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Lesson Summary
Create simple cover artwork for your meditation using Canva. You’ll see how to set up the right canvas size, add an image and text, adjust the design, and export artwork that’s ready to use when you publish your recording.
Transcript
Module 9: Releasing Your Recording.
To release your recording as either a CD or an iTunes release, we’re going to need some artwork. One of the best free online design tools is Canva at www.canva.com. It’s intuitive and easy to use. You need an account to start, but downloads are free.
On the start page, select “Sign up with email” and enter your full name and email address. Confirm the email address, create a password, and select Sign Up. As with the other accounts shown in previous modules, you’ll be sent a verification email. Open it in your inbox and select Verify. Your account will then be active, and you’ll find yourself in Canva.
First, select “Create a design.” For this demonstration, we’re going to Custom Dimensions, choosing 1,000 by 1,000 pixels, and selecting Design. This gives us the classic square album-cover shape. For the version of iTunes demonstrated in this lesson, the image needs to be 1,000 by 1,000 pixels; it won’t accept anything smaller.
Next, select Uploads. I’ve prepared a folder of Meditation Maker images to demonstrate this part of the module. Canva also provides layout designs, elements, text, and backgrounds that you can try. For this demonstration, though, I’m going to upload an image and overlay some text.
I’ve already uploaded an image, so I’ll select it and remove the previous background. I could drag the image out to the edges, but it sits nicely in the middle. This is my Meditation Maker logo, and I’m going to use it for the album-cover demonstration and add some text.
Canva lets you add a heading, subheading, or basic paragraph text, and it offers many ready-made text layouts. There are many possibilities, but I’ll keep this design simple. You can remove an unwanted element by selecting the delete icon.
I’ll add a subheading and turn it into a title. Use the drag control to position it, highlight the placeholder, and type your text. I’m going to call this “Meditation Maker.” The text wraps within the box and aligns itself. You can also choose a suitable font and experiment with the available styles.
I’ll pause while I finish the design, then come back to save it and export the file to our project folder.
This is the final design I’ve created, using colors that match my logo. I’m happy with it for the demonstration, so I’ll select Download and choose the preferred format. I’m going to use JPEG because the artwork will be used online and uploaded to iTunes. I don’t need the higher-quality PNG that we would use for a CD.
Once the download finishes, the image will be in our project artwork folder. Here it is—the cover we just made. It’s now ready to upload in the next part of this module, where we’ll use ReverbNation to prepare our tracks and artwork for delivery to iTunes. I’ll see you there.