ScreenCloud's In-App Editor: Canvas Best Practices

What is Canvas?

Canvas is ScreenCloud's in-app design editor that allows you to quickly create on-brand content and share it across all your digital signage screens. With Canvas, you can add images, customize fonts, and adjust colors to precisely match your branding without needing specialized graphic design skills.

ScreenCloud’s Canvas editor streamlines the content management process by allowing you to make changes and publish to multiple screens simultaneously, easing the management of your network of screens across various locations and reducing the strain on your content team.

You might be wondering whether ScreenCloud’s Canvas editor is similar to Canva. While they are not the same, we do offer an integration that allows you to seamlessly add your Canva designs to your screens. By syncing your account, any updates you make in Canva will automatically be reflected on your displays. For detailed instructions, read this article on how to integrate Canva with ScreenCloud.

What can you do with Canvas?

• Create custom templates: Save your designs as templates to expedite designing, enabling everyone in your organization to access them easily for quick modifications, rather than starting from scratch.
• Custom fonts & colors: Choose from 32 Google fonts or upload your own custom fonts and colors.
• User-friendly editing options: Change the background color or upload and crop images, and set them into various shapes like circles, squares, or rectangles.
• Locking elements of your Canvas design: Lock elements in your design by selecting the 'lock button' to prevent unwanted redesigns during reuse.
• Add QR codes: Easily incorporate QR codes into your designs with Canvas’s automatic QR code generator. Use the Metrics tab to measure engagement by tracking the number of scans.
• Screen re-sizing: Adjust the size and resolution of your designs anytime with the "Resize Canvas" button.
• Remote management: Create, edit, and publish your Canvas designs to one or multiple screens from anywhere.
• Organize designs through tags: Tag and filter your canvases to organize and find them easily.
• Set expiration dates: Specify when your canvas designs should no longer be displayed on screens. This is a simple way to make mass changes across multiple screens for every display showing the design.

How to use templates across your organization

Templates make designing or making updates to frequently used content, like daily communications, faster and easier by providing a reusable, pre-designed framework for anyone to use.

The Canvas Template Gallery is accessible to all team members within an organization, allowing anyone to contribute, customize, and use templates as needed for their specific projects. It's a handy resource where all your template assets are stored, helping ensure that everyone is using consistent and approved designs for their projects.

How to submit a template to the Template Gallery

You can submit either a new or existing template to the Template Gallery by following these steps:

Submitting an existing template:

1. First, navigate to the Canvas section of your account and select ‘My Templates’.
2. Find the template you wish to submit and select the options button (indicated by three dots) in the top right corner.
3. Select ‘Publish and Share’. This action submits the template to the Template Gallery, making it available across every space in your account.

Creating and submitting a new template:

1. If you want to turn an existing design into a template, choose your design and select "Save as Template" using the options button (indicated by three dots). Then move on to step 4. If you would like to start from scratch, continue to the next step.
2. If you would like to create a new template, go to 'My Templates' and select ‘Blank Template’ to start designing from scratch.
3. Once your design is complete, click 'Save'. The new template will appear in 'My Templates'.
4. When your template is saved in 'My Template', select the options button (indicated by three dots) in the top right corner and select ‘Publish and Share’. This action submits your new template to the Template Gallery.

Customize Your Canvas Template Gallery

In Canvas, you can choose to use pre-designed templates from ScreenCloud's design team or create your own. Once created, these templates are stored in your Template Gallery, accessible to anyone in your organization.

For companies that prefer exclusively using custom templates, you can tailor your Template Gallery by disabling ScreenCloud’s default templates. This action places your custom templates at the forefront of the gallery, making them the first visible option.

This customization reduces the time spent searching for the right template and ensures that only company-specific content that aligns with your branding is used.

How to disable ScreenCloud default templates

1. To disable ScreenClouds default templates , first navigate to your ‘Account Settings’ and select ‘Organization’.

2. Next, disable the feature setting 'ScreenCloud Canvas Template Gallery’. Your Template Gallery will now only show templates created by your organization.

Tips & tricks to get the most out of Canvas

1. Less is more: A simple message and a clean design can dramatically enhance the visibility and comprehension of your screen content.
2. Organize your templates with tags: Keep your gallery organized and tidy by using tags. This makes it easier to manage your templates and find them quickly when needed.
3. Link more information through QR codes: If you have more to say, use QR codes linked to additional content. This not only keeps your main screen clean but also allows you to track who is engaging with more detailed information.
4. Use high-quality images: Good imagery can create a strong visual impact, whereas pixelated or poor quality images can detract from your message.
5. Consistency is key: Using Canvas templates consistently helps reinforce your company’s brand. Consistently styled messages make your content immediately recognizable and professional.

To find out more about how to use Canva and its design capabilities, read along in this article here.

ScreenCloud's support team is available to help users with any questions they may have about ScreenCloud's Canvas editor or any other aspect of the platform. Users can reach out to the support team here.