The Latest Canva AI Tools and How to Use Them
The Latest Canva AI Tools and How You Can Use Them
Canva is shaking up the design world yet again with its latest AI-powered tools. These features promise to make creativity more accessible and efficient, but how well do they really perform? Here’s what we discovered while testing them out.
Dream Lab: AI-Powered Image Generation
Launched in October 2024, Dream Lab is an innovative tool designed to generate images from simple text descriptions. It opens up design possibilities for users at all experience levels, helping to bring creative visions to life quickly and easily.
Our Test Drive:
We tested Dream Lab with the prompt:
"Create a logo for 7th Peak Marketing. The logo should have a mountain and use blue, gray, and orange colors."
Our thoughts: The result was functional but lacked the polish and flexibility required for professional branding. While Dream Lab shows promise, it has a long way to go before being a reliable tool for client-level work. For instance, the inability to edit individual elements within the results limits its usefulness for aligning designs with specific brand standards. We’re hopeful that future updates will address this.
Magic Write: AI-Driven Copywriting
Magic Write is Canva’s text generator tool, designed to assist with creating content such as captions, blog posts, and ad copy. By inputting a simple prompt, users can generate text in seconds.
Our Test Drive:
We tried Magic Write with the prompt:
"Roast Charlotte, NC."
The Results:
Charlotte, NC, the city that tries really hard to be a big deal but often feels like the awkward kid at the dance. You’ve got the banking sector, but let’s be real: who really gets excited about finance? It’s like being the most popular kid in math class—congratulations, you can calculate interest rates!
And what's with the weather? You experience all four seasons in a single day, making it impossible to dress appropriately. One moment it's sunny; the next, you're caught in a downpour while wearing flip-flops.
Let’s not even start on the traffic. You’d think you’re in a NASCAR race just trying to get to the grocery store. Who knew getting stuck in gridlock could be an Olympic sport?
Then there’s the food scene, which prides itself on Southern charm. Sure, fried chicken is great, but can we get a little variety? It feels like every restaurant is cooking up the same “best” barbecue—who knew pork could be so monotonous?
And let’s talk about the Panthers. It's cute that you have a football team, but let’s be honest: they’ve perfected the art of losing gracefully. Maybe they should just focus on a new sport—like competitive napping.
In short, Charlotte, you’re like a middle child trying to stand out in a family of overachievers. You’ve got potential, but it’s buried under a pile of bank statements and Southern hospitality. Keep trying, though; we’re rooting for you!
Our thoughts: First, ouch!
If you’re already a Canva user, this feature can be a game changer. It’s perfect for anyone creating content who needs some quick, polished copy. While ChatGPT has similar capabilities, having an AI writing tool integrated directly into Canva means you don’t have to jump between platforms. This seamless workflow saves time and effort, allowing you to focus on your designs without breaking the creative flow.
Another great aspect of Canva’s AI writing tool is its flexibility. You can easily modify the tone of the copy, shorten it, or make other changes to suit your needs. While these capabilities are also available in tools like ChatGPT, Canva’s interface prompts you with potential alterations, which is incredibly intuitive and user-friendly. It’s like having a co-creator guiding you through the process.
Magic Design: A Tool for Visual Inspiration
One of Canva’s standout features is Magic Design. This feature leverages AI to provide design suggestions tailored to your needs. Whether you’re working on presentations, social media graphics, or marketing materials, Magic Design offers intelligent recommendations to enhance your creativity. For example, Magic Presentations can help you create visually compelling slide decks, while Magic Layouts provide a variety of design options to help bring your ideas to life.
Finding and using Magic Design is straightforward once you know where to look. Navigate to the Templates tab, and simply type your desired prompt into the search bar. The first row of results will be AI-generated suggestions from Magic Design. These designs are not only visually appealing but also save time by giving you a strong starting point. Whether you’re a design novice or a seasoned pro, this feature can be a huge time saver and a source of inspiration.
Our Test Drive:
Within Magic Write we gave the prompt: Make an Instagram story announcing karaoke night at Azucar Cuban Restaurant this Friday at 7 pm.
Our thoughts: The results were pretty basic and definitely not on-brand for our client. However, in this AI tool, you can edit individual components, exactly as you can in the general templates options. So you can edit any of the results to reflect brand colors, brand fonts, and switch out media that better represents the brand.
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