Canva teams with Pinterest to champion design trends

Canva has partnered with social giant Pinterest to champion design and creativity and ensure it maintains relevance with the creative community.

Pinterest Predicts and Canva have collaborated on themed templates that link to the top trends set to dominate 2025.

Canva has stepped up its strategy to democratise design and champion creativity through a partnership with social giant Pinterest.

The collaboration brings together the two brands, which are both rooted in design and creativity, through bespoke designs centred around Pinterest’s annual predictions content.

Pinterest Predicts is a global forecast of emerging trends that is based on activity from the social media sites’ half a billion active monthly users.

The annual list, which boasts an 80 per cent accuracy rating, is compiled using the search data and pin behaviour from Pinterest users to tap into the popular themes, colour schemes and design ideas that are set to dominate the next 12 months.

This year’s list predicts major trends will include Fisherman Aesthetic – think stripes and sardine tattoos, Primary colours – millennial grey is out and colour everywhere is in, and Cherries – Cherry motifs, cherry make up colours and cherry martinis are bid. The humble pickle is also set for a surge in popularity.

In a bid to leverage these trending concepts, Canva has created a suite of design templates that tap in the concepts, colours and creative ideas to amplify the trends for its users and ensure it maintains relevance with its audience of designers and creators.

Canva global head of consumer marketing Kristine Segrist said the move aimed to tap into the two brand’s compatible audiences.

“I think we have such shared DNA with Pinterest as a brand. We both have design at the heart of our brands and this is the perfect marriage of inspiration and creation. And what I mean by that is, Pinterest is this incredible inspiration engine, it’s where you dream, it’s where you plan for your future. And Canva is where you can take those dreams and bring them to life through design.

“Design is the fastest way of taking that inspiration and getting it out of your head and into the world. So we just love this kind of continuous loop of inspiration creation, and how we could bring that full experience together.”

Ms Segrist said the collaboration included six of Pinterest’s 20 trends, and would serve as a way for people to “naturally move in between the two platforms to draw those connections”.

“The beautiful thing about Pinterest Predicts is its future casting, so it’s not looking backwards. So we do absolutely see this as a jumping off point for the rest of the year. It’s inspired by real people and where culture is going.

“I think the fun thing is, when you put those trends into the hands of everyday creators, then they’re going to start to play with them and co-create and hack them. So I imagine that there’ll be a through line throughout the year, but I think we’ll probably see a lot of evolution when we come back and see all the designs and all the creativity from marketers through to creators, how they take in these trends and make them their own.”

The collaboration also provides Canva’s users with increased access to the things that are making Gen Z tick, which 65 per cent of trends shaped by GenZ users. Pinterest Australia and New Zealand managing director Melinda Petrunoff said the lure of connecting with the lucrative Gen Z audience was driving marketers to seize the opportunity to engage with the content.

“With Pinterest Predicts, the trends last twice as long as they do anywhere else on the internet. And that is what is fundamentally most valuable for brands to understand and lean into them. They can do that through merchandising. They can do that through their creative application. They can do that through point of sale. There are many ways that we’ve seen brands doing it.”

“The Canva partnership is a fantastic example of how brands can lean in and be relevant as culture starts to change heading into the new year.”

The Pinterest collaboration is part of a wider strategic play by Canva to align the brand with similar companies that share Canva’s focus on community and visual communications.

“We’re all about democratisation and we think everyone can be creative, everyone can design. That’s really at the heart of what we do is the sense of broad empowerment. I think it operates at the more grassroots level as well as with businesses.

“We are seeing this acceleration in visual communication and its not just consumers and creators, organisations have the same pressure. We a research report earlier this year, and over 90% of all employers expect every team member to be creative and have some design skills, no matter what your job is, if you’re in finance or if you’re in marketing, you have to be able to express your ideas with a certain clarity. So it feels like it’s shaping our world in a really concrete way.”

“In a world of accelerating AI and rapid technological growth, creativity still remains a really special element, something that can help brands, people, ideas, cut through and stand out. I think it will continue to be something that’s prized culturally and at a business level.

“It is something really innate to humans and very fundamental. It’s not just the domain of artists or graphic designers, we all have it at our fingertips. I’m an optimist, I think all of these new tools and advances in AI actually can advance human creativity versus the inverse,” said Ms Segrist.