canva.

What do I use Canva for?

Anything visual.

Graphics, announcements, image editing, social posts, mockups. If it has to look like something, it starts here.

Think of it as the friendly version of Photoshop. Not as powerful, and that’s the point.

Which feature would I miss most?

Brand kits.

You store your colors and fonts in a kit, and then you can switch between kits with one button. Mine for my own work, a client’s for theirs, back again when I’m done.

That switch is the whole thing. Without it you’re eyedropping hex codes off an old file every time you open a new document, and everything drifts.

Who is Canva for, and who should skip it?

Anyone doing marketing regularly.

I’d have answered this very differently two years ago. Back then Canva made everything for me: podcast covers, reels, story graphics, product pages, all of it. Now ChatGPT makes most of what I need and Canva finishes it.

So the honest version. If you’re doing marketing work regularly, stick with Canva. It’s still in my toolbox and it still earns the space.

If design is peripheral to your real job and you touch it every now and then, skip it. That used to be a harder call.

How have I used Canva recently?

A Facebook event header for a client.

I needed a post image for a client’s event. ChatGPT turned a photo of the building into a drawing, and then Canva turned that drawing into the finished header with the date and time laid over it.

Two tools, one job, about ten minutes. That split is roughly how all of it works now.

What do I wish I had known about Canva on day one?

Pick a few template creators and stay with them.

There are so many templates that the variety works against you. Everything you make ends up looking like it came from somewhere different.

So find a few designers whose templates you like, then go look at what else they’ve made. Work from the same hands and your stuff hangs together without you having to think about it.

If you’re torn between a pile of options, drop them into Claude or ChatGPT and ask what the common threads are. It’s a fast way to learn what you actually like, rather than just knowing that you like it.

How does Canva fit with my other tools?

Less than it used to.

It connects to both ChatGPT and Claude, so I can send something straight into Canva and edit it there. No exporting, no re-uploading.

That’s why it survived the shift. The generating moved elsewhere. The finishing stayed here.

Would I pay for Canva?

Yes, and I have since 2018.

Longest-running subscription I’ve got.

Though I’ll be honest: that may change. I use it less every year, and at some point the math stops working. Not yet, but I’m watching it.

Canva’s pricing page has what the plans cost today.