Canva’s gift: ‘Affinity’ – all you need to know
Canva is making its professional design tool Affinity “free forever” in a bid to turn the design software market upside down.
Today, the company announced that it is relaunching the tool with “significant changes” that make Affinity “a truly competitive product compared to competitors in this space.” And by making it free for everyone, Canva is clearly parking its tanks on Adobe’s lawn.
“When Canva launched, it was consciously trying to change the world, in terms of how non-experts could design,” – Canva’s Duncan Clark, head of EMEA, explains. “We see this as changing the world for how experts, and potential experts, can design.”
Nottinghamshire-based Serif launched its first app, Affinity Designer, in 2014, and later added photo and publisher tools. They revamped the entire suite in 2022. Canva acquired the company last year in a deal reportedly worth $380 million.
Affinity currently has five million downloads, but has grown by 1.5 million in the 18 months since the acquisition.
For example, Adobe’s creative apps currently have more than 30 million paying users, but Clark believes the new Affinity is well-positioned to compete with its competitors.
The new app brings all of Affinity’s tools into “one powerful product with one universal file type,” which means users will no longer need to switch between different applications for different types of design.
“That was a fragmented experience,” – Clark says. “With Affinity Studio, if you move between Vector and Pixel, the tools change, but you’re still in the same canvas.
“This is a breakthrough in how professional design tools are structured, and an architectural change that we deeply believe in. It feels very weird that it was ever separate.”
There is also a focus on performance and immediacy, to create what Clark calls an experience that “feels like an extension of your brain.”
Affinity is also unveiling a new identity, created by the Canva and Affinity teams in collaboration with Barcelona-based Twist Studio. The visual and verbal brand refresh is designed to reflect Affinity’s transition from a challenge-seeking brand to part of a design establishment.
Many designers are wary of Canva, believing its mission – “to empower the world to design” – undermines the value of professional design work, and even takes jobs away from the industry.
“There’s always a fear, when a new technology brings capability to more people, that it might undermine the experts.”
The role of a professional designer is more important than ever before.
“There’s no catch, no stripped-back version and no gotchas,” – Affinity CEO Ash Hewson says. “The same precise, high-performance tools that professionals rely on every day are now open to all, because creative freedom shouldn’t come with a cost.”
Aside from pricing, Canva also says it’s combining all of Affinity’s various functions into one program, so you’ll no longer need to swap between Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer, and Affinity Publisher based on your needs.
Availability
It’s currently available on Windows and Mac, with iPad coming soon. Affinity now uses “one universal file type,” – Canva says, and includes integrations that allow users to quickly export designs to their Canva account.
Canva Premium subscribers will also be able to use Canva’s AI-powered editing tools, such as image generation, photo cleanup, and instant copy, right in the Affinity app.
Older versions of the individual Affinity apps will still work for anyone who previously purchased them, and those users will not be forced to migrate to the new platform.
However, the V2 versions of Designer, Photo, and Publisher were removed from the Affinity website a few weeks ago, and Canva has not mentioned whether existing users will continue to receive support updates.
Adobe doubles down on (AI) efforts
Canva’s move comes the same week that Adobe announced a slew of AI innovations at its “Adobe MAX” conference in Los Angeles.
The new AI capabilities are designed to help creators “work faster and take advantage of more opportunities, expanding creative possibilities and removing time-consuming tasks and creative bottlenecks.”
The announcements also included an improved version of “Adobe Firefly” generative AI tools, with a focus on video. They introduce generative audio tracks and voiceovers, as well as improving “Premiere Pro” with AI object masking and improving “Photoshop” generative fill.
Adobe is also giving users more options to work with generative models from other companies, such as “Google”, “OpenAI”, and “Runway”.
Perhaps most intriguingly, Adobe announced “Project Moonlight”, a cross-app AI agent designed to act as a creative partner and project manager, overseeing and connecting other AI assistants.
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