Empowering Canva’s Next Decade
Canva, the global design platform, is marking its ten-year anniversary with a significant brand refresh aimed at empowering organisations worldwide. As the nature of work evolves towards more distributed teams, Canva’s updated brand system is designed to enhance visual communication and collaboration across diverse workplaces.
Brand Focus
In its decade of success, Canva has empowered millions to achieve their design goals. The refreshed brand system aims to build on this legacy by addressing new challenges and opportunities. With the rise of remote and hybrid work, Canva’s redesign seeks to enhance creativity and productivity with a balance of global appeal and local relevance.
“Empowerment has always been at the core of Canva’s identity and mission from the very start,” remarked Cat van der Werff, Executive Creative Director (ECD) at Canva. Design isn’t just about aesthetics. It’s a vehicle for achieving goals. This principle has guided our brand refresh.”
Scaling an Iconic Brand
Canva’s brand is well-known for its gradient, hand-crafted logo, and custom typeface. The refresh aims to simplify and amplify these elements while introducing new features to enhance connection with Canva’s diverse community.
“Our updated brand system aims to be deeply localized and culturally attuned, enhancing our ability to engage with communities globally more effectively than ever,” van der Werff explained.
Key Elements of the Refresh
- Building a Platform for Content: The new brand system draws inspiration from Canva’s adaptable content platform. It maintains core brand assets while introducing flexible elements that allow for global scalability and local relevance.
- Uniting Brand and Product: The brand’s visual design now mirrors Canva’s product experience, from inspiring content scrolls to immersive full-screen moments.
- Celebrating Work in Progress: The new system highlights the creative process, focusing on design in progress rather than just the finished product.
- Humanizing Canva’s UI: New elements such as cursors, comments, and bespoke emojis are integrated to reflect human connection and collaboration.
- Amplifying Brand Voice: A refreshed tone of voice enhances the brand’s playful personality, moving away from corporate jargon.
- Enhancing Accessibility: The updated color palette meets AA accessibility standards, ensuring that empowerment and accessibility go hand in hand.
Built by Canva, in Canva
Canva utilised its own tools throughout the brand refresh, showcasing the platform’s capabilities. The in-house creative team used Canva’s design tools to implement the refresh across a global team of over 4,000 people in more than 40 countries.
“We leveraged our own tools throughout every phase of the process, demonstrating how organisations can scale a global brand with Canva,” van der Werff explained.
In collaboration with creative agencies Vucko and Buck, Canva updated its motion system and created a custom emoji style that reflects the brand’s gradients, color palette, and playful personality.
Redesigning How the World Works
With over 190 million monthly active users and annualised revenue exceeding $2.3 billion, Canva continues to champion the democratization of design. The brand refresh marks the next chapter in Canva’s journey, reinforcing its commitment to helping people and organisations bring their creative visions to life.
