Web-to-print design: Canva versus Kittl

We look at popular design packages Canva and Kittl to determine how they compare regarding graphic design and print on demand.

Long gone are the days when anybody who dared to put pen to paper to compose t-shirt artwork needed thorough training in the graphic arts. Even the earliest digital imaging software created opportunities for those who weren’t naturally gifted drafts people, and that potential has only widened with the introduction of more advanced technologies, like AI image generators ImageFX or Midjourney.

However, understanding platforms like Midjourney – playing with prompts to get the outcome you desire, and then discerning the resulting images with an expert eye – is something of an artform in itself. For people in the print trade who need access to proven high-quality graphics almost instantly, there is another way. Online tools such as Canva and Kittl have been created to make the application of graphic design easy, even for non-designers.

A tale of two apps

Even people who don’t work in the graphic design space have probably come across Canva. The online design platform has been around since 2013 and provides templates for presentations, documents, posters, social media content, promotional merchandise as well as photo and video editing options. Proving its appeal, Canva has more than 220 million users worldwide. 

In contrast, Kittl is a new online design platform is relatively new as it was launched in 2022. But instead of Canva’s impressively broad appeal, Kittl is very much focused on graphic design for merchandise, marketing and branding. It currently has in excess of five million users, although its online community of professional designers is very active.

Pricing

Before we look at features and quality, it’s worth noting that Canva and Kittl are very similar in regards to pricing. Both have limited free access although the entry-level paid-for versions are almost certainly going to be of most use to professional users. Canva Pro costs £13/month on a monthly basis or £100 (£8.33/month) if paid yearly, while Kittle Pro costs £15/month if paid monthly or £100 (£8.33/month) when paid yearly. 

So, with pricing essentially equivalent, which delivers outcomes that make it the best value for people wanting high-quality graphic design? We have gathered some thoughts from people in the online graphic design community to determine each system’s strengths and weaknesses.

Templates

Choosing your template is the obvious place to start as these allow even people who are not trained in graphic design to quickly find something that will work for them. Both Canva and Kittl offer a huge range of templates, although the general feeling among designers is that while Canva’s range is significantly larger, Kittl’s templates for things such as t-shirt or logo design are more sophisticated. 

“Canva really excels in having templates for anything you can think of: infographics, calendars, social media. Canva designs look really great but my overall feeling is that Canva templates aren’t quite on the level of Kittl templates,” Kerry Egeler of Shirt School says.

“Kittl has several text-based templates, which are perfectly suited for t-shirt design. Another thing I notice is that a lot of Kittl’s designs are very trendy and current, and a lot of these templates are made by professional designers, so you can be confident you will have a design that is very well thought-out.”

Textures and text

Part of the reason for the slightly more premium feeling with Kittl’s graphics is the level of customisation available with things like textures and text.

“Kittl’s use of textures is also really intuitive and with a clip content area, you can also export those textures, which is something you can’t do in Canva. Canva has some textures that look good on screen but you couldn’t necessarily use it for print on demand t-shirts,” Juna Duncan at Detour Shirts says. 

“Then, with Canva, you are very limited in terms of the text effects you can implement. In Kittl, you can add more with your text and Kittl has a wider range of fonts to choose from in my opinion – if you’re looking for granularity in terms of changing elements, I think Kittl beats Canva.” 

Graphics library

While Christina Umerez at C.U.Online agrees that, when it comes to t-shirt or logo work, Kittl’s ever-expanding range of templates are more elegant and more convenient to work from, Canva’s longevity does offer a couple of benefits. As with its huge template library, Canva’s font and graphic elements libraries are far greater than those available in Kittl.

“Canva has some beautiful fonts and a massive library, although the fonts on Kittl are so fancy,” Christina says.

“And Canva’s library for elements is massive. However, Kittl does have Kittl AI, so if it doesn’t have what you want in its library, you can see if the AI can create what you need.” 

Accessibility and suitability

Finally, let’s look at accessibility. While Kittl is only available through a web browser, Canva can also be installed locally on your desktop, and it is available as an app for both Android and iOS devices. Enhancing its incredible universal appeal even further, Canva will also allow you to plug-in other apps and integrate them into your workflow. 

In short, Canva is like a Swiss Army knife for graphics (and photo, video and websites…), while Kittl is widely regarded as being more precise and better suited to pure graphic design work. 

When it comes to suitability specifically for t-shirt and print on demand applications, Kittl focuses more directly on web-to-print, provides far better advanced text editing and customisation and is perhaps better suited to the professional graphic designer intending to produce and customise web to print products; Canva is broader and more diverse and aimed at those with minimal design skills. 

We’ll leave the final summary to graphic design content creator Charley Pangus: “If you are somebody who doesn’t have a lot of time and you need high-quality designs, I think Kittl beats so much of the competition because of its ease of use and its plethora of templates.”