Our Love-Hate Relationship with Canva
Whether you’re a designer or not, if you’re familiar with the marketing or design world you have most likely heard of the heavily debated web-based graphic design tool, Canva. When the topic of Canva is broached in conversation often times it is countered with either the opinion of “Canva is ruining the design world and I hate it,” or the opposing notion of “Canva is the best thing to ever happen to me and I don’t know what I would do without it.” Regardless, the people feel STRONGLY about Canva in one way or another. However, we at HUB believe there is a happy balance and room for both Canva and designers in the creative sphere. Let’s break down what Canva is and the pros and cons of working with the program versus hiring a designer or design studio.So what exactly is Canva? Canva is a drag and drop interface that was created specifically for non-designers and those who aren’t tech-savvy to create design and marketing materials. The program is accessed through a web-browser and is full of templates and easy-to-use, entry level design features. So what does our love-hate relationship with Canva look like?
Some of the Pros and Cons of Using Canva vs. Using a Designer
Canva Con: Templates don’t allow uniqueness in a brand. Anyone who uses the template will have a similar look and feel and it limits the creativity of the materials.
Designer Pro: They create unique, thoughtful materials and use research and design psychology to intentionally choose provoking colors, typography, imagery, etc.
Canva Pro: Who doesn’t love something FREE? Using Canva’s basic set-up is free to the public.
Designer Con: It’s going to cost ya. But we prefer to think of this as an investment in yourself and your brand!
Canva Con: When designing a logo, scalability is extremely important to preserve resolution. Canva is not a vector based program and does not allow this flexibility. It allows you to export various formats, but does not provide context around when a file format is most appropriate.
Designer Pro: They know their stuff! Using design programs like Adobe Illustrator, they are able to provide logos as vectors that provide maximum scalability without the loss of resolution. Designers also know when a file format is more appropriate than another and how to provide them.
Canva Pro: Quick turnarounds! Canva is easy-peasy and is readily available when needed.
Designer Con: The designer/client process is just that, a process. Great work takes time!
We recognize the pros and cons on both sides, but Canva and designers can work in tandem to create something magical. When creating a brand identity and strategy, we think it’s pretty crucial that you go through a designer or design studio to ensure you are receiving the best solution possible. The psychology and reasoning behind typography, colors, and other visual elements is just not available with programs like Canva. However, after a designer does the heavy lifting and you have the brand of your dreams, you can take your brand assets and use them in Canva (in a paid account). This can be a great tool for you to continue to create brand cohesion across your materials.