“You can’t get a rocket to the moon just by aiming it. You also have to give yourself the ability to course-correct.” —Clay Shirky
There used to be a time when creating a stunning graphic design was beyond the capabilities of most people unless one went to school and paid the tuition to learn how to do it. Thanks to Canva, we are no longer oblivious when it comes to graphic design; we are only limited by our imagination. This is a review of Canva as a digital tool and its implications for digital leadership. So, what is Canva?
Canva is a graphic design platform launched in 2013 to empower and stimulate individual and organizational creativity, as can be ascertained from their website. It is a web-based tool. It can also be downloaded as an app. According to the website, Canva is used to create logos, posters, flyers, invitations, Facebook covers, TikTok videos, animations, banners, yard signs, certificates, edit photos, business cards, charts, presentations, branding designs on t-shirts, hoodies, mugs, e-book covers, personalized calendars, comic strips, greeting cards, restaurant menus, YouTube thumbnails and channel art, and that is just at this point in its evolution.
Canva is always free and has the option of upgrading to premium versions if that fits your needs better than the free version. It has, at this moment, 50 million-plus users from 190 countries. Canva is available in 100 languages and has won the 2019 Google play award, the 2019 Australian great place to work award, and the mid-stage category enterprise tech 30 award. Canva has three plans: free, pro—which is $12.99 per month for up to five people on a team (any additional team member is $7 per month), and enterprise—-which is $150 per month for a team of up to five people. The price increases as the team number increase when on the pro or enterprise plan. So, why has Canva been called the best option for “newbies,” as Kelly (2016) defines it for this era?
It might have something to do with the benefits of signing up to use it. Benefits such as:
- Canva has a clean, user-friendly interface any beginner can navigate. The drop-down menus are clear, and the drag and drop feature is appreciated.
- It automatically saves your work as you design, so you do not need to worry if your computer suddenly crashes or the power goes out. Your work will remain saved on the cloud, and you can continue from where you left off.
- With over 250,000 professionally designed templates at your fingertips, creating a new brand identity for a start-up or rebranding an already established business, website, or blog is easy.
- It offers real-time collaboration opportunities with others regardless of location by giving them edit access via link or email. Access is controlled by you.
- It has a library of resources ranging from free design courses, tutorials, and a designing community.
- The pro premium plan is free if you can show you are a K12 teacher or student. It is also free for registered nonprofits and tailored to their needs.
- It integrates with Google Classroom, YouTube, Instagram, Microsoft Teams, Canvas (different from Canva), Facebook, Pixabay, Pinterest, Tumblr, Flickr, Remind, Google Drive, Google, Twitter, and many more.
The benefits are quite attractive, and I cannot believe I have been around this long and never heard of it till now. However, there are some downsides to using it, such as:
- The mobile app version is not as user-friendly as when used on a desktop or laptop and does not have the same number of features. Screen size becomes an issue if you choose to use the mobile app. Other reviewers, Praneeth (2021) and Jameel (2021), have highlighted the same limitation.
- Some of the more unique templates come along with the paid version only.
- The template designs cannot be trademarked if you use them for your business or website because anyone can use them. The elements and templates can be freely used and are freely accessible by millions.
- To get unlimited cloud storage, you would have to get the most expensive of the three plans—enterprise. This could be a problem if you have many projects or even just large file-size projects.
So, is it worth it?
Absolutely! It is basically free, and free stuff is great. Kelly (2016) mentioned how we human beings find it difficult to ignore free things. Therefore, even those who might consider hiring an actual graphic designer to do the work would be lured away from that thought process just to save a bit of money and time, that is, unless the power of patronage, as described by Kelly (2016), resonates quite strongly with you.
It is interesting to take a look at the leadership implications of such digital tools as Canva. Their website highlights explicitly the Canva values, which include the following:
- Simplification of complex tasks. That is, always thinking of the user and practical, simple solutions.
- Goal setting, prioritization, and celebration of successes
- Positive action, inclusion, and diversity
- Empowerment of others — even on a global level and,
- Leading by example, continuous growth, collaboration, and communication.
All these values are noted on the website of Canva. They align with Westerman et al.’s (2014) discussion on creating a compelling customer experience and leading through technology. The pandemic has brought to light the necessity of learning how to lead through technology and be a digital leader in different fields.
Also, along the lines of leadership implications, Canva creates reach and customer engagement (Westerman et al., 2014) by the wide range of languages it has available for its global use and connectivity. Customer engagement is also evident in Canva through its support community of blogs and Canva 101 courses. Leading through digital tools requires creating a continuous learning environment and giving people choices. However, being a world of consumers….we always want more. The desire for more, Kelly (2016) says, triggers our resourcefulness and growth. The moment I was done using the features in Canva, I found myself longing for it to do more. I started wishing I could get the premium features for free. I also perceived new holes in its functionality that must be filled, as Kelly (2016) described. We are constantly chasing that which is free, immediate, and convenient….I regrettably do the same.
In terms of Kelly’s (2016) four stages of flowing in his third chapter, the product made by an expert graphic designer can be seen as fixed and rare, the first stage. Their designs are customized, take expertise to create, and are a source of income or compensation for the creator. We are at the point of what Kelly (2016) calls the third disruption—the opening and becoming—where powerful services such as Canva and its ready pieces of elements and templates can be grabbed, dragged, and dropped into designs at little or no cost making us feel less amateurish and empowering us to create new products. We have all become artists or at least excited by the possibility of the output, as algorithms that are inspired by our desires make our visions come to life. So, what becomes of the expert graphic designer who might see tools such as Canva as cheating?
In my line of work, because we are a nonprofit, we would enjoy the pro premium version for free since it is offered free to nonprofits and the education field. It is a digital tool that could help us design more visually appealing newsletters, save-the-date invitations to parish events, posters for volunteer opportunities, and flyers for retreats. As an organizational leadership tool, it can be utilized to organize ideas at staff meetings for its mind mapping feature. The Canva scheduler design might provide a great way to schedule scripture readers and other ministers just by accessing the template and the desired design elements already there.
Using Canva is exciting, and they already provide videos for us to learn as much as possible. Videos such as this one:
Graphic design web-based tools have been nudging those of us without any formal qualification as graphic designers to what Kelly (2016) refers to as protopia — a process that will change how the field of graphic designing changes and evolve the relevance of hiring an actual person to do the work of making our company logos and such. It might be difficult to see, but the solutions generated by web-based graphic design tools will also cause some other problems of tomorrow. For example, the fading of patronage (Kelly, 2016), the suppression of the emotional regulatory tool of letting go and letting others help us, a cheapening of graphic design certifications, an over-accessibility of data— leaving us vulnerable to data breaches, the pitfalls of abundance that redirects profit of the old ways, as described by Clay Shirky in his interview, and our insatiable need for immediacy (Kelly, 2016) as the primary customer experience checklist (Westerman et al., 2014).
Given my own work environment, in addition to Canva, YouTube, and Zoom, three other digital tools resonate with me, especially during this time of the pandemic: slack, for a centralized team meeting collaboration and file sharing (which we do not have at the moment), Kahoot, to make instructional videos for various ministries, and Google Classroom, for religious education purposes. I think these would have promising possibilities for future research as the Church strives to reach out and engage in a digital era.
Canva is still “becoming.” It is yet to do the most extraordinary things, and the algorithm, which is inspired by our desire to create, is limited by our imagination. Check out Canva; I will definitely be using the free version for personal and professional reasons.
References
Kelly, K. (2016). The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 technological forces that will shape our future. Viking Press.
Westerman, G., Bonnet, D. and McAfee, A. (2014). Leading digital: Turning technology into business transformation. HBR Press.
Leadership Dialogue in Changing Times 
Good review. You wove a good description of the tool in with Westerman’s, Kelly’s and Shirky’s concepts. As I tweeted earlier today, in my social media Masters class, students create an infographic to present their data on how they used the web over 5 days. Canva is one of the tools I suggest…and students love it.
What is fascinating to me is how these tools not only enhance individuals … but more importantly, they enhance collaboration within teams.
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Thank you Dr. Watwood.
I have certainly experienced empowerment and a spark of creativity from this digital tool, but I am even more excited and hopeful about the possibilities at my workplace. Collaboration has become a buzzword at my place of work. Everyone says it is happening, but no one ever collaborates with the “boots on the ground,” so to speak.
Collaboration seems to happen sideways with those who see themselves as equals, which are a small handful at the top. They are also the ones who call those at the bottom to help them make the digital tools work for whatever is dreamed up. If not for tools such as Canva, YouTube, WeTransfer, Outlook, Zoom, and others, I might be seen as irrelevant and inconsequential. I am happy to be the “tech” person at work, forged by the fires of a pandemic, learning new ways to lead silently on a digital level. It has made me relevant, since I seem to be the one who learns how to use them the fastest in the office.
Even though I am hopeful that the features of Canva can provide an avenue for collaboration with its mind mapping feature and other elements, collaboration ultimately has to do with trust and inner freedom, as Dr. Barron suggested in her article in Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-creativity-cure/201303/creativity-and-collaboration. Very little of both exist at the moment, it is a work in progress…a very slow progress.
We, as a society, must work on both to truly enjoy the benefits of the collaborative efforts that may come from digital tools. Trust and inner freedom is the part we, as humans, contribute to the continued use of such tools for creativity, collaboration, connection, and in “becoming”, as Kelly (2016) would call it.
I am happy to hear any thoughts on how trust and inner freedom play a role in our use of web-based tools for productivity, creativity, and collaboration.
Thanks,
Vivian
References
Kelly, K. (2016). The Inevitable. Penguin Books.
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I believe that trust is huge in leadership. I like the 10 points made in this article – https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2018/03/17/ten-ways-to-build-trust-on-your-team/?sh=22ce2c252445
And for me, part of what generates trust is a diverse team. To long in the edtech community where I worked, the voices were all white males. This website was long overdue – https://learnlaunch.org/2019/02/37-emerging-inspirational-black-leaders2020/
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Dr. Watwood,
I absolutely appreciated the link you shared about the emerging inspirational black leaders. I did not know there so many because they are hardly highlighted or given credit for their work. There is something to be said for Scott Page’s ideas on the diversity bonus — https://youtu.be/gvKXtOK6Gyw
To lead, whether face-to-face or in the digital world, trust is essential. Especially as we use web-based tools that facilitate a bypassing of any way to verify trustworthiness of creator, in my opinion, but this thought is also back up by the author of the article, building trust in the digital age —-https://medium.com/memos-of-the-future/building-trust-credentialing-in-the-digital-age-3f06d54d9af7.
In this article, Doug Antin suggests that producing social proof of work is the way to build trust online. He suggested that if the focus is giving value to the community or customers, thereby, focusing on customer reach, engagement, and experience, as Westerman et al. (2014) discussed, people would be “trained” to expect value, and in turn, reciprocity from the digital community will be in form of credentials. These “credentials” lead to trust of the users of such tools, which allow for digital tool sustainability.
It seems as we use these web-based tools, maybe we might ask ourselves if it is important that we trust the creators of such tool to put our needs and values first.
References
Westerman, G., Bonnet, D. and McAfee, A. (2014). Leading Digital: Turning Technology into Business Transformation, HBR Press.
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Great blog post! I dipped my toe in Canva last year and created a PowerPoint and infographic in it. My daughter got a pro plan (that I pay for monthly!) to Canva because she uses it all the time, and I decided to explore it a bit. I was impressed with the ease of using the platform. My daughter and I collaborated on an infographic together while she was at school. It was fun to be making changes remote from each other but happening on the screen in real-time. This is what Kelly (2016) spoke of when he said some streams “operate totally in the present, with no past or future. They just flow past. If you see something, fine. Then it is gone.” (p. 63). She would change something I did, and it was immediately updated as we worked remotely with my version, never to be seen again.
Since the basic Canva is free, I think it can benefit leaders at not-for-profits to create professional-looking graphic design projects. This tool can help update how websites look and improve the user experience and create great-looking newsletters, etc. It sounds like at your not-for-profit, you have found some ways Canva’s use can create value. When digital tools are free, they provide equal access, assuming people have access to devices. Some leaders have a greater resource pool than others, and having free digital tools like this can benefit those with fewer resources.
Looking through the list of digital tools and reading blog posts, LinkedIn Learning may play a larger role in education and impact my work requiring further research. Your post on Canva reminds me of the potential of this platform. This Wired article talks about the digital tools of the future. The article discussed rethinking how we work and how technology will be a key enabler as we continue to work remotely. I agree with the article that video conferencing will continue to evolve, and the impact on the education area could be huge. Just thinking of the improvements in Zoom and Google Meet in a matter of months makes me excited to see the future of those platforms. I look forward to reading everyone’s blog to learn about digital tools that align with my work.
Thanks!
Megan
Kelly, K. (2016). The Inevitable. Penguin Books.
Ezra (2021, February 22). The digital tools to expect in the workplace of the future. Wired. https://www.wired.co.uk/article/bc/work-future-tools-ezra
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Megan,
thank you for your comments. I appreciate you sharing how this tool works well for you and your daughter; it is a great tool.
The article you shared by Ezra: https://www.wired.co.uk/article/bc/work-future-tools-ezra, was very interesting. I particularly found the concept of digital tools focused on improving the well-being of the worker very exciting, since most people find navigating new digital tools stressful. Thanks for sharing that.
As people begin to adapt to working remotely, the more user-friendly and affordable a digital tool can be, the better. Also, having the ability to take classes from home stress free is a plus in personal development and in professional development when the right digital or web tools are used. Researching as many platforms as possible opens up various possibilities and encounters with knowledge.
Thanks for your response to my post.
Vivian
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I have used Canva a little; it is integrated with HubSpot, the tool I was reviewing. In my first blog post, I used the free version of Canva for my featured image. I love when companies have ways to get into the tool for free. I find the same thing to be true you mentioned; the desire for more triggers our resourcefulness and growth (Kelly, 2016). I think this is why I resonated with Shirky and Chui (2014) about how collaboration creates amazing things. Putting the offering of Canva and the needs of end-users, many things are possible. Pointing these principles to the company view, do you see ways that this tool will be reinvented by competitors or the company itself? How do you see the marketplace influencing how the tool evolves?
Cameron
References
Kelly, K. (2016). The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 technological forces that will shape our future. Viking Press.
Shirky, C., & Chui, M. (2014, March 1). The disruptive power of collaboration: An interview with Clay Shirky. McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/technology-media-and-telecommunications/our-insights/the-disruptive-power-of-collaboration-an-interview-with-clay-shirky
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Cameron,
great questions! Thanks for your comments.
Giving your ease at using HubSpot, and the user-friendliness of Canva, it will be a noteworthy marriage of digital tools.
To answer your question, a tool like Canva can not escape being reinvented or copied. Kelly (2016) referred to this as the first disruption in the four stages of flowing. According to Kelly (2016), there would be an inevitable promiscuous copying of products which will be disseminated freely and cheaply and would build operational advantage for those who use the tool, but would lessen the surprise and uniqueness of the tool. It would be prudent of them to utilize the power of digital transformation that goes beyond little adjustments and think not just big and wide but personal, to keep their advantage over competitors.
The marketplace would affect Canva the way it has these past few years….need necessitates creativity and innovation of its features. As we need, Canva should adapt and provide.
Thanks Cameron.
Vivian
References
Kelly, K. (2016). The Inevitable: Understanding the 12 technological forces that will shape our future. Viking Press.
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HI! So as we saw on our Twitter #ILD831 thread, I am a BIG FAN of Canva and use it for all of my creative projects. You did a great review of this site, as I have noticed more people becoming interested in learning more. I love the ease of designing on this site as well as the amount of tools I can use to create my own templates.
I noticed you mentioned that you like the scheduler in Canva. Have you or your organization used any other tool for scheduling content, like Hootsuite, Later, or Planner? Just curious because I tried using the scheduler in Canva and it got the job done but I would like to see more options–like being able to schedule stories too.
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I’m following this response but I, too, am curious about scheduling. I’ve been too scared to use it since I don’t want to tarnish the school’s Instagram.
Fun side note: I was able to get a free upgraded account because I am a teacher. If anyone else is a teacher, you might want to check out if they still allow for this to happen.
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The scheduling function is very simple and limited. There are some very detailed YouTube videos that can guide you through it. It has evolved but not enough, in my opinion. However, it works perfectly for simple scheduling tasks for social media and even student appointments. Try it out on a separate Instagram account and if you like it, and when you are comfortable, you could use it on the school’s Instagram.
Thanks so much for the response to my post.
Vivian
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Hi Brandi,
thank you for your comments.
Yes, the scheduler in Canva is quite limited but it is adequate for what we would need such tools for at my place of work. At the moment, we use a tool called ParishSoft which is quite customized to our purposes. Here is their link if you would like to take a look at it: https://www.ministryschedulerpro.com/rc?utm_source=google&utm_medium=adwords&utm_campaign=Liturgical_Minister_Schedulingnew&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIuPirianX8gIVAG1vBB28UwkiEAAYASAAEgLMs_D_BwE
We have not used Hootsuite, Later, or Planner. Although, if you are looking for one that schedules stories, Hootsuite would be the way to go. They show you how on their website: https://www.hootsuite.com/instagram, but the only problem is that you can only get a 30-day free trial, after that you would have to pay anywhere from $49 per month to $599 and above.
Brandi, thanks for the dialogue.
Vivian
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