Canva’s next act: building the operating system for creativity 🎨

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The Australian design platform is entering a new era. With a wave of AI-powered tools and a broader vision of what creativity can be, Canva is evolving from a simple design app into an all-in-one ecosystem for visual creation and communication.

Pushing the limits of creativity 🎨

Canva has become nearly impossible to ignore in the world of digital design. The platform now counts over 260 million monthly active users worldwide and is valued at $42 billion. Its momentum is fueled by recent acquisitions like Leonardo AI and Affinity, as well as the launch of Visual Suite 2.0.

© Canva

For co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins, this marks what she calls the beginning of “the era of imagination.” Canva’s new ambition? To become a “creative operating system” — a platform that connects every tool needed to produce content, from design and video to marketing and communication.

This new phase is built around three key pillars: a centralized Visual Suite, deeper AI integration across all tools, and a growing focus on seamless collaboration.

Smarter tools for creators and teams 💡

Canva’s mission has always been about making creativity easier and more accessible — and now it’s getting a major upgrade. The company has completely overhauled its video editor, adding a timeline interface, automatic effects, and a “Magic Video” mode that can generate entire clips from a simple text prompt.

© Canva

Another major addition is the form builder, designed to create interactive forms that can be embedded into web pages or existing designs. The responses are automatically synced with Canva Sheets, which can also connect to Canva Code to update widgets or dashboards in real time.

Canva is also rolling out new brand customization options, allowing users to unify fonts, colors, and logos across all their designs. These features are especially useful for small businesses and marketing teams looking to maintain consistent branding without relying on external agencies.

From design tool to marketing powerhouse 📈

Canva is no longer just about making things look good — it’s becoming a complete digital marketing platform. The new Marketing Campaigns module promises to “learn” from past performance and automatically improve future campaigns.

The company is also introducing an email editor that lets users design professional-looking messages with zero coding. Exporting them in HTML makes it easy to plug them into any mailing service.

To tie everything together, Canva is expanding its brand hub, where all visual assets — logos, color palettes, templates, and fonts — are instantly accessible inside the editor. A new Pro+ plan will soon be available for small organizations, giving them access to advanced AI tools and enhanced collaboration features.

AI at the heart of Canva’s evolution 🤖

Artificial intelligence is now central to Canva’s reinvention. The platform has developed its own AI design model that understands layout logic and can generate full, editable designs in seconds — a first for the creative tech space.

Canva is also introducing “Ask @Canva,” a built-in creative assistant that helps users refine their designs, suggest improvements, or automate repetitive tasks. The goal isn’t to replace creativity, but to amplify it.

© Canva

At the same time, the company has opened a European Data Residency to meet local privacy standards and has announced lifetime free access to Affinity tools, now merged into a single, unified app.

By combining AI, design, productivity, and marketing, Canva is positioning itself as a universal creative infrastructure. This evolution marks a bold shift: Canva is no longer just a tool — it’s becoming an integrated platform designed to power every visual need, from individual creators to global enterprises. It’s a transformation that could reshape the future of creative work.

👉🏾 Do you think Canva can really become the “creative operating system” of the future?