The key facts

  • Canva released its first proprietary image generation model, Canva Craft
  • The model works in two stages and produces images up to 2K in 30 aspect ratios
  • It was trained on design templates rather than photos; Craftfast and Craft-ultrafast versions were announced

Canva Craft launch

Design platform Canva has unveiled its first image generation model — Canva Craft. The model was developed by the company's research team and will compete with similar developments from Google, OpenAI, ByteDance, and Meta.

How the model works

According to the company, the model works in two stages. First, it interprets the user's request and creates a plan: spatial relationships of elements, relative scale, visual hierarchy, and data for text generation. It then creates an image with a resolution of up to 2K in 30 different aspect ratios for various platforms. This approach, Canva claims, makes it possible to obtain images with accurate object details and readable text, as well as to make targeted edits without affecting the rest of the picture.

Trained on design, not photographs

Instead of photographs, design materials from Canva's library were used for training: human-created templates of posters, social media posts, presentations, infographics, menus, and layouts with abundant typography. Thanks to this, images created in Canva Craft can be converted into multi-layered designs using Canva Magic — an 'image-to-design' transformer whose model the company released a year earlier.

Availability and plans

Canva Craft is available to all platform users via the Dream Lab tab, as well as through the Canva API. The company plans to support image generation in third-party chatbots such as ChatGPT and Gemini via Canva MCP. Previously, Canva used many third-party models, so its own development will likely help reduce API costs; the company also notes greater control over quality and speed. Two economical versions of the model — Craftfast and Craft-ultrafast — are in development and will be released soon. Researchers from Leonardo.ai, acquired by Canva in 2024, contributed to the model.

Financial context

According to TechCrunch, last year Canva was on track for $4 billion in revenue. However, the company lowered its growth forecast for 2026, and, according to external analysts, its valuation fell from $42 billion to $35 billion.