In this quick 5-minute Canva organization audit, I take a look at Jenny Lytle’s Canva account to offer guidance on how she can create a more structured, easy-to-maintain workspace.
Jenny is a strategic stress-relief and self-care coach who’s been using Canva for years to create everything from social media content to digital products, but without a clear system, her Canva dashboard has started to feel more overwhelming than helpful.
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 organization audit for Jenny Lytle, the founder of Becoming Your Best with Jenny Lytle, RN, based in Kokomo, Indiana. Jenny is a strategic stress-relief and self-care coach for nurses and other busy professionals, and she’s been using Canva Pro for several years to create social media content, presentations, client materials, and what looks like a combination of digital products and PLR-based resources.
When Jenny applied for the audit, she shared that her biggest challenge with Canva is simply not having a system in place, and I can completely understand why that’s become overwhelming.
This is something I hear all the time from business owners. When you’ve been creating in Canva for years without a clear structure, it doesn’t take long for things to start feeling cluttered. And based on what I’ve seen in her account, I can absolutely see how this lack of clarity is slowing Jenny down.
The good news is that this is fixable, and it doesn’t require a complicated overhaul. With a few structural changes and some intentional cleanup, Jenny can create an organized, easy-to-maintain Canva setup that will actually support her workflow instead of getting in the way.
Before we get into folders, I want to start with one small change that can make a big difference: adjusting the Owner filter in the Projects tab. By default, Canva shows all content associated with your account, including older designs you’ve already filed away, which can make the Projects view feel messier than necessary. Switching the filter to show only your designs gives you a much clearer picture of what actually still needs to be sorted and filed.
So let’s take a look at Jenny’s folder structure.
She’s already created quite a few folders (18 in total), which tells me she’s been making an effort to organize. But once you get above 12 or 13 folders at the top level, the structure can start to feel more overwhelming than helpful. In Jenny’s case, most of the folders are living at the top level without any nesting, and that’s where things start to break down.
For example, folders like “Orange Modern Book Launch Facebook post” and “Ombre Blue” appear to have been created automatically when she resized a design. If the resized files are still in use, they can be moved into their appropriate homes, such as a Campaigns or Social Media folder. But the folders themselves don’t need to be kept, especially if the contents have already been relocated.
I also noticed a folder titled “Old Not Using,” which she seems to be using as an archive, and I love that she’s already set that aside. That said, some of the files inside haven’t been touched in years, so this would be a great time to do a quick review and delete anything that’s clearly no longer needed.
There’s also an empty folder inside the archive called “My templates” that’s been starred, and that’s something I’d suggest un-starring. As a general rule, I don’t recommend starring folders that live in your archive. The Starred section is best used for quick access to the files and folders you’re actively using. If everything is starred, nothing stands out, and archived folders usually aren’t part of your regular workflow anyway.
Another folder currently at the top level is labelled “Graphics,” which contains a few heart illustrations. If those are part of her branding, they’d be better off stored directly in the Brand Kit, in the Graphics section, rather than in a design folder. These aren’t editable designs; they’re individual image assets, so housing them in the Brand Kit will make them easier to access and apply consistently.
Now let’s talk about templates.
Jenny has a folder titled “Other People’s Templates,” which includes two subfolders, one for MYMA Jonathan templates and another labelled Eran templates. I love that she’s already breaking these down by source. That’s a strategy I often recommend and use myself, and I find it makes it much easier to locate templates you’ve purchased or downloaded later on.
That said, I’d suggest simplifying the main folder name from “Other People’s Templates” to just “Templates.” Ideally, this folder should only contain templates that she’s planning to customize or hasn’t worked with yet. Once she’s adapted a template for her brand, it should be saved as a brand template instead.
Publishing a design as a brand template will ensure that Jenny doesn’t accidentally overwrite the original, and it also makes it much faster to start from a consistent starting point every time.
In most cases, I recommend storing brand templates contextually, so if it’s a social media graphic, it would live in the Social Media folder; if it’s a presentation, then it would be stored in a Presentations folder. That helps keep brand templates right where you need them, instead of having to search through a “future use” templates folder later.
When it comes to designs, there are quite a lot that haven’t been filed into folders yet. This usually signals that the current folder setup isn’t quite intuitive enough to support consistent use.
Before jumping into filing her designs, I’d recommend starting with a bit of a design purge, deleting any outdated drafts, test designs, or blank files that no longer serve a purpose. Then, for anything she wants to keep but doesn’t need to access regularly, she’s already got that Archive folder ready to go to move those out of the way.
As I looked through the design area, I also noticed a number of files that appear to be either freebies or digital products. It’s not completely clear, but if Jenny is offering free resources as part of her lead generation or list-building strategy, then a top-level Freebies folder would definitely help keep that content organized.
And if she’s selling digital products, then it may be worth creating a separate Digital Products primary-level folder as well to keep those materials distinct from her general client or social content.
Let’s move over to images.
Jenny’s uploads section includes a wide range of images, including QR codes, headshots, stock photos, mockups, AI-generated images, and lots of other types of files. As with most Canva accounts, all of these visuals are currently sitting together in the default Uploads tab with no folder structure in place. I’d recommend creating a top-level Images or Photos folder, and then sorting the assets into subfolders based on how she uses them.
Finally, let’s take a look at Jenny’s Brand Kit, which is also a key part of an organized Canva account.
She’s done a great job setting it up; it includes her logos, brand colours, and fonts, and she’s also added some Canva guidelines, which offer notes about how to use those brand elements.
That said, I did notice a few things in the logos section that aren’t actually logos, like colour swatches or a screenshot of her brand styles in use. I’d recommend removing those so the Brand Kit remains clean and easy to use. Everything else looks intentional and well thought out, including the multiple logo variations, which all appear to be distinct.
Jenny’s already laid the groundwork for an efficient Canva account; it’s just a matter of reworking her structure so that it actually works for her. With a bit of cleanup, clearer folder categories, and a few intentional habits, she’ll be well on her way to a Canva account that feels more streamlined and stress-free.
