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> However, if you’re anything like us, even a simple straight line drawn with a mouse or a trackpad can end up looking like a path trod by a tipsy squirrel. Don

> However, if you’re anything like us, even a simple straight line drawn with a mouse or a trackpad can end up looking like a path trod by a tipsy squirrel. Don’t even get us started on circles and rectangles. But who needs to draw shapes with their mouse in Canva? Years ago, Miro had a feature that converted your flailing attempts at drawing a star with a mouse into a geometrically precise star (or circle, or triangle, or whatever). I thought it was super cool, but then I never, ever needed to use it. I never need to do line drawing with my mouse: if I'm making diagrams, I just use pre-made shapes, which are faster. If I am making icons, I use a whole different process centered around Boolean operations and nudging points and the Pen tool—and I am probably using a dedicated program, like Illustrator, to do it. And if I am actually illustrating something (rarer these days than in times past) I have a tablet I will pull out. I am sure the tech here is cool, but what's the use case?

tobyjsullivan 3y ago
Canva is not a diagraming tool. It’s a visual design tool with a very different user base. Their asset library is massive with millions, maybe tens of millions, of images including both photos and vector graphics. One of the more annoying parts of the tool - in my limited experience - is searching through an endless library for simple shapes when I already know exactly what I want. Presumably this tool aims to solve that pain point. Disclosure: worked there a few years ago. Edit: I suspect (zero inside info) this use case is important because they want to be a competitive diagraming tool as well. However, they’ll be constrained in that they cannot fundamentally change the design experience for the other 99% of their current users.
pc86 3y ago
> but what's the use case? Designers/marketers who don't learn keyboard shortcuts, for whom the comparison is "drawing the shape with my mouth" (quick) vs. "going through upwards of a half dozen menus to pick the right shape, place it, then resize it" (slower). Even if the shape is available w/o going to any menus, drawing the entire thing with your mouth using a single cursor is going to be faster than placing and resizing a bunch of icons, switching to the arrow feature and adding the arrows in.
- karaterobot 3y ago
  Every designer I know (including myself) uses keyboard shortcuts like crazy. That's why Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch, and Figma all have a very robust set of keyboard shortcuts. I assume marketers are the same—anyone who uses an application every day, really.
  - pc86 3y ago
    Which is why I specified those who don't :)
    - karaterobot 3y ago
      But I'm saying I don't know any designers who don't use hotkeys, and while that's anecdotal, I can't imagine they are more than a slice of a slice of Canva's target market.

tobyjsullivan 3y ago

Canva is not a diagraming tool. It’s a visual design tool with a very different user base. Their asset library is massive with millions, maybe tens of millions, of images including both photos and vector graphics. One of the more annoying parts of the tool - in my limited experience - is searching through an endless library for simple shapes when I already know exactly what I want. Presumably this tool aims to solve that pain point. Disclosure: worked there a few years ago. Edit: I suspect (zero inside info) this use case is important because they want to be a competitive diagraming tool as well. However, they’ll be constrained in that they cannot fundamentally change the design experience for the other 99% of their current users.

pc86 3y ago

> but what's the use case? Designers/marketers who don't learn keyboard shortcuts, for whom the comparison is "drawing the shape with my mouth" (quick) vs. "going through upwards of a half dozen menus to pick the right shape, place it, then resize it" (slower). Even if the shape is available w/o going to any menus, drawing the entire thing with your mouth using a single cursor is going to be faster than placing and resizing a bunch of icons, switching to the arrow feature and adding the arrows in.

karaterobot 3y ago
Every designer I know (including myself) uses keyboard shortcuts like crazy. That's why Photoshop, Illustrator, Sketch, and Figma all have a very robust set of keyboard shortcuts. I assume marketers are the same—anyone who uses an application every day, really.
- pc86 3y ago
  Which is why I specified those who don't :)
  - karaterobot 3y ago
    But I'm saying I don't know any designers who don't use hotkeys, and while that's anecdotal, I can't imagine they are more than a slice of a slice of Canva's target market.