interview with Cat van der Werff (Canva)

The world of design has never before been so democratized as at this point in history, technology and new tools have expanded the limits of creativity to unsuspected limits, and canva has been part of this revolution.

With more than 10 years in operation, this tool has helped millions of users around the world get closer to graphic design and creativity. In an interview with MarketingDirecto.com, Cat van der WerffExecutive Creative Director at Canva, highlights the keys to the platform’s evolution, the main trends for 2024 and the new edition of the “What Will You Design Today?” campaign.

Canva is used by more than 170 million people around the world. What can you tell us about the growth of the company?

When Canva launched more than a decade ago, our founders set out to address the fragmented design ecosystem, which was home to hundreds of complex tools. Thus identified the need to democratize access to design and they created Canva so that everyone, regardless of their design experience, could create spectacular content.

10 years later, our product has evolved to not only meet the needs of anyone creating social media content, but also those of large companies, non-profit organizations, and educational institutions. Currently, we have more than 175 million users in 190 countries and our product is available in more than 100 languages.

Our growth has been accelerating along with the development of our product. To put it in perspective, in September 2022 we launched the Canva Visual Suite and, in just 18 months, we registered more than 90 million new users, a development that is equivalent to nine years of growth. We are now at a pivotal moment where we see more and more companies adopting our platform for their teams. In fact, more than 90% of Fortune 500 companies already use Canva, and in the last 12 months, more than two million teams have started using the platform.

The new campaign “What Will You Design Today?” celebrates creativity without limits. How has the platform evolved over the years?

Our campaign “What Will You Design Today?” aims to show the potential of Canva as an easy-to-use platform that allows you to design impactful visual content. In this fifth edition, we wanted to adapt the campaign to change the perception of Canva and show its potential as a work tool.

At the moment We are experiencing great growth within companies and, therefore, we are doubling our efforts in this area. As we have evolved, so have our campaigns, and on this occasion we wanted to highlight how all teams can use Canva, from human resources to sales. And to achieve this, we adopt the same vibrant and fun spirit that characterizes our brand, transferring it to the work environment.

Canva has reinforced its commitment to AI-based products. How have people adopted these AI products to create their designs?

On Canva We have been investing in artificial intelligence for more than six years, a priority that was further accentuated with the acquisition of Kaleido in 2021. And most recently, in October last year, we introduced “Magical Studio”, a set of AI tools created to make the use of design technology easier and simpler.

Thus, Canva, as an all-in-one platform, makes design accessible to 99% of people within a company, without the need for training or learning to use complex software. Thanks to this approach, since Canva launched we have seen an increase in the number of companies adopting our platform for their work teams.

We encountered a fragmented AI ecosystem and took advantage of it to bring it together on a single platform, providing easy-to-use tools for anyone, even if they don’t have much experience designing or using artificial intelligence. We know this strategy is working, as our AI tools have already been used more than four billion times.

AI advancements in the last year have taken over content creation. How can we “fight” the idea that this technology is taking over creative jobs?

At Canva we believe that generative AI is not replacing human creativity. On the contrary, it is reinforcing it.

In today’s marketing world, industry professionals and creative teams are expected to be able to produce a large volume of content and move it to multiple channels. Marketers are expected to be able to produce more with fewer resources at their disposal, and as a result, they are embracing artificial intelligence. An example of this is their use of Canva: marketing professionals and creatives can help the rest of their teams maintain brand identity, streamline editing processes and allow creative people to focus on more projects. strategic.

In fact, Canva recently conducted a survey that found that, In Spain, 96% of people in marketing and creative leadership positions feel comfortable with the advancement of generative AIa, and more than 80% already consider it an essential part of their creative tools. Furthermore, the study also showed that AI is promoting both creativity and productivity: the majority (78%) agree that AI-based tools reduce time spent on the most repetitive tasks, allowing them to focus on the most important tasks. most creative and exciting parts of the job.

Besides, Generative AI is also transforming the content creation process. As marketing and creative professionals have to create large amounts of content, many are turning to AI. Thus, the majority (84%) have used generative AI to create written content, generate images (83%) or edit photos and videos (85%).

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Canva has become one of the most popular visual communication tools and is now also evolving into audiovisual. How has this new area evolved?

At Canva, we’re always thinking about ways to improve our platform to ensure that anyone can have all their needs covered in one place and get their work done in the best way possible.

At the end of last year we launched a new music library in collaboration with Warner Music Group and Merlin, allowing paid and Canva for Education users around the world to access music from some of the world’s most popular artists. In this way, Canva is the first platform that offers commercial music clips for the creation of designs. Without a doubt, we saw it as a great opportunity for anyone to enhance their creativity and explore new ways of designing thanks to the music of their favorite artists.

A humane, energetic and positive perspective on creativity has been synonymous with Canva’s purpose from the beginning. What are you working on to keep this purpose alive?

I believe Canva’s purpose and mission as a company has been critical to our growth and success over the last decade. Although our product has evolved, our mission has not: We continue in our efforts to democratize access to design. Our founders set out to build an easy-to-use, all-in-one platform that would allow anyone to create spectacular content, without having to worry about complex tools. And, today, this purpose has not changed. Our platform continues to be used by millions of people every month, whether you’re a teacher adapting our lesson templates for your classes, a small business creating your first logo, or an entire marketing team collaborating faster and more efficiently thanks to our tools.

Everything we do at Canva is related to our mission. And while much of our focus is on businesses, offering them the opportunity to integrate our platform into their environment, our AI products and tools enable people around the world to create their best designs and successfully get their work done.

How do you see the future of design and creativity? What can users expect from Canva in 2024?

When I think about the future of design and creativity, and the next decade for Canva, I can’t ignore artificial intelligence and its influence on the workplace. Without a doubt, in the coming years we will see significant advances in AI, whether due to emerging technologies or a greater concern for security and the use of technology.

I have no doubt that adoption of AI-based tools by people in management positions will increase. Additionally, technology people will reevaluate their technology tools and shift toward more unified software solutions for their workforce. For their part, creative teams will clearly see the benefits of using AI by delegating everyday tasks to automated tools, allowing them to have more time for creativity.

At Canva we observe first-hand the demand of companies that They actively seek optimized solutions and simpler management tools. This is a great opportunity to showcase our set of efficient, collaborative, and easy-to-use design tools to a broader audience of executives. That’s why our commitment to investing in AI is unwavering, and we are continually introducing products that will have a significant impact on the future workplace. And if it’s not through a product launch, we’ll do it by raising awareness with campaigns like “What Will You Design Today?”, which remind people in leadership positions that Canva is becoming an essential tool for the workplace.