Barbara is a tech writer specializing in AI and emerging technologies. With a background as a systems librarian in software development, she brings a unique perspective to her reporting. Having lived in the USA and Ireland, Barbara now resides in Croatia. She covers the latest in artificial intelligence and tech innovations. Her work draws on years of experience in tech and other fields, blending technical know-how with a passion for how technology shapes our world.
Canva is a graphic design platform designed to make it easy for anyone to create professional-looking visuals without needing the advanced design skills necessary for navigating tools like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator.
When I first discovered Canva about two years ago, I thought of it as Photoshop for dummies. OK, I have a certificate for Adobe Suite and used to do graphic design professionally, so my judgment of Canva was probably a bit harsh. Nonetheless, I couldn't deny its user-friendly and intuitive interface.
Canva offers a drag-and-drop interface, thousands of templates and a vast library of customizable images, fonts and design elements. You can even upload your own brand elements, but you'll need a Pro subscription.
It also includes artificial intelligence tools like background removal, image generation and resizing or automating certain design elements without requiring advanced skills. These features streamline the design process and help you create polished visuals faster. But do their benefits outweigh the downsides, like data safety, artistic integrity and intellectual property?
Here, I'll do a deep dive on the history of Canva, its AI tools and the pros and cons of using them.
Melanie Perkins, one of Canva's co-founders and CEO, privately tutored graphic design skills back in the day, using the most used tools, such as Photoshop. She told CNBC back in 2020 that it took students an entire semester just to learn where all the buttons are, adding, "That seemed completely ridiculous." That's how the idea of creating a tool like Canva came about. Perkins co-founded Canva in Perth, Australia, with Cliff Obrecht and Cameron Adams on Jan. 1, 2013.
Since its launch, Canva has grown into a widely used tool for graphic design creation, particularly among small businesses, bloggers, freelancers, influencers and marketers. With over 220 million monthly active users and 30 billion designs created, it's now available in 190 countries in more than 100 languages.
Canva has a few competitors on the market, including Adobe Express, Snappa, Visme and VistaCreate (formerly Crello). Because of its ease of use, affordability and extensive template library, Canva quickly became a go-to platform for both professionals and amateurs.
This versatile platform lets you design and edit visual documents, photos, videos, print and marketing materials. Think social media posts, reels and videos across all popular platforms like Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and YouTube. You can also design logos, business cards, brochures and infographics, or give some spice to your resume or presentations. If you don't want to pay a hefty sum for your wedding invitations, you can even do that with hundreds of templates you can easily edit to your liking.
If you're into print-on-demand, you can also create designs for T-shirts, mugs, stickers, posters and website mockups. Besides designing all that for yourself, you can even sell the design templates you create. There are endless options for using this simple tool.
You can further customize your design with various tools, such as changing text, fonts and colors, and adding elements such as frames, charts, shapes and stickers. Some are available in the free tier, while for others, you'll need to upgrade to the Pro version. With the Brand Kit integration (available in the Pro version), you can ensure brand consistency by storing logos, colors and fonts in one place to use in your designs when necessary.
AI can help with any and all of these projects (which I'll get into below), giving you more ideas and designs to choose from, and speeding up the design process.
Canva operates on a cloud-based model, meaning you can create, store and share your designs online. But you can also download them in many different formats: PNG, JPG, PDF, SVG (Pro), MP4 Video, GIF and PPTX (PowerPoint document).
It's available on both desktop and mobile and is an accessible alternative to more complex software like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator and Affinity Designer, which Canva acquired last year. Another advantage is that you can connect Canva to many different productivity and social media apps. That way, you can directly upload your design without downloading it first and then uploading it to the specific app.
Canva released Magic Studio in October 2023, and has leaned more into AI since then. The intention behind integrating these AI-powered tools is to streamline design workflows. They help you create polished designs faster and with less effort. You can generate images, text, animations and videos using prompts or quickly edit and format your creation in just a few steps.
Some of those Magic Studio AI features are Background Remover, Magic Resize, Magic Grab, Magic Switch, Magic Write, Magic Design, Magic Media and more. (If you want to read more about Magic Media, we previously reviewed Canva's Magic Media AI image and video generator, where you can get the full scoop about this feature and learn how to create AI images in Canva.)
In late October last year, Canva introduced Dream Lab, another new feature that lets you create AI-generated images based on your prompts. And if those images remind you a lot of Leonardo.AI's style, you aren't wrong. Canva acquired Leonardo.AI in July last year and uses it to power Dream Lab. Since then, Canva's photorealistic AI-generated images have drastically improved.
One of the downsides of these AI tools is that data safety is always a concern. Canva states it doesn't use your content to train its AI but may occasionally ask for opt-in consent (Canva has committed $200 million to a creator and content fund over the next three years, some of which goes toward royalties for creators who opt-in to help train the AI tools). Be mindful of third-party data use, as Canva integrates, besides its own Magic Media, OpenAI's Dall-E and Google's Imagen for AI image generation. Interestingly, AI images don't come with an AI-generated watermark, but videos do have a rainbow watermark indicating AI usage for creation.
While the use of AI tools in Canva expands creative possibilities, it also raises questions about artistic merit and originality.
"Writers, graphic designers, photographers and other artists like illustrators and animators ... all of that work can be done very easily now with AI tools," Fang Liu, professor at the University of Notre Dame and co-editor-in-chief of ACM Transactions on Probabilistic Machine Learning, told CNET. "It doesn't mean that it's going to replace them. Maybe those people will just need to upskill and use those tools for their creativity."
Rather than replacing artists, these tools often serve as a shortcut for those without design skills, though concerns remain about how AI-generated content impacts traditional creative industries and intellectual property rights. Without proper regulations, those questions will remain open.
"We view AI as a creative partner, not a replacement. There's no replacement for human ingenuity," Canva co-founder and Chief Product Officer Cameron Adams told CNET. "We do feel confident that as more people are able to leverage AI, we'll see more human creativity in the world as people are able to do things they couldn't before."
The only real limits are your imagination, the AI's ability to interpret prompts and built-in content filters meant to prevent plagiarism and copyright infringement.
"It also offers a way for people who maybe lack the skill," Liu added. "Like, if I have a vision in my head, but I don't know how to draw, then I'm just going to explain what I want in the prompt."
Adams likewise said Canva's AI tools "make visual communication more accessible."
"AI enables anyone to bring their ideas to life and scale them faster, whether they're a professional designer exploring creative possibilities, or they're someone creating their first design with Canva," Adams said.
There's also the issue that AI-generated images are often a little strange, most often when it comes to hands and faces. So if you're creating images within any AI tool, keep an eye out for oddities, and be aware that your imagery may not be perfect.
Canva offers a free plan with basic features and a selection of templates. For users who need more functionality, Canva Pro costs $120 per year for one person and includes premium templates, stock content, AI tools and Brand Kit management features. You can test a Pro plan for free for 30 days.
Canva for Teams, designed for businesses, is $100 per user with a minimum of three users, making it $300 per year, and includes collaboration features and expanded storage. Additionally, in May last year, Canva introduced the Enterprise plan for mid to large organizations.
The company has pledged to make Canva 100% free for K-12 teachers and students and registered non-profits.
While Canva is a good tool, it has some limitations. For one, whether you use it on a desktop or a smartphone, it requires an internet connection. Professional designers may also find Canva's features too basic compared to software like Adobe Photoshop, so if you need some advanced design or more detailed editing, Canva's features probably won't suffice.
Since Canva doesn't require you to have professional graphic design knowledge, its accessibility and affordability have made it a favorite among freelancers, small business owners and influencers. What they have in common is the need for a successful social media strategy.
One of the best ways to stand out in the ever-so-busy feed is with eye-catching graphics that match your business's branding. And Canva is a good tool for that, with its dozens of use cases and AI tools negating the need to hire a professional for personal branding and digital marketing.
