Canva: Better Than Diamonds

Coming into Belmont University, I thought I was a decent artist and designer.

Keyword: THOUGHT

In high school, my art teacher was the football coach if that shows you how advanced I thought I was. Flashback to my Intro to Design class I was taking freshman year at Belmont, we were learning about the Adobe creative suite.

Why was everyone so much farther ahead than I am? How did they already know how to use the pen tool?

And how did she stretch her design like that? Did he draw that by hand?

I was struggling.

Flash forward to now: I’m a junior Social Media Management major and I have discovered my new best friend: Canva.

History of Canva

In 2007, creator Melanie Perkins was tutoring her own students on the Adobe Create Suite programs. They found them complicated and difficult to collaborate with. To help with this issue, Perkins and her partner Cliff Obrecht decided to create an online, school yearbook design business, Fusion Books, to test out the idea of having a space that is easy to use, collaborative friendly, and creative.

This platform exploded more than they ever could have imagined and decided to expand to create Canva in 2013. 

Users of Canva

Canva is one of the best inventions to ever happen in the eyes of a designer, with over 55 million users as of 2021. Whether you are like me and use Canva for social media to create content, or you’re a small business making posters for a new sale coming up, this platform can be used by any individual.

Features of Canva

Canva is great for those using it individually and to collaborate with others! This user-friendly interface is laid out with templates on the left-hand side, while fonts and color-changing options are located at the top. The drag and drop feature also allows users to try out different tools with ease. With the use of Canva Presentations, individuals can share their work with others and be able to contribute to a project. Users can then run live sessions to present where the audience can join the conversation, send comments, and even ask questions during the presentation. With the use of 100+ different fonts and filters, there are endless possibilities.

Add text for a funny caption, use a curved text design instead of a boring old box, add a speech bubble to a picture, or even make a collage. The possibilities are never-ending on Canva with the addition of stickers or frames around a photo as well. Don’t know where to start? That’s okay too. This platform even has free templates you can choose as a base to personalize in order to fit your needs.

If you have access to Canva Pro, your options can be opened to a premium library of stock photos, fonts, shapes, and templates. In-app purchases are also available if you don’t want to pay for the pro version.

Not only is Canva a platform to create, but also learn. Located on Canva’s homepage, one can find the “Learn” tab located on the right hand side. After clicking on it, the user is prompted with the option of courses, tutorials, or blog. Each category has sections packed full of information on how to use communication effectively, branding your business, social media mastery, and more! As a new Social Media Manager major, I have found myself looking through these articles a multitude of times to learn new ways to incorporate content creation into a future career.

Examples of other articles found on Canva:

• “The Pros, Cons, and Future of Flat Design”
• “40 Of The Best Franchise Fonts For Your Business”
• “10 Ways to Stop Your Designs From Looking The Same and Create Unique Stuff Quickly”
• “How to Choose The Right Colors For Your Brand”

Limitations of Canva

You would think this application has it all, unfortunately that is not the case. As a designer, Canva is great when you are experiencing a creative block, however, the overuse of designs on this platform does not really help that. In addition to this issue, is the fact that a majority of the more advanced features require a subscription service: $199.99/year for 1-5 people, $419.99/year for 10, $719.99/year for 15 people, and $2,819.99/year for 50 people.

Another limitation that can occur is there is no source file like the Adobe Creative Suite. Without your Canva account, you cannot access your design as a raw file. Canva also does not have local file storage, meaning if the website is down for any reason, you will have to wait to access your designs.

Applications of Canva

Canva’s main application is simply a graphic design platform to create presentations, posters, and any sort of visual content. There is no correct or incorrect way to use this application, however those who want to skip the hassle of watching an hour long “How To” video of an Adobe application, this is for you.

Best Practices of Canva for Strategic Communication

1. Having a clear and concise message
   • With visual content, it is important that your point is easy to read, in turn leaving less room for interpretation.
2. Encourage Collaboration
   • Canva has an easy to use sharing tool for this exact reason. If one person is having a hard time coming up with a new poster idea or needs something to post for the Instagram story, grab someone to look at your work so far! Team work makes the dream work!
3. Consistency is key
   • When it comes to visual communication, you want to stay consistent to prevent sending mixed messages which can muddy brand reputation. Plus, when a brand is visually consistent, it tends to make it appear more credible, trustworthy, and professional.

Tips & Tricks for Communicators

1. Think about visual hierarchy
   • Arrange and group elements in your content in accordance with their importance. Ask: “What do I want to draw attention to?”
2. Create team templates
   • As a graphic designer, starting from scratch is the last thing you want to think about. Templates can make visual communication quick and easy. Set up a template with Canva to share within your team so everyone can customize it to their liking.
3. SIMPLICITY IS BEST!