Canva

[DL Signs]

Tools are just tools, they are just there to aid in whatever task one has to do.

I always laugh when even in today's time, people say that in order to be a professional one has to have a Mac and/or run Adobe products (I'm not saying anyone in this thread has, although I have seen people over the yrs in here say it(rather they truly believe it or not is something else)). Neither are really true.

This I agree with 100%. The person and experience makes the difference, nothing else.

I use Macs, I use PC's, neither has any real advantage over the other anymore, one just costs way more. I can work in Adobe, Corel, Inkscape, right now I use Affinity, and I can get the same results from any.

 

[pro-UP]

This is true. I like to keep my ear to the ground and I receive job openings through indeed. I'm seeing more and more graphic design positions where knowledge of canva is a plus. I have a few (large) customers who regularly send artwork to produce and it's all nicely layed out well put together and totally produceable. Built in canva.
OTOH... I've also gotten artwork from professional design agencies that not only look awful, but not production ready and have to keep sending it back to them to fix. And they are using Adobe illustrator with an expensive degree in graphic design.
...... It's not the pen, it's the penmanship.

Although I have not had any clients send in Canva files (yet), I have received professional branding / design firms' work that we have to completely re-do. Canva does allow people to create unique designs. It's really plug and play in that you don't need to understand how to design in a pro system, but can create by using their provided elements, shapes, coloring, and uploaded pics. Although we are professional designers, I actually like to use it for presentations. It's way faster than power point or google slides. I feel like it was designed with users that are experienced designers in mind. There are a lot of the same tools and commands (although very simplified) making it very easy for even beginning designers to successfully make a design.

 

[Stacey K]

Well, apparently, I need to buy Canva and learn how to use it. This guy can't figure out how to save the logo as a vector file and he won't pay for me to recreate it.

I gave a shirt quote last week and they used Canva for the design so I told them I either needed a vector file yesterday EOD or let me know by the morning that I needed to recreate it (tight deadline). They called another sign shop and had them walk them step by step to save a vector file and they took their order there instead!

I guess I'm late to the Canva party - there's no getting around this or ignoring it anymore. If we don't learn how to use it we start losing jobs.

 

[Johnny Best]

I went to Canva website and it looks like they will help you print t shirts, business cards, flyers etc. It looks like it is perfect for “designers”. Thats more than Adobe or Coral will do for you and its free.
Looks like a lot of you should do what Stacy is doing and start learning how to use it, because it is here to stay And customers like it.

 

[Gettin'By]

Saw a post from HP a couple weeks ago about them partnering with Canva to funnel the jobs to HP customers as well. We have HP machines so I guess I might be seeing more of Canva in the future.

 

[WildWestDesigns]

Keep in mind as well, Canva owns the Affinity suite as well. I highly doubt that they are going to go anywhere, unless they just either have some bad ideas or bad implementations of good ideas.

Some apps, for serious work, I don't think should be just website hosted in a webview that serve an offsite website(don't get me wrong, I have used webview and browsers to serve just the UI of my inhouse tooling for when I need GUI, but all logic was still local to my machines (and the backend was more traditional languages and not something like JS)).

Now, that is overruled by needing it for customer supplied files, but it will always be limited as far as a serious tool goes. And the one thing that makes me say that, is that since everything is in a browser of some type, that is in a sandbox away from the local system. Hard to access local fonts, file handling and other system APIs that most take for granted and don't think about when using traditional apps(it's not impossible, but it is much much harder and not as good of a UX either) At least in my opinion. Take that for what it's worth.

But in general normies don't care. They are in the "handle it, handle it" crowd.

 

[Stacey K]

VENT:::::::::> OK - I've got 3 jobs TODAY that have been about 15 emails back and forth. This is a major waste of time to even ASK people anymore if they have vector art. I think I'm just going to start working the artwork into the price. I'm only charging these people $25 to convert and they refuse - they just keep emailing new files - and they are getting mad at ME. I should just add an art fee on the top or work it into the price. I can't believe how cheap people are! Or stubborn? Who has hours to spend trying to convert their files when they can pay me $25 and be done? I don't get it. Maybe I just spend my money like a drunken sailor? IDK...I give up LOL

 

[gnubler]

they just keep emailing new files - and they are getting mad at ME.

"Here, try this one...here, try this one". Even after I've specified what format I need people just send whatever and hope it works. It's beyond the scope of my services to provide tech support for all these online design apps, Canva isn't the only one. I had a customer a few weeks ago that kept sending JPGs of various quality. I was nice and explained what I needed, but after the 5-6th file I stopped replying and they went elsewhere. Usually the $25 setup doesn't even cover the cost of my time spent with all the back and forth emails.

 

[Stacey K]

"Here, try this one...here, try this one". Even after I've specified what format I need people just send whatever and hope it works. It's beyond the scope of my services to provide tech support for all these online design apps, Canva isn't the only one. I had a customer a few weeks ago that kept sending JPGs of various quality. I was nice and explained what I needed, but after the 5-6th file I stopped replying and they went elsewhere. Usually the $25 setup doesn't even cover the cost of my time spent with all the back and forth emails.

Agree. I'm going to start charging a "customer supplied artwork fee". If the artwork is fine I can always remove it. If it's not - it covers me sending it out for vectorizing.

 

[JBurton]

Agree. I'm going to start charging a "customer supplied artwork fee". If the artwork is fine I can always remove it. If it's not - it covers me sending it out for vectorizing.

Might I recommend just jacking all of your rates by, idk 5%? Folks see line items, they feel nickel and dimed... Now you're explaining line items and wasting that much more time.

 

[gnubler]

Agree. I'm going to start charging a "customer supplied artwork fee". If the artwork is fine I can always remove it. If it's not - it covers me sending it out for vectorizing.

I do that as soon as I get a feeling I'm about to get a crappy file from someone who doesn't know what they're doing. I don't itemize it, it's just included in my quote.

 

[Boudica]

I should just add an art fee on the top or work it into the price.

This is what my boss does. He just rolls it into the price after I quietly do my magic and make it work.

 

[Gettin'By]

There's been a few times especially with text edits with Canva fonts that I've asked for access to the Canva file. They sent a link, I did the work and exported a vector PDF. Done and dusted.

 

[artifacture]

I feel like we need to pressure Canva to support file types that are useful for our needs. It's great that it allows laypeople to do stuff, but if it's not useful, we're going to discourage them from using it. I assumed you needed premium to export as PDF but it sounds like that isn't the case. Someone needs to make an online tutorial on how to properly export for people.

All that said, Canva is way better than layouts made in MS Word or Powerpoint!

 

[Boudica]

Someone needs to make an online tutorial on how to properly export for people.

Google much?

 

[DL Signs]

All that said, Canva is way better than layouts made in MS Word or Powerpoint!

Don't get me started on those... My favorites are the ones with .pub extensions that won't open in any program except the freebie app they found on line...
And they can't remember what it was

 

[DL Signs]

Google much?

Nothing like giving 100 options for people who don't know what any of them are or do...
Don't get me wrong, it's nice seeing those options, but probably too overwhelming for the amateur who doesn't even know what vector is.

 

[Boudica]

Nothing like giving 100 options for people who don't know what any of them are or do...
Don't get me wrong, it's nice seeing those options, but probably too overwhelming for the amateur who doesn't even know what vector is.

Yah, that is just one I grabbed.... to be honest, I didn't watch it. There are a zillion videos and tutorials. even one called Canva for dummies.
Canva themselves provide tutorials, and it says right up front that you need to pay to download files. So I assume the problem files are just problem people being cheap, don't wanna pay anything to anyone. They are building their crappy layouts, and taking a screenshot thinking they are clever.

...Those are the customers who need to go pound sand. But they somehow end up at Stacie and Gnublers shops

 

[Texas_Signmaker]

People don't like line item fees. Get a subscription to Canva and have them send those files with you. Bake in the extra cost to each order...now YOU get paid to do simple tasks thanks to Canva. Goal is to make it simple and easy for a client to do business with you. They will pay extra for the person that can get it done VS the one going back and forth trying to get art in their preferred format.

 

[JBurton]

who doesn't even know what vector is.

Google makes me think folks don't know the difference between a logo and a vector to begin with...

now YOU get paid to do simple tasks thanks to Canva.

F*ck, you're not wrong. Quick, to the SEO area of my website to include canva, vector, logo, and because I'm a glutton for punishment, free