Happy Tuesday!
June is here 🌞 and so is a new series. This month, we're talking about Design That Refines. If March was about decisions, April about communication, and May about connection, June is about the details. We're talking about the small moves that separate a design that looks okay from one that feels polished, intentional, and unmistakably you.
Each Tuesday this month, I'm sharing one of those details — a technique, a habit, or a shift in thinking that will make your designs feel more refined without adding more time to your process.
We're starting with something that sounds simple but makes a big difference: how you search.
Most people open Canva's element library and search for the thing they need. A circle. A line. A star. And that's what they get, except it's just the literal object, with no feeling behind it.
Pro designers search differently. Instead of searching for what something is, they search for how it feels.
🔎 Try this:
- Instead of "circle" → try "gradient abstract"
- Instead of "line" → try "organic brush"
- Instead of "shape" → try "textured minimal"
The results are a complete 180. You stop getting clipart and start getting mood. And when the visual matches the feeling you're going for, the whole design comes together faster — because you're not forcing a generic element to do emotional work it wasn't built for.
With better search language, you get stronger visual options and create a design that feels like your brand.
