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Indian Express
a day ago
- Business
- Indian Express
Canva Visual Suite 2.0 hands-on: 5 ways AI can boost productivity
As the generative AI boom continues to reshape the tech industry, design software companies like Canva could emerge as some of its biggest beneficiaries. Founded in 2013, Canva started out as a web app that sought to make design tools cheaper, accessible, and simpler to use. Over the last few years, the Australian tech startup has pursued a more ambitious goal of building a 'world-class suite of visual AI tools.' Canva has been making efforts to diversify its platform with office suite-like tools and productivity features, signalling a bold move to challenge not just Adobe but also heavyweights like Google and Microsoft. It acquired generative AI startups Affinity and last year. Canva also announced that it plans to hike its subscription prices for certain business customers to reflect the expanded product experience. But is it worth it? In April this year, Canva unveiled its revamped Visual Suite which made its productivity and design tools accessible through a single interface. Alongside the Visual Suite 2.0, the platform also introduced a new conversational AI bot, an AI coding agent, an AI-powered spreadsheet generator, an upgraded photo editor, and more. As Canva looks to grow its customer base of around 230 million users by giving workplace design tools an AI edge, here is my first-hand experience of using the Visual Suite 2.0 to automate labour-intensive design tasks and streamline my workflow as a tech journalist. I've always wanted to find a way to easily turn my long-form news articles and explainers into visual formats to make them more accessible and reach a broader audience. Typically, I would have had to depend on the social media team or designers for this. But the process is much simpler using Canva AI, the platform's voice-enabled conversational AI that was unveiled at its annual Create event earlier this year. Canva AI can be used to generate text, slides, and images. It can also be used to edit photos and resize designs with just textual or voice prompts. The feature can be accessed on the Canva homepage. It is located above the search bar, next to the Templates tab. The chatbot is powered by Canva's foundational AI models that have been trained on datasets containing the creative designs of users who have opted in to AI training. Canva AI also comes in handy as a tool to provide guidance on how to access the myriad design features and options on the platform. You can also switch to design mode anytime by clicking on the Use Canva Editor button. However, I was a bit disappointed to find that Canva AI is not yet available directly within design templates. Vibe-coding is all the rage these days. Canva Code, its AI coding tool, has been designed to generate landing pages for websites, calculator apps, custom widgets, educational quizzes, and more. Canva Code is accessible by visiting the homepage and clicking on the search bar, which expands to show a variety of options such as create an image, create a video clip, draft a doc, etc. To put it to the test, I used Canva Code to develop a custom tool that helps me log how many news articles I publish in a day, their titles, word count, etc, with a monthly summary. The output was better than what I expected with some additional features thrown in such as Status and Priority. The design of the tool also had a Canva-like aesthetic to it. Any software tools or elements generated using Canva Code can also be embedded in other designs. In order to test drive the suite of visual AI tools on Canva, I helped a friend of mine create a set of social media cards inviting people to hire him for projects on a freelance-basis. The AI-generated designs were edgy with eye-catching colours. And any unnecessary text could be easily removed using the point-and-click editing option that is part of Canva's upgraded Photo Editor. However, Canva AI struggles with generating more of the same designs. It also does not get the fine details right, which meant that I had to manually take over and tweak the designs in Canva Editor most of the time. While my work typically does not involve making spreadsheets, it often requires breaking down data provided by tech companies and gathering insights. To make this task easier, I imported the data from Meta's financial report for the fourth quarter of 2024 and used Canva Sheets to better visualise it. With the help of Magic Insights, I was able to easily analyse Meta's financial statements and identify patterns in the data. Canva Sheets is built on top of its Magic Studio suite of AI tools. Users can also import data from Google Analytics, HubSpot, Snowflake, and Statista to Canva Sheets in order to simplify data-driven work. In addition, Magic Charts allows users to create AI-generated infographics. Magic Studio at scale also allows you to select a portion of the data in a spreadsheet and create an AI-generated marketing campaign based on that data. Photo-editing is one of the most common use cases of Canva. However, when it comes to news articles about AI and other technologies, finding the right lead images can be challenging as these topics are often abstract and lack clear visual representation. Canva's upgraded Photo-editor comes in use here as it can be used to modify images with AI-generated backgrounds and more. Point-and-click is another useful feature that lets users modify selected elements within an image using AI. Visual Suite 2.0 also allows users to add various design templates including documents, presentations, social media posts, etc, in a single design window. This is definitely a game-changer as it removes the need for separate tools, scattered workflows, and disconnected files.
Business Insider
02-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Canva's cofounder says creatives are making a mistake by not embracing AI in their work
Canva's cofounder said creatives should embrace AI, and it'd be foolish not to do so. Cliff Obrecht said designers are reacting to AI as they did to Canva in its early days. But Canva helped free designers' time for more "high-value work," he said. Cliff Obrecht, who cofounded the design software company with his wife Melanie Perkins, said designers are reacting to AI like they did to Canva in its early days. "So at Canva, when we launched, a lot of designers said, 'Canva, we hate you. You are ruining our industry. You are like letting everyone design,'" Obrecht said on a Tuesday podcast episode of Masters of Scale. "And so over time, it didn't take long, within four years, designers didn't feel threatened by Canva," he said, adding that Canva's tools helped designers free up time for "high-value work." He said he sees "AI as just another step in that evolution," and that it's time for creatives to embrace the new technology. "Not embracing AI as a creative is, you can see where it's going. It seems folly," he said to the podcast's host, Bob Safian. Canva first launched AI-powered tools in 2023, with its "Magic" branded tools, which assisted in copywriting and designing. In April, it launched its Visual Suite 2.0, which integrated tools for design, writing, coding, and data visualization. This comes as creatives from various industries have raised concerns over the last few years about AI killing their jobs. In 2023, Adobe employees slammed the company after it launched Firefly, an extensive suite of generative AI tools. Adobe employees, whose customer base consists of creatives, said the tool would kill the jobs of some of its customers. There were also concerns that Adobe could use creators' content to train its AI models, something the company denied in a blog post in 2024. The AI debate has reached Hollywood. In 2023, more than 11,000 Hollywood film and TV screenwriters went on strike to criticize the use of AI in the film industry and demand more regulation in the field. However, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks, said in an AI conference in December that top Hollywood showrunners and creators are embracing AI and seeing it as a useful resource to their creative processes. In June, former Disney exec Kevin Mayer said in an Opening Bid podcast that AI could make video and storyline creation more efficient for creatives.
Business Insider
02-07-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Canva's cofounder says creatives are making a mistake by not embracing AI in their work
Canva 's cofounder and chief operating officer says it's foolish for creatives not to embrace AI. Cliff Obrecht, who cofounded the design software company with his wife Melanie Perkins, said designers are reacting to AI like they did to Canva in its early days. "So at Canva, when we launched, a lot of designers said, 'Canva, we hate you. You are ruining our industry. You are like letting everyone design,'" Obrecht said on a Tuesday podcast episode of Masters of Scale. "And so over time, it didn't take long, within four years, designers didn't feel threatened by Canva," he said, adding that Canva's tools helped designers free up time for "high-value work." He said he sees "AI as just another step in that evolution," and that it's time for creatives to embrace the new technology. "Not embracing AI as a creative is, you can see where it's going. It seems folly," he said to the podcast's host, Bob Safian. Canva first launched AI-powered tools in 2023, with its "Magic" branded tools, which assisted in copywriting and designing. In April, it launched its Visual Suite 2.0, which integrated tools for design, writing, coding, and data visualization. This comes as creatives from various industries have raised concerns over the last few years about AI killing their jobs. In 2023, Adobe employees slammed the company after it launched Firefly, an extensive suite of generative AI tools. Adobe employees, whose customer base consists of creatives, said the tool would kill the jobs of some of its customers. There were also concerns that Adobe could use creators' content to train its AI models, something the company denied in a blog post in 2024. The AI debate has reached Hollywood. In 2023, more than 11,000 Hollywood film and TV screenwriters went on strike to criticize the use of AI in the film industry and demand more regulation in the field. However, Jeffrey Katzenberg, the cofounder of DreamWorks, said in an AI conference in December that top Hollywood showrunners and creators are embracing AI and seeing it as a useful resource to their creative processes. In June, former Disney exec Kevin Mayer said in an Opening Bid podcast that AI could make video and storyline creation more efficient for creatives.
Hans India
19-06-2025
- Business
- Hans India
Canva integrates Google's Veo 3 for AI video clip generation with sound
Canva has rolled out a powerful new feature—Create a Video Clip—allowing users to generate 8-second video clips with sound using Google's Veo 3, the latest and most advanced AI video generation model. Announced on Thursday, the feature is available via the Canva homepage and is currently accessible to Canva Pro, Teams, Enterprise, and Nonprofit users. For now, usage is limited to five AI-generated videos per month. Danny Wu, Head of AI Products at Canva, shared, 'We're among the first to integrate Google's Veo 3 video model just weeks after its release. Now, millions of Canva users can create dynamic, high-quality video teasers with realistic visuals, synchronized audio, and polished motion.' How to Use Canva's 'Create a Video Clip' Feature: Visit the Canva homepage and go to Canva AI Click Create a Video Clip Enter a prompt describing your desired video The AI generates the video in Canva's Video Editor, where you can further customize it using tools like Brand Kit, music overlays, and text. Once edited, the video can be adapted into other formats like social posts, presentations, or marketing assets. To ensure safe and ethical use, all content is moderated by Canva Shield, a protective layer that filters harmful inputs and outputs. This launch follows Canva's recent AI-focused moves, including the acquisition of Leonardo AI, and the soon-to-be-acquired MagicBrief, an AI-powered creative intelligence platform. Earlier this year, Canva also introduced its Visual Suite 2.0, featuring new AI tools like a voice-enabled assistant, AI-powered spreadsheet builder, and coding assistant. According to the company, Magic Studio and Canva AI tools have now been used over 18 billion times.
Forbes
15-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
Canva's All-In-One AI Suite Could Rival Tech Giants — But There's Fine Print
A Canva logo displayed on a smartphone and "Magic Studio" desktop home page displayed on a ... More personal computer are seen in L'Aquila, Italy, on October 4th, 2023. On October 4th Canva launched "Magic Studio", its new design platoform powered by AI (Artificial Intelligence). (Photo by Lorenzo Di Cola/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Canva, the Australian design juggernaut with over 230 million global users, just made an interesting foray: entering the AI work tool space. At its annual Canva Create event, the company unveiled Visual Suite 2.0, a sweeping update that adds AI-powered spreadsheets, app-building tools, and an enterprise-focused workspace, all packed into a single interface. The move could position Canva beyond a design platform (that allows just about anyone to don the hat of a graphic designer) and more as an all-in-one productivity suite that merges the visual simplicity of design tools with the analytical power of business software. With this move, Canva may not just be competing with Adobe anymore — it could also be gunning for Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Notion, GitHub Copilot, and so on. The update includes Canva AI, a voice- or text-powered assistant that acts as a creative co-pilot across documents, presentations, photo edits, and so on. If users want to do anything from designing a social media campaign to analyzing spreadsheet data and building an interactive widget, that's now possible on Canva within the same space. Meanwhile, the new Canva Code feature lets users generate interactive tools like calculators or quizzes using natural language prompts — no coding knowledge necessary. It's an unusually bold play for a design-first company, and one that puts it in direct competition with AI-coding startups like Replit and Anthropic-backed tools. Also, Canva's new Sheets feature reimagines spreadsheets in a fascinating way: Users can import data from Google Analytics, HubSpot, or Statista, and use 'Magic Insights' to instantly spot trends or highlights. For enterprise users, Canva has expanded its ambit to include access management, Secure Single Sign-On integrations, and bulk content creation tools like Magic Studio at Scale which auto-generates campaigns using data templates. The platform's updated Photo Editor, which now allows point-and-click background removal and AI-generated environment tweaks, places it within radar of Adobe Photoshop and Apple-owned Pixelmator. What stands out is how Visual Suite 2.0 combines many functions — design, copywriting, data, code, collaboration — into one single ecosystem, so that users can toggle between documents, websites, whiteboards, animations, and spreadsheets. 'Entire campaigns — from briefing to delivery — can now happen in one seamless space,' Canva said in its release. If Canva's AI-fueled vision pans out, it could become an important workspace in a post-PowerPoint, post-Photoshop era — or be relegated to the recesses of forgotten tech trends. What Canva is attempting isn't new — plenty of platforms have tried to unify creative and analytical work under one roof. What's different is how quietly it's doing it — a slow march from design tool used to make flyers to productivity platform. Whether teams and users actually want that kind of all-in-one workspace — or still prefer their tried-and-true methods — is left to be seen. As AI gets more deeply baked into productivity tools, the new updates also raise familiar questions around content ownership and copyright. Canva's terms make it clear that users are responsible for their inputs and outputs, and as with most AI tools, outputs are created using third-party models, which means data shared in prompts may be routed through external providers. Canva doesn't claim copyright over AI-generated content — users have ownership — but the company requires disclosure that it was created using AI. In professional settings, that line between human and machine authorship could start to matter more, and as generative tools become more deeply embedded into creative and corporate workflows, it may be warranted to witness closer scrutiny — not just of what these tools can do, but also of how transparently they're trained and deployed.
