Equinet Academy
Create Professional-Grade Visuals with Proficient Canva Skills
Course Description
What is This Course About?
This WSQ Canva Design Course is designed to help you move beyond simply “using Canva” to thinking and executing like a production designer. You will learn how to research concepts, apply core design principles, and translate ideas into professional, production-ready visuals that are aligned with branding goals and commercial objectives.
The course begins with a strong foundation in fundamental design principles including balance, contrast, hierarchy, colour theory, typography, alignment, and white space so you understand not just how a design looks, but why it works.
From there, you will apply these principles inside Canva, using its production design tools and AI-powered features to create structured, visually coherent graphics for real-world use.
You will also learn how to conduct design research, analyse requirements, and develop draft production plans that ensure your visuals are purposeful rather than decorative.
Practical sessions guide you through preparing production materials, organising assets efficiently, and executing designs that are ready for deployment across marketing, branding, and communication channels.
In addition, the course covers legal and licensing considerations for Canva content, helping you avoid common compliance mistakes when creating commercial materials.
By the end of the class, you will be able to approach Canva projects methodically from concept research and creative direction to execution and delivery, producing visuals that are not only aesthetically strong but strategically aligned and production-ready.
Target Audience
Made for the BOLD!
This course is designed for a diverse range of individuals, from professionals in creative industries to marketing and communication experts, as well as anyone passionate about mastering the art of graphic design using Canva.
- Graphic Designers and Enthusiasts: Ideal for professionals and hobbyists looking to refine their design skills, especially in conceptualisation and execution.
- Creative Leaders: Suitable for creative directors and team leads who manage graphic design projects and teams.
- Marketing and Communication Professionals: Beneficial for those in marketing and branding, seeking to enhance visual content creation skills.
- Digital Content Creators: Useful for bloggers, social media influencers, and digital creators aiming to improve their graphic design capabilities.
- Freelancers and Entrepreneurs: Great for independent professionals and business owners who need to create their own marketing and graphic materials.
- Design Students: Helpful for students in graphic design and related fields, bridging the gap between academic learning and practical industry application.
Prerequisites
What You’ll Need to Get Started
You are required to have access to a Canva account, either free or paid, to fully participate in the hands-on exercises. No prior design experience is required, as the course starts with core design principles and progressively builds practical Canva skills suitable for beginners and learners with some design knowledge.
Course Highlights
What You’ll Learn
In this Canva Design course, you will learn:
- Core design principles and fundamentals form the backbone of compelling and aesthetically pleasing visuals.
- Explore essential tools needed to craft visually stunning graphics using Canva.
- How to transform your creative ideas into professional-quality graphics.
- Diverse design tools and software are crucial for generating production design graphics and expanding your toolkit for diverse design needs.
- And much more
Course Objectives
What You’ll Takeaway
Upon completion of this course, you will gain the ability to:
- Integrate design principles and blueprint notations with creative vision to create, present, and manage the execution of visual concepts that meet the aesthetic and technical demands of a production
- Utilise Canva’s tools and techniques to create visually appealing graphic production designs
- Leverage AI-powered tools and techniques in Canva for graphic manipulation
- Utilise the ADDIE research model to create, articulate, manage, and implement design concepts that are both aligned with production goals and adhere to creative and technical specifications
- Use computer-aided drawing tools and techniques to develop, communicate, and adapt production design plans, ensuring that the final graphics meet both aesthetic and technical standards within resource and production constraints
Skills Gained:
Mastery of Design Fundamentals
Gain a strong understanding of core design principles such as balance, contrast, hierarchy, and alignment to create polished, professional visuals.
Proficiency in Canva Tools
Learn to confidently navigate Canva’s interface, tools, and features to design striking graphics with ease.
Creative Concept Development
Develop the ability to research, brainstorm, and conceptualise ideas that translate into compelling design concepts.
Visual Branding Skills
Understand how to apply branding elements—colours, fonts, and styles—to produce consistent and cohesive designs for different marketing needs.
Production-Ready Design Execution
Learn to prepare materials, plan workflows, and execute designs that meet real-world production standards and project requirements.
Certification Track
Level up!
Get certified. Get noticed. Get ahead.
A SkillsFuture WSQ Statement of Attainment (SOA) – Production Design under the Skills Framework TSC and Certification of Completion by Equinet Academy will be awarded to candidates who have demonstrated competency in the WSQ Canva Design course assessment and achieved at least 75% attendance.
Course Code: TGS-2025057945
Course Support Period: 14 Aug 2025 – 13 Aug 2027
Course Outline
Inside the course
This WSQ Canva Design course covers design principles, branding fundamentals, layout, colour theory, typography, and production design using Canva. Learn to research concepts, create professional graphics, use AI design tools, and apply legal and licensing best practices for commercial content.
Introduction to Fundamental Design Principles
- Introduction to the design principles of corporate branding
- Explore the fundamentals of the design principles
- Balance (Symmetry & Asymmetry): Learn how to balance elements of different visual weights with or without mirroring
- Contrast: Learn how to use differences in color, size, shape, or other visual elements to highlight or emphasise certain aspects and create interest
- Emphasis/Focal Point: Learn how to direct the attention to a specific area or element through color, size, or placement
- Unity/Harmony: Learn how to ensure that all elements in the graphic work together cohesively to create a unified and harmonious composition
- Repetition/Consistency: Learn how to use and repeat certain design elements (such as colors, shapes, or fonts) to create a sense of consistency and coherence
- Hierarchy: Learn how to establish a clear flow of importance among elements to guide the viewer’s eye through the graphic
- Proximity: Learn how to use group-related elements to create a sense of organisation and relationship
- Scale/Proportion: Learn how to adjust the size of elements with one another to create a balanced and visually appealing composition
- White/Negative Space: Learn how to allow empty or negative space around elements to reduce clutter and improve focus on the essential elements
- Color Theory: Learn the psychological impact of colors and use color combinations that evoke the desired emotions or reactions
- Typography: Learn to choose appropriate fonts, sizes, and spacing to enhance readability and convey the intended tone
- Texture: Learn to add texture to elements or backgrounds to create visual interest and depth
- Simplicity: Learn how to strive for simplicity and clarity in design to convey the intended message without unnecessary complexity
- Alignment: Learn how to align elements properly to create a sense of order and organisation.
- Movement/Rhythm: Learn how to create a sense of flow or rhythm through the arrangement of elements to guide the viewer’s eye smoothly through the graphic.
Production Design Tools using Canva
- Introduction to the type of production designs Canva can do. Like Social Media Graphics, Presentation Slides, Posters and Flyers, Infographics, Documents, Marketing Collaterals, Web Banners, Logo Design, Print Products, etc.
- Explore the user interface and production design tools available in Canva.
- Learn how to apply photo-editing techniques using re-editable Filters, fx Effects, and Adjustments.
- Filters: Learn how to apply color manipulation techniques using different color modes like Natural / Warm / Cool / Vivid / Soft / Vintage / Mono / Color Pop.
- Photo Effects: Learn to use effects like Duotone / Autofocus / Blur / Shadows.
- Adjustments: Learn how to adjust the whole image, foreground or background.
- Learn to use advanced tools like brand kit, stock media, and team management.
AI-Powered Tools for Production Design Graphics
- Explore the different types of AI-powered tools available in Canva.
- AI video creation with Canva AI.
- Learn how to use the Magic Studio to do graphic manipulation.
- Background Remover: Learn how to remove unwanted background.
- Magic Eraser: Learn how to remove unwanted details in images.
- Magic Expand: Learn how to fix awkward framing, save zoomed-in images, or turn a vertical shot into a horizontal one.
- Magic Edit: Learn how to modify, add, or replace image elements with a short-written prompt.
- Comparing the strengths and weaknesses of different design tools and software beyond Canva.
Conducting Research for Design Concepts
- Learn how to apply the ADDIE model, a systematic instructional design framework, to improve your research skills to gather inspiration and design ideas.
- Analysis: Learn how to define the goals and objectives of the design project. Identify the key problems, design requirements, purpose, target audience, context, and project constraints.
- Design: Learn how to develop a plan for conducting research and gathering design inspiration. Outline a research strategy, including the research methods (e.g., Trend Analysis, User Surveys, Case Studies).
- Development: Learn how to execute the research plan and gather relevant data for design concepts. Carry out the research activities as planned. This may involve exploring design trends, analysing competitors, conducting user interviews, and collecting visual inspiration.
- Implementation: Learn how to apply the research findings to the design process. Translate research insights into design concepts. Create mood boards, concept maps, or other visual representations based on the gathered inspiration.
- Evaluation: Learn how to assess the effectiveness of the research-driven design concepts. Solicit feedback from peers, instructors, or potential users. Evaluate how well the design concepts align with the initial goals and objectives. Make revisions based on feedback and insights gained during the evaluation process.
Preparation of Production Design Materials and Equipment
- Identifying the brand content, concept styling, images, copywriting materials, and equipment needed for the production design.
- Learn how to prepare a content planner and brand kit.
Legal and Licensing Guidelines for Canva Content
- Learn the legal considerations when using Canva assets for commercial and monetised content.
- Understand the differences between Free, Pro and third-party elements, and how Canva’s licensing works in real-world scenarios.
- Clarify how Canva permits the use of most designs for monetised platforms such as YouTube and TikTok, provided the licensing rules are followed.
- Learn how to identify restricted content, avoid copyright risks and ensure compliance when creating assets for clients, brands, advertising or digital channels.
- Review best practices for safely using templates, graphics, stock photos and AI-generated elements in commercial projects.
- Gain clear guidance on what “commercial use” means, what is allowed, what requires modification and what requires additional precautions.
Assessment Component
- Written Exam
- Project
Trainers
Meet Your Educators
Trainer Bio
Christina Lye
Christina is a multifaceted creative professional with over 8 years of experience in graphic design, motion graphics, video production, and content creation. With a background spanning corporate and private sectors, she brings a diverse perspective to her work. Currently freelancing and running a cafe in Joo Chiat, Christina combines her artistic expertise with entrepreneurial passion,…
Trainer Bio
Chris Minjoot
Chris is a senior marketing professional with over 31 years of experience as both an in-house practitioner and a consultant with clients from various industries, including education (MindChamps), entertainment (Tower Records), recruitment (ScienTec Consulting), events (Sentosa), retail (Takashimaya), and medical (Atlas Eye). He specialises in branding, copywriting, and content creation. He was part of the team responsible for branding MindChamps. He contributed to the brand’s rapid growth by conducting numerous ad campaigns and generated, on average, $500,000 of publicity per year between 2006 and 2014. Today, MindChamps has expanded regionally and is listed on SGX.
Course Fee & Funding
Fund Your Brain Gain
Access funding opportunities and resources designed to fuel your learning goals.
Course Fee After Eligible SSG Subsidies:
From S$297.00 after SSG Subsidies
Full Course Fee (without funding)
S$990.00
Course Schedule
Mark Your Calendar!
Discover course schedules crafted with you in mind, structured for balance, driven by your goals, ready for action.
| Learning Mode | Course Dates | Duration | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|
| In-Person | 16, 17 Jul 2026 (Thu, Fri) | 9.00am - 6.00pm | |
| In-Person | 13, 14 Oct 2026 (Tue, Wed) | 9.00am - 6.00pm |
Click on the course dates above to register online.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
The Need-to-Know Stuff, Fast
Everything you need to know about the course. Can’t find the answer you’re looking for? Please contact our friendly team.
This course is ideal for graphic designers, marketers, entrepreneurs, freelancers, digital content creators, and anyone looking to create professional-quality graphics with Canva.
No prior experience is required. The course covers core design principles and practical Canva techniques, making it suitable for both beginners and those with some design knowledge.
Yes. Participants should have access to a free or paid Canva account to fully engage in the hands-on exercises.
Learners will create a range of design assets, including social media posts, presentation slides, posters, infographics, and marketing collaterals.
Yes. Participants will learn to use Canva’s AI-powered tools, such as Magic Studio, Magic Eraser, Magic Edit, and Background Remover.
Yes. The course includes a written design proposal and an individual project presentation to demonstrate your understanding and creativity.
Absolutely. The course includes live demonstrations, case studies, and practical activities to help you build real-world Canva design skills.
Brochure Download
See What’s Inside: Get the Brochure
Explore the course outline, key topics, and learning outcomes you will gain from this training.
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