Hi All…
Recently I happened to go through the CANVA platform and I would like to know what you all think about Canva.
Never heard of it.
(goes and looks it up.)
OMG, it’s a drag and drop?
Pick from thousands of free templates?
LOL.
Not something a pro designer would be using.
But definitely a sign of the times.
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Welcome Aboard Devika!
I don’t know much about it so I did a quick search … am I to understand it’s an App?
Graphic design with the click of a button?
Looks like it’s a bunch of things. Education, tools, marketplace, etc.
It’s sort of a auto-design site for people who really aren’t designers themselves. Our social media people use it all the time to make various artsy-looking things for their posts.
My opinion is that as good as it is for amateurs to make their work look betters, it’s another nail in the coffin for those designers being put of work by these kinds of things.
Thank you all… The company I work is forcing me to use canva for all their design needs… I went through the platform. What I felt is, its a good platform for getting some quick ideas or inspirations but not for designing. I tried convincing the authorities but they just want the work to be done in this.
I wanted to know how you all as designers, think about canva and also have you also felt such kind interference from the clients or from the employers while working ?? How would you handle it ??
It would be a bit like hiring a carpenter to build your house, then insisting he use the kid’s tool box bought at Toys ‘R’ Us.
Then again, Canva does create an alternative for amateurs when only amateurs are available to do the job, but for professional designers, no way. I have no idea why a company would hire a professional designer, then insist he or she use tools that would guarantee inferior work. I’ve come across a lot naive upper management types, though, who don’t have a clue about this kind of thing, yet think they know enough to make decisions about it.
I started a new job about a year ago, they didn’t have any designers on staff. I had never heard of Canva before, but the social person uses it and has made some pretty decent stuff… It’s actually kind of nice that they don’t have to rely on me for every little graphic, to be honest.
Being forced to use that tool as a professional makes no sense, as others have said.
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This right here says it all:
Selecting the PDF – Print file format will download your design at 300 Dots Per Inch (DPI), which is professional print quality. JPG and PNG images are 96 DPI, which makes the file size smaller and is perfect for uploading photos to the web but not as well suited for print.
Canva downloads all designs using the RGB color profile. Most online print services should support printing in this format however if you need to convert your file to CMYK, download a PDF – Print file, convert it to JPG (select the “Excellent” JPG Quality option) and upload it here: Convert RGB to CMYK.
There is so much wrong about this as far as getting this professionally printed, I wouldn’t know where to start. If you want to be using online gang printers who would autoconvert your RGB wonder into whatever comes out the other end, that is fine. That is how RGB is “supported.” It is autoconverted. It will never look like what you see on your monitor.
If a company has any investment in its branding, it would run away from this amateur platform.
While I can see a usefulness for the amateur blogger or maybe for some in-office print design, as a professional print vendor, I absolutely cannot wait to get one of these for output…
Yeah, I can.
I have to wonder what kind of professional designer would supply ammunition for their own firing squad, too. But maybe “designer” is a loose term here because supplying photoshop files for layout work isn’t professional either.
I cannot retire out of this industry fast enough.
As for what to do about it,
- I’d check with an accountant to see if the Adobe Creative suite could be deducted under the tax category “work tools” and get your own subscription.
- Or find a new job that appreciates design talent (yeah, I know, not an easy thing to do these days.)
- Or suck it up and create candy-licious designs for this company that has no clue. You might try to explain to them the concept of consistent brand management and the concept of having a distinct image rather than a photoshop template that other people will use (the good ones are always overused,) but I doubt it’ll go very far.
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I’ve heard of Canva. I think it’s quite popular here in India, but again I haven’t heard any professional designers using it.
It’s bizarre that your bosses are insisting that you use the platform. Did they say why? Are they are contractually bound to do so?
Forcing you to use Canva? I never heard of this kind of behaviour from management. I would make sure they know how I felt about using this, and about being forced to use it. I would use it under protest and start looking for another job.
Oh and good luck finding a print shop that will accept those files for print.
The only reason I can think of why a company would insist on a professional designer to use amateur tools is that the company might want to design by committee, and yet have a professional around to settle any disputes or repair anything that’s gone awry.
I once worked at a company where my boss would jump in on the layout program, rearrange a bunch of things, and then say “do your magic” to me after she was done.
It’s not the best way to go about it. Many non-professional designers think its easier to manipulate graphics themselves than to tell a designer what they want. They are more interested in the aesthetics than they are interested in the communication aspect of graphic design. They see professional graphic design as more of a reactive repair function than a pro-active planning function.
I asked them and their reply was its very easy and work will be done really fast…
They forced me and at the end I started doing it just for the sake of. Still they will interfere in the layout, font and colors and all… what I felt is as @designzombie mentioned, The person doesn’t know any design software. All he know is this canva and he thinks he is a designer. If I am using canva, its easy for him to edit and make necessary changes. That’s what exactly happening also. I select a layout in canva and make my own changes and he will go and change all of them and do it in his own way. I am fed up… I tried convincing, showed i am not interested to work like this in all possible way and still not bothered.
Sounds like a very frustrating situation for a designer, or any trained professional for that matter.
I know it’s easier said than done, but perhaps you could try to distance yourself from the work telling yourself that you’re only doing it for the money and till you find another job (assuming you can’t immediately quit). In the meantime, for creative satisfaction, you could think about taking on freelance work or working on your own projects.
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Yes u r right…
Hello.
Is it available to create all your job’s graphic design needs in CANVA?
In case it is, then I would suggest you to adapt yourself to the tool they ask you to use instead of fighting against that fact they force you to use “that”
Fighting will cause a huge amount of frustration, and it is proven that they don’t see the benefits of using other tools (yet)
In some way I can feel what you feel. PIcture this:
I work half of my day at home, and the other half at a company
At home I have a pretty pretty decent setup for work. At the other company I use the crappiest 13" HP Laptop, with less ram than a toaster.
With that “thing” i cannot do my work properly, or at least the way i am suposed to do it.
I tried to fight against that. And it was useless.
So instead of letting the frustration kick in, I accepted the only tool i have and warned them about the limitations it have.
For one side I am doing the best I can with the tools provided (wich is a goal in life), and for the other side when i get to work at home I am 200 times faster because then im not forced to do the stuff in the dumb way.
My suggestion is not to try to convince them directly wich is proven to not work.
Just let to know the tool, explore its full potential, and do the best you can.
Time after time your bosses will ask for more “complicate” stuff, that cannot be done with the shitty tool. Warn them about the limitations and maybe then they will start to accept a change.
The bigger problem is not the tool. It’s the misunderstanding and underutilization of the hired graphic design skills. But if the job pays well, the underutilization is the problem of the employer, not the designer.