Designing with Word - Never Again!

One of my mottos is 'the right tool for the right job.' - Martha Stewart

Microsoft Word is a word processing software used by millions of people every day. In fact, I bet that is the software that is installed, almost certainly, on your work computer, and probably on your personal computer.

Word is a great program for producing all kinds of documents:

• letters

• reports

• memos and

• stories.

What Word is NOT is a graphic design program. Can it be used to design posters, invitations and brochures? Sure, BUT it's clunky, difficult to navigate and can be extremely frustrating to manipulate.

In 2024, there is absolutely no reason to be using Word to design graphics! In this blog post, I will suggest a better alternative - Canva.

The Word Way

Let's look at a poster for a Lenten Retreat created using Word.

This poster is not horrible. All the information is there and it's easy to read. But it is kind of boring. I'm creative, but not that artistic so I wasn't sure what to do to pretty it up. If you're like me, you'll have the same issues.

While it is not that noticeable, the photo did not fit perfectly so I had to stretch it a bit. Because the photo is of a road and a horizon the distortion caused by stretching it is almost unnoticeable. However, if there had been people in the photo, they may have looked like people do in a hall of mirrors. 🥴

Trying to decide which fonts to use and what size are also a bit of a problem. Too many different fonts and the whole thing just looks a mess. But if you don't change at least the size, color and formatting of the text it won't look much better.

And don't get me started on trying to remember how to get the text boxes and photo to move where I want them to go and to stay put.

A Better Way!

If you want a really gorgeous poster, the best way is to hire a graphic artist who does this for a living and who is using a very expensive software specifically designed for graphic design and desktop publishing. Unfortunately, most Catholic parishes do not have the budget to hire their own graphic artist or even to outsource their projects to one.

Enter a couple of Aussies who believed there was a better way - and a cheaper way. “Our goal was to take the entire design ecosystem, integrate it into one page, and then make it accessible to the whole world." (Melanie Perkins) And so Canva was born.

What is Canva

Canva is a web-based graphic design platform that allows users to create a wide range of content, including presentations, posters, social media graphics, logos, flyers, and more. With its drag-and-drop system it is quite user-friendly.

The best part is that Canva offers a huge library of templates, images, icons, illustrations, and fonts that allow you to customize your designs. And because these templates are created by graphic artists you can benefit from their talent to make your next poster, flyer or social media post both beautiful and professional looking.

So let's see what the same Lenten Retreat poster designed using Canva looks like.

This poster has a cleaner more polished look and will no doubt catch the attention of parishioners.

If you want to start designing better graphics, it's time to sign up for your own Canva Account.

Canva - the FREE Version

If you do not already have a Canva account, I highly recommend one. There is a paid version but you can definitely start with the free version. Even though it is free, the latter version is still pretty powerful, especially if you have never used Canva before.

I used the free version for quite a long time before finally upgrading. One of the best reasons to stick with the free version, aside from the free part, is that your choices are limited. Yup! Limited is sometimes a good thing. Think about Baskin-Robbins with its 31 flavors!! Choosing a flavor to try can become overwhelming! Same thing with the 1000s of templates available through Canva.

By starting with the free version of Canva trying to choose a template becomes much more manageable because you can't use those included in the premium account. This does not mean you do not have quality templates to select from, it just means your choice is more limited and therefore more manageable.

Setting Up Your Account

Step 1 - go to canva.com and select Sign Up.

Step 2 - choose sign up with work email and then enter your work email address.

Step 3 - enter your preferred account name and click create your account.

Step 4 - enter the code that was sent to your email address to finish signing up.

If you need more details click here to follow Canva's step-by-step sign up.

Next Time

In the next blog post we'll start designing, but feel free to look around the Canva dashboard, and if you're inspired go ahead and create your first design.

See ya soon! 👋

P.S. Don't forget to sign up for the FREE Creative Catholic Content Newsletter. Every issue includes 2 to 3 pieces of content you can use right now.