If you’ve ever struggled to present your data in a way that’s both clear and on-brand, this tutorial will walk you through how to create charts in Canva and customize them to match your business’s visual identity.
You’ll learn about the different types of charts available in Canva, how to add charts in Canva, add your data, and customize charts with your own colours and fonts.
Whether you’re creating a client proposal, presentation deck, or case study, this video will show you how to turn plain numbers into visuals that are easy to understand and professionally styled.
Resources Mentioned
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Transcript
Charts aren’t just for spreadsheets or annual reports. As a small business owner, there are plenty of times you might want to make your data easier to understand at a glance.
Maybe you’re putting together a client proposal and want to drop in a bar chart to show how their brand reach has grown over the past six months. You might include a pie chart in a presentation deck to break down what percentage of your revenue comes from different services. Or use a line chart in a case study or on your website to illustrate how a client’s email open rates improved over time.
These are all situations where turning numbers into visuals builds instant credibility and keeps people engaged, and Canva makes building charts easy, even if data isn’t really your thing.
Where to Find Charts in Canva
You’ll find charts by opening the Elements panel, where you can either search or browse for charts.
If you start by searching for just the word “chart,” Canva will give you quick add options right there in the results — things like bar charts, line charts, or pie charts that you can drop into your design immediately.
Or if you want to narrow it down, you can be more specific and type something like “bar chart” or “pie chart,” and Canva will show you options tailored to that style.
Another way is to go to the Charts category under Elements, click on “See all,” and browse through the full range of chart types that Canva offers.
And Canva definitely does provide quite a wide variety of chart types!
- Bar charts are ideal for comparing different categories side by side, so they could be helpful in proposals or reports to show metrics like sales by region or service usage by type.
- Line and area charts are great for showing trends over time, such as how your email sign-ups or website traffic have grown month over month.
- Pie and donut charts work well for breaking down proportions, like what percentage of your revenue comes from different services.
- Scatter and dot charts are useful for visualizing the relationship between two variables, which could come up in a more detailed analysis or case study.
- Hierarchy charts help map out structures, such as team roles or step-by-step processes.
- Bar race charts are an animated style that’s handy for showing changes over time in an eye-catching way, for example, tracking your top-performing products across several months.
- Infographic-style charts are designed to blend seamlessly into a more visual, storytelling format.
- And then there are other chart types, like histograms for frequency distributions, funnel charts to show drop-offs in a process or sales pipeline, and radar charts for comparing multiple factors on a circular scale.
This range makes it easy to pick the right chart for the story you’re trying to tell with your data.
Keeping Your Charts On-Brand with Chart Styles
If you’re using Canva Pro or Teams, you can also access charts via the Brand tab in your left-hand panel; that’s where you’ll see charts already styled with your chart palette, if you’ve set one up in your Brand Kit.
It’s important to note that Canva doesn’t automatically use your regular brand colour palette for charts. It specifically looks for a dedicated chart palette that you’ve defined under your Brand Kit’s “Chart styles,” and if you haven’t set that up yet, you won’t see ready-made charts appear in that part of the Brand tab.
You can set up those chart styles ahead of time by going directly into your Brand Kit settings, or you can add your chart styles right from within the editor when prompted.
There are some really practical reasons to set up a chart palette that’s separate from your usual brand colours. Unlike your general brand palette, which might only include a few primary colours, charts often need more distinct shades to keep categories visually clear. If your brand palette has limited colours, it’s going to be hard to create a pie chart or stacked bar chart that’s both branded and easy to read.
A separate chart palette also helps make sure your data remains legible. Some brand colours that look fantastic in your regular marketing materials might be too dark or too light when used in thin lines or small chart segments. Canva will even warn you if you add very light shades to your chart palette, since they can get lost against your background.
If you’re currently using Canva’s free plan and want to see how this works, you can always explore it by starting a free Canva Pro trial, which gives you full access to Brand Kit features, including chart styles. And you can test that out by going to BrendaCadman.com/pro.
Adding and Editing Your Chart Data
Once you’ve selected a chart type and added it to your design page, you’ll see two tabs on the left: Data and Customize.
Under the Data tab, you can type your labels and values directly into the table, or if your data is already organized elsewhere, you can use the Import data button to bring in a CSV file or connect to a Google Sheet.
Below the table, you’ll see Chart setup options that change depending on the type of chart you’ve selected. For example, a scatter plot will let you pick which series gets plotted on the X axis versus the Y axis, while a bar chart will give you a different set of options.
Styling and Customizing Your Chart
Next, you can click into the Customize tab. This is where you can control how various chart elements display. You might toggle the legend on or off and decide whether to show data labels. The exact options will vary based on the chart type you’re working with.
If you want to actually change the colours of your data series, pick a different font, adjust text size, or apply bold or italics, you’ll do that in the floating toolbar that pops up above your selected chart. This is also where you can tweak row spacing and other small formatting adjustments. It gives you a lot of flexibility to fine-tune the look of your chart right on the page.
Wrapping Up: The Value of Using Charts in Canva
Being able to quickly turn raw numbers into a clean, easy-to-understand visual is one of the simplest ways to elevate how your business communicates. Whether you’re preparing client reports, updating your website, or creating internal resources, charts in Canva let you present data in a way that’s clear, credible, and true to your brand. It’s a small step that can make a big difference in how your work is perceived, and it’s surprisingly easy to do.
