Have you ever seen an image that appears as if someone has captured a website on a device screen? I had long tried to create that effect by dropping a screenshot on a blank screen image, but it never looked right. Then I discovered Mockups in Canva, and that changed everything.
What Is Canva?
If you haven’t heard of it yet, Canva is a graphic design web platform used for creating images, flyers, presentations, websites, videos, and more. The free version of Canva includes lots of great features, and the paid version is even more robust. There is a minor learning curve when starting to use Canva, but it’s much more user-friendly for beginners than Photoshop and similar platforms. Tutorials are all over YouTube to help you learn.
Within Canva, there are apps to help automate or extend the platform’s functionality. For example, I often use an app called “Image Upscaler” when I need to sharpen an existing image for use in a new design. Here is a list of Canva apps that can enhance your creations. Today, we’re going to focus on the Mockups App.
The Mockups App
Step one is to start a new project with your desired dimensions. To do this, click “create” in the left menu and select a project canvas size. Next, upload the image you would like to drop into the mockup image you’ll place on your project canvas. To do this, select “uploads” from the left menu and follow the prompts.
To get started with your mockup, open your project and click the “apps” icon in the left menu:
In the menu area, scroll down to the “recommended” section and select “Mockups:”
If you have a different interface, it might look like this:
From here, you can search or browse through mockup templates to find one that fits your image:
The examples will show an animated landscape where your image would show up:
After selecting the template to enter in your project, you may be prompted to select the image you uploaded to use in the mockup. If a selection window doesn’t appear automatically, either select “uploads” from the left menu and drag the image to the target area, or drag your image from elsewhere on your desktop to drop on the mockup:
When you drag the image to the mockup, you’ll know when to let go because the image you’re dragging seems to disappear. When you let go, the image will fill the target area:
To adjust how the image fits into the template, select the template and use the settings to the left:
If adjusting the image doesn’t have the desired effect, try recreating the image with a different aspect ratio.
For More about Canva
If you’re interested in learning more about Canva, resources are easily found. I mentioned YouTube videos, but there are actually two other sources I’d recommend checking first:
- Canva support documentation
- Tech-Talk: For short videos and articles about Canva, enter Canva into a keyword search on the Tech-Talk landing page. For recorded webinars, visit their Canva webinar list page.
Between these two sources, you should be able to find answers to your questions in a variety of formats, including text, short videos, and longer webinars.
