Canva introduces The Visual Economy Report

CANVA has created The Visual Economy Report to show business leaders how important visual communication is, in today’s highly competitive world, as a tool for more effective business development.

The Visual Economy Report presents actionable data from 1,600 global business leaders as examples of how business leaders can innovate visually to improve performance on many levels.

Canva – the Australian company that lays claim to being the world’s only all-in-one visual communication platform – has created the report to provide the most comprehensive view so far “into how global business leaders are approaching visual communication principles internally and externally to run more efficient teams, build stronger audience engagement, and fuel greater economic returns on their business”.

Among the top findings of The Visual Economy Report are:  

 

Visual communication enhances workplace efficiency and collaboration

Nearly all business leaders agree that visual communication methods increase efficiency (90%), enhance collaboration (89%) and carry more authority (85%) than other methods of communication. The majority (89%) also agree visual communication tools result in stronger business returns.
 

Visual communication accelerates sales cycles

With teams more global than ever, visual communication is making it possible for teams to be more collaborative; therefore, more productive in a world that’s now digital-first.
The majority of global business leaders (89%) believe visual communication has had a positive impact on remote and hybrid team members connecting with each other. About 88 percent also say visual communication tools have accelerated their sales cycles. That’s because most business leaders (85%) agree that visual content is generally more digestible, leading to more responsive prospects that stay engaged throughout the sales process.
 

Design literacy is now table stakes for most jobs

Design literacy has become critical for most professionalsbeyond trained designers. For this reason, more than half of business leaders (61%) say that employees in non-design roles are expected to have extensive design knowledge, such as the ability to create persuasive visual assets and engaging presentations, as well as being able to edit others’ designs with ease. As a result, nearly two-thirds (63%) provide training to those not in graphic-design roles.
 

Businesses need better visual content

Businesses are plagued by consistency, workflow, and quality issues with their design platforms. Nearly two-thirds of business leaders (64%) say that their company lacks a streamlined visual design software platform, and more than half agree their content is neither aesthetically pleasing (53%) nor consistent (56%).
 

Gen Z is driving design in the workplace

Generation Z is more agile and creative and is embracing visual communication tools more frequently in the workplace. More than other generations, Gen Z (93%) feel visual communication helps them articulate ideas better.

Canva’s research shows today’s businesses are operating in a newfound visual economy, where shrinking attention spans and an explosion of digital content have led to a demand for compelling, shareable visuals. Employees and customers now expect a brand's content to be as visual and digestible as what they see across social media platforms.

As a result, there are significant business opportunities for those that embrace a design-first approach by empowering everyone in their organization to design, leading to the ability to produce tremendous levels of quality content at scale.

“As business leaders navigate a changing economic environment, visual communication can help brands get ahead,” Canva CMO Zach Kitschke said.

“From helping win new customers, to attracting and retaining talent, to marketing in a way that breaks through, visual communication has never been more critical to unlocking better communication, collaboration and creativity,” Mr Kitschke said. “Today, capturing anyone’s attention can be fleeting so great design can be make or break for organisations who strive to stand out in this new visual era.”

Canva’s methodology

Canva commissioned the Morning Consult company to survey 1,600 business leaders in marketing, sales, human resources and commerce who have knowledge of company revenue goals. This group also influences their organisations’ audience engagement strategy, as well as how internal teams communicate with each other, other teams, and the company at large. Specifically, Canva surveyed 850 business leaders in the US, 375 in Australia, and 375 in the UK.

www.canva.com

 

 

 

About Canva

Launched in 2013, Canva is a free online visual communications and collaboration platform with a mission to empower everyone in the world to design. Featuring a simple drag-and-drop user interface and a vast range of templates ranging from presentations, documents, websites, social media graphics, posters, apparel to videos, plus a huge library of fonts, stock photography, illustrations, video footage, and audio clips, it is a platform that aims to allow anyone to ‘take an idea and create something beautiful’.

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