Introducing Canva: A Graphic Design Platform That Makes Design Simple
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Canva: An online graphic design tool that is easy to use and has robust features.
What is Canva?
social media posts, logos, flyers, and even videos. It aims to simplify the designing process with its ease of use, thousands of free templates and images, and more. This caused it to be a popular solution used by millions of people online.
Who is Canva for?
Pros and Cons of Canva: Should You Use Canva for Your Designs?
Pros of Canva
To make it even easier, Canva has built-in design templates ranging from website graphics to business cards, posters, and social media images. All you need to create professional-looking designs is to customize the images and elements on the templates. These will also be extremely beneficial for design inspiration, even if you choose not to use them for yourself. Another benefit is that, thanks to these thousands of templates, new users can easily familiarize themselves with the Canva tool and get started making their graphics right away.
Canva also offers a large library of royalty-free assets (such as stock photos, illustrations, sound clips, etc.) that you can add to your designs. In addition, the online tool allows users to customize these assets to your liking, which allows you to use them in whichever way you need.
The use of Pro Content in online or electronic publications, including web pages, blogs e-books and videos, is limited to a maximum of 480,000 total pixels (for example, 600px x 800px) per Content file when unedited.
Canva Licensing Document
When we refer to unaltered or unedited copies, we mean where the stock media (like a single photo) is being used on its own- essentially being redistributed in its original form. In our Content License Agreement, we refer to this as using media on a “standalone basis”.
The use of filters, changing of colors, resizing, and cropping an element does not alter the element. Using stock media in a design means that there are other design elements present, such as:
The pixel limit is in place to protect our Pro Content from being downloaded from your website for use outside of Canva. However, the limit doesn’t apply to altered media, including Pro photos used in a design. In Licensing Explained, we have an example of what an altered image may look like:
There is no minimum percentage requirement as to how much you should add or alter to consider it altered. What’s most important is that the alterations that you have utilized using different elements are noticeable when you create and end up with your own unique output.
We should also mention that, along with the web version of Canva, there is also an app version for your mobile devices. This increases accessibility and allows you to create designs whenever and wherever you want.
Cons of Canva
Here are some cons of the platform according to real users’ Canva reviews:
- Limited free options for stock images, fonts, and other design components
- Video editing and exporting can sometimes be slow
Canva Pricing Plans
The free version is great for most of your design requirements. Within the free plan, Canva offers a wide range of stock assets, templates, and access to its graphic design tools. Most of the key Canva features (like the simple drag-and-drop interface, collaboration options, etc.) are also readily available. In this way, you can use it for free and still create beautiful designs without having to pay.
Canva Pro
Pro tip: Special discounts can be available if you are a student, a teacher, or a non-profit. Canva also provides price localization. If you’re living in a company with a weaker economy and currency, you can purchase Canva for a better price. Check out the Canva Pricing page for more detailed information.
Besides the added templates and elements, Canva Pro also has more advanced editing tools to fit your graphic design needs. These include layers, grids, background erasing from images, and the ability to resize your project canvas.
Once you invite someone to collaborate with you on your Canva Pro account, your pricing plan is automatically updated to $14.99/month per user. The pricing also changes once your team exceeds 5 people.
If you’re still unsure whether your Canva account is worth the upgrade, here is a small table we created that compares the features of Canva’s free and premium versions:
Canva Alternatives
Here’s a closer look at some alternatives to Canva:
• GIMP: This is an open-source and completely free online design website that is usually viewed as a costless alternative to Adobe Photoshop. When compared to Canva, its user interface is more dated, which can worsen your design experience. In addition, GIMP is a complex tool, similar to Photoshop. This might make it more difficult for people with no previous background in design.
• Sketch: Sketch is a very popular software solution for creating attractive designs, similar to Canva. It’s a more intuitive tool that’s geared towards UI/UX design and product prototyping, which can be redundant if that’s not what you’re looking for. Moreover, Sketch doesn’t have a free version –only a free trial for a limited time. Afterward, there is a monthly subscription fee of $9/user/month.
Conclusion
We hope our Canva review was helpful in your search for the best graphic design software. Stay up-to-date with Bizstack!
I’m founder of BizStack at Cagri Sarigoz LLC and a passionate advocate for entrepreneurs.
With over 14 years in tech, marketing, and AI, including my role as Head of SEO at CitizenShipper and co-founder of TaleBot at Intale AI, I’m dedicated to sharing genuine, useful product insights and tips.
At BizStack, I aim to cut through the digital noise to provide clear, actionable advice.
And more than all else, I’m a father to a (always) little girl and a husband.
Contact me at [email protected] for assistance.
