Canva has announced the launch of its Creative Operating System, marking what it describes as “the biggest evolution of its product to date.” The launch brings together a suite of new products designed to appeal to creators at every level.
“The result is a faster, smarter, and more connected way to design, where human creativity leads and AI amplifies what’s possible,” the brand said in a release.
Canva additionally announced the unveiling of the all-new Affinity. Following its acquisition of Serif last year, Canva is relaunching the Affinity creative suite as an all-in-one app for photo editing, vector illustration, and page layout. The brand said the offering will be ‘forever-free’.
“Affinity completes the full design process, enabling professional creatives to craft assets in Affinity and move them straight into Canva to collaborate, publish, and scale their brand,” said Canva, adding that “Affinity is completely free, forever, removing one of the last barriers for professional creators and opening access to world-class tools for everyone.”
According to The Verge, older standalone versions of Affinity apps will continue to work for existing users, who won’t be required to migrate to the new platform. The V2 editions of Designer, Photo, and Publisher were removed from the Affinity website several weeks ago, and Canva has not indicated whether those users will continue to receive support updates.
When Branding in Asia spoke with Canva ECD Cat van der Werff last year, we asked her about plans for Affinity, and she told us: “Together, we can push our shared vision of democratizing design further, helping teams and individuals unlock their creativity in every corner of the workplace. Our goal is to become the go-to platform for all kinds of designers, from casual creators to seasoned professionals.”
Canva also announced the unveiling of a new generation of AI built specifically for creativity – including what it said is the world’s first model trained to understand design itself.
Highlights of Canva’s Creative Operating System
Canva provided the following summary of today’s announcement:
- Canva Design Model: World-first AI model that understands complexities and ingredients of design.
- AI Where You Work: Bring your imagination to life in every part of the design process, plus, a new design assistant.
- Video 2.0: A reimagined video editor makes professional and engaging content effortless.
- Canva Grow: Powerful marketing engine to ideate, create, distribute, and refine engaging ads to grow your brand.
- All-New Affinity: All-in-one app built by pro designers for pro designers, now forever free.
- Forms: Design interactive forms that can be added to any design for everything from RSVP forms to contact pages.
- Email Design: Design engaging emails with Canva’s drag-and-drop editor, then export to your platform of choice.
- Canva Code in Sheets: Seamlessly link interactive widgets with Canva Sheets to bring data to life in real time.
Speaking on the new updates, Melanie Perkins, Canva Co-Founder and CEO, said, “As knowledge becomes more and more accessible, we believe we’re moving from the Information Era to the Imagination Era, a time when creativity has never been more critical.
