Why Wollongong: The human interest behind Canva's tech trial

Why, of all the towns in all the world, did Canva choose Wollongong to test its ambitious goal-setting platform?

About a quarter of a billion people in over 190 countries use Canva, an Australian company that has its roots in Perth as a yearbook start-up and grew to be a global web-based design platform. More recently, Canva has embraced AI, with a suite of magic tools that turn words into graphics, instantly. But the company’s decision to test its Goals platform in the Gong comes down to a comfortingly human characteristic: they’ve gone with people and places they know.

Big Questions

On the evening of September 23, about two months after the Wollongong Goals trial launched, the courtyard outside University of Wollongong’s Hope Theatre had the atmosphere of a funfair, with blue and yellow balloons, networking drinks in the courtyard and an inflatable pool where punters wished for a goal then fished for yellow rubber ducks to claim a prize.

The event ahead had celebrity appeal: “Big Questions” featured Canva co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins in conversation with Dr Karl Kruszelnicki AM.

Addressing a crowd of more than 500 people in the lecture theatre, Melanie Perkins described the Goals platform as a way to give a voice to people's dreams.

“There isn't a lot of space right now for dreaming about the future that we actually want," she said. "And I think that that is such an extraordinarily important thing to be doing – to say, what are the goals that unify us?

"What is the future we want so much that we will work hard and contribute what we can toward it?”

Places you know

“Why Wollongong?” Dr Karl asked.

Her answer: The Canva team knew the Gong, because UOW is where Cliff Obrecht, Melanie’s husband and co-founder, and Zach Kitschke, Canva’s chief marketing and communications officer, came to do early beta testing before the company launched in August 2013.

“They got great feedback, and it actually gave us a lot of encouragement to launch,” Melanie said. “So that was a good omen.”

People you know

But Canva’s ties to Wollongong go deeper and further back. 

Marketing chief Zach Kitschke – who wrote an op ed last month titled Wollongong’s future should not be decided by the loudest voices – knows the city well, because it’s his home. He grew up in Scarborough, studied at UOW and his first job was at Wollongong City Council. 

Council’s general manager, Greg Doyle, interviewed him for a cadetship more than 15 years ago.

“Zach just had this real energy and enthusiasm about community participation,” Greg said in an interview at Belmore Basin.

“We were doing some work on the community strategic plan back then, and Zach was really interested in how we can listen to more people, particularly as a young person at that time.”

As the manager of organisational strategy and improvement, Greg remembers creating council’s community engagement team and Zach being involved in planning for everything from the city’s emerging evening economy to Thirroul Community Centre and Library.  

Then as now, staff grappled with how to gather feedback from more people, as well as engage with a cross-section of community. “Technology was very different then, and people's ability to connect with council was different,” Greg said. 

“The city has continued to stay connected with Zach in watching the evolution of Canva… seeing how the organisation retains a real authentic and genuine connection to participation, as well as building a significant tech and creative company.”

It was Zach’s idea to come to Wollongong for the pilot. He knew from his years as a business cadet that council staff would support innovation.

“The cadetship was such a formative experience for me,” Zach said.

“It’s such an incredible program that council offers. I worked for council full-time while studying a commerce and communications degree down here. Wollongong is a big, big part of my story. So it's really nice to be back here full circle with this project.”

Canva’s leaders have been talking about how to bring the Goals pilot to life for a decade, Zach said. “So I thought – no better way than to pick a city that we knew would be ripe for the question, with a council that was really up for it as well. 

“Council's been such an amazing partner to us in that they've had the same philosophy – really what we're trying to do here is convene and bring communities together.”

Running alongside Global and USA Goals pilots, Wollongong Goals is a non-commercial partnership to test Canva's open global platform in a city. Submissions may be anonymous and data is used to analyse and present the goals, and never sold to third parties, the company says.

“I think Wollongong serves as a really interesting test case," Zach said. "It's a really large city. It's got so much going for it, but it's incredibly diverse. It's got an engaged community, media ecosystem.

“Later in the year, we'll be publishing a report with all of the goals that we've heard and what we've learned, and then we'll open up the next stage, which will be about how do we actually want to go about making meaningful progress to the goals that emerge.

“We're really hoping that we learn a lot, and Wollongong can really be a leading light for what's possible for other cities around the world.”

Last shot at goals

By Thursday, October 1, 10,000 goals had been submitted, with more expected at a pop-up booth at the long weekend's Yours and Owls music festival.

The pilot ends on Tuesday, October 6.

Early findings are promising, Wollongong Lord Mayor Tania Brown told the audience at Canva's UOW event last month.

“We are passionate about our sporting teams and we want better facilities. No surprise there,” she said. “We value our arts, music, and culture, and what more festivals, and even a stage in every suburb. And I love that idea. And we certainly heard loud and clear the call for a cinema in Wollongong. 

“We want our region to be environmentally sustainable and able to embrace renewable energy. We want footpaths and cycleways, more public transport and less cars, along with a higher standard of public amenity. All of which I heartily endorse.”

The lord mayor urged everyone to get their goals in.

“Let's show Canva that their decision to choose Wollongong out of every global city that this was the right choice, because we are always up for a challenge.”

Submit Wollongong Goals by Tuesday, October 6. Council says it will use the results to check in on its Community Strategic Plan, which is two years into a 10-year term.