The pros and cons of online design software
As a creative design company we are, of course, fully aware of developing technologies aimed at allowing individuals to produce their own marketing materials. In reality, ever since personal computers became essential business tools, people have dabbled with creating their own designs but the equation has always been one of time and effort versus effective results.
Today, there is an increasing number of systems claiming to give even the least design-savvy individuals the ability to produce their own brands and promotional collateral. To some extent this reflects the growth of sole traders who want to get things off the ground quickly and with the minimum investment. It's quite understandable that, quite often, a start up business simply can't afford the services of an agency with its own overheads to cover and it can often be case of getting something out there, even if professional services are required later.
When it comes to small-to medium sized enterprises, the priorities tend to change. Many employees don't have the time or, perhaps, the incentive to risk allocating company resources to producing sales materials in-house. Even so, relatively recent platforms such as Canva will lure those with some marketing knowledge, with its ability to generate things like logos, social media posts, and presentations using (initially) free to use software.
It really depends how far you want to go and what kind of result you are expecting. Like many online creative tools the system is centred around templates and this may naturally be an inhibiting factor, in terms of originality and flexibility. A common complaint for users is that, to gain access to what some regard as essential features, it is necessary to subscribe to the premium plan. It is hardly surprising that a cost-free tool will feel somewhat restrictive compared to the well established tools (such as Adobe's Creative Suite) used by the creative industry.
It is widely reported that print companies are stating that they cannot print from supplied Canva files as you cannot create in CMYK (the software is based on using the Hex code system - essentially web colours). You can export to pdf as CMYK if you know what you are doing but a common trap here is that web colours will often fall flat when used in print - oranges go brown, lime greens go drab, pinks turn lilac and so on.
Canva seems to be great for those initial ideas that get the ball rolling and we've received some very useful concepts from our clients. However, a common complaint is that it has limited export options and whilst there are work-arounds, there is no straight-forward way to transfer a Canva design to one of the more industry-standard platforms. It's advantage is that it's quick and easy for someone without a design background to put promotional materials together without a lengthy learning process. It stands to reason that they won't also get the level of control and flexibility of the tools that are commonly used by creative professionals.
Even with the best resources available, there's no substitute for the skills and knowledge of an experienced designer. They can provide the best solution for getting your message across using the available media, finding the optimum layout, the most suitable and original fonts, and the most effective colour scheme.
Online software can be very useful as a spring board to bringing your ideas a step closer to reality. We'll never criticise what you have created - we're quite accustomed to working with a short brief, a rough sketch, a few notes, sometimes even scraps of paper - our goal is to help you reach yours. But, if you've ventured into the world of design software and you just need a bit of creative help to bring it all together and get that project over the line, we'll be happy to pick up the baton.