Canva vs. Graphic Designer: Pros and Cons of Using Canva
My true feelings about *gulp* Canva… All jokes aside, Canva is a great resource for certain elements of your business. Let me break it down.
If you are not a trained graphic designer, then Canva is an excellent resource for simple tasks such as social media graphics. It is important to remember that this does not take the place of a graphic designer. Graphic Designers have a plethora of training, knowledge, and experience in their craft. A template-based software like Canva lacks many of the professional features that design software, such as Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop have.
Let’s start with the pro’s of Canva…
Canva is easy to use—your Grandpa can probably figure out how to make a decent poster… You know, the guy who starts every sentence with “back in my day…”
It has a drag-and-drop interface—again, easy and convenient.
It offers a large selection of stock images, icons, templates, and various other tools—more on this below.
Much less expensive than hiring a graphic designer—just remember, you get what you pay for.
Overall, Canva is inexpensive, quick, and easy. It gives everyone the chance to create aesthetic content regardless of design experience.
Time to unleash the Graphic Designer…
Experience—Let me introduce myself. My name is Jamie. I have a bachelor’s degree in Digital Art and Design. After college, I started working as a Graphic Designer for a full service advertising agency in New York. After a few years, I moved to a larger full service advertising agency closer to home, in Connecticut. In 2021 I started Creative Bell Design, my branding and graphic design agency. I have over 8 years of experience helping companies of all sizes achieve their marketing goals through professional design. I have designed for Google, Pepsi, Citi, the Jacksonville Jaguars, Live Nation, iHeart, and more.
Time and attention—You have so many things to worry about as a business owner. It may not be in your best interest to take on another task. The core of my business and my primary focus is to elevate your brand. There are many small and large design agencies near you that gladly take on your design needs.
Customization—Canva is a template based program. While this can be convenient, it also means that your design will not stand out. As of Canva's 2021 year-end report, its community has reached a massive 125 million people who are all using the same templates. I can pick out a Canva-made-logo after looking at it for a second. The reason being, they all look way too similar because they are all from the same library of templates. A good graphic designer will not use any templates to create your logo. It is vital that your logo stands out and is unique to your business.
Canva lacks the boundless customization capabilities that professional design softwares have. I mainly work in Adobe Illustrator, InDesign, and Photoshop. The capabilities of these programs are incredible.
File type—I supply you with the appropriate file types. For print design this may include crops and bleed and 300ppi images. For logos this may include vector and raster formats, and CMYK and RGB versions (Pantone if requested). For web, this may be images properly sized to 72ppi so your website doesn’t lag. This may seem like jargon to you—but that’s the point. I will give you the tools you need and a summary of when to use each.
Streamlined—Graphic designers can take a weight off your shoulders. I can take care of everything from your logo, website, marketing materials, apparel, signage, and more. Rather than trying to do all of these things yourself, you can save time, energy, and probably money too by sticking with one trustworthy source.
You may think Canva is easier and cheaper, but have you thought of this… How much could a Graphic Designer make you in turn?
Consider this…
What is your need? If it is a new brand or logo design, I STRONGLY recommend a graphic designer.
What is more important to you—your startup cost or your return on investment?
How many aspects of your business would benefit from professional graphic design?
How important is it for your business to stand out?
