As AI spreads across larger organizations, one area where the technology has seen quick adoption is in design. Most in-house creative teams are swamped with requests from across the company to do things like spruce up sales decks or create on-brand marketing materials. Consequently, employees are turning to AI, using design tools to turn tedious tasks that would’ve taken hours by a professional designer into a few clicks.
This has had a dual benefit: Not only does it reduce the time to hit deadlines for departments across the company, it also takes work off the hands of creative teams so they can focus on tasks of greater importance. “It doesn’t only help with productivity,” Wu says. “It also moves resources to a higher order where you’re focused on the overall strategy, the overall message, and the unique experience that [the audience] would have.”
DESIGN FOR EVERYONE
It could be the most transformative technology of the next decade and beyond—but AI is also having an immense impact on businesses today
How AI is supercharging work right now
By now it has become clear that artificial intelligence will play a crucial role in the future of work. That’s the direction that today’s AI discussions generally point: Forward.
But in truth, AI has already arrived. It’s making an impact at companies across a wide array of industries, driving efficiency and boosting the output and abilities of employees across the globe. In fact, 75% of marketing and creative teams today “consider generative AI an essential part of their toolkit,” according to research by Canva, a visual communication platform. A nearly equal number believe it enhances their team’s creativity and productivity.
BY FASTCO WORKS
With AI showing so much promise, enterprises have been eager to invest. But not all are diving in so readily as there are valid concerns around data privacy and security. Then there’s the unease that comes with a wildly crowded market, with new tools popping up seemingly by the week, and with many of them designed without the needs of enterprises in mind. Many of those products are yet to establish, as Wu puts it, a “full story to tell” around data collection and the increasing regulatory pressure therein. “In this fragmented market,” he says, “it can be pretty hard for decision-makers in organizations and enterprises to fully trust AI.”
“AI doesn’t only help with productivity. It also moves resources to a higher order where you’re focused on the overall strategy, the overall message.”
“It’s already grown really substantially,” says Danny Wu, head of AI products at Canva. “The adoption curve has picked up, with both early adopters and more recent newcomers experimenting and trying out features. We’re seeing really positive signs that AI is already becoming more and more ingrained into everyday workflows for all sorts of different professions.”
Today, employees are using AI to do everything from writing first drafts of important communications to generating images, video, and documents. Marketing teams are laying the groundwork for other departments to quickly create on-brand assets with AI, enabling employees to ditch the tedious while maximizing their creative output on the work that provides the most value.
Danny Wu,
head of AI products, Canva
of marketing and creative teams today who consider generative AI an essential part of their toolkit
Source: Canva Marketing & AI Report
75%
commissioned by
Credit line tktktkt.
WHAT’S HOLDING AI BACK?
CREATED BY
+
05-17-24
Social media teams are using AI to generate photos and videos that more closely mirror the related message than stock images. Canva’s AI tools allow companies to create and store a brand kit, empowering sales teams to create their own on-brand decks before meeting with potential new clients, while any team with an immediate need can easily spin up a flyer, PDF, or other marketing materials that adhere to the company’s overall branding guidelines. One of Wu’s favorite examples comes from the fitness industry, where Movement Gyms has leveraged Canva’s AI tools to create marketing assets. This has delegated roughly 60% of the design workload to team members who don’t hold traditionally creative roles but are able to create what they need in minutes with AI.
“AI allows the sort of free-flowing brainstorming process that tends to unlock best efforts. . . . It’s a tool that can really modulate and magnify expression.”
Bhautik Joshi,
principal applied scientist, Canva
The technology is making an immense impact on the written word, as well, allowing people to quickly generate a first draft to start them along the path to a final piece of writing. “It’s about giving people a much better and more creative place to start from,” says Bhautik Joshi, principal applied scientist at Canva. “We all talk about how, when you’re being productive, you get in the zone. This is about getting people to that spot more quickly and more directly.” It can also help to mitigate feelings of inadequacy—or being judged—when collaborating alongside a team member; AI allows the sort of free-flowing brainstorming process that tends to unlock best efforts.
Joshi uses it to refine the final message, as well. Canva’s Magic Write tool helps him get past the fear of the blank page while keeping his language, which can veer toward the florid, in check. “It’s a tool to really modulate and magnify expression,” he says.
Finally, there’s the weight of expectation. As Joshi puts it, some users expect AI to be infinitely creative, able to produce anything from a few simple directions. In truth, AI tools come with their own set of biases and preferences, including toward things like style and tone. So it’s important that companies that embrace the technology acknowledge the challenges and build guardrails around usage.
“There’s been a lot of hype, a lot of promise about what AI can do,” Joshi says. During the next year, he expects companies to begin sorting out what AI is and is not good for—transitioning away from the astonishment that comes with first use and toward understanding exactly how to capture value from it. As that direction comes clearly into focus, adoption will rise. “Once you use this all the time—when this becomes ordinary—what do these workflows look like?” he adds. “I think that’s going to be the challenge and the opportunity both for people who build these tools and for enterprises.”
The technology is making an immense impact on the written word, as well, allowing people to quickly generate a first draft to start them along the path to a final piece of writing. “It’s about giving people a much better and more creative place to start from,” says Bhautik Joshi, principal applied scientist at Canva. “We all talk about how, when you’re being productive, you get in the zone. This is about getting people to that spot more quickly and more directly.” It can also help to mitigate feelings of inadequacy—or being judged—when collaborating alongside a team member; AI allows the sort of free-flowing brainstorming process that tends to unlock best efforts.
Joshi uses it to refine the final message, as well. Canva’s Magic Write tool helps him get past the fear of the blank page while keeping his language, which can veer toward the florid, in check. “It’s a tool to really modulate and magnify expression,” he says.
As AI spreads across larger organizations, one area where the technology has seen quick adoption is in design. Most in-house creative teams are swamped with requests from across the company to do things like spruce up sales decks or create on-brand marketing materials. Consequently, employees are turning to AI, using design tools to turn tedious tasks that would’ve taken hours by a professional designer into a few clicks.
This has had a dual benefit: Not only does it reduce the time to hit deadlines for departments across the company, it also takes work off the hands of creative teams so they can focus on tasks of greater importance. “It doesn’t only help with productivity,” Wu says. “It also moves resources to a higher order where you’re focused on the overall strategy, the overall message, and the unique experience that [the audience] would have.”
Social media teams are using AI to generate photos and videos that more closely mirror the related message than stock images. Canva’s AI tools allow companies to create and store a brand kit, empowering sales teams to create their own on-brand decks before meeting with potential new clients, while any team with an immediate need can easily spin up a flyer, PDF, or other marketing materials that adhere to the company’s overall branding guidelines. One of Wu’s favorite examples comes from the fitness industry, where Movement Gyms has leveraged Canva’s AI tools to create marketing assets. This has delegated roughly 60% of the design workload to team members who don’t hold traditionally creative roles but are able to create what they need in minutes with AI.
DESIGN FOR EVERYONE
It’s not easy. Attention spans are short, which puts a premium on leaving people with the right message in the shortest amount of time—while making sure that message is presented in an engaging manner. Design teams only have so much capacity, and often, those precious resources are pointed in the direction of external marketing initiatives. Teams and individuals delivering a message to their fellow employees are often left to rely on their own design skills.
If they want the message to land, it’s vital that they get the visuals right: 85% of business leaders believe visual communication carries more authority than other forms of communication, according to Canva’s “Visual Economy Report.”
Branding is viewed largely as a tool for shaping how consumers perceive a business. A company’s ads, logos, signage, website, and social media posts create a public-facing image. But these days, companies are using internal presentations, messaging, and even onboarding materials to invoke a consistent, cohesive brand identity aimed at keeping employees engaged.
“The challenge for internal communication teams and people teams is trying to cut through the noise—in the same way that brands externally are trying to resonate with customers,” says Lachlan Andrews, head of corporate and internal communications at Canva, a leading software platform for design. “You think about the importance of visual communication in marketing or social media, but the same really applies to being able to engage with the employees that work for you.”
BY FASTCO WORKS
Credit line tktktkt.
of marketing and creative teams today who consider generative AI an essential part of their toolkit
Source: Canva Marketing & AI Report
75%
“AI allows the sort of free-flowing brainstorming process that tends to unlock best efforts. . . . It’s a tool that can really modulate and magnify expression.”
Bhautik Joshi,
principal applied scientist, Canva
“AI doesn’t only help with productivity. It also moves resources to a higher order where you’re focused on the overall strategy, the overall message.”
Danny Wu,
head of AI products, Canva
It could be the most transformative technology of the next decade and beyond—but AI is also having an immense impact on businesses today
How AI is supercharging work right now
05-13-24
CREATED BY
commissioned by
+
With AI showing so much promise, enterprises have been eager to invest. But not all are diving in so readily as there are valid concerns around data privacy and security. Then there’s the unease that comes with a wildly crowded market, with new tools popping up seemingly by the week, and with many of them designed without the needs of enterprises in mind. Many of those products are yet to establish, as Wu puts it, a “full story to tell” around data collection and the increasing regulatory pressure therein. “In this fragmented market,” he says, “it can be pretty hard for decision-makers in organizations and enterprises to fully trust AI.”
WHAT’S HOLDING AI BACK?
Finally, there’s the weight of expectation. As Joshi puts it, some users expect AI to be infinitely creative, able to produce anything from a few simple directions. In truth, AI tools come with their own set of biases and preferences, including toward things like style and tone. So it’s important that companies that embrace the technology acknowledge the challenges and build guardrails around usage.
“There’s been a lot of hype, a lot of promise about what AI can do,” Joshi says. During the next year, he expects companies to begin sorting out what AI is and is not good for—transitioning away from the astonishment that comes with first use and toward understanding exactly how to capture value from it. As that direction comes clearly into focus, adoption will rise. “Once you use this all the time—when this becomes ordinary—what do these workflows look like?” he adds. “I think that’s going to be the challenge and the opportunity both for people who build these tools and for enterprises.”