Struggling to come up with fresh, professional designs that truly stand out? What if you could create stunning, scroll-stopping designs in just seconds with no design experience? It’s now possible with AI design tools.
These tools can instantly generate eye-catching designs from your prompts, suggest color palettes, and help you edit your designs efficiently. Whether you’re a beginner or a professional, these tools will help you design faster and better.
In this article, I’m going to reveal the Best AI tools for design. After months of research and testing the most popular AI tools, I’m finally here with my list. So, are you ready to supercharge your creativity with AI? Let’s dive in!
AI design tools are platforms or software that utilize AI to create, improve, or automate your designs. With these tools, you can design posters, graphics, logos, and even websites, apps, interfaces, and dashboards.
Many AI design tools also include features like AI background removal, image enhancement, and resizing for different platforms. Popular examples of AI design tools are Canva and Figma.
| Tool Name | Best For | Key Features | Pricing |
| Canva | Beginners, freelancers, & small businesses needing quick graphics and design inspiration. | Prompt to Design, Magic Studio, and Friendly UI | Limited free usage of AI tools. Paid plans start from ₹500/mo/user. |
| Adobe Express | Content creators & individuals needing an all-in-one content creation tool | Generative AI, Seamless Integration, and Adobe Firefly. | 10 monthly AI generations for free. Paid plans start from ₹399/mo |
| Microsoft Designer | Non-designers wanting to create professional graphics for hobby projects. | Text-to-Image Generation, Canva-like Interface, & Image Editing. | 15 monthly AI credits for free. Paid plans start from ₹689/mo |
1) Canva
Canva is one of the most popular graphic design tools, with over 220 million monthly active users. It lets you create all kinds of designs, from social media posts to presentations, ads, logos, AI images, videos, printable materials, and entire websites!
You can access its AI capabilities from the Canva AI tab. Select the ‘Design for me’ option and pick the type of design you wish to generate. Then, enter your prompt and see your design come to life within seconds! For instance, here’s an ad poster for an organic skincare cream.
You won’t find the perfect results on the first try, though. You’ll have to tweak your designs a little. If you have a brand kit, you can also streamline the colors and fonts of your design accordingly.
But that’s not all. Canva’s Magic Studio has dozens of other AI tools to help with your design processes. Popular tools include background remover, magic edit (to replace or edit specific parts of your image), and magic expand (to extend your image in any direction).
I personally loved using Canva’s Magic Morph tool. It applies your requested effects to shapes and text and transforms them into something super creative! Its Image to Mockup template tool was also quite impressive!
Overall, Canva is perfect for those looking for design inspiration or those who need quick graphics for their projects.
Pricing: You get a limited use of Canva’s AI tools on its free plan. Its paid subscriptions start from ₹500/month/user.
2) Adobe Express
Adobe Express is an all-in-one content creation tool powered by Adobe Firefly. It simplifies the creation of logos, graphics, social media content, videos, and more with AI. It offers all the basic design tools, so you can insert templates, elements, graphs and charts, text, etc, in your design.
Under the Generative AI tab, you’ll find AI tools to generate images, videos, text effects, and templates. If you click on the Generate template button, it lets you choose your graphic type and enter a prompt.
The graphics generated by its generative AI tool are really impressive. It won’t need a lot of fine-tuning before publishing. Apart from this, it also features additional AI tools to remove background, remove objects, generate similar images by copying the style of your current image, etc.
Pricing: The free plan of Adobe Express offers 10 monthly AI generations, and each prompt consumes 1 credit. Its paid plans start from ₹399/month.
3) Microsoft Designer
Microsoft Designer is an AI-powered graphic design and image editing platform. It helps users create professional-quality graphics instantly with little to no design experience.
To get started, simply head over to the ‘Create with AI’ section and select what you wish to create. It offers options like images, icons, wallpapers, banners, social posts, posters, etc. You can explore pre-designed ideas or write a custom description of your graphic.
You can also add an image if you want to include one, and specify the size of your design. It generates 4 outputs, but not all of them are relevant. Some designs may contain irrelevant colors, elements, and themes.
Their design dashboard is similar to Canva. You can edit your design with text options, upload images and other media, and use your AI-generated images in your graphics. You can also insert shapes, illustrations, photos, icons, or generate your images, stickers, and icons via prompts.
Overall, Microsoft Designer offers decent AI tools, but the prompt adherence is not accurate at the moment. If you want design inspiration for your hobby projects, you can definitely check it out.
Pricing: Its free plan offers 15 monthly AI credits. For more, you can upgrade to its paid plans starting at ₹689/month.
| Tool Name | Best For | Key Features | Pricing |
| Figma | Professional UI/UX designers needing to create interactive prototypes & wireframes | Prototype Generation, Real-time Collaboration, & Pre-designed Templates | Free plan offers limited AI credits. Paid plans start from $16/mo |
| Uizard | Web developers, designers, & enthusiasts who need to generate layouts & interactive prototypes quickly. | AI-Powered Layouts, Customization, & Drag-and-Drop Interface. | 3 free AI generations/month with 400-component limit. Paid plans start from $12/mo |
1) Figma Make
Figma is one of the most popular design tools used primarily for interface design and prototyping. It offers tools for creating interactive prototypes, wireframes, and mockups, allowing you to test your design in the initial phases.
Figma Make is their AI-powered tool that helps you create functional prototypes using text-based prompts. To get started, you simply need to visit Figma Make. Then, describe your idea using natural language, and it will create your design prototype within a few seconds.
For instance, I tried to create an ad for a cold drink. It gave me a complete layout with image, text, relevant buttons, benefits, etc, like a web page. Then I asked it to convert the ad into an Instagram post, and it did so effortlessly within seconds.
Besides the AI features, it also offers pre-designed templates, text effects, and allows you to upload videos, images, GIFs, and stickers. Overall, the editing features are pretty basic. But the AI prototype generation is really impressive and fast.
If you’re a non-designer or a complete beginner, you might experience a learning curve with Figma. But for professional designers, it’s the perfect tool.
Pricing: The free plan offers limited AI credits. Its paid plans with all the Figma tools start at $16/month.
2) Uizard
Uizard is an AI-powered user interface design tool. All you need to do is enter your prompt for the app you wish to create. Within seconds, it generates interactive prototypes and layouts for you.
I tried to generate layouts for a book exchange app with a rustic brown theme. The results were quite impressive. Once the layouts were generated, it allowed me to make customizations like generating images, getting image suggestions, editing text, etc.
The drag-and-drop interface makes it really easy to use. However, there is a component limit on the free plan. So, you can only use AI for a few tweaks for free. Overall, web developers, designers, and design enthusiasts will love this tool.
Pricing: The free plan offers 3 AI generations per month with a 400-component limit. Its paid plans start from $12/month, where you get 500 AI generations/month.
| Tool Name | Best For | Key Features | Pricing |
| Ideogram | Designers & content creators who need highly realistic graphics with accurate text rendering. | Text-to-Image Generation, Accurate Text Rendering, & Customizable Outputs. | 10 free weekly AI credits. Paid plans start from $7/mo. |
| Imagen 3 | Individuals and creative professionals who want to generate simple graphic elements. | Powerful Image Generation, Prompt Understanding, and Attention to Detail. | Free access with rate limits. Paid plans start from ₹1,950/mo. |
1) Ideogram
Ideogram is an AI image generator that uses the proprietary Ideogram model. It specializes in text rendering in images, which is why you can use it to create graphics as well. To start, enter a prompt for the design you wish to create.
It also lets you select an orientation, number of output images, image model, render speed, image style, and color palette. It generates 4 outputs at a time, and you can download them in JPEG format for free.
Ideogram generates highly realistic and detail-oriented images. All the output variants followed the color scheme specified in the prompt. The speed of generation and prompt adherence is impressive.
Pricing: You get 10 weekly AI credits on the free plan. Each query consumes 1 credit. Its paid plans start from $7/month, where you get 400 monthly priority credits and 100 daily slow credits.
2) Imagen 3
Imagen 3 is a powerful image generation model offered by Google. You can use it through the Gemini or Whisk apps. It’s super easy to use. Simply start a new chat and enable the Image mode.
Then type in your design prompt. It will generate your graphic within a few seconds. You can also download it in PNG format. I liked the attention to detail and swift image generation speeds of Imagen.
The initial generation is pretty apt. However, when I tried to fine-tune the results by asking it to recreate a few things, it completely altered the initial design. If you want to create simple graphic elements for your personal projects, Imagen 3 would do the job!
Pricing: Imagen 3 can be accessed for free via the Gemini or Whisk apps with rate limits. So, you can only generate a specific number of images in an hour. Its paid plans start from ₹1,950/month (Google One subscription).
What are the Benefits of AI in Design?
Designing is a creative process. However, creating the most impactful designs usually takes a lot of time and effort. Artificial intelligence tools can simplify various stages of your design process and significantly improve your productivity. Let’s check out its major benefits.
1) Enhances Speed and Efficiency
A lot goes into creating a great design. From planning to research and creation, AI can help you optimize time-consuming tasks. It can also help you generate color palettes, layouts, and try out multiple variations of a design.
2) Idea Generation
AI can suggest mood boards, design concepts, and creative ideas tailored to your design requirements or brand style.
3) Better Personalization
With AI tools, you can personalize your design to the next level. You can adapt your design according to users’ preferences and even produce tailored visuals for different audiences.
4) Reduced Costs
Creating a design manually required multiple iterations and extended costs. But with AI design tools, you can generate multiple iterations quickly and lower your project timeline and costs.
Now that you’ve come so far, I have a bonus AI-powered tool that will help you with both graphic and UI designing. I’m talking about Khroma.
Khroma is an AI-powered color palette generation tool. It starts by asking you to pick up to 50 colors from a long grid of colors. Based on those chosen colors, it trains itself to your preferences and generates pleasing color palettes for you within seconds.
Designers get some pleasing color palettes for their projects with Khroma. I found this tool to be super handy and easy to use!
Why Should You Trust Me?
I have been working full-time in the digital industry since 2015. Over the years, I have used, tested, and reviewed hundreds of digital and AI tools. These include web hosting, cloud storage, password managers, AI voice generators, AI video generators, AI website builders, and more.
I have worked with a range of design tools for my work and personal projects. Popular tools include Canva, VistaCreate, MolyPix, Pixelied, Designs.AI, and more. Working with all these tools has given me the confidence to recommend the best ones for your requirements.
Conclusion
In this article, we looked at the best AI tools for design. These tools not only improve your productivity and efficiency but also help you brainstorm creative ideas. In this article, I have included AI tools for all verticals of design- graphic design, image generation, and UI design.
My favorite tools are Canva, Adobe Express, and Ideogram. I use them for my personal and professional projects, blogs, YouTube videos, social media platforms, etc. If you’re interested in creating AI images, check out our curated list of the best free AI art generators!
Anyway, which AI design tools do you use? Do you have any other recommendations for us? Let me know in the comments section below. This is Kripesh, signing off. Cheers, and keep learning! 🙂
FAQs
Do I need design skills to use AI graphic design tools?
No, you don’t need any design skills to work with AI graphic design tools. You can simply supply a prompt and get decent results with AI design tools.
Are AI-generated graphics truly unique?
AI design tools work by remixing and combining existing designs and patterns to create visually appealing designs. So, even though the designs may look stunning, they may not be truly unique.
Will AI replace graphic designers?
No, AI cannot completely replace graphic designers. Though AI tools can automate various aspects of design, they don’t have the human creativity to create something original.
