use to get their life in order.
- Online courses and educational products: Use your knowledge and skills to create valuable educational tools to educate others.
Are you still looking for inspiration on what digital product you can create? Download my FREE guide on Digital Product Ideas.
Conclusion
Canva is an incredible tool for anyone wishing to create professional, valuable and desirable digital products.
By creating your own, customized and 100% original digital product on Canva, you are able to go on and sell the product. You must ensure it’s all yours and that you do not copy Canva’s or any other third-party’s templates.
It is important to practice care when using Canva to not violate the site’s terms and conditions. You simply can not sell a digital product that is not rightfully yours. If you get involved in a copyright issue, it can be the end of your digital product business pretty quickly.
So, as long as you get a little creative, you can absolutely take advantage of the platform’s stellar advantages.
