In defense of Canva

Why I like the program

Canva was my gateway into design.

As a young middle school student, I had no access to graphic design tools like Adobe Suite and a nice computer. I had a phone and a deep desire to make things beautiful. After typing something like DIY party invitations into Google, I was transported into a world of agency and accessibility for designing things I never dreamed that I could.

I made planners, signs, art for my walls, and invitations for birthday parties. Sometimes I just thought ‘oh, that would be cool’, and I designed it – no purpose necessary. What began as inserting my text and images into templates transformed into more and more customization of those templates, and the development of an individual taste and style.

All of a sudden, I was starting with blank canvases on the app, no longer leaning on the crutch of a template. I learned some design principles from my interest in physical art and was able to apply those in creating unique designs with the tools I had access to.

This individual exploration launched me into a newfound interest in graphic design. I knew, then, to pursue it in my college studies, learning the Adobe Creative Suite. I can confidently say that, without Canva, I never would have known to pursue one of my current favorite art forms.

This accessibility of Canva serves a purpose that cannot be met by more advanced programs: it bridges the gap for people who don’t have the buy-in of time to learn Adobe or money to pay for it.

Professional uses of Canva

Many professional designers dislike Canva and refuse to use it in any circumstance. I understand their frustration. The learning curve for Adobe programs is much steeper, but once it is passed, these programs become much more professional, streamlined, creative, and clean than Canva. For designers and for the output product, Adobe is clearly a better service. Also, many of Canva’s premade templates lack creativity and seem stiff to the eye of a designer.

All of this is true, but we shouldn’t see Canva as a primary tool for designers. It should serve as a platform for designers to delegate tasks to people in other departments. I have seen the benefits of this usage firsthand, especially in the growth and development of departmental autonomy for design.

As a designer, I was able to use Photoshop, InDesign, and Illustrator for professional projects made by me, like advertisements and company literature. However, the key to streamlined, professional, and cohesive communication (especially internally) is to make it easy for non-designers to edit templates made by the designer.

Projects like a brand standard slide deck, a pre-made workbook, and recurring graphics for newsletters (especially those with dates) give the people responsible for them the ability to edit on their own, cutting out the necessity of yet another email exchange in order to make small edits.

The most important benefit of Canva implementation in your company is the autonomy it affords to non-designers. Of course, the designer can approve final drafts, but this makes the task of delegating the tedious back-and-forth issues so much easier.