Canva has introduced its Creative Operating System. CEO Melanie Perkins‘ company is focusing on new AI tools and making the Affinity suite free.
The visual communication platform Canva has announced its most comprehensive update to date, the Creative Operating System (Creative OS). The company has consolidated over a decade of its technological innovations into a single, unified platform. This system is designed to redefine how teams create content, collaborate on projects, and scale their brand presence.
This launch represents a significant step in Canva‘s ongoing mission to make design tools both accessible and intelligent for all users. The Creative OS is built upon the company’s proprietary Design Model. This foundation connects every stage of the creative process, from initial brainstorming and design to final publishing and performance tracking. The entire system is supported by a deep layer of artificial intelligence intended to amplify human creativity rather than replace it.
Canva has solidified its market presence with over 260 million monthly users, $3.5 billion in annualized revenue, and a valuation of $42 billion. The company reports that its customer base now includes 95% of the Fortune 500, with major clients like Stripe, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Snowflake utilizing its tools.
The “Imagination Era” Vision
Melanie Perkins, Co-Founder and CEO of Canva, commented on the new direction. She expressed her belief that as access to information becomes ubiquitous, society is moving from the “Information Era” into an “Imagination Era.” Perkins stated that the Creative Operating System is engineered to empower teams to thrive in this new landscape. She further noted that Canva is providing users with a comprehensive toolkit—from video and email tools to AI-driven design intelligence—to help them bring their ideas to life more efficiently.
An Expanded Visual Suite
At the heart of the Creative OS is an upgraded Visual Suite. This enhancement expands Canva‘s core capabilities into several new creative formats, including video, email, forms, and code integration.
Video 2.0 introduces a reimagined editor that combines professional-grade tools with Canva‘s signature ease of use. A new feature called Magic Video can generate polished, on-brand video content from a single text prompt. Additionally, AI-assisted editing automates tasks such as trimming, clip synchronization, and layering.
The Email Design feature brings email creation directly into the Canva environment. This allows marketing teams to build and export fully branded campaigns in minutes, without requiring any coding knowledge.
A new Forms tool enables users to collect feedback or data seamlessly within Canva. Responses are automatically integrated into Canva Sheets, permitting real-time tracking and analysis.
Furthermore, the connection between Canva Code and Canva Sheets links design elements directly to data sources. This allows users to build interactive dashboards, calculators, or educational tools that automatically update as the underlying data changes.
AI Powered by the Design Model
Canva‘s approach to artificial intelligence is anchored by its Design Model, which the company describes as the first model trained specifically to understand design logic.
This model operates by analyzing layout, hierarchy, and style. Based on this analysis, it can generate fully editable, brand-consistent designs in seconds. AI capabilities are now integrated across the entire platform. Users can employ natural language prompts to instantly create 3D graphics, textures, or videos. A style-matching AI ensures a cohesive brand aesthetic across all outputs.
A new assistant, Ask @Canva, provides real-time feedback, copy suggestions, and smart edits directly within the design workspace.
Marketing and Brand Management Features
The Creative OS is also positioned as an end-to-end marketing engine. The new Canva Grow platform allows teams to create, publish, and analyze campaigns all in one place. Powered by a “brand-aware” AI, Canva Grow learns from performance data, helping marketers refine content and improve their return on investment (ROI).
The Brand System integrates guidelines and assets—such as fonts, colors, and logos—directly into the design environment. This ensures that every output remains consistent, regardless of the creator or the channel.
To bridge its ecosystem, Canva also introduced Canva Business, a new plan tailored for marketers and small teams. This tier offers advanced AI tools, analytics, and scalability features, positioning it between the existing Canva Pro and Canva Enterprise plans.
Affinity Suite Becomes Free
In a significant strategic decision, Canva announced that its professional design suite, Affinity, is now free for all users. The Affinity toolset combines vector editing, image manipulation, and layout design into a single platform. It utilizes a universal file type and now seamlessly syncs with Canva for collaboration and publishing.
By merging Affinity‘s professional-grade tools with Canva‘s collaborative ecosystem, the company aims to remove one of the last major barriers separating creative professionals from everyday designers.
The launch of the Creative Operating System signals Canva‘s transformation from a design tool into a “creative infrastructure platform.” This strategy fuses creativity, data, and automation, positioning AI as an augmentation for human imagination rather than a competitor.
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