Custom gradients are an easy way to add depth and polish to your designs, and Canva now makes it simple to build your own from scratch. In this tutorial, you’ll learn how to create a gradient, adjust colours and stops, and recreate your gradient inside the Brand Kit so you can use it consistently across future projects.
Resources Mentioned
- Free Trial of Canva Pro (Affiliate Link)
Transcript
Gradients are a great way to add depth and interest to your Canva designs, whether you’re creating a subtle background, adding an overlay to make text pop, or building a signature branded style. Canva offers plenty of pre-made gradient elements, but you’re also able to create your own custom gradients for much more control.
To get started, select the element you want to apply a gradient to. This could be a background, a shape, a border around a photo or video, or even a frame or grid. Once you’ve selected it, click the colour tool in your floating toolbar, and then from here, you have two options:
If you’d like to start with a preset gradient, scroll down and choose one of the default gradient swatches. You can then customize it afterwards by clicking the + sign under Document colours.
Or, if you want to create a custom gradient from scratch, click the + under Document colours right away. You’ll see two tabs: Solid colour and Gradient. Select the Gradient tab, and Canva will automatically apply a second colour to your element.
From there, you can click on each gradient stop to select your own colours, and you can add additional colours to create a multi-colour gradient. You can also adjust the style of the gradient by choosing from several linear and circular gradient options.
One important thing to note is that the custom gradients you create inside a design aren’t automatically saved for reuse. If you want to use them consistently across future projects, you’ll need to save them into your Brand Kit, which is a Canva Pro feature.
If you prefer, you can create the gradient directly inside your Brand Kit from the start, but if you’ve already created a gradient inside a design that you want to keep using, make sure to jot down the exact colour hex codes, the order of the colours, and the gradient style so you can recreate it in the brand kit.
To add it to your brand’s colour palette, head over to the Brand Kit section, and in the colour palette section, click to add a new colour. Choose the Gradient tab instead of Solid, then recreate your gradient there.
Once it’s saved, it’ll appear in your brand colour palette whenever you’re working on a design, which is a huge time saver since you won’t need to rebuild it from scratch each time.
And if you’d like a full walkthrough of setting up your Brand Kit in Canva, I’ll link to a separate tutorial in the video description that takes you through the whole process.
While gradients can be bold and colourful, don’t underestimate the impact of a subtle fade. Even blending two shades from your brand palette can add a polished, professional touch to your designs without overwhelming them.
