Canva announced a slew of new products and features, including a new AI model, updates to its AI assistant, and spreadsheet integration for creating data visualization widgets.
Canva recently announced the release of its "Foundation Model," trained on its own design elements. Unlike traditional diffusion models, which generate flat images, this model creates designs comprised of editable layers and objects. It can be applied to a variety of formats, including social media posts, presentations, whiteboards, and websites.
"We started out creating flat images with the diffusion model," said Robert Kawalski, Canva's global head of product. "Our recent Omni model takes this a step further, allowing for precise editing of flat images through prompts. However, achieving a finished visual result using prompts alone remains challenging." He added, "Users want AI to create drafts for them, but they also want the freedom to edit and evolve them.".
Earlier this year, Canva introduced Canva AI, a chat-based AI assistant that allows users to create visual content from text input. With this update, the assistant has been integrated throughout the design window, making it accessible directly through tags in the Elements tab or collaborative comments. AI can also create 3D objects or replicate the artistic style of a specific design.
We've also integrated our spreadsheet product with a mini-app creation feature. Users can create visualization widgets using data stored in spreadsheets.
Earlier this year, Canva acquired advertising performance analytics company MagicBrief. Building on this acquisition, the company launched a new marketing platform, Canva Grow. This platform integrates everything from ad creation to performance analysis using AI, and can also publish completed ads directly to external platforms like Meta.
In addition, a form creation feature has been added, allowing you to collect responses from clients or customers, similar to Google Forms. A new email design feature has also been introduced, allowing you to create marketing email templates that reflect your brand identity.
Canva acquired professional design software Affinity last year, strengthening its competitive edge over Adobe. In this announcement, Canva announced that Affinity will be offered "forever free." The interface has also been redesigned, integrating vector, pixel, and layout tools into a single platform. Furthermore, objects created in Affinity can now be imported directly into Canva, and Canva AI can be used to generate images or extend designs.
