This week Canva, the super-graphic site, became even better. I didn’t think it was possible, but wow. Just wow.
They livestreamed their newest releases earlier this week, and their upgrades prompted me to immediately declare Canva the App of the Year.
Because of the things they’re offering, I was able to cancel several subscriptions and instantly save about $500 a year. (I’m now a proud partner!).
Canva Pro Is Worth the Price
Before I start on the features, let me say…
The Canva Pro upgrade is SO WORTH IT!
It’s just $120 a year and includes premium stock images, phenomenal features, instant resizing and soooo much more. Seriously, in my 12+ years as Your Nerdy Best Friend, this is the best upgrade I’ve ever had. Ever. And that’s why I chose to partner with them.
Canva’s Biggest Announcements
Text-to-Image
Frankly this is what I’m most, most, MOST excited about. I’ve been talking about the mind-blowing tools that let you type any description, click a button and immediately get a custom, one-of-a-kind image.
I was paying $20 a month for a feature with Jasper.ai (again, I’m a PROUD partner!), and I loved it. But now that Canva is including it in their free version (at least for now), I’m going to use that one.
Here’s a sample of what this tool can do when I entered the following: large audience, celebration, confetti, cheering, party, bright, fun, illustration. (I was imagining what it would have been like in the Canva audience during these announcements.)
Then I changed the style from illustration to photorealistic.
Within seconds I had custom images that use the very latest text-to-image AI. Wow.
Remove Video Background
I’ve been using the awesome Unscreen.com to remove the background from videos for a couple of years, but now Canva has added this functionality. Again, this is so exciting! I’ve paid probably $50 over the years for this feature, and now it’s all included.
The video background removal tool is just one of the cool features they’ve upgraded for Canva Video.
Canva Websites
People are always looking for easy and budget-friendly ways to create their own websites. Again, it’s Canva to the rescue! Canva Websites has hundreds of templates to get you started, and it seems like hosting is free (at least for now). You can use the Canva platform to host, purchase a custom domain through Canva or link it to your own.
Canva Smartmockups
This feature has been around for a while in the design area, but Canva just made it easier to create fun product mockups. I’ve been paying $90 a year for Placeit, but I rarely use it. Turns out Canva has a whole collection of Smartmockups that let me instantly add flair to my graphics. So I canceled PlaceIt and will use Canva’s tools (most are in the Pro level). Woohoo! Another $90 a year back in my pocket.
Here’s a Canva mockup that no one wants: a cartoon Beth reclining on your beach towel.
Canva Docs
I haven’t really digested the concept they’re calling the Canva Visual Worksuite, a collection of their design resources that help with collaboration, presentations, marketing, websites and more. I think I’ll understand it better when they release Canva Docs, a platform to create and share rich media documents and presentations. I’ll keep an eye out for the official launch and let you know.
On a related note… I used Canva Presentations (which have also been upgraded) to create very cool eBook handouts for the on-demand versions of the last two workshops. Check them out!
More Canva Upgrades
I’ve highlighted some of my favorite features, but there’s so much more in this Canva upgrade. Check out their summary: 10 highlights from Canva Create 2022.
Bonus! Another $200 a Year in Savings
After seeing all the cool upgrades, I was finally convinced to cancel my subscription to the awesome Envato Elements, a massive repository for stock images, graphics, audio and more (I’m a partner for them as well). I canceled my yearly subscription ($198) yesterday because I think Canva’s templates, images, graphics, video, etc. are more than enough to help me find the perfect look and feel.
Here are the options when I searched images for the word “Nerd” in both services.
Although Elements definitely has more features and categories than Canva (templates for video editors, etc.), I think I can do without the higher-level features for now. But I love Elements so much, so I may resubscribe (I have 11 months left).
