Canva is one of my favorite graphic design programs. It's extremely user-friendly -- even for those of us who are less artistically inclined -- and offers a robust free plan that's perfect for most budgets.
Like a lot of digital creative services, Canva received an artificial intelligence makeover in the past year. It has a full suite of AI features that let you easily generate text, photos and videos. Those upgrades include Magic Media, the company's AI image generator. You can test out Canva's AI image generator for free, but you'll have to pay up to get access to all its AI tools, which will set you back $120 a year on the Pro plan.
I've spent a lot of time with Magic Media, and it's certainly a good option for beginners. But if you want to use a different program, you can try out OpenAI's Dall-E and Google's Imagen image generators in your Canva projects, too. No matter what app you choose, make sure you review the app's privacy policy. Canva automatically opts you out of letting it train its AI on your content, but OpenAI and Google have separate policies that could let it train on your work.
With Canva's Magic Media, you get 50 photo and five video lifetime credits on the free plan, and you'll need to be careful about how you spend them. Each time you generate a batch of images, it will deduct a credit. And Canva's not the most prompt-adherent generator I've tested -- simpler is better with Canva -- so you'll be generating a lot to get the image you're envisioning.
Here's what you need to know about generating AI images in Canva.
To get started generating images, you'll need to pull up the Magic Media app. Here's how.
1, Open your Canva project.
2. Navigate to the left side menu.
3. Click Apps.
4. Search for Magic Media.
5. Click the picture icon with sparkles to open.
You can also follow those steps to search and open the apps for Dall-E and Imagen. When you click the icon, it will automatically open the editing window for Magic Media. You'll be able to find it easier going forward because it will move the app to the bottom of your left side menu.
Magic Media is pretty self-explanatory and easy to use. Enter your prompt in the query box, and Canva automatically keeps track of your credits underneath the box. Once you insert an AI image into your project, it's added to your library and uploads tab so you can easily access it across different project files. Once an image is in your library, you can use it as many times as you like without deducing additional credits.
Canva images are not watermarked, so you're going to want to take extra care to disclose that your projects have AI-generated content. If you're struggling to bring your artistic vision to life, check out my tips on writing the best AI image prompt. You can peruse my full review of Canva Magic Media for more tips and tricks.