New era in yearbooking begins as Canva & Herff Jones ink exclusive, multi-year collaboration

Mar 16, 2021

INDIANAPOLIS – Herff Jones, the achievement division of Varsity Brands and the leading provider of graduation and educational products and services, and Canva, the world’s fastest growing online design platform, today announced that they have entered into an exclusive, multi-year partnership that will bring unprecedented collaboration, creativity and customizable resources to Herff Jones’ core yearbook product. Canva’s software will seamlessly integrate with Herff Jones’ yearbook creation program, eDesign, beginning with school year 2022.

“Herff Jones’ reputation of excellence in the yearbook market enters a new era with the addition of Canva’s simple drag-and-drop interface and their powerful image editing capabilities along with access to their vast collection of created content – including illustrations, backgrounds, infographics and more,” Herff Jones President Steve Down said.

“For our yearbook customers, this collaboration – a meeting at the crossroads of tradition and modernity – will offer the flexibility and the simplicity of transitioning their designs from the platform to print with ease and quality as they capture the essence of the year’s student experience in their books,” Down continued. “More generally, our partnership with Canva – with their more than 30 million monthly active users in 190 countries and 7 million in the K-12 space already – strongly affirms that Herff Jones’ commitment to innovation and serving our customers is as strong as ever.”

Aaron Day, global partnership lead at Canva, added, “In partnering with Herff Jones, Canva is aligning with the most trusted name in capturing and celebrating student milestones in North America. Yearbook is a powerful storytelling medium, capturing the history of one year to be shared for generations, and it is often in yearbook where many designers begin their journey. We are excited about the opportunity to bring even more value to K-12 schools through this collaboration, fueling our passion for making design accessible for all, while also inspiring creativity and teamwork.”

Existing Herff Jones customers should work with their local sales office to learn more about the advantages of this partnership. More information can also be found online via herff.ly/canva.

Indianapolis-based Herff Jones is the leading provider of handcrafted graduation and educational products and services designed to inspire achievement and create memorable experiences for students. A division of Varsity Brands, Herff Jones’ range of quality products include class rings and jewelry, caps and gowns, yearbooks, diplomas, frames and announcements as well as motivation and recognition programs. Focused on building long-term relationships through a nationwide network of over 2,000 employees and sales partners, the professionals at Herff Jones have been helping elevate the student experience throughout the lifelong journey of education for more than 101 years. For more information about Herff Jones or Varsity Brands, please visit www.herffjones.com or www.varsitybrands.com. Varsity Brands is a portfolio company of Bain Capital Private Equity.

Launched in 2013, Canva is an intuitive online design and publishing platform with a mission to empower the world to design. Featuring a simple drag-and-drop user interface and access to a vast library of design templates ranging from presentations, social media posts, invitations, brochures to posters, a huge collection of fonts, stock photography and illustrations, anyone can take an idea and create something beautiful. Canva is available on desktop, iOS and Android.