Imagine: Your organization just went through a branding rehaul with a marketing agency and was handed a shiny new logo, accompanying visual assets carefully curated with your brand’s personality in mind, and a handful of complementary custom graphics. You and your organization have dedicated time and resources to make this possible, and you’re eager to roll out your refreshed look and put it into action.
Like most, you may find yourself asking “Now what?” or “How?” And those are fair questions!
Without access to, or familiarity with, complex design programs like the Adobe Creative Suite, executing newly on-brand and consistent design work can be a daunting task, especially for BIDs with multiple cooks in the kitchen. Thankfully, there is a solution: the online graphic design platform Canva.
As a designer, I’ve had a love/hate relationship with Canva since its online debut. With early iterations of the program, I found the software to be lacking in capabilities, and it produced more frustration than it did quality work. So much so that we even deemed it “Can’t-va” at one point! However, with Canva’s increased capabilities and functionality, I’ve found it to be an incredibly valuable tool for both designers and non-designers.
For designers, we are able to create branded pieces that align with our vision for an organization’s image, and for non-designers, they are able to access this design and quickly and simply make edits as needed. This helps bridge the gap between the two parties, allowing each to work in tandem within one platform.
I once read that “a brand becomes a brand when it is consistent.” For BIDs with multiple team members, maintaining visual consistency and brand identity across various materials can be challenging. Thankfully, Canva offers brand kits that allow users to store and access brand assets such as logos, fonts, colors, graphics and photos. And when it comes time to create, Canva has brand templates available for customization, allowing anyone to take a generic layout and make it their own, all with the necessary tools handy. This ensures that all designs can adhere to your BID’s branding guidelines, resulting in a cohesive and professional appearance, which is incredibly important. For a BID with many stakeholders touching different pieces of design work, this is great news!
Apart from achieving brand consistency, here are five other reasons your BID should consider using Canva:
- User-Friendly Interface: Canva offers a user-friendly interface that requires little to no design experience, making it accessible to individuals from various backgrounds and skill levels within your organization. No matter their background, someone can easily create professional-looking designs using Canva’s intuitive tools and pre-designed templates.
- Collaboration and Communication: Canva enables collaboration among your BID’s team members. Multiple people can work on the same project simultaneously, allowing for real-time feedback, edits and comments. This feature fosters teamwork, enhances communication and promotes a sense of shared ownership within the organization.
- Time and Cost Efficiency: Canva provides a wide range of ready-made templates for different purposes, including social media graphics, presentations, posters, video and so much more. These templates save time and effort as team members can quickly customize them to be on brand rather than creating a design from scratch. Additionally, Canva’s subscription plans offer cost-effective options compared with investing in Adobe design software.
- Accessibility and Flexibility: Canva is cloud-based and accessible through the web, which allows team members to work from anywhere, collaborate remotely and seamlessly share designs across the organization. The platform also offers integrations with other popular tools, such as Dropbox and Google Drive, further allowing for flexibility and accessibility.
- Training and Support: Canva provides learning resources and tutorials to help users improve their design skills. For BIDs with diverse skill sets, these tools can encourage team members to enhance their design abilities and create visually engaging content.
For marketers, we are lucky to live in a time where we have these resources, like Canva, available. As a designer, I encourage all people who regularly engage with their brand to become familiar with both its personality and the guidelines and parameters that make it consistent and cohesive. Happy designing!