In the graphic design world one of the things we used to get asked was “can you design this in Word so I can edit it.” This request will make any designer cringe yet sometimes you have to find a way which usually means a simple layout with minimal design. When Canva was released I was ecstatic because at long last we could provide templates for workbooks, calendars, social graphics and more in a stable platform that allowed for much more flexibility and consistency. See ya Word!
You may be wondering if we started doing all our design in Canva and the answer is straight up hell no! We’re die hard Illustrator and Indesign fans and most of our work is still created there. Why we’ve embraced Canva is simply that we can create custom templates using a hybrid of graphics from Illustrator and what’s available in Canva to hand over to our clients. It’s a way to provide value, self-sufficiency and of course cost-savings for our clients.
Here are some simple facts about Canva and Illustrator that can provide some insight as to why each is a valuable tool in business.
- Illustrator is vector-based which means it’s infinitely expandable without losing quality (photos used in Illustrator are not however) and Canva is raster-based meaning pixels that will lose quality when expanded
- Canva is free unless you want the upgraded paid version, Illustrator is part of Adobe Creative Suite and is a paid subscription
- Illustrator has a steeper learning curve whereas Canva provides lots of templates and is fairly easy to learn
- Canva is not ideal for logo creation as you cannot create your own illustrations or logo marks and the output is not vector which is not ideal for print
- Illustrator is built for logo and graphic design with tons of flexibility and correct output
Canva is great for creating social graphics, slide decks, simple brochures, postcards, business cards etc. when you have a creative eye and don’t necessarily need a designer (though I think it’s advantageous to have a designer set up on brand templates to then work with)
To sum it all up both platforms provide people tools to create marketing materials and each has its pros and cons. We will always love our Adobe products most but certainly glad to never have to use Word to give an editable file again.
If you are using Canva and would love to have some help to level up the look/feel and consistency hit me up. I can get you set up with some great custom to you templates to roll with.