Canva is the Spotted Lanternfly of design.

Arriving around 2014, the spotted lanternfly is an invasive bug to our region which most feared would destroy crops, trees, and prove difficult to eradicate. This same amount of dread was also attributed to Canva, an online graphic design platform.

Many graphic designers were fearful that Canva, would strip away clients, downgrade design work, and create a dull homogeneousness for our industry. The template offerings were initially intoxicating due to their ability to allow people to drag and drop images into designs without knowing—or needing—any Adobe Creative Suite programs. Text could simply be typed in and then saved to post to social media.

While this sounded great, a number of my clients started to lose interest in either finagling the online software’s quirks or simply tiring of the uniformity of the designs. Challenge Alert! Head to your favorite social media platform and see if you can identify similar post’s templates! Long story, short…my clients craved unique identities and therefore still desired my services…design is not dead!

Online platforms, such as Canva, can be quite helpful to non-profits and volunteer organizations so there is a need in the marketplace for shared assets. However, I implore you to refrain from calling yourself a designer simply because you might have used Canva. Graphic design is more than typing in a word in a preset template.