Should you be using Canva to create graphics for your business?

There’s no denying that Canva is a fantastic tool for business owners and they are making improvements and adding new features all the time. 

As a brand designer, do I use it myself in my business? The answer is no - but that is because I am a designer and use professional design software. Adobe Creative Cloud is currently around £60 a month to use, and in my opinion, takes many years to master being a proficient user. This isn’t a realistic demand for many business owners - especially those who work by themselves. 

In an ideal world, clients would take their brand identity and all its elements, along with their brand guidelines book and go on to use a graphic designer to create their day to day material. Coming from an agency background this is what I’m used to happening.

But I know that for many of today’s small businesses it is often not the case. Now that platforms like Canva or Adobe Express are so accessible, business owners have the power to have the tools to create a variety of branded material. And they can have this software at their fingertips for around twelve pounds a month. 

But the question is - SHOULD you be using Canva to create branded graphics? 

In short, if you don’t have a design department or graphic designer at your disposal then YES, you absolutely should be. 

So I suppose you can stop reading now and head back over to Canva now we’ve answered the question but if you want to know WHY it is so beneficial and how best. to use it then read on…

• Stops people using software that is not meant for designing
  Many people still use software like Word and PowerPoint to create material they’re not meant for. Or people may use Photoshop to create social graphics that are text based when Photoshop is for working with photographic imagery, not text.

• Helps you stay consistent
  You can add your brand kit - logos, colours, fonts, graphics etc and improvements and new features are being added to this all the time too to make it a better, more efficient experience.

• It does a lot of work for you
  Document types are readily available that come set up to the correct size so you know that for example the Instagram post you have made is at the correct dimensions. You can make quick edits to photos - adjusting the colour, brightness, contrast - as well as offering a whole variety of filters and more recently the ability to remove backgrounds.

If you are going to be using Canva then you should be aware of some dos and don’ts…

DO 

• Utilise the brand kit
  Upload your logos, colour values, fonts and any icons and graphics so they are easily accessible and you can stay consistent

• Set up your own branded templates
  Have a range of master templates that are consistent - think about your social media along with any documents you use in your business like proposals, reports and presentations

• Stay organised by using folders
  Especially if you have a team or work with others by outsourcing - Canva can become a messy place that loses your time if you don’t stay organised

DON’T

• Don’t be tempted by ‘the shiny’
  Notice a new font you’ve not seen before and think it would look nice on your next social media post? Consider the impact that changing things all the time has - you lose consistency and that leads to a loss of trust. 

• Don’t be tempted by Canva’s own templates
  If you see a sparkly new Canva template and want to use it, then make sure you aren’t adopting new ones all the time and that you change enough of it so that it becomes your own and is inline with the rest of your material.

• Don’t use Canva for printing
  Now I’ve always said that Canva is not set up for printing - it was originally all geared towards digital material to be viewed on screen - now there have been many improvements - like the ability to add CMYK colour values (your colours set up for print) along with other features to help. Maybe for some straightforward flyers I’d let you use it, but for anything else I’d still recommend using ag graphic designer to ensure your artwork is set up with both god use of design principles, but also set up correctly for print - there are lots of details and settings that need to be set up correctly to ensure your print comes out as intended. 

• Don’t use Canva to create logos
  This may get you so far in the beginning but it is still not good practise as ideally you should always have your logo in a vector format (which means it can be scaled to any size without losing quality). You can’t use any of Canva’s graphics or icons within a logo either as the user licence doesn’t cover that - you would also never be able to copyright your logo.

I set up nearly all of my clients in Canva once we have worked on their branding. This ensures they have the means to create their branded material consistently and professionally when they ensure they follow their brand guidelines and use the brand kit and templates provided. It gives them freedom and flexibility in using their branding.

So, used correctly Canva is a great choice for businesses who want to create material theirself. 

Just remember the dos and don’ts!