From stuck to stunning: 5 ways you can bust creative block with Canva

MANILA, Philippines — Have you ever found yourself staring at your blank screen, stuck in a creative rut and struggling to come up with fresh ideas or put these ideas to work? 

We've all experienced it—the dreaded creative block that leaves us feeling stuck and uninspired. But fear not, because there are ways you can snap out of this frustrating hurdle. 

Whether you're a professional creative, a beginner designer, a writer or even an organization, Canva, the popular design platform, has some fantastic features for everyone to help overcome creative block. 

Let's get those creative juices flowing once again and transform your design process from being stuck to stunning!

1. Brainstorm with Canva Whiteboards

Spark fresh ideas among your peers by exchanging ideas and suggestions freely. The visual nature of Canva Whiteboard allows for easy organization and connection of ideas, while at the same time encouraging the spirit of collaboration and creativity.

Collaboration becomes more engaging with Canva's exciting features. Participants' attention is captivated through an experiential online collaboration, enhanced by the inclusion of hundreds of fun elements like sticky notes, stickers and even reference photos and videos from Canva's extensive content library. 

The new Canva Draw Tool also allows users to leave their mark by sketching, doodling, marking up text, or swiftly creating diagrams and flowcharts using a variety of pens, highlighters, colors, and thicknesses, along with automatic shape features. 

2. Find a template and tweak it

If you're feeling stuck and in need of a creative boost, don't hesitate to embrace the power of templates—they're the perfect launching pad to break free from creative block. The thing with templates is that they can provide a starting point and eliminate the dreadful pressure of a blank page. 

Whether you are designing a presentation, social media cards or prints, Canva’s library of 20,000 premium templates and 3.5 million elements surely have something for you to easily customize and personalize to fit your vision. 

3. Start your first draft with Magic Write

You know how sometimes you have a great idea in mind but you struggle to find a way to transform them into words? The struggle is real, and Canva has a way to help you through it. 

Canva’s AI-powered content generation feature called ‘Magic Write’ is now available on Visual Suite products like Docs, Whiteboards and Presentation which can be used to generate drafts, create outlines or kickoff ideas for what you’re writing. 

The design platform envisioned the ‘Magic Write’ not as a convenient, fool-proof way to cheat your way out of writing, but rather support your creative process and help you get out your first draft fast. This is done by turning your mental concepts and blurry ideas into actual words and sentences, which you should then edit and tweak to match your personal vision and style. 

4. Produce multimedia masterpieces with Docs, Videos

Say goodbye to plain and boring text-heavy files as Canva Docs allows you to create visually captivating documents that engage your audience. 

With Canva Docs, you can effortlessly add stunning visuals, such as images and illustrations to enhance the visual appeal and impact of your documents. Additionally, it even supports data storytelling which you can use to quickly create graphs and animated, dynamic data visualization from thousands of templates and graphic elements. 

Meanwhile, video editing used to require a lot of skill and equipment. But with Canva’s drag-and-drop editor, anyone can make videos for any platform or need whether it’s a reel, an advertisement or even a tutorial. 

Apart from the thousands of customizable video templates for different formats and industries, Canva Video also has superb features like Beat Sync, in-app voice-over recorders and Magic Resize.

5. Get inspo from Canva’s new Youtube channel

While Canva's features are fantastic for overcoming creative block, don't underestimate the power of inspiration found within their recently-launched YouTube channel. 

Bursting with creative content, this channel offers helpful design ideas, tips and tutorials to ignite your imagination. From graphic design hacks to step-by-step walkthroughs, you'll discover a wealth of inspiration from ‘Usapang Canva’ episodes that will propel your creativity to new heights. 

'Kaya sa Canva'

According to Canva's Visual Economy Report which surveyed 1,600 global business leaders, communicating visually is fast-becoming the most impactful way to communicate in the workplace. Eighty-nine percent of them believe that it enhances collaboration and agree that visual communication methods have helped team members connect with each other.

"Businesses now must learn how to communicate visually and leave lasting impact to their stakeholders and customers. It's made possible when your teams have the tool to create and collaborate together, without having to learn complex processes that take time to learn," said Maisie Littaua, head of growth of Canva Philippines.

"We want to show everyone how easy and fun it can be to use these tools to make everyday work look and feel amazing. Visual Suite can be used throughout the creative process to stimulate ideas and increase collaboration and productivity,” Littaua added. — JAP TOBIAS