How to Use Canva to Design Custom Proposals & Contracts (and Upload Them Into WillowSpace)

If you’re a designer, creative, or service provider who wants more control over how your proposals and contracts look, you’re not alone. A lot of people love the idea of building beautiful branded documents in Canva… but need a way to send and manage them without the back-and-forth of email attachments or clunky PDFs.

That’s where WillowSpace’s PDF upload feature comes in.

You can upload a fully-designed PDF proposal or contract and still get all the benefits of sending it through WillowSpace. Think: proposal acceptance/decline, auto-reminders, due dates, e-signatures, a better viewing experience for your clients and one central place to track it all.

So if you’ve ever said:

“I already designed this in Canva — can I just use it as-is?”

The answer is: yes, absolutely.

Why Use Canva to Design Proposals + Contracts?

Canva makes it easy to:

• Create stunning, on-brand designs with no advanced software

• Add images, icons, layout elements, or custom typography

• Duplicate and reuse templates for each client

• Easily customize content for each project

• Export as high-res PDFs in seconds

If you’ve already built branded templates in Canva, or want to create ones that feel more like you — there’s no need to switch tools just to make your documents "work" in a CRM. WillowSpace lets you use what you’ve already made and send it with confidence.

How to Use Your Canva Designs Inside WillowSpace

Here’s how it works:

1. Design your proposal or contract in Canva
   Create your layout, brand it beautifully, and export it as a standard PDF (you can then include links too).
   
   

2. Upload it to WillowSpace as a document
   Go to your Client or Project → click “New Document” → choose the Upload PDF option.
   
   

3. Enable client actions
   You can allow your client to:

   • View the document in the portal (using our new full-screen PDF viewer)

   • Accept or decline it

   • Sign it electronically
     
     

4. Send it through the portal or with a custom message
   Choose to send your document via email, or simply make it available inside the portal for your client to access on their own time. You can set up auto-reminders and due dates too, to keep your clients on track. Set it and forget it!

Done! You've just combined your visual design superpowers with the backend efficiency of WillowSpace.

What It Looks Like for Clients

Your uploaded document is now:

• Viewable on desktop and mobile in a clean, full-screen interface

• Easy to accept or sign with one click

• Part of the client’s overall portal experience (not just a random email attachment)

And best of all — your client sees it exactly the way you designed it. No broken formatting, no hassling with a builder, no link juggling, no confusion.

Here's what your client will see:

Our Favorite Canva Templates for Client Docs (So You Don’t Have to Start From Scratch)

Here are a few Canva templates we love to kickstart your proposals, contracts, and more:

• 💼 Gradient Proposal Template
  Clean, modern layout with space for services, pricing, and timelines
  → Browse it on Canva
  
  

• 📝 The Proposal we Use at Function (Design Studio)
  Great for photographers, coaches, or studios
  → Check it out here
  
  

• 🖋️ Minimal Project Proposal Template
  Ideal for any service provider, web designer, or copywriter
  → Preview on Canva
  
  

• 🧾 Contract Template for Service Providers
  Basic, clean agreement template
  → View Template

There are endless choices of beautifully-designed templates to get started with in Canva. Just update the fonts, colours, and logos to match your brand — then upload them to WillowSpace and send them off ✨

The Best of Both Worlds

This workflow gives you total design freedom and a better system for sending, tracking, and managing client documents.

Use the tools you love (like Canva).
Send them with a platform that works beautifully (like WillowSpace).
Keep everything organized in one place — and let your business feel a whole lot calmer.

👉 Start your free trial to try it out today. No credit card required!