This Free Design Tool is Designer-Approved for Any Project

Ashley Chalmers - Headshot By
Ashley Chalmers
Ashley Chalmers - Headshot
Ashley Chalmers
Ashley Chalmers is a lifestyle expert and writer with over a decade of experience traveling the world and translating her adventures into decor. She specializes in writing about farmhouse decor, small space organizing, and urban living. Ashley is also the co-founder of The Lazy Travelers blog.
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Published on 01/12/23

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Canva Tools of the Trade

Photo: Canva / Image Treatment: The Spruce

The world of home decor is vast, and we’re constantly amazed by the designers, creators, and creatives who cross our paths. In an effort to learn more about the innovative eyes behind the scenes, we’ve launched a series that explores the sanity-saving tools, products, and services that keep our favorite designers and decorators focused on the job at hand. Welcome to Tools of the Trade.

Andi Morse, the founder of Atlanta-based Morse Design, has one major focus in each of her projects: to seamlessly combine beauty with functionality. It makes sense, then, that when we asked for the one tool she can’t live without, she named this free, virtual design tool that can be used for work and play. 

Designer Andi Morse

Morse Design

What item made your work life easier this week/month/lately? 

Andi Morse: Canva. It makes my life easier by helping me create professional presentations that are easy for my clients to follow—and it allows me to brand them with my colors, layout, and style.

Canva

Canva

Canva
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AM: I can create a template to follow, so there is total consistency. I also use this sometimes for social media posts.

Where/how do you use this item most? 

AM: I use it mostly for my client presentations.

How did you discover this item? 

AM: I discovered this several years ago for social media reasons, and I found out from following a social media management company. 

Will you use this item in the future? 

AM: 100%, yes.

How has this item made your job easier? 

AM: It allows me to create a branded template that I follow for every single client presentation.


How might someone not in your line of work benefit from this item? 

AM: Canva can be used for all sorts of reasons. You can create cards and invitations to send to friends, family, and business associates. You can create charts: for example, parents can create charts of chores for their kids or charts for business purposes. Social media is a great place to use Canva to create posts branded or not. They have some templates you can choose from for any of these purposes or you can create your own—you can pretty much use Canva for almost anything. 

What, if anything, would you change about this item? 

AM: I know there are so many more ways to use it, and I need to take a class. But, at this point, I would not change a thing. 

Are there any care/use tips someone considering this item should know about?

AM: It's great to be a little computer savvy to help you learn quicker, but it's not a difficult program, so most anyone can do it. Someone just needs to take the time to learn it and play around with it. 

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