Canva and I Are in a Complicated Relationship

Let me set the scene. I have been exceedingly nearsighted since childhood. We're talking 20/500 vision. Without my glasses I can see clearly for approximately two to three inches in front of my face — which is, incidentally, why my author avatar wears glasses. It is not an artistic choice. It is a medical reality.

Now put that person in front of Canva and ask her to design a book cover with a spine.

The spine in Canva is a microscopic line. I am not exaggerating. It is a sliver of space that has to contain your title, your name, and enough dignity to hold its own on a shelf, and Canva presents it to you approximately the size of a hair. I have large monitors specifically so I can see what I'm doing and Canva still finds a way to humble me.

And the rulers. To get the right ruler showing the right units you have to press certain buttons, which I can never remember, and even then you're not entirely sure if you're working in inches or millimeters until something goes wrong and you find out the hard way. I use a mouse so I can grab things and move them around with some precision, and still — STILL — I will try to get something to 6.25 and land on 6.248 and then spend ten minutes trying to get that last .002 while quietly losing my mind.

At some point you just look at it and say: does it really matter if it's off by a fraction of a millimeter? And the answer is probably no. But in the moment it feels like it matters enormously and you will not rest until it is right, which it never quite is, and around you go.

Here is the part that really gets me though. Change the interior page count — even by just a few pages — and the spine width changes. Which means you have to go back into Canva and move everything. Every time. Because the spine is calculated by page count and paper type and if you add five pages to your manuscript because a scene needed more room to breathe, congratulations, your cover no longer fits your book.

I have now ordered two proof copies from two different printers. The cover looks beautiful. It is genuinely gorgeous. I am proud of it. And then I open the book and the interior text looks like it was typeset for a very small mouse with excellent eyesight.

So that is where we are. The cover is winning. The interior and I are still negotiating. More updates to follow when I have more coffee and less frustration. 🐉