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Hey Designers,
Each week, we share updates on design, including branding changes, tool updates, and inspiring ideas. Here’s what stood out this week ↓
Canva’s new (free) Affinity
Canva has relaunched Affinity as a single, pro-grade design app (photo + vector + layout) that’s free forever on Mac & Windows, with iPad coming next. It integrates with Canva and clearly targets Adobe’s flagships
Affinity the British company Canva bought in 2024 is out with a new app that aims to sink Photoshop, Illustrator, and InDesign with a simple proposal: If you are a professional designer, here's an integrated photo editing, vector illustration, and page layout studio seamlessly integrated into a single application, with a feature set comparable to Adobe's apps and a fully customizable UI. For free.
The company also saw an opportunity in the feedback they were getting from the creative community, who Adams says are fed up with "pricing model increases, with lack of transparency, just the feeling they weren't being listened to, and a lack of innovation in the tools that they've been using for a very long time."
What changed
One app, not three. Affinity has merged Designer, Photo, and Publisher into a unified platform with a universal file type.
$0 price tag. Canva says the new Affinity is completely free (no subscription).
Tighter Canva bridge. Export to Canva, and (for Canva paid tiers) tap into AI helpers from inside Affinity.
Why this matters
Lower software overhead. If you’re paying multiple Adobe seats just for raster/vector/layout, this is immediate margin back.
Pro tools without the lock-in. Affinity’s long been the top non-Adobe option; the “free forever” move turns it into a real on-ramp for teams.
Workflow flexibility. Keep heavy design work in Affinity, hand off quick marketing iterations to clients in Canva.
How it compares (quick take)
Against Photoshop/Illustrator/InDesign: Affinity covers the classic triad in one app; Adobe still wins on ecosystem breadth (After Effects, XD/Figma handoff, Stock, etc.). But cost-to-capability just swung hard toward Affinity for many use cases.
Against Figma: Not a real replacement for multi-user UI design yet; think brand/marketing/print/photo/vector first, not product design systems. (Affinity hasn’t positioned this as a Figma killer.)
Our take
This is the strongest mainstream challenge to Adobe’s price moat we’ve seen. For brand, print, and marketing design, Affinity’s new all-in-one + free proposition removes the last big barrier: cost. We’ll still keep Adobe for niche workflows and Figma for UI
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