unapologeticallyb00kish

CANVA – LIS 568 Week 1

This is by far one of my favorite tools. Although I’ve been a Canva user for nearly one year, I’m frequently amazed at the various products I can create with it. I constantly recommend it to students and colleagues. Don’t take this the wrong way, but Google Slides is what I’d tell my wonderful, but very tech deficient 75-year old mother to use. I think Canva is where it is at!

As with any app, the value lies in its functionality and the preferences of the individual user. Some of my favorite features are the extensive layout options, growing library of pre-designed templates, photo editing, and the drag-and-drop functionality.

Canva has many of the best features of Google Slides coupled with superior and visually stunning designs. Canva is available to anyone through their free version and boasts thousands of templates and images. However, as someone who has used the free and premium versions, I strongly prefer the premium version. Fortunately my school has access to Canva premium and I was able to cancel my personal account and get it for free! There are numerous ways to publish Canva projects. They can be shared on social media, through Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and through messaging apps. Canva presentations can be imported into Google Slides and Microsoft PowerPoint.

What I love about it…

• Multiple Layout Options
  • Presentations
  • Spreadsheets
  • Social Media posts
  • Bookmarks (Yes please for librarians)
  • Websites
  • Newsletters
  • Infographics
  • Flyers
• So many pre-designed templates
• Collaboration
• Photo editing
• AI features

What could be better…

• Template organization – there are so many that there needs to be a better way to find 
• I’ve seen complaints about customer service, but haven’t experienced any issues myself
• Adding graphs and charts can be tricky (depending on the style)- not user friendly
• Transitioning Canva slides to Google Slides doesn’t preserve all of the original design functionality

I’ve read complaints about Canva designs lacking originality and comments about using various Adobe products instead, however, I’m not a graphic designer who is trying to establish my brand and I think that is irrelevant for my current audience!

 When it comes to tools for teachers and students, Canva gets an