I'm gonna need a bigger bag for the cohort!
Canva is my favorite creative tool for its ease of use and simplicity. During this month’s “Canva Create: Uncharted Keynote 2025” in Los Angeles, Canva highlighted something that caught my attention beyond the massive number of new innovations announced (see the keynote summary below for more), and I realized I'm gonna need a bigger bag for the cohort given all the new potential!
Canva is a design platform founded in Australia by a diverse trio of entrepreneurs. One of Canva’s key strategic goals is to bring productivity and creativity together, as it helps Canva to empower all of us, or “the world to design anything”.
Everyone Deserves an Equal Playing Field
One of Canva’s key foundational pillars or tenets is rooted in diversity: The belief that everyone deserves an equal playing field. Canva provided an example of how they put this in action in their latest keynote.
Photo Credit: Canva Create
Canva highlighted how the United States has held the number one slot in terms of designs created since Canva’s inception over ten years ago. But something interesting happened after Canva began adding foreign language versions of its popular and growing service. In particular, not long after Portuguese was added, Brazil eclipsed the United States in usage! Overall, English-speaking countries had dominated Canva’s design stats for ten years, but now with the addition of more languages, that has changed.
It should be no surprise that Brazil is now number one, given it has one of the fastest-growing economies in the world, and it is also one of the most diverse countries. According to the World Bank, Brazil's economy is growing at a rate of 3.4% in 2024, and it is the 10th largest economy in the world by nominal GDP and the 7th largest by PPP (Purchasing Power Parity) adjusted GDP.
Key Takeaways From Brazil's Eclipsing the US in Canva Designs
The key takeaways and learnings from Brazil’s stratospheric leapfrogging of the United States in terms of design frequency are:
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Language localization drives adoption: Adding Portuguese to Canva in 2016 directly led to Brazil's explosive growth, demonstrating that meeting users in their native language removes critical barriers to entry and accelerates adoption.
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Market potential beyond obvious targets: While initial focus was on English-speaking markets like the U.S., UK, and Australia, Brazil's rise shows the immense untapped potential in markets that may be overlooked in typical expansion strategies.
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Cultural relevance creates momentum: Beyond mere translation, Canva's success in Brazil suggests they effectively adapted to Brazilian design sensibilities and cultural context, creating a snowball effect of user adoption.
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Digital democratization crosses borders: Brazil's rapid adoption illustrates how tools that democratize previously specialized skills (like design) can find extraordinary success in emerging markets where access to traditional design education or software might be limited.
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Community drives growth: Canva’s data suggests that once adoption reached a critical mass in Brazil, community-driven growth accelerated as users shared designs and recommended the platform to peers.
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Regional leadership can shift rapidly: Canva’s keynote visualization showed Brazil's remarkably swift rise from minimal usage to market leadership, demonstrating how quickly digital adoption patterns can shift when product-market fit is achieved.
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Inclusive design has business impact: Brazil's success story provides concrete evidence that inclusion and diversity initiatives (like language expansion) aren't just socially responsible but can also deliver substantial business results and market leadership.
Canva’s Brazil design case demonstrates that when companies commit to diversity and accessibility across languages and cultures, they can unlock extraordinary growth in unexpected markets.
Canva Create: Uncharted Keynote 2025 - Key Takeaways
Canva's "Uncharted" keynote unveiled their most significant product launch since the company's founding, with four major innovations designed to help users navigate the evolving landscape of work and creativity:
Visual Suite 2.0: All-in-One Design
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Enables multiple design formats in a single file (presentations, docs, whiteboards, social posts, videos, print items, websites)
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Eliminates the need to switch between files and formats
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Streamlines workflows for teams by keeping all project elements together
Design with Data: Canva Sheets
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Introduces a fully integrated spreadsheet solution within Canva
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Features "Magic Formulas" that eliminate the need to memorize formulas
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"Magic Insights" provides one-click data analysis
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Serves as the data layer powering other Canva tools
Magic Studio at Scale
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This tool combines Canva Sheets with existing AI tools
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Enables bulk content creation from a single design
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Features include:
Magic Charts
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25+ visualization types from simple charts to complex interactive data storytelling
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Automatically recommends ideal chart types
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Integrates with data sources like Google Analytics, Snowflake, and HubSpot
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Interactive filters and tooltips for audience exploration
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Works with the new Scrollable Docs format
Canva AI
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Centralized AI interface on the homepage with three key functions:
Canva Code
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Enables non-coders to create interactive experiences without coding knowledge
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Users describe what they want to build in plain language
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Creates interactive elements like quizzes, games, and calculators
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Can be added to any design or published to websites
The keynote emphasized Canva's mission to make complex tasks simple and democratize both design and coding. It highlighted that these innovations fulfill over 45 user wishes and reinforced Canva's commitment to their two-step plan: building a valuable company and doing good through initiatives like donating $50M to fight poverty, planting 10M trees, and providing $1B worth of product to schools and nonprofits.
With 230 million monthly users creating over 1 billion designs per month (35 billion total), Canva continues to make the potential to design more diverse and accessible while expanding its capabilities to meet its evolving user needs. #Canva. #DEI