Create any design from a single prompt

We introduced AI-design generation in the Design tab allowing users to search existing templates or generate something unique that can be edited on the canvas just like the templates they’re used to.

AI-powered design generation in the Design tab

The challenge

This project marked the introduction of AI generation directly inside the Canva Editor. Our challenge was to bring this capability into the Design tab in a way that felt additive, enhancing discovery without disrupting familiar search and discovery workflows.

The new experience needed to feel seamless no matter what the user was designing, whether it be Social posts, Videos, Presentations or Emails, building consistent, scalable patterns across both the Design and Elements tabs. Since these surfaces are high traffic areas, used by nearly all Canva users, even small changes had a wide-reaching impact.

We faced an ambitious two-month deadline to define the scope, align across multiple teams, and deliver a cohesive experience, introducing an AI-powered discovery experience that felt intuitive, consistent, and flexible enough to scale across Canva’s diverse editing contexts.

Reusable generation patterns used in the Elements tab