Canva doesn’t make you a designer.
Canva is a design tool, not a substitute for design expertise. It works best when a human is creating materials within a brand developed by a professional designer.
I have Canva. I use Canva. I like Canva.
Knowing how to use Canva doesn’t make me a designer.
What Designers Know
I’ve worked with professional graphic designers for nearly 20 years, and what they do goes far beyond making something look good. The best designers understand hierarchy, typography, spacing, proportion, color and how your eye moves across a page. They know when something needs more and, maybe more importantly, when it needs less.
I’ve also seen what happens when someone without design training gets access to an easy design tool. Every font looks interesting, use a bunch of type styles. Every color is available, I can’t narrow down to a few. There’s room for another graphic, I must fill that white space.
Just because you can make something doesn’t mean you should, especially when it represents your company. There’s too much at stake.
When Canva Works Well
Canva is a terrific tool when it’s used within a thoughtful, established brand. We use it for exactly that, starting with templates created by trained and experienced Pear Creative Collective designers.