Canva Back to School

Your teaching toolkit this year. Canva’s Back to School 2026 campaign welcomed teachers into the new school year with a toolkit built for the classroom: AI-powered learning activities, live lessons, coding, easy assigning and offline access, all free for schools. The campaign launched in the Canva Newsroom and was brought to life with real teachers and students.

ROLE: Creative Lead, Campaign: with hands-on design and art direction
TEAM: Canva Creative Team

Real classrooms, real joy

I art directed a two-day photo shoot in the U.S. with real teachers and students: an elementary class on day one and a high school class on day two. The brief was to capture the warmth, energy and joyful chaos of a classroom where everyone gets to create, from hero portraits to collaboration, devices and the work the kids made. The photography became the face of the campaign, carrying it from the newsroom launch to social, so teachers could see themselves in every touchpoint.

Out in the world

On social, the campaign brought it all together: carousels introducing teachers to Canva’s AI tools and the new Learn Grid, pairing the shoot photography with the products they’d use every day in class.

Your teaching toolkit

A series of short product films introduced what’s new for teachers: assigning work, AI-powered learning activities and drafts, and live learning sessions.