Affinity Studio / Canva relationship

I only use Affinity Studio and have my own workflow, just like everyone else. I haven't used Pixel Studio yet because I prefer Photoshop. I would never use Canva itself. That's for people without ideas (in my opinion).

I am referring only to Affinity here, and I think AI can be a very useful support.

I am really looking forward to Canva AI reaching a point where it can be used properly. I cancelled the premium subscription about half a year ago after just one day in the trial, because I found what Canva AI offers quite disappointing. Once I see that it works reliably in professional use, I will immediately subscribe again.

By the way, this is not related to Canva AI: The Object Selection Tool in the Pixel Studio is not convincing at all. As good as Affinity Pixel Studio is overall, this almost forces one to fall back on Adobe Photoshop for this task. Nowadays, one simply cannot afford to spend hours on cut-outs. And it is frustrating to know that in Photoshop it usually works almost perfectly with a single click.

Canva services a huge gap in the industry and they know it, particularly surface pattern designers such as me, who create art traditionally offline using our imagination, ideas and skill. I find that Canva removes backgrounds a lot smoother than Affinity and saves a lot of editing time (see image below). Also heaps quicker for output when time is money, as you've already pointed out. Easy to create a website too as it's drag and drop and you just need something basic. It is a hidden gem if only one cares to look or not depending on if you can be openminded and have a sense of exploration about things. I have witnessed Canva grow exponentially since the Affinity relaunch. I've had a play with the Ai and would say it's better in Canva than in Affinity at this point in time. One particular amazing tool is the magic layers where I can upload a scanned painting and not have to spend hours isolating layers.

I'm sure other design peeps with a plethora of ideas have also found incredible benefit using Canva. The Creoforma community is aimed at Affinity users. I nudge them to take another look at Canva because it's becoming a useful/valuable tool in the design process, which I'm sure is what the good people at Canva are aiming for.

Edit to add- I use Affinity when I need cmyk output as Canva only uses rgb at this point in time. If you are creating posters, you can specify cmyk when first creating a document or art boards in Affinity. And you can refer to Pantone colour formula books to know how a colour will appear in print. (A valuable investment if it's in your budget). The rgb/cymk issue is common so I wanted to make you aware if you weren't.

Quote from mooksii

Canva only uses rgb at this point in time.

Canva can also CMYK

Quote from md_germany

Canva can also CMYK

Apparently only save in CMYK for paid customers....

Ya sorry I meant to say for free version to let OP know and avoid issues at the printers

Thank you for posting. I didn’t know this about Canva, I usually create my designs in Affinity as I’m moving over from Illustrator to use Affinity full time. It’s such a relief to be leaving Adobe behind and their terrible business practices.