Canva Launches a Creative and Visual Future

Canva is one of my favorite apps/sites on the market today. I have been using the service since early 2014 and was instantly hooked. Canva makes it super simple to make graphics. It has become my go-to for creating fantastic yet simple to create graphics and more for myself and clients. 

Over the last six years, Canva has added more and more functionality to the service. This includes new social media sizes (IG Stories), presentations, and videos. All of these, in my opinion, make it worth the money for a pro membership. 

Today Canva held their “The Future is Visual” Event. This is the first significant expansion of the service since they launched eight years ago. These are the new features I liked the most.  

  1. Docs – Canva is doing what they have done to the area of graphics and doing it to documents. They are launching a new section that allows you to create any document you need. You can even import other documents into Canva to work on. It’s launching in beta soon, so no word when it will be available. 
  2. Data Visualization – Presenting data in graphs and bar charts is boring. Like many of you out there, I know you open Excel and have no clue what some of those charts are, so you stick to the bar and pie charts. Canva acquired the company Flouris last year and allowed you to create stunning new data visualizations. I heard about this last year and have been looking forward to trying it out. I will bring more on it when it has been released. No time was given to the release of Flouris. 
  3. Video Background Removal – One of the best photo background removal tools is on Canva. I have had very few problems with this feature, which surprises me because background removal is hard to accomplish. I always wished they had a similar tool for video. During the event, they announced video is getting the same background removal feature. I have so much I can do with this! 
  4. Finding the perfect Image – If you are familiar with AI-generated images from DALL-E, Canva is getting something similar. It works by typing in a description of what you want, and it will return an image. One in particular I liked was a panda riding a bike through town. It showed several pandas on bikes. This is a feature I was surprised to see launching in the new Canva tools. 

That’s not all. Here is a list of the additions to Canva launching very soon:

  • Canva Docs: Built with the modern workplace in mind, Canva Docs makes traditional text documents more visually captivating, while also including key collaboration features like comments and real time collaboration. Users can also access Canva’s 100 million+ library of design assets and embed them into their work for a personalized approach to document creation. Plus, in a world where presenting work is often not text based, Canva Docs can easily be turned into a fully fledged Canva Presentation with the simple click of a button.
  • Canva Websites: A new way to build simple websites for any occasion. Create visually appealing and interactive websites from any device without the technical skills needed to do so. With hundreds of responsive professional-level website templates, customizable domains and adjustable page heights, a highly secure and optionally password protected website can be created and published in minutes. Built to drive engagement, it also comes with Canva’s new Design Insights analytics feature, which sheds light on site visits and allows the builder to get a pulse on audience and interest.
  • Canva Whiteboards: Canva Whiteboards bring a fast and fresh approach to how teams shape and explore ideas together. Combining the simplicity of Canva’s editing experience with an infinite canvas, Canva Whiteboards comes with a range of features designed for brainstorming and team collaboration. From sticky notes to images and diagrams, synced timer to keep brainstorming on track, and more, this new product embraces the world of hybrid work to encourage collaboration and productivity in distributed teams.
  • Video Background Remover: One of Canva’s most popular features is now available as part of the Canva Video Suite, taking video creation to the next level. With one click, users can remove the background from any video making it faster and easier than ever to create professional-looking content without expansive budgets or complex software.
  • Expanding Canva Print: While much of visual communication is digital, when there is a need for a physical product, Canva Print makes the process simple, and approaches it in a sustainable way. As of today, anyone can print more than 35 products through Canva Print and have it delivered to their doorstep in record time. This includes everything from invitations to flyers, photo books and hoodies, mugs posters, and much more. 
  • Committed to a sustainable future, Canva will plant a tree for every print order placed through its partnership One Print, One Tree reforestation program. As of today, more than 2.4 million trees have been planted with a further 5 million trees to be planted by the end of the year.
  • Data Visualization: Anyone can level up their data storytelling with Flourish, making it possible to turn dense data and statistics into simple, clear and easy to understand interactive data visualizations. With templates for almost any need – from animated bar races, to drill-down sunbursts – it’s easier than ever to make complex data accessible and meaningful to anyone, in any organization, in the workplace.
  • Remote Control for Presentations: Canva adds remote presentation control to its Presentation product, enabling multiple presenters to control the flow of their presentation from any device using a new virtual clicker.

I can’t wait to see these features and more coming to Canva!  

Tim is the founder of Element33. A social media agency specializing in education, management and strategy for small businesses. He comes from a traditional marketing agency but has embraced all things digital. He considers himself a marketing nerd and believes that all marketing is tied together. This means no matter what silo you are in, social, email, seach, etc, changes in one will affect the other!

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