Canva + Leonardo AI: Winning or Nah?

All I have to say is Canva, CANva, Canvaaaaa!!!I set up my first Canva account back in 2013 and I haven't looked back. Over the past 24 months, the graphic design platform has made some hefty moves that will indeed become game changers. 

LEONARDO AI AQUISITION: 

Leonardo is one of the top 3 most popular AI image generators, and it also happens to be founded in Australia (like Canva). So I'm expecting some BIG things from Canva's Acquisition. 

I am a hard core Midjourney fan, so I have been quite underwhelmed with Canva's Magic Media feature. While the rest of the Magic Studio is EPIC, I still find myself "outside" Canva for the quality of content visuals that I crave. But lil Leonardo might be just the push the the visual design platform needs to compete with Adobe, Google and Open Ai. I mean the MORE we can do INSIDE Canva, the more we use it, right? I mean we got "Background Remover" after they acquired Kaleido, right?!

NOT SO FAST!

Before we get too excited about better AI Images in Canva, I would like to point to Canva's acquisition of Affinity (professional graphic design tools). As a career graphic designer, I was popping bottles anticipating all the cool design features that would be integrated. But then at the Canva Creates annual event, I was bummed out when no integrations were announced. I also recall when Canva acquired SmartMockups. While we did see a FEW improved mockup features, the functionality was far less effective than the native platform.  BOTTOM LINE:

So, I'm going to hold my applause for now. But that doesn't mean that I'm not excited. So let's see what's next with Canva.  Catch you on the Flipside, Jai