MBD109: PowerPoint vs. Canva

14 September 2025 | Issue #109

In this issue:

PowerPoint vs. Canva: Should You Make the Switch?
Canva in the Workplace Survey
MIT AI Survey: Beyond the Hot Takes
The Ultimate Guide to Website Color Schemes
Kit Hikes Prices, Creators Revolt
Where AI Gets Its Facts [Infographic]
How AI Changes Your Customers
Design Quote of the Week

**Midjourney prompt**: two boxers are fighting it out. The camera is at eye level. A vibrant, high-contrast illustration using flat vector-style shading with neon and duotone color blocking. The characters are stylized with exaggerated lighting in cyan and magenta tones, set against a yellow background. There’s a strong use of shadow and highlight to create depth without using gradients. It uses clean lines and a minimal background to keep focus on the figures and objects. --ar 16:9 (and then some Illustrator and Photoshop work

What is the difference between a presentation and a slide deck? -

A presentation is a keynote where the speaker is being inspirational and aspirational.
A deck is used during a breakout or at work to transfer information to an audience.

Usually, one is beautifully designed, and the other looks like it was put together by an accountant in 2008.

You know it, your audience knew it, and somewhere in that conference room, a piece of your professional soul died. Meanwhile, your competitor's deck looked like it belonged in a design magazine.

PowerPoint vs. Canva: Should You Make the Switch?

So you've probably wondered: could switching from PowerPoint to Canva turn your ugly work decks into something that actually looks professional? The question isn't whether design matters anymore. The question now is whether making the switch will actually solve your problems or just create new ones. Here's what really happens when marketing teams make the jump.

Design: No Contest Here

Canva wins on templates, period. While PowerPoint has improved its design game, Canva's templates look like they belong in 2025, not 2005.

If your team lacks design skills, Canva makes everyone look competent. PowerPoint gives you more control, but requires more know-how to avoid looking corporate-bland.

Collaboration Reality

Canva feels modern with real-time editing, easy sharing, and simple comments. PowerPoint's collaboration works well if you're already living in the Microsoft ecosystem, but sharing with external partners can be clunky.

For agencies working with clients, Canva's sharing wins by default.

The Enterprise Factor

Here's where size matters.

Large organizations benefit from PowerPoint's integration with existing Microsoft infrastructure and IT controls. Canva has significantly improved its enterprise features, including brand kits that let you lock down fonts, colors, and logos. Both platforms now offer solid brand compliance tools.

The real difference is ecosystem integration. If your company runs on Microsoft everything, PowerPoint fits seamlessly. If you're looking for a standalone design solution, Canva's enterprise features are surprisingly robust.

Performance When It Counts

PowerPoint is fast and works offline. When you're in a conference room with bad Wi-Fi making last-minute changes, this matters more than you think.

Canva's web-based nature means you're dependent on your connection, and complex presentations can feel sluggish.

Pricing Gets Complicated

PowerPoint comes with Office 365 (which you probably already have). Canva Pro runs about $15/month per user.

But many teams end up paying for multiple design tools once they commit to Canva, while PowerPoint includes the full Office suite.

Beyond Presentations

This is where Canva pulls ahead.

Once you're in Canva for presentations, you're set for social media, email headers, print materials... everything. PowerPoint is mostly presentations. If you need Instagram posts, you're propbably opening another app anyway.

I've used PowerPoint to create all sorts of templates for clients, from White Papers to social graphics, but it's not as flexible as Canva.

The Verdict

Stick with PowerPoint if: You're Microsoft-integrated, present data-heavy content frequently, need enterprise brand control, or require reliable offline access.

Switch to Canva if: You want modern-looking presentations without design skills, create varied marketing materials, collaborate with external partners often, or you're tired of PowerPoint's limitations.

The reality: Many successful teams use both. Canva for day-to-day marketing materials, PowerPoint for formal stakeholder presentations.

The best tool is the one your team will use consistently. A well-designed PowerPoint deck beats a mediocre Canva presentation every time. Choose based on your workflow, stick with it, and focus on making presentations worth people's time.

I'm running a little survey. This week, I'm asking simple Canva questions (do you use it, what's your job, and do you pay for it?)

You can view the survey here.

Each person who completes the survey and leaves their email address will be entered to win one of three digital copies of my book, The Visual Marketer.

I'll have two more surveys in the next two weeks that go deeper, but for now, I'm just curious about whether you're using Canva or not.

NEWS AT THE INTERSECTION OF MARKETING, DESIGN, & AI

MIT AI Study: Beyond the Hot Takes

Chris Penn digs into the recent MIT study that said 95% of pilots failed. But if you read past the headline, you'll see a drastically different story.

Read now

The Ultimate Guide to Website Color Schemes

Your website is the front door to your business. Your color scheme telegraphs to the visitor how you want them to feel.

Kit Hikes Prices. Creators Revolt.

If you're a Kit (ConvertKit) user and you have less than 20,000 subscribers, you got bad news this week. My cost went up almost 4x.

I was impressed their CEO DM'd me after my Threads post and told me how I could move forward with Kit, which I will.

Learn more

Where AI Gets Its Facts [Infographic]

How much time are you spending on Reddit? If you're not, and you want to appear in AI results, it's time to re-evaluate your Reddit strategy.

h/t to Chad Parizman

THE VISUAL MARKETER

Nothing special this week. If you bought the book, I'd love a review on Amazon.

Mark Schaefer just released a new book, How AI Changes Your Customers. It's the culmination of 300 futurists (including Ray Wang, Vin Cerf, Mark, and many others) discussing how AI will impact the world.

I learned a lot from the book (and I designed the cover).