In this quick 5-minute Canva organization audit, I take a look at Christopher Johnson’s Canva account to identify simple ways he can clean up his workspace. Christopher produces virtual events for speakers, trainers, authors, and coaches, and after four years of Canva use, his account has naturally built up a lot of clutter in his uploads, designs, and folders.
If your Canva account feels overwhelming (or if you’re tired of scrolling through endless uploads), this quick audit will give you practical ideas you can start using right away.
Resources Mentioned
- Canva Organization Roadmap
- Clean Up My Canva: The Canva Organization Course
- Canva Organization Consulting
- Organization VIP Day
Transcript
In this video, I’ll be doing a quick 5-minute Canva audit for Christopher Johnson, the founder of *Calm Clear Communications*, based in Detroit, Michigan. Christopher produces virtual events for speakers, trainers, authors, and coaches, and he’s also a public radio producer.
He’s been using Canva for about four years now, primarily to create social media content and presentations, but as he mentioned in his audit application, his biggest Canva challenge is staying organized, especially when it comes to finding files and images, and knowing how to use templates effectively.
Let’s start with his folder structure.
And before diving in, there’s one quick tip I always recommend: make sure you’re filtering your Projects to show only your owned content. By default, the Projects tab is set to show content based on any Owner, but that can include anything that’s been shared with you or added by others on your team. Plus, it tends to surface old designs and images that you’ve already filed away into folders.
Switching that filter to display only designs created by your account helps you focus on what still needs to be organized into folders, without being distracted by old or already-filed content. It’s a small setting change that can make the cleanup process feel a lot more manageable.
Christopher has already made a great start here. There are several folders created, including one for Presentations, which is a perfect example of a broad, top-level folder. But there are a few others, like LinkedIn, Speaker Pictures, and StreamYard, that might benefit from being moved into a more intentional structure.
For example, there’s currently a LinkedIn folder at the top level, but since I can also see Instagram post graphics in his designs, LinkedIn likely isn’t the only social platform he’s creating content for.
In that case, I’d recommend introducing a top-level Social Media folder, and then creating subfolders inside it for each platform, including LinkedIn, Instagram, and any others he’s actively using. This kind of structure makes it much easier to find content quickly without having to scroll through unrelated designs.
Some folders, like Virtual Event or Nature, may have been used for one-off projects and could also be archived if they’re not going to be referenced again.
There’s also a StreamYard folder that seems to include assets for multiple people. If those are client-related, Christopher might benefit from introducing a Clients folder at the top level, with subfolders by client name. That way, materials stay grouped and easy to find when producing future events.
A folder like Speaker Pictures may be better placed inside a more general Media or Photos top-level folder, and the same goes for any other uploaded images.
When I looked at Christopher’s Uploads section, it had become the typical dumping ground, with images going back up to five years, and I get it; this happens for almost everyone.
Most Canva users don’t realize that image organization is even possible, because Canva doesn’t really prompt you to set up a folder system for your uploads. Instead, everything automatically lands in that default Uploads area, which feels like the path of least resistance, especially when you’re focused on getting a design done quickly.
But over time, that Uploads tab turns into a bottomless pit of images, screenshots, and random visuals. And once that happens, it becomes really hard to tell what you’ve already uploaded, so you either waste time scrolling or just upload the same image again. It’s frustrating, but it’s also very common.
That’s why I always recommend treating your images the same way you would treat your designs—create a dedicated Photos folder, and organize it using subfolders that reflect how you think about your visuals. Whether that’s by topic, use case, client, or content type, the key is to make it intuitive enough that you’ll actually stick with it.
So a solid next step here would be to create a top-level Photos folder, and then organize subfolders for things like Speaker Photos, Headshots if he’s collaborating with others for interviews or events, Screenshots, and potentially Personal Photos.
Some of these images, like headshots of other professionals or screenshots from past events, may not even need to be kept, so this is a great opportunity for a purge.
A quick tip here: if you’re trying to figure out when an image was added, switch to list view and hover over the date, and then Canva will show you the exact upload date. This can be especially helpful when you’re deciding what to keep and what to delete. If an image was uploaded several years ago and you haven’t used it since, chances are it’s safe to archive or remove, which can help reduce visual clutter as you build your new folder system.
When it comes to Christopher’s designs, the same story holds true as his uploads: lots of designs going back years, and many of them haven’t been filed. That usually signals that the current folder setup isn’t quite intuitive enough to support filing things consistently.
Before attempting to file any of those designs though, I’d recommend a bit of a digital declutter. He should delete any drafts, test files, or duplicate designs that are no longer needed and then, for anything worth keeping but not in active use, move those into a top-level Archive folder to reduce visual clutter in the Projects view.
As for templates, I noticed one brand template in his account, and I’d love to see more of these created where it makes sense. If there are designs Christopher uses repeatedly, like presentations or social promos, they’re perfect candidates to be saved as brand templates. It ensures he’s always starting from the correct file, rather than duplicating older designs and risking overwriting something by accident.
Let’s wrap up with a quick look at his Brand Kit. It is set up, which is great, but it looks like there are a couple of older logos still living in there. If he’s settled on a current version, I’d recommend removing the outdated ones to reduce confusion.
It also looks like Canva pulled several automated colour palettes from uploaded logos. These can often be slightly off in terms of hex codes, so I’d suggest deleting those and manually creating a single palette using his actual brand colours.
And if there are any photos he uses consistently, like speaker headshots or brand imagery, those can be added directly into the Brand Photos section of the Brand Kit for easier access during design.
With a few structural tweaks and some intentional cleanup, Christopher’s Canva account could become a lot more streamlined… and that means more time creating and less time searching.
