For those who are not familiar, Canva is a desktop and mobile app that allows a user to design a variety of graphic assets, from social media graphics and infographics to animated posts and videos.
Visual designers may have avoided Canva as we obviously have our own design and image editing tools, however with the rise of digital graphics and frequency of social and digital content, Canva has become a valuable tool in the creative’s toolbox.
Three reasons why creatives should consider using Canva:
1. Consistency
By using the Brand Kit and Canva-designed templates (more on both below), your clients can keep the branding you carefully designed consistent across their marketing and communications. Plus, you can spend less time on brand management or oversight.
2. Efficiency
Since your clients can easily make minor edits or create simple graphics on their end using the templates you design, it saves them time and effort. It also frees up your time for other types of work.
3. Strategy
When clients have control over aspects of design production, it puts your focus back on strategy rather than managing small, one-off projects. Clients can also put their budget into strategy-based work so you can focus on larger projects and/or conceptual work.
Now that we’ve discussed reasons why creatives and clients can benefit from using Canva, here are a few ways to make the most of Canva while also incorporating it into your current workflow and using it alongside tools such as Adobe Creative Cloud.
Three ways to make the most of Canva
1. Set up Brand Kit
One of the most powerful aspects of Canva is the Brand Kit: a place to store brand logos, colors, and fonts. Once the Brand Kit is created, the branded assets are easily accessible in the Canva user interface (see example).
Multiple brand kits can be created (up to 100 with Canva Pro) and you can even upload your brand fonts so you are not limited to the app-provided fonts.
Note: Canva Pro subscription is required for Brand Kit.
2. Create branded templates
One of the ways creatives can effectively use Canva is by integrating it with their current design workflow. For example, illustrations and graphics can be created in Creative Cloud apps and exported as design elements for Canva.
Branded design templates can be created using those design elements and placeholders for text and images can be easily dropped in. Canva also includes simple image editing and one-click animation features, making animated posts and videos quick and easy to create.
Design templates can be shared with team members to edit and customize. And to keep branding intact, design elements and backgrounds can be locked so they cannot be moved or replaced.
3. Use Canva with your team
One of the benefits of Canva is connecting it with your clients and creative teams. Individual graphics as well as folders can be shared with Canva teams. User access can be customized to view-only, edit or use graphics as a template.
Canva incudes an approval workflow so team members or clients can add comments or feedback to designs during the creation process.
Note: A Canva Pro subscription is required for many team functions and is generally the recommended level for most small to mid-sized organizations.
Other Canva perks
Canva offers a nonprofit discount for eligible organizations as well as an education discount for K-12 educators, librarians, and students. They also have an enterprise plan for larger marketing and sales teams and franchises.
With some set-up, preparation and planning, Canva can be an essential, time-saving tool for creatives and visual designers.
Watch a replay of Lidia’s CR60 session, Canva for Creative Cloud Users.
Written by: Lidia Varesco Racoma of Lidia Varesco Design
Photo by cottonbro on Pexels