How to Design a Board Book in Canva and Get a Print-Ready File

Open our template generator, choose your size and page count and set the format to Canva: it gives the custom size to type into Canva (200 × 200 mm for a 20 × 20 cm book) and guide images that show the margins. Make one Canva page per book page, front cover first and back cover last, turn on "Show print bleed" and run every background to the edge of the bleed. Download it as "PDF Print" with "Crop marks and bleed" ticked and send the PDF through the print-ready form: we build the cover and the spine, check the file by hand and put the finished design in your Printedin account for you to order.

Canva is where a lot of the books we print start, and its print PDF works with our process as it comes: Canva marks the page size inside the file, and our checks read it from there. This guide is the way we ask customers to set a Canva design up. Every measurement below is for a 20 × 20 cm book with 16 pages; the template generator gives the same figures for your own size and page count.

Before you start: size and page count

• Size. Board books come in 12 × 12, 15 × 15, 16 × 16, 20 × 20, 15 × 21 and 21 × 15 cm.
• Page count, covers included. Our count includes the front and back cover, so a 16-page book is the front cover, 14 inside pages and the back cover. The total is always even; the standard counts are 8, 12, 16, 20, 24 and 26.

There are two ways to build the book in Canva. The simple way, one Canva page per book page, suits most books and is what the steps below describe. The full way, with the cover and the spreads as wide pages, is for a title on the spine or a picture across two pages; it is at the end.

Step 1: Get the Canva sizes and guides

1. Open the template generator and choose Board Book, your size and your page count.
2. Set "Format" to "Canva". In place of the PDF download you get the Canva sizes and four guide images.
3. Download the "Page guide" and the "Back cover guide". They are transparent images at the page size: the dashed line is the 5 mm safety margin, and the green band on the back cover guide is the hinge.

Canva adds the 3 mm bleed when it downloads, so these sizes are the finished page, not the page plus bleed that our PDF template gives.

Step 2: Create the design at the finished size

1. In Canva, click "Create a design", then "Custom size".
2. Switch the unit to mm and enter the size from the generator: 200 × 200 mm for our example.
3. Add pages until the design has as many pages as the book, 16 in our example. Page 1 is the front cover, the last page is the back cover, and the pages in between are the inside of the book in reading order.

Step 3: Turn on the bleed and place the guides

In Canva's File menu, turn on "Show print bleed". Canva draws a 3 mm border outside the page: that is the bleed, and the page edge itself is where the book is cut.

• Guides. Upload the guide images, place the page guide on a page, stretch it to the page edges and lock it; use the back cover guide on the last page. Delete every guide before you download: Canva has no layer that stays off the print.
• Backgrounds and pictures that touch the edge run all the way out to the edge of the bleed. A white or empty bleed leaves a white line if the cut moves by a fraction of a millimetre.
• Text, faces and anything you would hate to lose stay inside the dashed line, at least 5 mm from the edge.
• Corners are cut round, about 4 mm. Leave them square in Canva; the die cuts the curve.

Step 4: Use pictures large enough to print sharp

Canva does not warn you when a photo is too small for print, so check it yourself. A photo that fills a whole page of a 20 × 20 cm book needs at least 2434 × 2434 pixels, which is 300 dpi at the printed size with the bleed. The photo board book page lists the minimum for every size. A photo stretched to twice its width prints at half the resolution.

Step 5: The cover and the spine

In the simple way you do not design the spine. We put the back cover and the front cover side by side and build the spine between them from your pages:

• The spine is the page count times 0.4 mm: 6.4 mm for our 16 pages. The generator shows it for your book.
• Under 8 mm (fewer than 20 pages) the back cover and the front cover run into it and meet in the middle, so their backgrounds should reach all the way to the edge of the bleed on that side.
• From 8 mm (20 pages and up) we fill the spine with a colour taken from the covers. For a title on the spine, use the full way below.

On the back cover, keep text and a barcode out of the green band: the cover hinges there, and the crease stays visible on the finished book.

Step 6: Download a PDF Print

1. Delete the guides.
2. Click "Share", then "Download", and choose "PDF Print" as the file type.
3. Tick "Crop marks and bleed". Canva then adds the 3 mm bleed on every side and marks where the page is cut; our checks read the page size from those marks.
4. Leave "Flatten PDF" off, so that text stays sharp. If your plan offers a colour profile, choose CMYK; RGB is fine too, we convert it, and only a few very bright colours come out duller.
5. Download all pages as one PDF.

Step 7: Send it to us

Upload the PDF to WeTransfer, Google Drive or Dropbox and fill in the print-ready form with the size, page count, quantity and the link. A Canva share link is not enough: we need the downloaded PDF. We open every file by hand within a working day and tell you about anything that will not print well before you pay. Then we build the design and put it in your Printedin account; create the account with the email address you sent the form from.

You will find the book under "My Designs". It opens in Printedin Studio, where "Preview" shows it in 3D, page by page. That is your proof: nothing is printed until you order it with "Order".

The full way: cover and spreads as wide pages

For a title on the spine (20 pages and up) or a picture that runs across two pages, make two Canva designs with the sizes the generator gives under "Cover and spreads as wide pages":

• Cover: one page with the back cover, the spine and the front cover side by side; for a 20 × 20 cm book of 24 pages, 409.6 × 200 mm. The "Cover guide" marks the spine's two folds, its 3 mm margin and the hinge.
• Inner spreads: 400 × 200 mm, one page per spread. The "Spread guide" marks the centre fold; keep faces and text at least 10 mm from it.

Download both as "PDF Print" with "Crop marks and bleed" and send both; we put the cover first and the spreads after it. The template guide explains the cover and the spreads in more detail.

Questions and answers

What size should my Canva design be?

The finished page size, without bleed: 200 × 200 mm for a 20 × 20 cm book. The template generator gives it for every size, and Canva adds the 3 mm bleed when you download with "Crop marks and bleed".

Can I send a Canva link instead of a PDF?

No. Download the design as "PDF Print" and send a link to the PDF through the print-ready form.

Do I have to design the spine in Canva?

No. With one page per book page we build the spine from your covers. Only a title on the spine needs the cover made as one wide page.

What does it cost?

See board book printing cost. One copy can be ordered, and every price includes delivery.