Magic Studio, a new offering from Canva, will provide users with access to Magic Media, a feature enabling text-to-image and text-to-video transformations. Additionally, Magic Design will empower users to effortlessly transform prompts or their own media into professionally designed videos or presentations.
Over the past year, Artificial Intelligence has revolutionized and expedited the realm of design and visual creativity. With Canva’s latest AI-driven platform, Magic Studio, crafting a fresh design for your marketing campaign or a new social media post for your company has been simplified to the extent of just a one-line prompt.
Cliff Obrecht, COO and Co-founder of Canva, firmly believes that AI will profoundly enhance the capabilities of creators using Canva. In an interview with indianexpress.com, he mentioned, “We have had our AI products used over 3 billion times, and we have learned so much.” He added that the focus now is on harnessing this technology as the “workhorse” that drives Canvas functionality.
Obrecht elaborated on a key aspect of Magic Studio’s significance, which lies in its ability to seamlessly operate across various document formats. He highlighted the versatility of this functionality, stating, “For instance, if you generate a whiteboard, you can effortlessly transform it into an email, a blog post, or even a presentation… we integrate AI with all our document formats, and that’s where the real potency lies.” This unique feature, aptly named Magic Switch by Canva, is being promoted as an industry-leading innovation.
“Our customers don’t begin their day with the explicit goal of using AI.” Instead, their mornings revolve around specific tasks they aim to complete. Therefore, we perceive AI as a tool that empowers them in achieving those tasks efficiently.” individuals to complete their tasks more efficiently and intelligently, ultimately aiding them in reaching their objectives,” Obrecht explained. He, along with Melanie Perkins and Cameron Adams, co-founded Canva in 2013, and today, the platform proudly boasts 150 million active users each month.
Magic Studio from Canva offers an array of valuable features to its users. These include Magic Media, enabling text-to-image and text-to-video transformations, and Magic Design, which seamlessly transforms prompts or existing media into fully designed videos or presentations. Additionally, Brand Voice simplifies the process of incorporating your brand’s tone into designs or documents by providing guidelines. Lastly, Magic Morph swiftly transforms text and shapes with a straightforward prompt.
Elaborating on the accelerated pace facilitated by AI, Obrecht illustrated the transformation in the process. Previously, creating a presentation involved manually laying out pages, selecting templates, and clicking on each page. He noted, “Now, you can simply instruct it to generate a presentation, and it will accomplish that task effortlessly.” It serves as an excellent starting point, allowing you to subsequently apply brand colors and fonts. What might have taken an hour can now be accomplished in a matter of seconds.”
Obrecht believes that this doesn’t signify the end of designers. He explained, “Designers establish the aesthetic standards, and there will always be a need for them. Design has consistently been the domain of highly creative individuals equipped with professional design tools. What Canva accomplishes is placing that creative potential within everyone’s reach, empowering them to craft visually stunning creations.”
Given the current emphasis on enterprise adoption within Canva, Obrecht mentioned their ability to integrate with various digital asset management systems. This integration enables users to connect with various content sources and generate designs seamlessly. He stated, “At present, we offer a wide-ranging selection of over a thousand applications, catering to the requirements of both individual consumers and businesses alike.”
Currently, India stands out as one of the prominent markets for Canva. Obrecht emphasized the substantial presence of Indian enterprises and businesses utilizing Canva. He mentioned, “The willingness to subscribe among knowledge workers in large corporations is certainly evident, and we are capitalizing on that.” However, Obrecht emphasized their commitment to a long-term perspective in a market like India. He added, “For us, it’s not just about the balance between free and paying users… Our guiding principle has consistently been that delivering an outstanding product to all users is the catalyst for growth.” growth, and in turn, that growth naturally leads to revenue generation.”
