Sydney, October 30, 2025 – In a dazzling display at the Canva World Tour keynote, co-founder and CEO Melanie Perkins unveiled what she’s calling Canva’s biggest product launch ever: the Creative Operating System (Creative OS). Bidding farewell to the “Information Era,” Canva is propelling us into an Imagination Era where AI doesn’t just assist – it amplifies human creativity at scale. With 260 million monthly active users, $3.5 billion in annualized revenue, and a $42 billion valuation, this Sydney-born disruptor is now serving 95% of the Fortune 500 and gunning straight for Adobe, Google Workspace, and Microsoft.
Forget fragmented tools and endless app-switching. Creative OS fuses a supercharged Visual Suite, a world-first design AI, and brand-scaling platforms into one seamless ecosystem. Rolling out today, it’s free to start, with premium AI unlocks for Pro/Business users – and a game-changer: Affinity’s pro design suite is now free forever.
Table of Contents
The AI Brain: Canva Design Model – Design Smarts Like Never Before
At the heart? The Canva Design Model, the world’s first AI trained explicitly on design principles – structure, layering, hierarchy, branding, and visual logic. This isn’t generic image-gen; it’s fully editable masterpieces whipped up in seconds.
| AI Superpowers | What It Does | Mind-Blown Example |
|---|---|---|
| AI-Powered Designs | Generates complete social posts, presentations, videos, or docs | “Create a TikTok-ready product launch video” → Instant, layered edit |
| AI Elements | Photos, videos, icons, 3D objects, custom code | 3D Generator: Add depth to flat designs |
| Style Match & Magic Background | Matches vibes, auto-fits scenes | Upload a mood board → Everything aligns perfectly |
| Ask @Canva | Real-time editor assistant | Tag in comments: “Fix this layout” → Contextual fonts/colors applied |
| Guided Presentations | Chat-based storyboarding | “Pitch my startup” → Structured slides ready to polish |
Pro Tip: It’s integrated into ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini – design magic anywhere.
Visual Suite 2.0: From Pixels to Pros, Friction-Free
Upgrades make pros jealous:
- Video 2.0: Rebuilt timeline for drag-sync-layer bliss. Magic Video transforms clips via text (“Make it viral!”). TikTok/Reels templates, watermark-free exports.
- Canva Forms: Embed surveys/RSVP in sites – data flows to Canva Sheets for instant viz.
- Email Design: Drag-drop branded campaigns, AI copy/images, mobile previews, HTML export – bye, Mailchimp hops.
Canva Grow & Brand System: Scale Like a Fortune 500
- Canva Grow: AI marketing engine. Scan your site → Auto-gen ad variants in brand colors. One-click publish to Meta (more coming). Real-time analytics + AI tweaks = ROI rocket fuel.
- Brand System (aka Brand Hub 2.0): Central hub for logos, tones, guidelines. AI spits 100% on-brand designs. Team context pulls from Drive/Dropbox.
Affinity Free: Pro Tools for the Masses
Acquired pros’ fave? Now zero-cost forever. Non-destructive edits, vector mastery, live Canva integration – Affinity Studio included for Premiums.
Perkins sums it up: “We’ve been thinking about how we can empower our community… From major upgrades… to tools to grow your brand… we can’t wait to see how people use all of these new products to bring their ideas to life.”
Why This Changes Everything
Creative OS democratizes pro creativity. Marketers ditch 10 tabs; solos scale empires; enterprises (Stripe, Pinterest) save millions in silos. Adobe? Watch your back. This isn’t evolution – it’s design’s OS revolution.
Ready to imagine bigger? Download Canva free and dive in today. The future of creation just powered on. 🚀
Follow for more AI/design scoops. What will you create first?