Photoshop vs. Canva: Breaking Down the Graphics War

Photoshop vs. Canva: Craft vs. Convenience for Media Creators

In this episode of The Media Download, John Ondo dives into the ongoing debate between Adobe Photoshop and Canva. He discusses the pros and cons of each tool—highlighting Photoshop's control, collaboration, and industry recognition versus Canva's speed, simplicity, and beginner-friendliness. Through thoughtful comparisons, John emphasizes the importance of a hybrid approach that uses both tools to optimize workflow and creativity. Finally, he dispels the myth that one tool is inherently faster than the other, noting that speed depends on the user's familiarity and proficiency.

00:00 Introduction: The Great Debate
00:42 Meet Your Host: John Ando
01:22 The Power of Photoshop
03:32 The Convenience of Canva
05:40 Finding the Balance: A Hybrid Approach
07:05 Conclusion and Final Thoughts.
#mediainfluencer #columbusohio #adobephotoshop  #canva #graphicsdesign #podcast #broadcasters #printing #mediadesign #socialmediamarketing 

Watch all of the video format of this podcast on my YouTube Channel.

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLMqz-XMZ8v2VLfSXSCrEtDmfKum5g5ZEb

Transcript

Speaker: 0:00

You know, there are great debates in history, the Federalist and the Anti-Federalists, tariffs versus taxes, Mustangs versus Corvettes. And now in our A IH. Another question has joined the list, Photoshop. Or Canva. One promises absolute control with unlimited creativity. The other promises, speed and mobility good enough and done before luncheon. Honestly, that's not such a bad thing. This is not a fight between right and wrong. It's a debate between craft and convenience, between mastery. And momentum. And in this episode, I'll share my perspective as a 30 year veteran of Photoshop, and you may be surprised with my conclusion. I'm John Ondo, and this is the media download. Welcome to this week's media download. I'm a 40 year television and filmmaking veteran. Storytelling is at my heart, and the goal of this podcast is simple to put more tools in your media creator toolbox so you can tell more impactful stories without bleeding your budget dry. I'm here weekly, so if you find value in my videos, please like, subscribe, and share it with your fellow media creators. This podcast is a presentation of ondomedia.com. Really, really good production company. In 1996, I began learning a bizarre new program called Adobe Photoshop. I was told that this was a professional tool, the standard for print ready art and broadcast graphics, and for the past 30 years, that's proven true. Today I work with a wide range of clients. Some have in-house graphic designers who are in the Adobe Suite world. Others are in the nonprofit world with tight budgets and volunteers who rely on Canva every single day. So let's break this down clearly the pros and cons, and later I'll give you some practical advice on how to navigate this graphics war. So let's begin with Adobe Photoshop. Here are the pros. The first pro is professional grade control. I like being in control. I'm a kind of a control freak. Powerful tools like grading, background removal, advanced masking, retouching, unlimited fonts, and compositing. This is the industry standard for a reason. The second pro for Photoshop is collaboration. Photoshop lives in an ecosystem where print designers and digital artists can share files and workflows effortlessly. This skillset translates across agency studios and decades of creative work, and when I say send me the PSD and someone says, no problem, my day just got a whole lot easier. Third, industry recognition and longevity. P and G files Transparency Blending, as we mentioned before, broadcast graphics integration with black magic workflows. This is Photoshop's wheelhouse. Like everything. There are some cons. Here are Photoshops. It does have a steep learning curve because it's so powerful. There's a lot to learn. Mastery takes time and attention. This is not a click and go tool. And now with more AI tools and new updates, it takes time to learn the features that save us time. Second hardware requirements, you'll need a computer and hard drive space and some horsepower. You can't use Photoshop on mobile devices, so if you're at an event, you'll need to bring your laptop. The third con is cost for a business or maybe a family business nonprofit, or for large teams, Adobe licensing can get expensive. Now, let's turn to our attention to Canva. Here are the pros, as I see it for Canva, speed and simplicity. Designs come together fast, perfect for tight deadlines, or those simple projects that drain your time from the big projects. The second pro for Canva is beginner friendly. Anyone can create a decent looking graphic really quickly with minimum training. The third pro for Canva is its built for social media, one click resizing platform, ready formats, and an increasingly powerful AI feature. Canvas cons are. Limited creative depth, limited fonts. Masking. Compositing are all restrictive. And don't forget, it's cloud-based. So if you're surrounded by forest or soybeans, you may not be able to get online to create anything. Yeah. The second Canva Con is template dependency. Over time, designs start to look and feel familiar, generic, and even worse, it starts looking like everybody else's project. Third, not truly production grade. It's less suited for professional print, broadcast, and complex brand systems. And it does come with a prejudice, and I've seen this firsthand. I'll receive a comment from a client saying We're beginning a new campaign, and here's the artwork, and I'm like, this is great. I need to begin working on this for videos. Uh, I need the Photoshop file, and I get back the comment it was created in Canva. I will immediately roll my eyes and know that now I will have to recreate the entire graphic all over again in Photoshop or Illustrator so that I can use it in videos. The big takeaway isn't about which tool is better. Photoshop raises the ceiling. Canva lowers the barriers, and as always, I like to look at everything through the lens of food canva's like McDonald's, and who doesn't like McDonald's, fries, or McFlurry? When you're in a rush, it's fast, it's consistent, it's reliable. But when you want fine dining. A Chef's creativity, a wine list, the ability to order your steak exactly how you want it. You don't go to McDonald's, you go to Ruth Chris, or you go to McCormick and Schmidt. Two different ways to consume food, and these are two different ecosystems to create graphics and in many cases I strongly support a hybrid approach. Say for example, you're starting a new campaign that's gonna require a lot of social media. Have your brand designer create the master assets in the Adobe Suite, an illustrator or Photoshop. Then have those assets sent off to your social media team who are gonna create their content on Canva, on their phones, and at live events. Now they have the tools. To do the proper brand package and you protect your brand, you maintain quality and you scale quantity. But my last point is don't believe the lie that Photoshop is slower and the Canva is faster. It's totally dependent on you getting what's in your head. Exported the fastest is not determined by anything else but you. Many times I've attempted a Canva graphic only to stop after maybe 10 or 15 minutes to drop back and punt and finish it in two minutes in Photoshop, because that's my wheelhouse. There may be other times where I'm just in a dry spot and I'm like, I'm not sure what I want to do to create this graphic. I'll play around in Canva, get some ideas, and then return to Photoshop or Illustrator to build that graphic that I got the idea from in Canva. So think about a hybrid. The more tools you can put in your toolbox as you can. The more often you're going to win. Thanks for joining me today. I drop these tips weekly, including short video updates. So make sure you subscribe on the YouTube channel as well as your favorite audio podcast platform. And if you need help navigating the storytelling universe, visit me@onmedia.com. We have experience with working with organizations of all sizes to make your media look big time. I'm John Ando, and your download for today is complete.