Canva – a tool that hurts professionals in the creative world?

This year, the brand that recently acquired Affinity - Adobe Creative Cloud's direct competitor - for the hefty sum of 380 million dollars, announces mind-boggling figures. Over 180 million users are reportedly working with this online application, in free or paid versions.

But why such enthusiasm? As graphic design professionals - digital and analog - at Antistatique, we asked ourselves what generates such success. So we tested it and sought to find out what it's capable of and, most importantly, what the potential impact is on creative agencies.

The result is clear: Canva is a great tool with a wide range of applications. Accessible, simple, and fast, the tool allows anyone, even without design skills, to quickly create all sorts of materials: social media visuals, presentations, flyers, stationery, and much more. All this, thanks to an intuitive interface and predefined templates. These templates - to be used as-is or customizable - are already in the right dimensions (just choose), so imagine the time saved, it's con-si-de-ra-ble!

Recently, artificial intelligence features have even been added to help users create even more professional designs. Add to that the provision of free image libraries and icons/pictograms. And the price? Compared to professional software that holds the monopoly - Adobe Creative Cloud - to name names, Canva offers free options and low-cost paid subscriptions, making graphic creation easily accessible to a wider audience once again. That's a lot of arguments in favor, isn't it?

Okay, okay, you're already thinking, so why bother continuing to work with expensive professionals who take ages to execute creations?

Firstly, standardization and creative limitations. Indeed, Canva's predefined templates can lead to uniformity in creations, limiting the uniqueness and originality that professionals can offer. Secondly, the lack of functional depth. Canva, although powerful for simple tasks, doesn't have the advanced capabilities of software like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, which can limit the complexity and quality of projects. And finally, perceived value. The ease and low cost of Canva can lead some clients to underestimate the work and skills of designers, potentially jeopardizing their income.

That being said, at Antistatique, we've chosen to exploit and consider the existence of this application while clearly relegating it to its basic function - a tool. Indeed, it doesn't represent a direct threat; it simply changes the nature of our work. We've therefore decided to focus on more complex and customized projects - in combination with other creative tools - that can't be produced on Canva without understanding a visual identity or brand, thus highlighting our expertise and ability to meet specific needs. Once the creations are made, we mainly offer a consulting service to help and support users and clients in improving their creations - our creations, actually - on Canva.

Our clients can therefore continue to edit and modify designs on their own after the initial delivery, which is particularly attractive for small businesses that need flexibility and want to limit their investment in this type of project. And finally - let's be realistic - it's often non-designer collaborators who are asked to make variations and/or new creations. In the end, doesn't everyone benefit?

Canva is good, but a good agency that uses it wisely is even better.