Canva’s global work continues. After a launch in US by Quality meats and a campaign in Spain by Big Toys, new work by DUDE arrives in Italy.

This work highlights the importance of design in today’s creative landscape. Yet many people still feel it’s out of reach. Whether it’s creating content for work, promoting a local business, or sharing personal moments, tools can feel overly complex or reserved for experts. Canva’s Italian campaign challenges that perception, showing that with the right tools, anyone can bring their ideas to life. Even a humble pigeon.

Wild Design is a glorious, animated testimonial to design, the power of Canva to make it easy for non-designers to create, and the power of both to help businesses to thrive.

The hero film, produced by UK studio A+C and directed by former Aardman Studios animator, Dan Richards, uses stop-motion to bring the story to life with charm and heart. Every element – from Picci1 himself to the tablecloths and food – was physically built using a tactile, textile-inspired approach. The puppets, sets and props are all handcrafted, giving the campaign a warm, imperfect feel that mirrors Canva’s belief that creativity should feel accessible, not intimidating.

The campaign covers TV, connected TV, social, digital, OOH/DOOH and radio, introducing an unlikely creative hero: an inventive pigeon named Picci1, whose story unfolds in the richly detailed, handcrafted world. 

Three 15-second cutdowns highlight key Canva features, while a second film will launch mid-May.

The campaign also extends into radio and OOH. A documentary-style radio execution playfully examines the pigeon’s unexpected creative abilities, while outdoor executions see him “take flight” across Italy’s cities, showcasing Canva’s Magic Charts, Magic Eraser, video editing tools and more with comic, character-led scenarios. 

The campaign’s combination of charming characters and painstaking craft positions Canva not just as a design tool, but as a platform where creativity, no matter how humble its starting point, can take flight.

Oli Bussell, Canva creative lead, commented, “We wanted to genuinely surprise people,” said Oli Bussell, Creative Lead at Canva. “Stop motion was a unique way to show up in the Italian market – and at this level, it’s a serious undertaking. It embodies care, craft, and design: values that resonate deeply with Italian audiences and ones that Canva is proud to champion. Canva operates all over the world, but great creative work always has a local pulse to it. This campaign has that. It’s handbuilt, considered, and rooted in a real cultural context. We believe design should be within everyone’s reach, and sometimes the best way to prove that is to hand the tools to a pigeon and see what happens.”

Lorenzo Picchiotti, DUDE COO & partner, added, “Canva has a mission that is both simple and ambitious: to make design accessible to everyone. To tell that story in Italy, we looked for the most unexpected point of view possible and we found it among the cobblestones of an Italian piazza. And precisely because the project is about design, craft couldn’t be anything but central. Hence the choice of stop motion, which in 2026 is a genuine statement. We wanted every frame to be a declaration of love for design.”

Media was handled by OMD.

Credits
Cient: CANVA
Campaign + Brand Media Lead: Holly Thomas
Creative Lead: Oli Bussell
Social Lead: Sara Bernardi
Creative Operations + Production Lead: Karine Pawel
Brand Designer: Rémy Auger
Copywriter: Margot Gangand
Motion Designer: Marta Azana
Research Lead: Matt Harris
Italy Lead: Valentino Magliaro
Europe Marketing Lead: Amanda Zafaris
Head of EMEA: Özge Doğan
Creator Manager: Ginevra Corrieri
Europe Marketing Ops: Seb Merhej

Agency: DUDE MILANO
Chief Creative Officers & Partners: Livio Basoli & Lorenzo Picchiotti 
Creative Directors: Antonio Mitra & Stefano Summo
Senior Art Director: Antonio Gambino
Senior Copywriter: Alessandro Magnani
Junior Art Director: Gaia Ballarini
Junior Copywriter: Viola Triossi
Chief Strategy and Innovation Officer: Lorenzo Foffani
Creative Strategy Consultant: Federica Nanni
Strategist: Federica Piergiovanni
Business Director: Elena Panza
Account Director: Ilario Ruffini
Senior Account Manager: Antonia Martone
Senior Account Executive: Federica Menandro
Integrated production director: Jacopo Turrini
Head of video production: Simone Raddi
Senior Producer: Valeria Mazzotta
Post Production Director: Seba Morando
Post Producer: Silvia Brigoli
Motion Designer: Alessandro Menotti
Music and Sound Design: Magma music agency

Animation Studio: A+C Studios
Director: Dan Richards
Executive producer: Bethany Abbott
Senior producer: Ollie Perrin
Producer: Eleonora Saccoman
Production Assistants: Fiona Ebel And Kirsten Jane Reed
Character & Set Designer: Isaac Meardon

Director Of Photography: Kevin Paul Lawrence 
Head Animator: James Harvey 
Offline Editors: Stuart Clark & Harry Law
Colour Grader: Connor Coolbear
Producer: George Bomiley
Grade House: Electric Theatre Collective

Canva’s other work across the globe so far: