Summary

• Before Canva, Masaryk University of Brno was challenged with brand consistency across 10 faculties and more than 15 other institutes.
• Now, the university leverages Canva’s Brand Kit and various templates for social media and marketing.
• Canva reduced the design time for Masaryk University of Brno by 66%, resulting in 1,345 annual working hours saved (26 hours per week).

About Masaryk University of Brno (MUNI)

Named for the statesman, philosopher and former president T.G. Masaryk, Masaryk University⁠(opens in a new tab or window) is naturally a torchbearer of democratic tradition and progressive European values.

Garnering global recognition for its research capabilities, Masaryk University is the second-largest university in the Czech Republic, and home to a thriving academic community of 30,000 students in 500 degree programmes across ten faculties, 300 departments, and 3,300 teachers and researchers (of which 300+ are international). Nearly 7,000 students from dozens of countries study at Masaryk University.

While the university is steeped in history and tradition, it is focused on growth, and supporting its faculty and students with the latest technology.

The Challenge

Before Canva, Masaryk University struggled to maintain a cohesive visual style and brand identity across its 10 faculties, institutes and other departments.

In addition, the university struggled to scale its creative services. The existing graphic design process was not user-friendly, particularly for individuals unfamiliar with editing software. In response, the university's Rectorate department started exploring ways to enhance their design capabilities and simplify their workflow.

“I have known about Canva since 2018,” says Tomáš Kudela, Brand Manager at Masaryk University. “At that time, however, we were working with professional graphic designers who were using other design suites.”

“It wasn't until 2021 that we started thinking about expanding our graphic work and simplifying our visual style within the entire university, because not everyone has the ability to work with complex design softwares. People at the faculties greatly appreciated this step and the possibilities of working with graphics at a high level expanded significantly.”

The Solution

Canva has become an invaluable tool for Masaryk University, providing an intuitive interface for the team to easily self-serve. This ease of use has resulted in an increase in content output as all staff members have quickly mastered Canva’s drag-and-drop technology.

Canva’s Brand Kit⁠(opens in a new tab or window) feature has been instrumental in reinforcing their brand, with the university using 33 different Brand Kits⁠(opens in a new tab or window) to ensure effective alignment throughout its departments.

“I consider the best improvement with Canva to be the expansion of work with graphic materials,” says Tomáš. “Even non-professionals in our marketing departments started working with Canva. I consider Canva to be a quality graphic tool for practically anyone who has little flair for graphics.”

Canva's wide array of document types and designer-made templates have enabled the university to create presentations, social media posts, videos, posters, business cards, flyers, calendars, and infographics.

With over 164 branded templates in their arsenal already, the university's marketing department has limitless potential to grow.

The impact of a single subscription on time and cost savings

By adopting Canva, Masaryk University has found significant time and cost savings.

The platform's user-friendly design and range of media resources have allowed the university to cut down design-related work by approximately 26 hours per week. This efficiency translates to an annual savings of around 1,345 working hours.

Such a reduction in time not only lessens the burden on staff, but also corresponds to considerable financial gains.

With Canva on its side, Masaryk University can effectively promote its diverse offerings and share stories of resilience.

Canva remains a vital ally to the university, helping to spotlight everything from the Faculty of Medicine's advanced simulation center to the MUNI HELPS Volunteer Centre's aid for Ukrainian refugees.