At Canva’s first-ever developer conference in San Francisco today, the company announced a new developer platform and a $50 million “innovation fund.” Canva, a design platform that competes with the likes of Adobe and Figma, claims he has 135 million monthly active users. This is therefore a very interesting possibility for developers, including independent developers, to be able to charge for the apps they develop.
To learn more about Canva’s developer platform and why developers want to use it, we spoke with Canva’s Head of Ecosystem, Anwar Haneef.
The key to the new development platform is the “Canva App”, which is described as “a JavaScript file running within an iframe”. The files are then viewed within Canva, a web-based service and application across platforms, with access to a number of APIs to interact with your designs. To build apps, developers have access to the Canva Apps SDK (software development kit), which is now publicly available.
What kind of apps will be built?
Canva’s user base is broader than Figma’s. Canva is generally seen as a business or marketing tool, whereas Figma is clearly targeted at designers (although we learned earlier this year that many developers are using his Figma as well). . According to Haneef, users use his Canva for a variety of design purposes, including marketing and sales materials and social media content.
When asked what kind of apps Canva hopes to build for this large user base, Haneef unsurprisingly first emphasizes generative AI apps. He expects AI apps such as virtual avatars, image manipulation apps and photo editing tools to emerge. In fact, he said one of the apps being shown at today’s developer conference is Generative, his audio app that generates custom music for Canva users.
“There are all sorts of media, visual and auditory applications that we expect, especially given the recent Cambrian explosion of AI,” said Hanif.
Canva AI App
Another area Canva is interested in is workflow-focused apps, Haneef continues. Canva has many users with marketing and sales backgrounds who use the platform to create designs and incorporate assets from their digital asset management suite. So he envisions an app that seamlessly integrates productivity tools like Monday and Asana into his Canva.
Canva App Store for Developers
The Canva app is a mix of both free and paid options, so there is an app marketplace. Haneef said Canva will make the platform sustainable for everyone involved, whether they are developers building on behalf of external companies or independent developers looking to monetize their apps. I said that I would like to
Hanif acknowledged that developers will be able to set up subscription services and one-time payment models in their apps. Additionally, developers can apply to the $50 million Canva Developers Innovation Fund.
Canva clearly targets JavaScript developers first and foremost. But Hanif said he also wants other front-end developers to build on Canva. Canva’s APIs and tools are designed to be familiar and comfortable for web developers to pick up and use, he said. They will offer pre-built components and libraries that will allow developers to create apps “in days,” he said.
Canva App Marketplace
JavaScript is the main focus, but Canva also plans to launch something called the “Connect API”. This is a REST API that allows you to connect any external app to Canva. A wait list for this was opened today and the API is expected to be ready later this year, the company said in a press release.
Haneef added that developers can use the Connect API in any programming language as there is no SDK for the Connect API.
The Hype Cycle of Canva For Everything
Given Canva’s wide user base and the fact that it can be used for almost any digital design, it’s often talked about on social media as a threat to other creator platforms. This week, Jamie Marsland (who runs a WordPress development shop) was suggested They claim that Canva is a threat to WordPress because “Canva’s distribution potential is absolutely huge.” He pointed out that Canva already has a one-page site builder.
A commenter on Marsland’s tweet pointed out that Canva is currently a competitor to Photoshop. However, this new developer platform could add a lot of nifty features for Canva users. Perhaps he CMS company will create an app that turns Canva into a full-fledged website builder.
Either way, it’s clear that Canva itself has grand ambitions to expand its reach. According to Haneef, Canva aims to be “the most pluggable platform in the world.” It sounds exaggerated, but it’s true. However, Canva’s large user base makes it an attractive proposition for developers. So, if you’re a developer looking for opportunities to plug in and make money, it’s worth checking out his new Canva developer platform.
