In a hybrid work environment, visual communication takes on even greater importance. Far more presentations happen inside video conferences, where employees have only the visuals in front of them to go by, plus a small box containing a talking head. Meanwhile, companies want their employees to embody a cohesive culture and identity.
“If you’re trying to communicate a [significant] change, introduce something new, or rally 4,500 people across the company toward the strategy for the year ahead, you could send them a 2,000-word email and hope it lands with them,” Andrews says. “Or, visually, you could take people through a creative story.”
EMPOWERING BETTER INTERNAL DESIGN
Consistent, engaging design can help to cut through internal communications noise—and increase productivity
Why a strong visual identity is as important to your workforce as it is to consumers
Branding is viewed largely as a tool for shaping how consumers perceive a business. A company’s ads, logos, signage, website, and social media posts create a public-facing image. But these days, companies are using internal presentations, messaging, and even onboarding materials to invoke a consistent, cohesive brand identity aimed at keeping employees engaged.
“The challenge for internal communication teams and people teams is trying to cut through the noise—in the same way that brands externally are trying to resonate with customers,” says Lachlan Andrews, head of corporate and internal communications at Canva, a leading software platform for design. “You think about the importance of visual communication in marketing or social media, but the same really applies to being able to engage with the employees that work for you.”
BY FASTCO WORKS
When companies successfully create a unified, internal visual identity, the results show up in how employees perceive and engage with work. Productivity often soars. Just ask Brittany Bolz, senior brand marketing manager at Aegis Living. When Bolz started at the Bellevue, Washington–based assisted living and memory care company three years ago, she was inundated with design requests for needs spanning across the company’s 40 or so properties. She was constantly outsourcing those projects to graphic designers, at a yearly cost of up to $300,000 per year.
In concert with a rebrand, Aegis deployed Canva to help create a consistent visual identity whether employees were producing external marketing materials or internal presentations. Things like presentation templates and letterhead templates were created for easy use by any employee. “When everyone’s working in their own building, they end up creating their own experience,” Bolz says. “Canva allowed us to guarantee that everyone was using the same materials, the same brand guidelines, and helping us maintain that consistency across our portfolio.” Within the first year, Aegis reduced production turnaround time by 52% and graphic design costs by $100,000.
The company isn’t alone—89% of business leaders say visual communication tools are contributing to a return on investment, utilized by teams ranging from internal communications to human resources to the C-suite. A significant part of that ROI: redirecting the design professionals to the tasks that matter most.
“Design teams are not as bottlenecked with hundreds of requests to, say, update a name on a business card for somebody,” Andrews says. “Tools like Canva are empowering people to be able to do that themselves—while staying on brand.”
“If you’re trying to . . . rally 4,500 people across the company toward the strategy for the year ahead, you could send them a 2,000-word email and hope it lands with them. Or you could take people through a creative story, visually.”
It’s not easy. Attention spans are short, which puts a premium on leaving people with the right message in the shortest amount of time—while making sure that message is presented in an engaging manner. Design teams only have so much capacity, and often, those precious resources are pointed in the direction of external marketing initiatives. Teams and individuals delivering a message to their fellow employees are often left to rely on their own design skills.
If they want the message to land, it’s vital that they get the visuals right: 85% of business leaders believe visual communication carries more authority than other forms of communication, according to Canva’s “Visual Economy Report.”
Lachlan Andrews,
head of corporate and internal communications at Canva
of business leaders believe visual communication carries more authority than other forms of communication
Source: Canva "Visual Economy Report"
85%
commissioned by
of business leaders expect employees to have some form of design training
Source: Canva "Visual Economy Report"
95%
of business leaders say visual communication tools contribute to a return on investment
Source: Canva "Visual Economy Report"
89%
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“Canva allowed us to guarantee that everyone was using the same materials, the same brand guidelines, and helping us maintain that consistency across our portfolio.”
Brittany Bolz,
senior marketing director at Aegis Living
INCREASING PRODUCTIVITY, ACCESSING EFFICIENCY
CREATED BY
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05-13-24
It’s no wonder, then, that design skills are in high demand. In fact, they’re quickly becoming essential—95% of business leaders expect employees to have some form of design training, the “Visual Economy Report” found. Canva is helping companies close the gap between design skills and design needs by empowering companies with tools, templates, and brand kits that make it possible for any employee to create visually appealing deliverables that jibe with the company’s larger identity.
Other tools like talking presentations and digital whiteboarding enable collaboration and engagement among teams that are often geographically spread out. “There’s a lot that visual communication does that really can build a culture for an organization,” Andrews says. “You can have a lot of fun with it.”
It’s no wonder, then, that design skills are in high demand. In fact, they’re quickly becoming essential—95% of business leaders expect employees to have some form of design training, the “Visual Economy Report” found. Canva is helping companies close the gap between design skills and design needs by empowering companies with tools, templates, and brand kits that make it possible for any employee to create visually appealing deliverables that jibe with the company’s larger identity.
Other tools like talking presentations and digital whiteboarding enable collaboration and engagement among teams that are often geographically spread out. “There’s a lot that visual communication does that really can build a culture for an organization,” Andrews says. “You can have a lot of fun with it.”