How to Use Canva for Twitch — The Guide You Shouldn’t Miss!

Playing video games is one of the options kids (and the kids at heart) nowadays turn to when looking for entertainment.

But, with Twitch, gamers can now stream their games and have the chance to watch others play and even interact with them!

But, for you to stream effectively, you’ll need to catch your viewers’ attention with eye-catching graphics.

So, if you’re planning to take this route, you might want to consider learning to set up your Twitch overlays, panels, and other stuff with Canva.

 

How to Use Canva for Twitch

First, start designing with a pre-made twitch template or from a blank template. Then, change the background color before adding videos, frames, shapes, icons, and other graphical elements. Add text, effects, and animations to your design. Once done, save your design on your device and upload it to your Twitch channel.

 

 

How to Use Canva for Twitch — Don’t Dare Miss These!

As mentioned earlier, Twitch is a live streaming platform for gamers and growing a community.

And, that’s where Canva can help as this graphic design tool has allowed Twitch streamers to use it for designing the following:

(Note: You’ll find these options once you type the word “Twitch” in the search bar of Canva’s homepage)

• Twitch Overlay
• Twitch Panel
• Twitch Logo
• Twitch Banner
• Twitch Background
• Twitch Screen
• Twitch Emote
• Twitch Webcam Overlay
• Livestream Twitch Screen

Whatever Twitch component you need to design on, basically the steps of creating them are the same.

Yet, for sample purposes, let’s focus on creating Twitch Overlay and Twitch Panels.

 

Creating Twitch Panels in Canva

Twitch Panels are your call to action (CTA) boards that tell your viewers what to do while they’re in your channel.

Others even liken it to an information banner.

Regardless of what you call them, you should use the 320 x 160 px dimension size for Twitch panels. 

Yet, you don’t need to remind yourself of those dimensions constantly as Canva already set it for you.

So, to start with…

Step 1: On Canva’s home page, head to the search bar. Type in “Twitch.”

You’ll then see a dropdown menu that lists what designs you can do in Canva related to the Twitch platform.

Select the Twitch Panel option. Canva already set the dimensions to 320 x 100 px.

For sample purposes, we’ll go with creating from a blank template.

Step 2: Once inside the editor page, it’s time to add the background color. 

You might want to plan this out beforehand as you’d want the colors to reflect your branding and complement the personality of your stream.

Click on the canvas to activate the editor toolbar. You’ll then see a rainbow-colored color picker tile.

Click on that tile to select the color of your background.

Select what hue you’ll use for your background. If you don’t want to use the default hues available in the color gallery, click the rainbow-colored + icon.

You will then see 3 options to add a custom color to the choices available:

• Color slider
• Color hex code
• Eyedropper tool

Choose what method you want to add your custom colors in. After adding your new color, click on it for it to be applied on your blank canvas.

Step 3: Add graphical elements to your Twitch panel design. You can start with adding shapes to somehow form the division between icons and the call-to-action text.

Head to the left side panel of the editor page and click the Elements tab. Keep scrolling until you reach the Lines & Shapes category.

After choosing the Select all button, scroll down until you find the shape you want to use for your design. Type keywords on the search bar to narrow your search further.

Click and drag the shape toward the canvas.

Step 4: Resize the shape using the white pill bars and circles surrounding it. If there’s a need to rotate the shape, just click and drag the Rotate icon until you achieve the desired look.

Edit the shape’s color by selecting it first before clicking on the color picker tool. Just follow the steps mentioned earlier in selecting a color.

Step 5: Add icons to your Twitch panel to represent what that panel is about. Head again to the left side panel and select the Elements tab.

You can either scroll down to search for the Icons category or directly type the keywords in the search bar.

Once you’ve selected an icon to use, click on it so you can resize and position it.

Change the icon’s color as well (if it’s editable) by clicking on it. You’ll know you can change its colors if the color picker tile appears on the editor toolbar.

Step 6: After editing the look of your icon, it’s time to add some text.

You can directly add text boxes to your project by pressing the T button and manually editing the text’s font style, size, and color.

Or, if you’re not too good with font combinations, you can select one from Canva’s text gallery. 

Just click the Text tab on the left side panel and scroll down to choose the font combination you’ll use.

Edit the message accordingly before you click anywhere on the project to save the changes.

Step 7: Once you’re satisfied with the look of your first Twitch panel, continue making more by clicking the Duplicate page icon.

This will allow you to keep the first panel’s formatting on the added page. 

With that, you can simply switch out the colors of the text and elements you added, as well as use another icon for that particular panel.

Repeat steps 1 to 6 until you’ve reached the desired number of Twitch panels for your account.

Step 8: Download your Twitch panels by clicking Download on the editor page’s upper right.

Select the file type and the pages you’d want to save before clicking the purple Download button on the bottom of the dropdown menu.

Now, if you think creating Twitch panels’ a cinch, then you better brace yourself as you create your very own Twitch overlay.

 

Creating Twitch Overlays in Canva

Twitch overlays generally consist of graphics added to your live stream. 

These graphics range from the usual border surrounding the webcam area to extra border panels.

Step 1: Search for a Twitch overlay template using the search bar on Canva’s home page.

Choose the Twitch Overlay option in the dropdown menu. Its dimensions are automatically set to 1920 x 1080 px.

Step 2: In the template gallery that appears, you can find various Twitch overlay designs you can use. 

If you prefer starting from scratch, just select the blank Twitch overlay template.

But for this part, I’ll start by selecting a pre-made template. Click on the template design thumbnail so you’ll be redirected to the editor page.

Step 3: On the editor page, you’ll then see the template design you selected laid out on the canvas.

You can begin editing it by changing the background color. Just select the background with your cursor until you see the color picker tile appear on the editor toolbar.

Click on the color picker tile and select from the preset hues in the gallery. 

If you prefer adding custom color, just follow the directions mentioned in Step 2 of Creating Twitch Panels in this text.

Step 4: Once you’re satisfied with the background color, it’s time to edit the look of the graphic elements added to the template.

Click on an element to see if it’s editable. When you see the color picker tile on the editor toolbar, that means you can change its color.

You can even rotate and mirror the said element to somehow give it a new look with a change in its orientation.

Step 5: If, however, there are elements in the template you don’t want to keep, click them and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Then, head to the Elements tab on the left side panel and search for the graphic elements you’d want to add. 

Easily locate icons and other elements you’re looking for by typing on the search bar.

Once you found the element you’ll use click and drag it to the design, resize, and position them accordingly. 

Repeat until you added the desired elements to your project.

Step 6: Edit out the message inside the text boxes added on the template by double-clicking on them. This move will highlight the entire text inside the said text box.

Change the font color by selecting the text and clicking on the font color button in the editor toolbar.

You can even resize the text box to make your text more pop out more from the background.

Repeat the steps until you’ve edited all the text components of the overlay template.

Step 7: Once you’re satisfied with how your Twitch overlay design looks, save it on your device so you can upload it to the streaming software.

Click the Download button on the menu bar and select the file type and pages before you choose the purple Download button.

And, just like that, you can head over to your account on Twitch and upload the overlay design you created.

So, these designs are just two of the various things you can use Canva for Twitch. Whatever design file you’re making, just follow the steps mentioned here, and you’re all set.

 

Frequently Asked Questions about How to Use Canva for Twitch

 

What’s the ideal size for creating Twitch-related designs?

If you’re creating overlays, screens, and backgrounds, Canva recommends the 1920 x 1080 px size. For the Twitch logo, it’s 800 x 800 px. The Twitch Panel is set at 320 x 100 px, and the Twitch emote size’s at 112 x 112 px.

 

How come the design I created on Canva is blurry when uploaded on Twitch?

For one, you probably used the wrong dimensions for that specific Twitch-related design. You can get back to the design file in Canva and use the Magic resize button to edit the dimensions. Then, just reupload the design with the new dimensions on Twitch to see if it’ll still look blurry.

 

Can you create Twitch-related designs even if you’re a free Canva user?

You can create Twitch-related designs even if you’re not on Canva Pro. Make sure to select a template or element that doesn’t have the crown icon at the bottom so you can download your design without paying anything.