At present, it’s hard to find anyone unfamiliar with Canva, the graphic design tool from Australia. After more than a decade since its launch, Canva’s popularity has steadily expanded into many countries, including Thailand. It has become widely used among students for creating portfolios and presentations, and even working professionals have increasingly adopted the platform.
Earlier this year, during Bangkok Design Week 2026, the Canva team stepped into the spotlight by hosting an exhibition at the Central Post Office in Bang Rak, currently presented under the theme “DESIGN S/O/S” a concept focused on design that helps everyone survive together. Canva introduced the idea of 'Canva Design Rescue,' an emergency design rescue unit that perfectly complements the event’s theme. It acts like a rapid-response design platform for those needing quick, effective design solutions. Thairath Plus had the opportunity to speak with Max Phakphon Tangtongchin, the driving force behind Canva’s presence in Thailand’s design scene, who also serves as the country’s first Country Manager.
“Bangkok Design Week is one of Thailand’s most iconic events, showcasing a diverse range of design works and welcoming all kinds of creators and designers with varied backgrounds. This aligns closely with Canva’s mission, which is to empower the world to design—meaning anyone, regardless of who they are, can create,” Max explained.
“We focus on Canva’s strengths: speed and simplicity. We can transform mediocre designs into something truly beautiful very quickly. Combining this with the theme ‘DESIGN S/O/S,’ we created what we call the Canva Design Rescue, an emergency design rescue unit.”
At the exhibition, the Canva team set up an actual rescue vehicle along with staff dressed as emergency responders. Max explained that Canva Design Rescue demonstrates how, with the right tools, anyone can quickly improve designs that may look unappealing or fail to communicate effectively. Within the event, visitors can explore various stations such as a poster resuscitation unit or a resume revival station, complete with patient beds and heart pumps, symbolizing urgent design fixes.
“We want to convey that anything you feel isn’t outstanding or satisfactory can be swiftly revived using Canva’s tools,” Max added.
Beyond the theme “DESIGN S/O/S,” it’s well known that Bangkok Design Week aims to bring creativity into community spaces. Max shared that this is a major focus for Canva in 2026—to deepen engagement with Thai identity and communities and reach all people regardless of their profession. Canva experimented with this by collaborating with Thai creators to redesign signage for about ten local shops in the Hua Lamphong area.
“We selected over ten local shops, such as som tam eateries and massage parlors. We used Canva to revamp all their signs at no cost, aiming to rejuvenate the declining neighborhood and attract people back through the power of design. Importantly, this isn’t complicated—showing that anyone, whether ordinary citizens or vendors, can access and use Canva.”
Max also discussed plans to gather Thai creatives to design authentic Thai-style templates for global users. Previously, Canva’s templates had a similar, uniform look. Now, Canva has tailored its platform to highlight Thai creators’ work first and adapted the template languages from machine translations—which often sounded stiff—to more natural Thai contexts through local input. This is part of Canva Thailand’s 2026 initiative to create templates designed by and for Thai people, building what they call a 'Creative Infrastructure.'
“Canva is like a cupcake—the base cake looks the same everywhere, but the icing on top should reflect the country. I believe brands that translate foreign content can never beat something created locally. For example, in Japan, Canva is so localized that from the outside, you wouldn’t even realize it’s an Australian platform because it feels genuinely Japanese. We want Thailand to be like that—more authentically Thai.”
The Canva team has worked with the Creative Economy Agency (CEA), a public organization, to feature about ten creators from the festival on Canva. Visitors can scan QR codes to immediately access and build upon their work.
“We want Canva’s future role to be the Creative Infrastructure for the country, where creators and innovators contribute templates and elements that live within Canva.”
In an era dominated by AI-assisted design and AI-generated images—often called 'AI art'—Max acknowledged that Canva incorporates AI features like Magic Studio, blending AI and human creativity. This aims to make design tools more convenient rather than replacing human input. He remains confident that Canva continues to showcase human creativity, celebrating beauty in imperfection.
“I believe we can’t avoid AI because it helps make design more efficient.”
“But the best approach is to combine AI with human creativity. Canva stands at the intersection of the best of both worlds.”
Among Thai users, Canva is often associated with creating portfolios, CVs, and presentations—just one use case. However, Canva now offers a comprehensive Visual Suite. Max encourages Thais to explore more of Canva’s tools, emphasizing that it’s not limited to education but serves professionals across all fields effectively. Canva also teaches design at universities and partners with government agencies to realize this vision. In the future, Canva plans to participate in design weeks nationwide, conduct training at CEA centers, and hold Canva-specific design competitions.
“For those already using Canva, I encourage you to try other tools like creating beautiful emails, designing websites, or making stylish sheets and tables. It’s an easy-to-use platform that integrates everything. For creators, I want to support them in extending their work on Canva so Thais can use it and advance communication in various forms as soft power on the global stage.”
The Canva Design Rescue emergency unit will be available to revive your design projects daily until 8 February 2026, from 11:00 to 22:00, at the Post Square, Central Post Office building, Charoen Krung Road, Bang Rak.