If you work with custom design sizes in Canva (e.g., a website banner at specific dimensions, a blog feature image sized for your theme, a profile picture for a platform that isn’t in Canva’s preset list), you’ve probably re-entered the same measurements more times than you’d like to count. There’s no way to add custom sizes to Canva’s preset list, but there is a way to stop starting from scratch every time.
Brand Templates let you save a canvas at any size, with any recurring elements already in place, ready to open whenever you need it. This tutorial walks through how to set one up. It’s a Canva Pro feature, so if you’re not on Pro yet, you can start a free trial here before following along.
Transcript
If you’re regularly creating designs in the same custom sizes — for example, ads, banners, or website feature images with specific dimensions — you’ve probably gone through the same routine more than once. Open Canva, create a new design, manually enter the width and height, and start from scratch. Every time.
There’s no way to add your own custom sizes to Canva’s preset list of design dimensions, but there is a better workflow. Brand Templates let you save a blank or partially designed canvas — at whatever size you need — with a name that tells you exactly what it’s for. The next time you need that size, you’re not looking up measurements or starting from zero. You just open the template and go.
A good example of where this pays off: on my course sales pages, I use a specific 300 by 300 pixel size for testimonial images. By saving that as a Brand Template, every time I need to create a new one, it’s already the right size and ready to go — no measurements to look up, no starting from scratch.
Brand Templates are a Canva Pro feature, so if you’re not on Pro yet, you can start a 30-day free trial at brendacadman.com/upgrade — it works with your existing account, and any designs you’ve already created stay exactly where they are.
Setting Up Your Custom Size Template
Start by creating a new design at the exact dimensions you need. If you’re setting up a template for a website banner, a blog feature image, or a profile picture sized for a platform that isn’t in Canva’s preset list, enter those measurements now — this is the canvas size that will be saved.
From there, add any elements you want to appear every time you use this template. That might be nothing at all — just a blank canvas at the right size — or it might include a background colour, your logo in a consistent position, a grid structure, or placeholder text blocks. Whatever you’d otherwise have to set up manually each time belongs here.
When the template is ready, click the Share button in the top right corner of the editor. Look for Brand Template in the options — if you don’t see it straight away, choose See All and select it from there. You’ll then be prompted to choose which folder to save the template in, and once you’ve done that, click Publish.
Finding and Using Your Brand Templates
Once saved, go to the Brand area in Canva’s left-hand navigation. If you have more than one Brand Kit, make sure you’ve selected the right one from the dropdown at the top of the panel before looking for your templates. At the top you’ll find your Brand Templates — click on the one you want and you’ll see a preview along with a button to use it. Clicking that opens a new design based on the template, leaving the original untouched and ready to use again next time.
