Should You Get Canva Certified?

Canva offers graphic design and marketing "certificates." Are they worthless? Or will they boost your resume?

Come to think of it, I never took a “Graphic Design” class in college. I took Photoshop and motion graphics, but I’ve never opened InDesign. And praise God for that. So, where can I get some solid graphic design credentials?

SPOILER: not the Canva Design School. I think I learned more watching an Eliotisacoolguy YouTube video.

Hey! I love Canva! They fill an essential role in the market by providing a free and easy-to-use browser-based design software. Making Affinity free is also a game-changer. I use Canva for quick projects, both in effort and lifespan.

But what about getting a marketing or graphic design certificate?

Canva offers a handful of “certified” courses in its “design school.” I put that in quotation marks because that so-called school is a glorified YouTube tutorial playlist. Okay, maybe that’s mean. In my defense, I was only taught how to use their premade templates and AI features. So if you want to be certified in clicking a few buttons, this might be the school for you. Courses range from 30 minutes to an hour each. I earned three different certificates in one sitting!

1) Graphic Design Essentials Certification

I’ll start with the best course. This program is useful if you have never thought about making a 2D design before, or if you’ve never dropped an image and a title in Microsoft Word. And you know what? There was a time when I had never done either of those.

The course covers the definitions of line, shape, form, and alignment. It explains what a complementary color scheme is and serif vs. sans serif fonts. Then, the course shows you how to use the basic features of the Canva workspace, like changing colors, fonts, and sizes. Then, you spend a whole lesson on why and how to make a moodboard.

When it comes to certification, this diploma proves that you know what graphic design is. Not how to do it well. If you want to be a certified graphic designer, this won’t teach you what you need to know for a professional position. It gets a 4/10.

2) Marketing with Canva Certification

There’s a chance, like with all things, that I’m just a little stupid. With a title like that, I thought the course would teach you about marketing. It did not.

It was a showcase of the different pre-made and customizable templates you can use on Canva to organize and collaborate. It claims that you’ll learn ROI analysis, but the truth is, you only learn how to customize the chart you put the data in. In terms of brand optimization, they want their AI features to do it for you. This includes: coming up with slogans, captions, copy, etc.

If I were an employer and saw this certificate listed on someone’s resume, I’d expect someone who knew about marketing. I would be sorely misled. It gets a 2/10.

3) Create Scroll Stopping Content Certification

This one was almost entirely focused on their AI features. I know I’ve said that a lot already, but I cannot overstate how disappointing it was.

This course covered points I (perhaps recklessly) assumed were common knowledge: that vertical videos do better on TikTok, photos on Instagram, and informational posts on Facebook. The resize feature is super helpful, but it’s two clicks and exactly what it sounds like. You’re instructed to leave any editing, caption writing, or other planning to AI. Visual storytelling or aesthetic? Don’t worry about it! Just use one of their thousands of pre-made templates.

Look, I get it. Social media posts are so short-lived that it’s painful to spend more than a few minutes on one. I understand why someone would want to use AI (though I never recommend it). The problem is yet again: this is described as an official certificate.

In Closing

Don’t put these on your resume. If you’re asked about marketing or graphic design in an interview, you might make a fool of yourself. Or worse, if an employer knows the content of these “courses,” they might assume you only know how to use AI and never give you an interview in the first place. These certifications seem super appealing! Between a reputable brand stamping its logo on it and a low hourly commitment, it looks like a no-brainer. But if you actually want to break into the industry, take the time to get a HubSpot certificate. (That’s what I’m currently working on!)

But to be honest, you could have completed all these certificates in the amount of time it took you to read this article. So, what do I know?