Item: Canva
Rating: 10
Author: Kathleen M Jarchow

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

Canva (professional, single, team leader license) is used by me personally for work in my department at the University. I do know of others who use the software in other departments, however, the University of Connecticut does not currently have an Enterprise license. At the university, I use Canva to design educational, marketing and other support materials for the classroom (both online and in-person). Additionally, as a freelancer I use Canva almost everyday to do mock-ups, presentations, logo designs, letterheads and resume templates. The company for which I do the most work, has individuals that also use Canva but they are currently using the free version. I find that Canva is an essential component to my own business as an instructional designer, tutor and content developer: the software is not used to "address problems" so much as it is now a "key component" in my arsenal of SaaS products to create stunning visual materials. In fact, Canva was my go-to when I was tasked with creating a presentation in three hours time. The presentation was an hour-long, company-wide in-service. The presentation/webinar was broadcasted/recorded through the company platform with viewers from over 20 countries.

Pros and Cons

Canva exports in a wide variety of software extensions in exceptionally high quality images. The pro license even allows .svg and background-less exports.
Canva's pro license has a terrific set of available fonts that are easily matched or are exact matches to other web fonts. Basically, in a word, Canva gives its (pro) customers an easy-to-use and cross-compatible set of design options. Everything is customizable.
For me, Canva shines in its usability. There are variety of preset, pre-sized canvases. As a designer, marketer, presenter, educational technologist or even if you are just getting started, Canva has its UI and UX geared toward each level of user.
Canva's strengths are with its original features and the fact that even the most novice user can produce a professional looking design in little time.

Canva has recently introduced online presentations and website options, both of which could stand for improvements. To elaborate: the presentation/video templates and interfaces are slightly more difficult to navigate.
Again, Canva's newest user options attempt to make "going to the web" easier. Unfortunately, even the most rudimentary export struggles to display. It would seem that there are no auto-scale/different display modes built into the scripts in the software. I managed to find a way to cut out the code not only for the very bothersome logo and then re-size the display output; however, I don't fancy that every Canva user will either a) want to take the time to do this; or, b) have enough coding experience to make it work for them.
Again, Canva has recently introduced some potentially great features, namely the website and online presentation (native to the software) templates. Sadly, these two features fail in their intended executions. Perhaps I am too much of an advanced user and maybe novice users will find these features more user-friendly. The issues are two-fold: even with the pro license, the URL and presentation mode display with a huge Canva logo in the corner. As an advanced user, I was able to resize the presentation and find the code for the 'Canva' logo and snip it out. However, I doubt that what I imagine is a large portion of the Canva market share (i.e. plug and play novice users) will be able to make such adjustments.

Most Important Features

Ease of use. The interface is well-suited for a quick design should it be needed 'on the fly'
Canva's export options. Generally speaking, I will design something in Canva and then use Canva's high quality export options so that I can use the design in another project. The scalability of the design products is one of the biggest assets that Canva does extraordinarily well.
Canva 'stores' your projects or works in progress, the auto-save feature is fantastic and the reverse/undo is not hard to find. The interface is really straightforward. With some design software there is a huge learning curve. The fact that the UX/UI is so intuitive and easy to learn is one of Canva's greatest features for me and my brand.

Return on Investment

As far as ROI is concerned, Canva has proven itself time and time again as having a positive impact for business.
Just yesterday, I had to prepare an hour-long presentation on the fly; the great reviews of the presentation and the materials (all made in Canva) only served to advertise for Canva and it proves that Canva is a smart investment.
I don't think in the time that I have been a Canva pro user that I can say that my ROI has been negatively impacted. Highest recommendation. The software more the casually pays for itself time and time again.

Alternatives Considered

Adobe InDesign, Adobe Spark, Adobe XD, Adobe Acrobat Reader DC, Weebly, HostGator, Webflow, Adobe Animate (formerly Flash), Adobe PhotoShop and Adobe Audition

Canva has a special niche when it comes to stacking up against the products that I listed above. When it comes to learning curve, with Canva, there is virtually no learning curve; the interface of Canva is easy for any user. Where I reach my limit with Canva is that it encourages users to make great designs, logos, presentations, website mock-ups, marketing decks and for very basic SCRUM components. However, every software has its limitations and Canva starts to wane in its usefulness when a vector graphic is needed or a scalable website wire frame is needed. Generally speaking, for complex projects or course designs, I either start with Canva or get ideas by using Canva. Thereafter, I export from Canva and use the assets I made in Canva with some of the other products listed.

Of the products I listed, the only software that equals Canva in usability is Adobe Spark; however, even with Spark, Canva outshines this Adobe quasi-freeware for easy design creation because Adobe Spark is slow with the server calls. However, where Spark does beat Canva is in the export process of the video shorts. Spark exports more readily to a wider range of platforms.

Key Insights

Do you think Canva delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Canva's feature set?

Yes

Did Canva live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of Canva go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Canva again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Adobe Spark, Adobe Animate (formerly Flash), Webflow

Likelihood to Recommend

In a word, Canva is awesome! Other than the negatives that I enumerated
on the 'improvements' page, there would be very few changes that I would
make to the user interface. Here are some scenarios where Canva shines:
the myriad export options available and quick export functions. Canva
offers downloads of your designs in several formats including .png,
.jpeg, .pdf and many other commonly used file extensions. The variety
lends itself well to users that are in need of a sharp looking design,
made easily and lightning fast and then shareable through ubiquitous
user file extensions. Another area where Canva is an industry leader:
the multiple templates that are labeled with 'real-world' generic terms
that are easily understood by the public writ large. Alongside of the
pre-made 'decks' for early career marketing or social media workers is a
great variety of other pre-made elements that you can insert onto any
canvas in Canva. Where Canva would be less appropriate and/or less
suitable is for strict admin work that could easily be completed in
another software suite such as Microsoft 365.

Canva: Usability, Variety and an Unbeatable ROI

Overall Satisfaction with Canva