Love it or loathe it, Canva has become a staple for creatives seeking a quick and simple design platform. Shedding the sexy yet stuffy branding of leading graphic design software like Adobe and Figma, Canva's latest tool embraces its playful, user-friendly image with its new "Chronically Online" mode.
https://www.creativebloq.com/design/is-canvas-cringey-gen-z-mode-secretly-genius
Design company Figma today announced multiple features, including AI-powered site and web app creation, a way for marketers to create assets in bulk, and a new drawing tool. With this launch, the company is taking on other creative solutions such as Canva and Adobe, along with AI-powered website and prototype creators such as WordPress, Wix, Hostinger, and Replit.
https://techcrunch.com/2025/05/07/figma-releases-new-ai-powered-tools-for-creating-sites-app-prototypes-and-marketing-assets/
Adobe’s leading ecosystem of creative tools including its Firefly and Express apps will provide access to OpenAI’s image generation capabilities, giving creators the choice and flexibility to experiment with different aesthetic styles – something business professionals, consumers and creators all value when generating new creative ideas. Figma is leveraging the latest model to bring advanced image generation and editing capabilities across its platform. Rolling out starting today, users can use ‘gpt-image-1’ in Figma Design to generate and edit images from simple prompt – adjusting styles, adding or removing objects, expanding backgrounds, and more. This new integration lets designers rapidly explore ideas and iterate visually, all in Figma.
https://www.theverge.com/news/654561/openai-chatgpt-image-generation-model-adobe-figma
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Figma recently pulled its “Make Designs” generative AI tool after a user discovered that asking it to design a weather app would spit out something suspiciously similar to Apple’s weather app — a result that could, among other things, land a user in legal trouble. “But in the week leading up to Config, new components and example screens were added that we simply didn’t vet carefully enough,” writes Noah Levin, Figma VP of product design.
https://www.theverge.com/2024/7/18/24201308/figma-make-designs-vet-apple
It’s all over for Adobe XD. After losing out in its $20bn bid for Figma, the firm is conceding defeat in the UI design arena – for now, at least. In the fallout of a deal that saw the company placed under the microscope of competition authorities in Europe and the US, Bloomberg is reporting that Adobe has confirmed it has “no plans to further invest” in its own UI/UX web design software.
https://www.techradar.com/pro/adobe-throws-xd-overboard-after-losing-out-on-dollar20bn-figma-deal
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Following mounting pressure from regulators in the UK and EU, Adobe and Figma announced on Monday that both companies are mutually terminating their merger agreement, which would have seen Adobe acquire the Figma product design platform for $20 billion. “It’s not the outcome we had hoped for,” said Figma CEO Dylan Field in a statement. “But despite thousands of hours spent with regulators around the world detailing differences between our businesses, our products, and the markets we serve, we no longer see a path toward regulatory approval of the deal.”
https://www.theverge.com/2023/12/18/24005996/adobe-figma-acquisition-abandoned-termination-fee
The DOJ is reportedly getting ready to file suit to block the $20 billion Adobe-Figma deal announced last year on the grounds it is anti-competitive. Bloomberg first reported the story yesterday afternoon. In a statement, Adobe took exception with the idea that the deal is anti-competitive, arguing that the two companies are looking at very different markets — creativity and collaboration.
https://techcrunch.com/2023/02/24/doj-suit-could-represent-significant-stumbling-block-for-20b-adobe-figma-deal/