Canva Digital Signage: All you need to know to get started [2024 Guide]

Canva digital signage can be your secret weapon for creating engaging content that attracts, informs and converts. Here’s how to get started.

In the ever-evolving realm of digital signage, creating visually appealing content to capture the attention of your target audience is both an art and a science. Digital signage is much more than displaying images and videos on a screen. It’s a powerful communication tool that can be leveraged to take your business to the next level.

It’s no secret that the success of any digital signage campaign hinges on one crucial element: compelling design. Your message has to be not only clear and striking but also blend seamlessly with your brand identity. And that’s not always easy, especially when time and resources are limited.

That’s where flexible online design tools like Canva step into the spotlight. Whether you’re a skilled designer or just starting out, using Canva for digital signage is a great way to create stunning designs for your screens with minimum effort.

In this guide, we’ll go over the benefits of effective digital signage content and how Canva can help you achieve your goals along with a practical step-by-step guide to help you harness the full potential of Canva for your digital signage needs.

Why is Digital Signage Content Important?

No matter how advanced your digital signage CMS is and how wide your screens are, they’re only going to be as impactful as the content they display. Content remains king and the world of digital signage is no exception. Here’s why digital signage content is the most crucial factor for your communication objectives:

Visually appealing content is more likely to capture the attention of employees, potential customers and passersby, increasing your chances of getting your message across effectively

In settings burdened with heavy visual clutter like retail stores and classrooms, well-designed content with appropriate fonts, text size and contrast can ensure the clarity of your message

Eye-catching content is key to communicating time-sensitive information like news, announcements, schedule changes, updates, deals and promotions

Digital signage content has the potential to enhance your brand identity and boost awareness by creating a memorable visual experience for your audience

Delivering tailored content for specific personas, demographics and locations is a foolproof way to increase customer satisfaction and loyalty

Certain colors, images, fonts and other visual elements are known to evoke emotions that influence decision-making and the viewers’ perception of your brand’s reliability and credibility

Digital signage design that takes into account accessibility features like audio transcripts, captions and background contrast will guarantee that your content can be enjoyed by everyone

If you are using digital signage for wayfinding, your design will help visitors find their way in a user-friendly and intuitive way

Visually appealing and entertaining content is especially important for improving customer experience in waiting areas of hotels, banks, hospitals and restaurants

Benefits of Using Canva for Digital Signage Content

Now that the importance of creating effective digital signage design is clear, it’s time to take a look at how Canva can help you reach your goals. You won’t need any particular design skills or a dedicated creative team to ensure that your digital signage efforts are successful. Canva offers an abundance of features and tools that will make the creation process as smooth as possible. More specifically, these are the most important benefits of using Canva for digital signage:

Canva is one of the most popular online design tools due to its user-friendly interface and intuitive user experience that speed up the design process with a drag-and-drop editor

Canva supports all kinds of media including images, animations, GIFs, and videos. On top of that, it provides a large collection of stock photos, icons and illustrations that you can use in your designs

Canva offers a vast library of templates for any kind of purpose like celebrations, presentations, promotions, announcements and many more

You can easily customize the size and orientation of your designs, create and upload new media like logos and images or combine templates and different elements to create designs that suit your brand identity

With a paid plan, Canva allows multiple users to collaborate on designs in real time, making cooperation with your colleagues, employees or clients much easier

Take advantage of Canva’s branding tools to maintain consistency throughout your digital signage designs by setting up default brand colors and fonts or reusable templates

Getting Started with Canva for Digital Signage

So you have signed up for a Canva account, and you used all of its tools and features to create designs that are bound to amaze your target audience and skyrocket your brand’s power. What’s next? Now it’s time to integrate the content you have created on Canva with the digital signage software that will deliver it to your screens. 

Normally, for that to happen, you would have to export the designs, make sure that file formats, resolutions and aspect ratios are as intended and then reupload everything to a digital signage CMS before finally being able to schedule when and where each piece of content should be displayed.

Luckily for you, Canva is one of the most recent additions to Yodeck’s long list of free digital signage apps, making things easier than ever before. 

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to display your Canva designs on any number of screens with Yodeck:

1. Login to your Canva account
2. Click “Share”, click “More” and choose the “Embed” option
3. Copy the “Smart embed” link 
4. Login to Yodeck
5. Go to “Apps” and select “Canva App”
6. Paste the “Smart embed” link into the “Canva URL” field

That’s all! Now you can include all your Canva designs to a playlist and push them to your screens in just a few clicks. 

Yodeck & Canva: A Recipe for Success

To recap, digital signage content is the backbone of a successful digital signage strategy, as it plays a pivotal role in delivering messages, engaging viewers and influencing customer behavior. 

Canva is a powerful design tool that will allow you to create compelling content that aligns with your business objectives with minimum time resources or design skills.

And with Yodeck’s award-winning digital signage software, now you can use your designs for digital signage only in a few clicks. And the best part? You can use Canva with Yodeck completely for free, for one screen.