How can non-designers create branded and engaging internal communications materials? Of course, there’s no substitute for the talent and training of a professional graphic designer, but sometimes there’s not the budget or time to involve an agency or other outside resource.That’s when design tools for non-designers can help. Here are three options you might consider:
Canva has become one of the most intuitive and popular collaborative design tools out there. Canva’s user-friendly platform allows for more design flexibility and makes it easy for non-designers to learn the tools and produce quality branded materials. Its wide range of document sizes make it easy to create communications for different types of media, like presentations, social media posts, intranet banners, and more.For ongoing internal communications, you might start by having a professional graphic designer develop a template. Then it’s easy for non-designers to add content and make changes in real time.
Figma is a cloud-based app that offers lots of design tools to create digital and print communications. It’s a great platform for collaboration. Users can make comments and changes in real time, plus, it allows others to look at prototypes in their browser —which is a big advantage when showing work. Again, it helps to start with a professional graphic designer, at least to develop a style guide with the brand colors, fonts and some basic designs.
Compared to the other two design tools described above, PowerPoint is quite limited as a design tool. It’s much less flexible, so it’s advantage is primarily that most non-designers are already familiar with it. Branded design templates can be provided for general use, although in our experience most users don’t stick with those templates particularly well. Projects created on PowerPoint can also be shared for collaboration, but between the three options in this list, this is the least intuitive design tool for collaborating. Most employees will end up saving the document and sending it through a different platform, which can slow down the collaboration process.For help with graphic design best practices for non-designers, you might appreciate the tips in this blog. If you’re interested in professional graphic design and other support for your internal communications, Tribe can help.
