To Canva or not to Canva?

It’s more important now than ever to embrace true graphic design.

With the recent proliferation of DIY graphic design platforms such as Canva and Crello over the last few years, we often get asked whether we use these tools or if we can incorporate them into our client services.

When discussing it with our team it ignites quite the charged discussion.

Indeed, the topic has become polarizing among professional graphic designers and marketers.

Why is Canva such a disturbing topic for professional graphic designers?

What is Canva?

Canva is an online design tool that prides itself on making graphic design accessible to anyone with its easy drag-and-drop interface, pre-designed templates, and access to high-resolution images.

For those without professional graphic design training, Canva allows you to quickly create content using their limited set of templates, fonts, colors and graphic elements.

And Boom! just like that, you have Insta-worthy content available at your fingertips.

But is this truly graphic design?

The answer is No, it’s not.

As a simple analogy: just because you can use a camera, it doesn’t make you an expert photographer.  Or, just because you put that frozen dinner in the microwave, it doesn’t make you a chef.

The main reason is because when you use something like Canva, you can only use what is there.  Canva provides you with a limited set of templates that get used over and over again by their subscribers.

On the other hand, a professional graphic designer creates something from scratch and can incorporate quite literally anything that they want into the design.

Here are 5 reasons why you should not use tools like Canva:

1. Déja-vu

A graphic created by Canva looks like a graphic created by Canva.  Just like your microwave dinner, you aren’t fooling anyone.  We’ve seen the same Canva vibe repeatedly on social media, so no one will think that you created the graphic from scratch.

As a result, your graphic will look like everyone else’s and feel tired and overplayed.

2. Brand sameness

Because tools like Canva only have a limited set of templates and design elements, your brand will look like many other brands instead of standing out. 

Things like specialty fonts and unique layouts are just not available, so you end up resorting to design elements that everyone else is using.

This isn’t great for your brand’s identity.

3. Pro-fesh

Good design needs a good eye.

Even with the help of easy-to-use drag & drop templates, graphics and fonts, it still doesn’t mean that you will be able to pull it all together in a way that looks professional.

Trained designers understand a lot of fundamentals that the average person doesn’t such as:

• font sizing, kerning and alignment
• proportion and layout
• color balance and palettes
• image cropping and enhancement
• lines and shapes
• mood and tone

So, even with a template there needs to be a graphic eye that knows how to interpret it professionally while also ensuring that your brand’s DNA shines though.

4. Saves time (+ money)

Professional graphic designers can turn something around in a fraction of the time than an untrained soul trying to cobble something together.  With or without Canva.

Because of their years of experience and knowledge of the trade, they can quickly create something original and in such a way that it can be repeated over time – say, for a social media campaign or a pitch deck – which, in turn, will help save more time for future graphic design needs.

5. Act like one of the big boys or girls

If you are a small-to-medium or larger company using Canva, is that really the image you want to portray?

Everyone knows that DIY design tools are free (or, that the paid subscriptions are very affordable).  And since it’s easy to tell when something was designed using Canva… well, is this the kind of math that you want your customers to be doing?

Today it’s pretty easy to find affordable graphic designers.

So unless you are a solopreneur on a tight budget, or a student trying to finish a class project, reserve some budget for professional graphic design so that they can make your brand sing, shine and sparkle.