Canva

Pros

Canva offers a quite a lot in the free version of the software, what I love most is the functionality wrapped in a beautiful web app.

You can create images that are sized for different social media channels like Pinterest, Facebook Banners and posts, Twitter, Instagram. They have a very large selection of free templates you can choose from and customize. It's easy to change text size, colors, position, and once you get used to the layout of various boxes/blocks (text, background, effects) you'll see how much you can vary, from colors to transparency. I love that it's easy to duplicate a design and create variations of the same template.

Cons

You used to be able to create a graphic in a certain size, i.e., for Pinterest and then at top left select the Magic Resize option. That would let you take that graphic and have it resized for something completely different, like a Facebook banner ad. It was really excellent to have that included in the free version, and it's a bummer to see it completely gone. I get it, companies need to make money. It would be nice to see it available to create at least one time something like three different sizes from one template to show how easy it is to use as a tool, and add to the incentive to purchase a subscription.

If you're creating a design and want to pull something in from a previous design you created, you can't access those earlier designs unless you upgrade your account.

It feels like it can get a bit slow, it's a good idea to check how many Canva tabs you have open because each time you click on a new design, you open a new tab, which will consume your resources.

Keep an eye on how many designs you're working on as they'll open new tabs which can consume resources.

Pros

I love the ease of use with Canva. Anyone with basic computer skills can look like a professional graphic designer. Also, most everything we do in Canva is completely free. I am the marketing director for a non-profit so we have zero budget to spend on marketing. Since I am able to use Canva for free all the time, whenever there is something special that I need to do and I want to purchase a premium image, my boss is totally ok with that. Especially because I can show him what the finished product will look like before we spend the money!

Cons

I do wish there were a way to search free graphics and images by title. Currently you can search by subject but free is mixed with premium. Sometimes I have to search for a long time to find the free images I need. I understand why they designed it this way. Obviously if we want to keep Canva supported and growing, we need plenty of people purchasing premium images. My organization doesn't often have the budget for the premium images so I'm grateful that other people do because I want Canva to stay around for a very long time. I honestly don't know what I'd do with out.

Pros

Simply put, Canva makes anyone look like a design rockstar. In our industry (real estate), it's shocking how ubiquitous Canva has become in less than 5 years, and that is 100% attributable to the fact that it's easy to use and comes stock with hundreds of pieces of design inspiration. It's not often that you can a single piece of software raises the bar for small business advertising and marketing, but Canva definitely fits that bill.

Cons

The flip side of raising the bar is that, well, the bar for quality is now raised and Canva isn't always the best about helping its users rise above this new "average." For instance, the pre-built designs are so good that you see them everywhere now, and you can spot a "Canva-like" design a hundred yards away.

This wouldn't be a problem, except that Canva actually makes it hard to customize designs too much. I know that's a strange thing to say since, literally, you can customize any part of a Canva design, but the software seems to fight you every step of the way. I suppose, in a way, this too is by design. Canva takes its inspiration from early Apple iLife suite of software (iMovie, iDVD, iPhoto, Garage Band, etc)—you can make some awesome stuff in 5-30 minutes, so long as you're willing to conform your design vision to theirs. Going beyond that surface level of customization, you'll begin wrestling with the software and get diminishing returns.

Pros

It's very easy to use and offers a ton of design content for free. You don't necessarily need to search outside of Canva for images but you can if you want. It's great for designing simple social banners or marketing materials quickly but there is a catch. They are trying to sell you printing services and their pricing is not competitive with quality printers.

Cons

I recommend Canva to clients who need to create social media marketing images. I have worked with clients who need me to print postcards, flyers or brochures that they designed on Canva and there are issues. Canva is trying to sell printing services. Their design templates are sized and setup for the printer companies they outsource to. If you design on Canva and download the files to send to a professional printer then those files are not setup correctly and require alterations to be printed. That's if there is room for alterations, but not all designs will allow for easy alteration so therefore the customer is forced to print on Canva at higher costs.

Pros

I am not a designer. Last I draw or make something was 12 years ago. But with Canva, I can make a presentable graphics in 10-15 minutes. With my skill level (I used to use MS Word Clip Art tool and Paint), I should not be able to do anything at all.

True I havent been able to draw a masterpiece, but Canva is not for that sort of work, at least not that I know of. But if you are looking for a social media post, image for your blog post, poster, cover image, Canva can handle all of those. Sure, you still need to hire a designer if you are going to do stunning artworks. But the day to day grind to produce several images everyday, either professional or personal needs, Canva is there for you. You can even create memes with it!

Another nice surprise is, you dont need a paid plan to use Canva. Only the premium features and elements are paid. And to be honest, most users dont even need them. Even I haven't used the premium feature for myself. The free plan is more than enough, better than any other free tool in the market and a few premiums too.

Cons

There is absolutely nothing I want to change. This is simple, intuitive, free or very, very cheap. What more can I ask for??

There is some grumblings among pro-designers who use Canva about some high-level features being absent, certain export formats not there or background remoal option not available. But this is not Photoshop and we should not treat it like that. Also, last I heard, Canva is working very hard to add more functions to their toolbox.