Can't Use Adobe Illustrator? That's Why We Have a Graphic Designer!

Graphic Design in Marketing: Podcast Episode Summary

In this Cinch Academy episode, Mandy, Alicia and Shyan discuss what it’s like to work with a graphic designer in a modern marketing agency, from tool choices and colour theory to branding inputs and how AI is changing the workflow. Alicia shares how her background in print and production shaped her preferences, why some teams still rely on Adobe Illustrator (even when faster tools like Canva are in the mix) and what clients can do to make design projects smoother.

Main Takeaways:

• What a graphic designer needs from clients: colours, fonts and style direction

• CorelDRAW vs. Adobe Illustrator: comfort, speed and use case

• Canva’s role for fast, everyday marketing graphics

• Colour theory basics and why “good” combos can still feel wrong

• Branding is emotion + intent, not just visuals

• AI images are improving, but still unreliable without human refinement

• Elevating an existing brand can be more powerful than starting from scratch

• Colour meanings shift across cultures, which impacts design choices

The Abridged Transcription (Listen for full content!)

Mandy: Hey, welcome back to Cinch Academy. Today we have me, Shyan, and, for the first time, Alicia. Alicia does graphic design, project management and plenty of other things at Cinch Communications in Red Deer. Since it’s your first time here and Shyan and I have talked about SEO and AI a lot, tell us about your job.

Alicia: Certainly. As you mentioned, I’m the project manager for Cinch. I also have about 20 years’ experience as a graphic designer and in marketing as well. So I’ve seen where design was 20 years ago, where it started and where it’s going now.

Shyan: Alicia, you mentioned tools. What are some of your favourite tools for graphic design?

Alicia: I started with Adobe products, but I’m much more comfortable and happier with CorelDRAW. I find it more user-friendly and more effective for designing. It’s super quick. I’ve been using it for about 20 years, so that helps. It’s my main design platform.

Mandy: That’s funny — I remember when CorelDRAW came out. My parents had a computer store way back in the day. When new software came in, we’d try some of it. CorelDRAW really hits a memory. My dad knew I liked art — pencil art, drawing on paper — so he got it for me. I just kept remaking the templates. There was this tutorial with a 3D triangle and shading, and I kept remaking that same stupid triangle. My dad was so mad. He was like, “Use it for something else.” But I was perfecting it.

Alicia: It’s still around, and it’s come a long way with features. Every design program evolves over time. The reason I got into CorelDRAW in the first place is that when I started in the industry, I worked at a print shop, and they only had CorelDRAW. I knew Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, so I took the job and taught myself the program. It was a new company, and my boss was willing to let me take the time to grow into it. Now I’m pretty much a professional at it.

Shyan: What are some big projects you’ve worked on?

Alicia: I’ve worked on a lot of different types of projects. In a sign shop, I worked on vehicle wraps, including some really intricate custom wraps. One I remember was for a very bougie dog walker —about 15 years ago. We did a pink sparkle wrap with silhouettes of a woman walking multiple dogs, plus diamond features. It was really cool.

Vehicle wraps are more involved because everything isn’t flat. There are measurements and contours to keep in mind.

Beyond that, I’ve done everything: business cards, brochures, website assets, decals, stickers, billboards — you name it.

Shyan: What’s your favourite?

Alicia: I knew you were going to ask that. It’s hard to pick a favourite, but I connect more with certain clients’ branding than others. When there’s a stronger connection, the work tends to have more impact.

Shyan: Then tell us your least favourite colour combination you’ve had to use.

Alicia: Least favourite colour combo? I don’t care for purple — that’s widely known. I’ve learned to appreciate it, but I struggle with it sometimes. Purple with teal-green was difficult. It felt modern but also retro at the same time.

Mandy: That feels awful. It’s hard to make those colours look corporate and professional. All I see is the takeout cup — the squiggles of teal and purple.

Shyan: Exactly.

Alicia: Yes. I think I have a shirt like that.

Mandy: And a tracksuit to match. Teal is great — I just don’t pair it with everything.

Colour Theory and the Colour Wheel

Shyan: You obviously work a lot with the colour wheel. Do you actually use colour theory — complementary colours and all of that — or do you just pick colours and make it work?

Alicia: The fundamentals are always there. When you start branding for a client, you consider colour theory. Sometimes it’s influenced by what the client wants, and sometimes it’s influenced by other factors. But yes, colour theory is always top of mind.

Mandy: I have a question about the colour wheel. Who came up with it, and what’s the logic? I understand it, but why are these colours placed where they are?

Alicia: That’s a great question, and I don’t have the answer. I’ve just always had it. In college, I had one that rotated, so you could line up colours and see combinations — complementary, secondary, tertiary. But where it came from, I don’t know.

Shyan: It has to be a marketer named Donald.

Alicia: There’s probably real science behind it because colours are complementary for a reason. But it’s true — just because something is complementary doesn’t mean you want to wear it.

What Clients Should Bring to a Design Project

Mandy: If someone wanted to hire you through Cinch, what would you expect them to bring you?

Alicia: It depends on the project, but there are a few key things.

First: a colour palette — what colours represent you or your company? That might be a primary colour and a few secondary colours, or a full palette. There are great resources online — if you Google something like “teal colour palettes,” you’ll see lots of options to help you choose and refine what you want your brand to stand for.

Second: fonts — assuming you don’t already have a brand guide or anything else we need to match. Different fonts represent different things. Sans serif fonts feel more modern and blocky — like Arial — and serif fonts have the little finishing strokes. Then there are script fonts, which can feel more playful.

Third: style — what look you’re going for. Corporate and structured, playful with movement, or something completely out of the box. Google and Pinterest are great examples. Anything a client can provide is helpful.

Shyan: What are your thoughts on Comic Sans?

Alicia: Font usage is very important. Comic Sans had its time and place, but not so much now. I don’t know where I’d put it.

Mandy: I’m sure you sometimes get a word cloud and the client is like, “Here’s my word cloud,” and you’re expected to turn that into a whole brand.

Alicia: Honestly, everyone’s brain works differently. Not everyone can provide visual examples. If a word cloud helps someone communicate their ideas, that can still be useful — whatever helps you get your intent across, so we can design something that fits.

“Campus to Community” Project Example

Shyan: I went through this process with Alicia when we were developing our own brand for Campus to Community. It used a part of my brain I hadn’t tapped into before. We had to decide: do we want it to feel collegiate, fun and playful? Then we played with fonts, colours and the emotional connotations behind them.

Campus to Community is a new initiative brought on by Cinch. It’s my brainchild.

Back at university in 2021, I was co-chair of the Alberta Not-for-Profit Association, which runs a live case competition to help non-profits, specifically in Edmonton. Institutions from around the world participate and present ideas to support the Edmonton community.

My year, we worked with the Compassion House — a cancer house affiliated with the University of Alberta that houses women going through extreme chemotherapy. I spoke with the CEO, the executive director, and some patients. My team created a case study, and the participating institutions had 24 hours to develop a full implementation strategy. Judges chose the winners, and the winners received $10,000 to donate to a non-profit or reinvest into the chosen organization.

The non-profit brings forward an issue — funding, awareness, internal challenges — and students propose an actionable strategy. I’m replicating that model and bringing it to central Alberta. We’re waiting for the green light from Red Deer Polytechnic, but the buy-in has been really positive.

Mandy: That’s a great example of how a concept turns into a brand and then becomes a full product or initiative. What choices did you make for colours and font?

Alicia: We wanted the brand to be cohesive with Cinch, so we borrowed some colours from that palette, while keeping the collegiate and playful elements in mind. We used a serif font and added some script elements to keep it fun and approachable.

Mandy: We love it.

Canva, Illustrator and AI Tools

Mandy: Alicia, you’re one of the only people in the office who doesn’t use Canva constantly — or you use it, but not religiously.

Alicia: I use it more now. It’s useful when we need an image for a blog post or event and don’t have any photos. You can choose stock imagery, adjust it, add text, add a QR code and get it out quickly. Canva has advanced a lot, even in the last year.

Mandy: I was a little resistant because part of me wants to hold on to “real design” tools, but Canva definitely has its place.

Also, AI has improved a lot. When we first brought ChatGPT into the office, it helped with ideas and research, but it couldn’t really create usable graphics. It’s getting better, but it’s still inconsistent. Like earlier today, when Michaela tried to remove an object from a photo, it removed the object, but it also changed people’s faces. That’s wild.

Shyan: I remember we tested AI with logos — something like a chicken place — and it was funny and fun. It’s great for experiments, but it needs finessing.

It can still help as a starting point. Clients come in with AI-generated logos and ideas — not polished, but good enough to communicate what they’re going for. Whether it’s a word cloud or an AI-generated image, it’s a starting point. They come to us because we take the idea, the emotion and the intent and turn it into something professional.

Alicia: That’s true. We see that trend a lot, especially with logos. People start with “I can do this myself,” and then they get halfway there and realize something is off — a line is wrong, spacing drops off, or it just isn’t cohesive. AI can be a useful starting reference for what they’re aiming for, then we refine and elevate it.

Shyan: Alicia still has a job.

Mandy: She has a lot of jobs — almost too much job. And it goes back to what we’ve said before: AI might change some work, but you still need a human user. It’s another tool. We finesse it so you can’t tell it was part of the process.

Where Design Is Headed

Shyan: With your 20 years’ experience, where do you think we’ll be in five years?

Alicia: It’s hard to speculate. I don’t think jobs like mine will disappear in the next five years. It depends on how technology advances, but I expect there will be a shift — there’s always a shift. You adapt and incorporate new tools and responsibilities as the landscape changes. It’s an ever-changing industry.

Shyan: I remember a speaker at university in early 2020 saying, “AI is here.” It didn’t feel real then, and now we use it every day. Who knows what they’re working on right now?

Mandy: At the heart of it, it’s an agglomeration of programs — one all-encompassing toolkit instead of needing 25 different installations. It evolves fast.

Shyan: And at the end of the day, it’s efficiency. We want to be as efficient and clean as possible.

Mandy: Tools have always evolved — typewriters, shorthand, sewing machines, and then computerized sewing machines. The less we have to do by hand, the more freedom we have to be creative.

Alicia: Very true. And things aren’t slowing down. People are getting busier. Efficiencies can make it easier to produce more, which can also increase the workload.

Shyan: It’s also interesting to look beyond North America. Other markets get products and trends earlier, and it’s useful to watch what’s happening in the UK and Asia.

Mandy: I can’t wait to go to Tokyo one day and see what’s going on.

Culture, Colour and Meaning

Shyan: Colours mean different things in different countries. In North America, green can signal luck, money and wealth. In China, red is the lucky colour. Even weddings differ — here it’s white, elsewhere it can be totally different colours.

Mandy: I have German friends, and even the gender colour associations are different. Here it’s pink for girls and blue for boys, but in Germany it is the opposite. I have a German friend who won’t wear blue because he thinks it’s feminine.

Alicia: That’s fascinating. It’s easy to forget that what we assume is “normal” isn’t universal.

Mandy: Let’s wrap up. If someone comes in tomorrow and wants your services, what’s the coolest thing you want to make?

Alicia: I like doing branding, but I especially enjoy it when someone comes in with their brand already established and I get to elevate it to a level they haven’t seen before. A lot of brands are straightforward and structured — colouring in the lines. I like the challenge of making it more dynamic and interesting while still staying true to what it is.

Mandy: So, you like taking something established and putting it on a pedestal.

Alicia: Exactly. If you can wow someone with something they’ve been seeing the same way for a long time, that’s a great feeling.

Shyan: That’s awesome.

Alicia: This has been lovely. Thanks for the chat, ladies.

Mandy: Thank you.

Shyan: It’s good to have new topics and new people. Thanks, everyone. We’ll see everybody next month.

Mandy: Bye!

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