Canva for Business - The most important points in brief: |
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Freelancers, self-employed people, startups and small and medium-sized companies have one thing in common: they often can’t afford their own design department. Nevertheless, many of them manage to create very appealing designs for their posts, websites, banners, flyers, posters and the like. How is that possible? Presumably, they all use the design trend tool Canva.
“Launched in 2013, Canva is an online design and visual communication platform with the goal of empowering anyone in the world to design anything and publish it anywhere.” (Canva)
Indeed, the program is very easy and intuitive to use. The seemingly endless number of templates and drag-and-drop interface allow beginners and professionals alike to easily and quickly create visually appealing designs. Over 13 billion designs have been created with Canva.
Canva is an Australian company led by CEO Melanie Perkins. The graphics program can be used as an app or in the browser. It can be used on a computer as well as on a smartphone or tablet. However, due to the large variety of features, we recommend using it on the computer.
Canva is free to use. In the Canva Free version, all basic functions, such as the drag-and-drop editor, are available. More than 250,000 free templates and over 100 different design types, such as social media posts, letters, presentations, etc., can be accessed. There are over a million free photos and graphics available for free. Some of Canvas’ popular AI tools can also be used in the free version, such as Magic Write, Magic Design and Magic Edit. However, cloud storage for free use is limited to 5 GB.
Canva Pro costs 109.99€ per year and is limited to one user. This user gets unlimited access to all premium content, each of which is marked with a small crown in the program. This means that over 100 million premium photos, videos, audios and graphics can be accessed. Up to 100 brand documents can be created. The very useful smart resizing feature can be used indefinitely. Cloud storage is increased to 1 TB in this version. Great extra tools like Magic Eraser, Beat Sync, background removal of images and content scheduler (for up to eight social media platforms) can be used in the Pro version.
The cost of Canva Teams is based on the number of team members you have. Canva Teams includes all the benefits of Canva Pro, plus more. For example, with brand control, brand templates and design approvals, a consistent brand look is always ensured. Up to 300 brand documents can be created. With the help of guidelines, it is ensured that all team members can design faithfully to the brand. Collaboration of individual team members and assignment of tasks is possible in real time. Team reports and insights ensure that everyone in the team is always up-to-date. Your team’s designs, presentations, and documents can be used as brand templates. You can even design your own logos with the logo builder. Plus, with Canva Teams, you get prioritized support.
When you log in to Canva, you’ll first get an overview of what different formats you can design with Canva. You can easily select what you want to design with the click of a mouse.
In the Social Media menu item, there are different choices. Do you want to create a post for Facebook or Instagram? Or would you prefer a story? Do you want it to be a Pinterest pin or a LinkedIn wallpaper? Do you need a new Facebook cover image? Or would you rather create a video, for example for Instagram Reels, TikTok or even YouTube? All this is possible with Canva. You just have to choose and then you can design freely or with the help of templates.
The menu selection is somewhat clearer if you decide to design a Doc. Here you have the choice to create a document, either freely or with the help of templates. Additionally, there is the new Auto-Present feature, which helps you turn documents into presentations.
Depending on which version you have, there are various options available under the Whiteboard tab. In addition to the classic whiteboard, there are whiteboards to choose from for brainstorming, flowcharts, teams, and different planning. In Canva Teams, the boards can also be edited simultaneously.
Canva offers a wide range of templates for whiteboards for every occasion.
When it comes to presentations, different features are available depending on the version. Teams can collaborate in real-time on presentations. The following menu options are available:
Just a gimmick or a serious form of presentation? Either way, it’s an eye-catcher.
Websites can be designed on Canva either freely or with the help of various design templates. The design templates are pre-sorted into different menu options:
Under the Videos tab, you will find some menu options that are also present in the Social Media section. In addition to Facebook Video, Instagram Reels, TikTok Video, YouTube Video, and Pinterest Video Pin, the following options are available:
In the Video section as well, it is possible to create designs from scratch or choose from a wide range of templates that can be combined with your own video content.
Canva allows you to create designs for print products, such as T-shirts, postcards, mugs, calendars, and more, and also offers the option to order the products directly through Canva once the design is completed. Canva promotes this as “Design and Print with Just One Tool.” While it may sound convenient, it is important to carefully consider whether it might be more cost-effective to create the designs on Canva and then have someone else handle the printing. It is essential to compare prices!
Due to the large number of different print products, there are subcategories available:
Under the “More” tab, in addition to the previously mentioned design options, you will find many others, such as:
Within a design, it is possible to choose from various templates and customize them or create freely. In the “Elements” menu, you can select from thousands or even millions of lines and shapes, graphics, stickers, photos, videos, audios, charts, tables, frames, grids, and collections.
For businesses, charts and tables are particularly interesting. They can be easily created on Canva like nowhere else. You can choose from a variety of chart types and tables and simply feed the program with the relevant information. Everything else will be automatically generated.
Canva offers a wide selection of different chart types and tables.
Under “Brand Hub,” you can find preset brand assets such as fonts, logos, colors, and more.
Under “Uploads,” you can upload your own photos, videos, and graphics.
Under “Text,” you will find a wide variety of fonts, text styles, and font combinations, as different fonts should ideally complement each other well.
With “Draw,” you can freely draw using a pen, marker, highlighter, and eraser.
Under “Projects,” you can open and view various previously created projects and folders.
In the “Apps” section, there are numerous additional features that can be accessed through integrated apps. The most popular apps in this area are:
In addition to the design capabilities, there are many other features that make Canva Teams a very useful tool for businesses.
If you have created a post that you don’t want to publish immediately but at a specific time, you can schedule it using Canva. Simply click on the “Share” button and then select “Schedule Publishing.” Now you can not only choose the date and time of publication but also the platform. Instagram Business, Facebook Page, Twitter, Facebook Group, Pinterest, LinkedIn Page, Slack, and Tumblr are available options. To be able to schedule your posts for these platforms, you need to connect Canva to them beforehand.
Posts can be pre-scheduled for a specific date and for various channels.
In Canva Teams, on the left side of the homepage, there is a tab called “Brand Hub.” It allows you to create brand assets and brand templates. Brand assets can include logos, colors, fonts, photos, graphics, and symbols. With “Brand Templates,” you can set up templates that your team members can use for presentations, whitepapers, posts, or similar content. If you want to ensure that your company’s design guidelines are followed, the “Brand Controls” feature is very helpful. Here, you can restrict the colors and fonts that team members can use for a particular brand. Additionally, you can enable “Design Approval” so that a design can only be published after receiving approval from designated individuals.
As mentioned earlier, there are many useful additional features for teams, such as simultaneous editing of whitepapers or presentations. You can specify which team member can view and edit which designs. This allows team members to work privately or share their work with others. Designs can also be commented on, and tasks can be assigned.
In the paid versions of Canva, you not only get more storage space but also a significantly larger selection of stock photos, videos, graphics, animations, frames, mockups, and AI tools. Mockups are especially interesting for businesses. They allow you to visualize how posts, websites, and other designs would look on smartphones, computers, or tablets. Mockups are also available for advertising posters in subways, cities, bus stops, etc. They can demonstrate how a design would appear on clothing or different types of packaging, such as perfume bottles, water bottles, spray bottles, cream tubes, and more.
What looks good on a smartphone would still require further optimization for our product line or merchandise in our case.
The latest AI tools also assist companies. With them, you can create your own animations, remove backgrounds from images, replace elements in images with others, and eliminate unwanted elements in the background. Text tools aid in the development of texts, and the innovative Beat Sync automatically synchronizes audio and video in the video editor to harmonize sound and visuals. You can also upload your own audio tracks. This allows your company to make a good impression on trendy platforms like TikTok.
By far, the best premium feature is “Magic Resize“. For example, if you have created an Instagram post and want to use it in a story as well, Magic Resize automatically adjusts the size, requiring you to make only a few or no further adjustments yourself. There are no limits to this capability. One design can be transformed into any other design, saving valuable time. But be careful: be sure to select “Copy & Resize” to avoid deleting the design in the previous version.
Of course, Canva is not the only design program you can use to create visually appealing company websites, posts, videos, presentations, and more. There are also alternatives available:
Visme is a self-proclaimed all-in-one platform for creating presentations, documents, data visualizations, videos, and other branded content. The program stands out for its attention to detail, specific templates, and numerous tools but is relatively expensive at $24.75 per month for the Pro version.
VistaCreate impresses with its intuitive interface and high-quality templates. Priced at €10 per month for the Pro version, it is relatively affordable and offers unlimited storage. However, it lacks some details and does not have direct printing or app integrations.
Piktochart excels at visualizing numbers and data. It offers professional templates and is user-friendly, making it the ideal program for infographics. It costs €14 per member per month. Drawbacks include its availability only in English, limited tools, and the absence of an accompanying app.
Adobe Express is considered the market leader. It is well-suited for beginners due to its user-friendly interface. Priced at €11.89 per month, it falls within the average price range. It offers a wide selection of professional stock photos. However, it has limited features and tools, does not support video content, and its template quality does not compare to that of other providers.
Here you can find a direct comparison of different providers.
Canva is undoubtedly the all-rounder among design programs. It is suitable for beginners and professionals alike. The multitude of applications makes it a valuable tool for companies in every industry. Whether you should use the free or paid version of Canva depends on how much you plan to work with the program. If you only need it for occasional posts, the Free version is sufficient. However, if you want to use it to design your website, create invoices and presentations, or generate more followers on platforms like TikTok and YouTube, the Pro version is definitely worth it. If multiple employees will be using the program, the Team version is recommended.
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