Canva's Five Year Journey to Launch: Why Curating Information Matters

Canva's Five Year Journey to Launch: Why Curating Information Matters

In the age of information, the ability to manage and efficiently deal with information is crucial for success and thriving in today's world. Canva, a design platform, experienced a five-year journey to launch by strategically curating their content and creating a buzz within the design community. This article will explore the importance of curating information and how it can benefit both individuals and society.

When Canva initially launched in 2013, it was not immediately available to everyone. Users were asked to reserve a username and join a waitlist, which grew to an impressive 50,000 people before its official public debut. This exclusivity generated buzz within the design community and adjacent groups needing design assistance. Canva reached out to blogs, podcasts, and conferences to offer early access to their audiences, aiming to get them to publish reviews. By doing so, they created a sense of anticipation and curiosity around their product.

To boost user confidence, new users went through a "how-to" guide before entering the platform. The Canva team also developed starter challenges, such as changing the color of a circle or adding a hat to a monkey, to help users become familiar with the platform. These small tasks allowed users to acclimate themselves to the interface and gain confidence in their design abilities.

Canva's strategy did not stop at providing a user-friendly experience. They also created Facebook templates that encouraged collaboration among users. When users posted slick Canva graphics on Facebook, others would inquire about how they made it. This viral effect led to increased referrals as users invited their colleagues to collaborate on designs. Canva's approach utilized the power of word-of-mouth marketing and harnessed the potential of social media platforms.

During Canva's first holiday season, they worked with artists to create over 30 templates for beautiful digital cards. These templates were distributed primarily through Facebook and email, further funneling users back to Canva. By leveraging the power of social media and creating visually appealing templates, Canva continued to expand its user base and solidify its presence in the design community.

Now, let's shift our focus to the importance of curating information in general. Curation is the act of gathering great content around a specific theme and presenting it in a way that educates others. In the information age, managing and curating information is vital for personal and professional success. Your ability to find and efficiently deal with information, as well as your network of contacts, can determine your opportunities and potential for growth.

Curation provides context to any information item, giving it value and a specific perspective. By curating content, you are not only helping yourself but also extending the benefits to your customers, contacts, and friends. The act of curating shows that you care about the quality and relevance of the information you share. It allows you to deeply learn about your resources, vet bad ones, and organize them in a way that is easily accessible among thousands of other pieces of information.

Furthermore, curation helps save time by providing easy and organized access to valuable information and resources that may otherwise be difficult to find and verify. It requires vetting, verification, and providing a viewpoint that synthesizes and illustrates the value of the curated content. The desire to take care of an information space, organize it, and make it easy for others to extract value from it is a driving force behind curation.

Additionally, curators have a desire to share and inform, to educate and entertain a specific audience. They want to help, support, and cultivate a community of people interested in the same topic. Curating content allows them to create something meaningful and of lasting value, even if it reaches a limited number of interested individuals. Public, non-commercial digital curation provides a social good, a commons that everyone can benefit from.

Curators bring to light the very best of what they have discovered, vetted, and added value to. They create context and connections between various pieces of content, painting a cohesive picture of larger trends. By identifying and preserving what is important and sharing that knowledge with society, curators contribute to the collective understanding and appreciation of various topics.

In conclusion, Canva's five-year journey to launch highlights the importance of curating information and the benefits it can bring. By strategically curating content, Canva generated buzz, expanded its user base, and solidified its presence in the design community. Similarly, curating information in general allows individuals to save time, provide context, and share valuable resources with others. It is a way to achieve immortality by sharing knowledge and contributing to a collective understanding.

Three actionable advice for curating information:

1. Develop expertise in a specific field to gather great content around a theme.
2. Vet and verify resources to ensure their quality and relevance.
3. Provide a viewpoint and context to curated content to help others make sense of it.

Curation is more than just organizing information; it is about resurfacing what matters from abundant resources and creating a meaningful narrative. By embracing the art of curation, you can become a valuable resource for yourself and others, contributing to the collective knowledge and understanding of various topics. Share your curated collections and help others navigate the vast sea of information.