Canva Ups Their Game. Again.

The global smash that is Canva are pushing the boundaries yet again.

How It All Started

It was around 9 years ago when I first stumbled upon Canva, it having only come into existence 10 years ago. I won't go as far to say I was ‘one of the first’ to use it, because that would be far from the truth. However I was actively using it daily at a time when practically none of my colleagues or any people I know had even heard of it.

Canva was originally co-conceived by Australian Melanie Perkins in 2007 when she was teaching her colleagues various design programmes at university, and she realised that so many of them were either expensive, difficult to learn how to use, and essentially, clunky. So she ended up coming up with her own alternative.

Just a few short years later, in June 2012, the fruits of her labours, Canva went live for the first time, and in the years since, has become quite the global game-changer. And I don’t say that lightly.

For me, Canva has been one of the most exciting and accessible Software as a Service (SaaS) tools that has ever been brought to existence. And I’m not the only one, as it’s been one of the fastest growing services loved by countless million users and various investors alike, with its value just 9 years after its conception reaching $40billion at the end of 2021.

How It Developed

“Canva managed to become the platform loved by many, because it democratised design.”

For so long, to design something that looked professional, you would have had to turn to tools such as Adobe Photoshop/In Design et al - software that is inherently tricky to use for a novice; it requires a significant learning curve to even create the simplest of designs. (Let alone being costly).

And in today’s world where graphics are being created so frequently for social media and website use, producing them in ‘traditional’ software platforms would take an age. Seriously. I used to do it myself. And I was never overly happy with my results, because I wasn’t an expert in those platforms - & never will be. I didn’t have the ability to get the best out of them, because more often than not I never had the time (or inclination) to even attempt to become properly proficient in them.

What Canva did, very cleverly, is make design easy, and accessible to all its users. It made things simpler still by creating tonnes of ready to go templates in various project dimensions for Twitter, Facebook, Instagram etc, all in the correct required dimensions, for its users to simply customise the text and content, before hitting download.

Over the years, they’ve added in further functionality, added more platforms they’ve configured templates for, most of which is readily available for use for absolutely zero money. The free account is impressively stocked, with a huge quantity of graphics, photos, and elements that are free of charge. But obviously with the Canva Pro subscription, you are able to use absolutely everything in their catalogue, which is tens of millions of individual elements. (And growing day by day).

I’ve been a Canva Pro subscriber for many years now, purely because of the enhanced functionality you get; and if you are on the fence about giving it a try, I highly recommend you do. You won’t regret it, it’s massively good value I think! (Around £100/year).

A couple of years ago they upped their game even more, by creating Canva Video, giving all its users the ability to create brilliantly impactful video content with absolute ease; again, something prior which would be slightly more labour intensive and requiring other tools that would be considered more complex to use. Let alone having to manually source any stock videos you require (at considerable expense, on a per-clip basis), as well as then requiring editing knowledge in traditional programs such as Adobe Premiere, Final Cut Pro etc to put everything together.

Taking its cue from their very simple to use graphics editor, you can create video content for a variety of platforms and dimensions, in traditional 16:9 widescreen, square format for Instagram, and vertical for TikTok, to name just a few. You have access to the Canva stock video library which again, is huge. Plus of course, the ability to record video via your webcam if you’re recording a presentation for example & have it appear in a small frame overlaid onto your slides; or upload your own video content that you’ve shot separately using a traditional camera or smartphone. This was a big deal when it was announced, and continues to be even now.

But they’ve taken things even further

Unveiled at their conference just a few days ago, Canva are taking even bigger leaps forward, and have now announced their vision for Canva ongoing - Canva Visual Worksuite.

See this teaser video of theirs:

Visual Worksuite is launching soon (no exact date yet), but they will be rolling it out in beta form before too long, to iron out any bugs and issues before the grand big reveal to everyone. Naturally I’ve signed up for the beta, so once I get my hands on it I’ll be letting you know my thoughts.

Find out more about Canva Visual Worksuite by clicking the button below.

Canva Docs is arguably one of the biggest elements of this new launch, as, according to the announcement…:

“….Canva Docs is a visual-first document creator that allows you to design documents supercharged with videos, images, graphics, charts, and graphs. Create an impactful doc with Canva’s online text editor today….”

Clearly going after the likes of Google Docs and Dropbox Paper, Canva will hopefully be an all-encompassing portal for creating documents of all shapes and sizes, allowing collaboration with your team, as well as having a visual-first ethos; compared to regular online ‘docs’ sites, which are really nothing more than a simplified Microsoft Word on the web.

It looks like you’ll be able to do far more in terms of creativity with Canva Docs, bringing your projects to life, with access to Canva’s full array of library media, as well as being able to turn regular documents into presentations, for instance, with pretty much one-click.

As an evangelical Canva user myself, this could well be yet another game-changer, having more tools available within the Canva toolkit - it can only be a good thing, in my book.

Canva have also confirmed that Canva Docs will be available on the free accounts - albeit for the time being (from the time it’s launched) only to those who have joined the waitlist for the beta access; we’re not sure yet when it will be fully launched globally and out of beta. My guess is a few months after they iron out any bugs. So if you’re keen to check it out for yourself, I’d recommend signing up for the beta access ASAP.

Another brilliant game-changing feature

One of the other perks of Canva Pro, for me, was the ability to have a one-click background remover tool built in, to create brilliantly clean cut-outs of either stock imagery, or any images you upload. When they announced the Visual Worksuite, another tool mentioned was a background remover for video! Something that would ordinarily require highly specific clips from the traditional stock video sites that have been shot with chromakey (green screen) enabling you to add your own backgrounds using more powerful regular video editing platforms, or from material you’ve shot yourself in the same way.

But the fact they’re now bringing the ability to do this all within the Canva platform, is really quite staggering.

Canva certainly aren’t a company resting on their laurels!

It’s yet to be seen whether this particular functionality will be available on the free Canva accounts, or whether it’ll be Pro-only. Again, once more detail is forthcoming, I’ll be sure you let you know. (As well as my thoughts once I get the chance to play with it myself!)

Ultimately though, the biggest takeaway I have from all this, is the fact that Canva continues to produce tools that make life simpler, and save us all time.

“After all, time is the world’s greatest currency, and every single one of us has a finite amount.”

So often, endless time is dedicated to learning new tools which can be naturally time-intensive to become proficient in. To have all these sorts of new features all set within a familiar environment, will, for many, be a massive time-saver.

(Anything that gives us more time to go and meet friendly dogs in the park, or have a natter and catch up with your bestie in your favourite coffee shop has to be a good thing, doesn’t it?)

Something I think we all could do with.

I’ll leave you with a design-related quote that resonated with me, from the late Apple CEO, Steve Jobs.

Until next ‘time’…..