14 AI Design Tools for Creative Professionals

The creative industry is undergoing a modern-day renaissance, and AI design tools (among other things) are responsible for the seismic shift. These tools and technologies push the boundaries of creativity, freeing up overloaded designers, artists, and photographers to explore new possibilities and get more done with less.

Whether you’re a graphic designer, video editor, or 3D artist, these AI design tools can help you streamline your workflow, improve your creativity, and stay ahead in the fast-evolving creative industry. Below, we’ll walk you through some of our favorite tools and applications that’ll change how you get creative work done.

What are AI design tools?

AI design tools are software applications that use artificial intelligence to assist and improve design processes. These tools leverage machine learning, natural language processing (NLP), and other AI technologies to automate repetitive tasks, generate creative ideas, and optimize design elements.

AI design tools can be used for everything from graphic design and web development to video editing and creative brainstorming. This automation and AI assistance helps designers work more efficiently and creatively.

Benefits of AI design tools

AI tools don’t replace creatives—they complement them. Here’s how AI design tools can help your modern designers get work done:

• Increased efficiency: AI design tools automate time-consuming tasks, such as image editing, layout adjustments, and content creation. This allows designers to focus on more strategic and creative aspects of their work.

• More innovation: These tools provide creative suggestions and generate new ideas based on user input to help designers explore different concepts and push the boundaries of traditional design methods.

• Improved accuracy: AI design tools can analyze data and user behavior to make precise adjustments—this guarantees designs are aesthetically pleasing and optimized for performance and user experience.

• Streamlined workflows: AI design applications integrate with other design software and tools to facilitate smooth and efficient workflows, reducing the need for manual interventions and minimizing errors.

• Accessibility: AI design tools make advanced design capabilities accessible to a broader audience, including those with limited design experience. This accessibility empowers more people to create professional-quality work.

What to consider when choosing an AI design tool

There’s not necessarily a one-size-fits-all AI design tool. That’s why you’ll need to consider a few factors before investing in any application:

• Price: Evaluate the tool’s cost and whether it fits within your budget. Consider any subscription fees, one-time payments, or additional costs for premium features (or users).

• Features: Look for tools that provide the specific functionalities you need, such as image editing, content generation, layout optimization, or animation.

• Scalability: If you anticipate your projects growing in complexity or volume, choose a tool that can handle increased demands without performance issues.

• Integrations: Check if the tool integrates seamlessly with other software and platforms you use, such as Adobe Creative Suite, Figma, or your preferred content management system.

• Ease of use: Consider the user interface and learning curve. An intuitive and easy-to-use tool will save time and reduce frustration.

• Resources: Explore the community around the tool. Active user communities, forums, and extensive documentation can provide valuable insights, tips, and problem-solving help.

• Security: Verify the tool’s data protection measures and compliance with relevant regulations.

• Customization: Flexible tools can adapt to unique workflows and preferences to provide greater control over the design process.

Top 14 AI design tools for creative professionals

There aren’t many tools that try to be an all-in-one solution for every design use case—that’s why you’ll find so many different applications. Below, we’re going to explore a wide range of AI design tools that satisfy various creative use cases.

1. Canva

Canva is a widely used graphic design platform that integrates artificial intelligence to streamline the design process for users of all skill levels. It’s ideal for designers, marketers, and social media managers looking to improve creativity and productivity.

Canva’s AI capabilities help automate design tasks, provide smart suggestions, and generate high-quality graphics with minimal effort. This tool is perfect for creating social media graphics, presentations, posters, and more.

Key features include:

• AI-powered design suggestions: Canva’s AI analyzes your design and suggests improvements to improve visual appeal. It also will create AI-generated images.

• Magic Resize: Automatically resizes your design to fit different formats and platforms, saving time and effort.

• Background remover: Uses AI to cleanly remove backgrounds from images.

• Template library: Thousands of customizable templates powered by AI to match your design needs.

Example use case:

A digital marketing professional needed to quickly produce assets for an upcoming campaign. They used Canva’s AI-powered Magic Resize feature to transform visuals into social media posts, email banners, and promotional graphics. This streamlined process allowed them to focus more on the campaign strategy and less on repetitive design tasks.

2. Adobe Sensei

Adobe Sensei is the AI and machine learning technology powering intelligent features across all Adobe products. This AI tool automates complex tasks, provides intelligent insights, and delivers more personalized experiences. Adobe Sensei improves creativity and efficiency by offering AI-powered features that simplify design processes.

Key features include:

• Content-aware fill: Uses AI to intelligently remove unwanted elements from images and fill in the gaps seamlessly.

• Auto-tagging and search: Automatically tags and organizes your photos and assets, making it easier to find what you need.

• Face-aware editing: Recognizes facial features for precise and natural-looking edits.

• Smart cropping and resizing: Automatically crops and resizes images to fit different formats while maintaining the focal points.

• Design suggestions: Provides AI-driven suggestions for color combinations, schemes, layouts, and fonts to improve your existing designs.

Example use case:

A professional photographer needed to quickly edit a series of wedding photos for a client. Using Adobe Sensei’s content-aware fill, they removed distracting background elements from the photos in only a few seconds. The auto-tagging and search capabilities made organizing and selecting the best shots fast and easy.

3. Deep Dream Generator

Deep Dream Generator is an AI-powered tool that transforms ordinary images into surreal, dream-like artworks. It uses deep learning techniques to apply unique artistic styles to photos, generating amazing and imaginative results. This tool is particularly popular among digital artists, designers, and creatives looking to explore new artistic expressions.

Key features include:

• Style transfer: Apply various artistic styles to your images, from famous painting styles to unique, custom-generated effects.

• Deep style: Creates highly detailed and intricate transformations, turning your photos into complex artworks.

• Progressive rendering: Allows for continuous refinement of images, improving details and artistic elements over multiple iterations.

• User-friendly interface: Simple and intuitive interface, making it easy for users to experiment with different styles and settings.

Example use case:

A digital artist working on a new fantasy-themed graphic novel needed unique, otherworldly backgrounds to complement their story. They used Deep Dream Generator to transform real-world landscapes into dream-like scenes filled with vibrant colors and intricate patterns.

4. Runway

Runway is an AI software platform that simplifies the use of machine learning models for a variety of creative tasks, including AI video editing, image generation, and more. It’s designed to be accessible to artists, designers, and video editors without requiring a deep coding or machine learning background.

Key features include:

• Generative models: Use generative AI models to generate images, videos, and animations with a text-to-image generator or modify existing content.

• AI-powered video editing: Offers tools for green-screen removal, style transfer, and depth estimation in videos.

• Plugin integrations: Integrate with software suites like Adobe Premiere Pro to enrich traditional creative tools with AI capabilities.

• Collaborative development: Facilitate team collaboration with shared workspaces, notebooks, and resources in a unified environment.

• User-friendly interface: Easy-to-use platform that lowers the barrier to entry for leveraging advanced computational hardware.

Example use case:

A filmmaker working on an indie project needed to quickly prototype visual effects for a sci-fi short film. Using Runway, they applied AI-powered tools to remove green screens and add realistic backgrounds, transforming simple scenes into futuristic landscapes.

5. Creatie

Creatie is an AI-powered design tool that combines a web-based editor with advanced AI capabilities to streamline and enhance the UI/UX design process. It’s designed for designers, product managers, developers, and other stakeholders involved in creating digital products, aiming to boost creativity and productivity through AI assistance.

Key features include:

• Creatie Wizard: Generates design ideas and layout suggestions based on user input or sketches.

• Magicon: Instantly creates various styles of 3D icons from text or wireframe input.

• AI Image Enhancer: Expands images, changes backgrounds, and converts images to high-fidelity or vector formats.

• Automatic Style Guide: Quickly generates comprehensive style libraries from existing files, including fonts, colors, and shadows.

• Design Auditor: Checks new designs against team style libraries for consistency and provides one-click fixes.

Example use case:

A startup’s design team needed to rapidly prototype a new app interface while maintaining brand consistency. Using Creatie’s Wizard feature, they quickly generated layout ideas from rough sketches, then refined the designs using the AI Image Enhancer and Magicon for custom icons. The Design Auditor ensured all elements adhered to their style guide, significantly speeding up their design process and allowing for more creative exploration.

6. Midjourney

Midjourney is a powerful AI-driven image generation tool that creates high-quality, artistic visuals from text descriptions. It’s known for its ability to produce stylized, often surrealistic images that blend creativity and photorealism, making it popular among artists, designers, and creative professionals across various industries. The tool uses a large language model trained on a vast dataset of images and text, employing advanced diffusion techniques to interpret prompts and generate coherent, visually striking outputs.

Key features include:

• Text-to-image generation: Create intricate images from detailed text prompts with a unique artistic flair.

• Style customization: Adjust parameters to influence the artistic style, composition, and mood of generated images.

• Iterative refinement: Quickly generate variations of images and refine results through simple commands.

• Community-driven platform: Access a vibrant community for inspiration, learning, and sharing of techniques.

• Discord integration: Operate entirely through a Discord bot, allowing for easy collaboration and sharing.

Example use case:

A leading cybersecurity firm needed an impactful cover image for their annual threat landscape report. Using Midjourney, they create a striking illustration that symbolizes digital threats and cybersecurity concepts, resulting in a visually compelling cover that captures the essence of the report’s content.

7. Stable Diffusion

Stable Diffusion is an open-source AI model that generates high-quality images from text descriptions. It has gained popularity for its ability to create detailed and diverse visuals, making it accessible to artists, designers, and developers across various creative fields. The model uses a latent diffusion technique, which compresses the image into a smaller latent space, allowing for faster and more efficient image generation compared to some other methods.

Key features include:

• Text-to-image generation: Create images from detailed text prompts, allowing for precise control over the output.

• Image-to-image transformation: Modify existing images based on text instructions or style transfer.

• Inpainting and outpainting: Edit specific parts of an image or expand it beyond its original boundaries.

• Multiple deployment options: Run locally on consumer hardware or deploy on cloud services for increased performance.

• Active community: Benefit from a large ecosystem of tools, modifications, and resources developed by the community.

Example use case:

A project management SaaS startup needed unique illustrations for their website to visualize concepts like task delegation, time tracking, and team collaboration. Using Stable Diffusion, they generated a set of playful, isometric-style images featuring animated characters interacting with oversized task boards, calendar elements, and productivity tools.

8. Prisma

Prisma is an AI-powered photo editing app that transforms your photos into stunning artworks inspired by famous artists and unique visual styles. It leverages advanced neural network algorithms to analyze your photos and apply intricate artistic filters, turning ordinary images into extraordinary pieces of digital art.

It’s an excellent tool for photographers, social media influencers, and anyone looking to add a creative touch to their photos.

Key features include:

• Artistic filters: Over 300 unique filters that mimic the styles of famous artists like Van Gogh, Picasso, and Munch.

• Customizable effects: Adjust filter intensity and blend modes to create personalized artistic effects.

• Fast processing: AI algorithms that transform photos in seconds without compromising quality.

• High-resolution output: Export your edited photos in high resolution, suitable for printing and professional use.

• User-friendly interface: Intuitive and easy-to-navigate design, making it accessible for all skill levels.

Example use case:

A social media influencer wanted to create visually captivating content for their Instagram feed. Using Prisma, they transformed their travel photos into artistic masterpieces, applying filters that made their images resemble famous paintings.

9. Let’s Enhance

Let’s Enhance is an AI-powered image enhancement that improves the quality of your photos with just a few clicks. It uses advanced machine learning algorithms to upscale images, enhance details, and remove noise. It’s ideal for photographers, designers, and anyone looking to achieve professional-grade results without complex photo editing software.

Key features include:

• Image upscaling: Increase the resolution of images up to 16x without losing quality (perfect for printing and large displays).

• Detail enhancement: Sharpen images and bring out hidden details to make photos more vibrant and clear.

• Noise reduction: Remove unwanted noise and grain from photos—especially useful for low-light or old images.

• Color correction: Automatically adjust colors to make images look more natural and visually appealing.

• Batch processing: Improves multiple images simultaneously.

Example use case:

A professional photographer had a collection of old family photos that need restoration. Using Let’s Enhance, they were able to upscale the images and bring out fine details that faded over time.

10. Autodesk Dreamcatcher

Autodesk Dreamcatcher is an advanced generative design tool that uses AI to explore design alternatives and optimize for specific constraints and goals. This tool helps designers and engineers input design objectives, materials, manufacturing methods, and performance criteria before generating a wide range of high-performance design solutions.

Key features include:

• Generative design: Automatically generates numerous design alternatives based on user-defined parameters and constraints.

• Material optimization: Suggests optimal materials for each design to balance performance and cost.

• Performance evaluation: Evaluate each design for performance metrics like strength, durability, and weight.

• Manufacturing integration: Double-checks designs are feasible with specified manufacturing processes such as 3D printing, CNC machining, and casting.

• Cloud-based processing: Uses cloud computing to handle complex calculations (making the tool accessible from anywhere with an internet connection).

Example use case:

An industrial designer tasked with creating a new ergonomic chair used Autodesk Dreamcatcher to explore various design options. They input criteria such as material strength, weight limits, and aesthetic preferences to generate multiple high-performance designs.

11. Sketchar

Sketchar is an innovative AI-driven app that merges augmented reality (AR) with AI to help users draw and create art. Sketchar displays digital images onto a physical surface through a smartphone or tablet that users can trace. It’s ideal for artists, hobbyists, and educators who want to improve their drawing skills or create complex artwork.

Key features include:

• Augmented reality drawing: Projects images onto a surface to help users trace and draw with precision.

• AI art generation: Generates unique art pieces using AI algorithms based on user input and preferences.

• Step-by-step tutorials: Offers guided tutorials and drawing lessons to help users learn and improve their skills.

• Customizable templates: Provides a variety of templates that can be customized to fit individual artistic styles.

• Community sharing: Allows users to share their creations with the SketchAR community for feedback and inspiration.

Example use case:

An aspiring artist wants to create a detailed mural for a community project but lacks the confidence to draw freehand. Using Sketchar, they project the mural design onto the wall, allowing them to trace the outlines accurately.

12. Artbreeder

Artbreeder is an AI-powered platform that allows users to create and explore new art forms by blending and manipulating existing images or using a text prompt. It uses a generative adversarial network (GAN) to let artists and creative professionals experiment with various styles and elements. It’s popular among digital artists, game developers, and designers looking for inspiration or unique creative assets.

Key features include:

• Image blending: Combines multiple images to generate new, hybrid artworks.

• Style mixing: Allows users to apply different artistic styles to their creations.

• Interactive interface: Provides an easy-to-use interface for manipulating and adjusting images.

• Customizable parameters: Enables fine-tuning of aspects like color, texture, and composition.

Example use case:

A game developer needed unique character designs for an upcoming project. Using Artbreeder, they blended various facial features and styles to create distinct, never-before-seen characters in little-to-no time.

13. Daz 3D

Daz 3D is a powerful 3D modeling tool that uses AI to help users create realistic human figures, animations, and scenes. It’s particularly well-suited for graphic designers, game developers, and artists who need high-quality 3D content for their projects. The platform provides a range of AI-powered tools for character creation, scene composition, and rendering.

Key features include:

• AI-powered character generation: Quickly create realistic human figures with customizable features.

• Extensive content library: Access thousands of 3D assets, including characters, clothing, props, and environments.

• Pose and animate tools: Easily pose characters and create animations with intuitive controls.

• Photo-realistic rendering: Produce high-quality renders with advanced lighting and shading options.

• Integration with other tools: Compatible with popular software like Photoshop and Blender for workflow integrations.

Example use case:

A graphic designer needed realistic 3D models for a marketing campaign. Using Daz 3D, they quickly generated a variety of human figures, customized their appearances, and posed them in different scenarios.

14. Luminar AI

Luminar AI is an advanced photo editing tool that uses artificial intelligence to simplify editing while delivering professional-quality results. It’s designed for photographers, graphic designers, and creative professionals who want to improve images quickly without getting bogged down in complex manual adjustments. Luminar AI’s intuitive interface and powerful AI features make it accessible for beginners and experienced users.

Key features include:

• AI-driven editing: Automatically enhance photos with tools like Sky AI, Face AI, and Composition AI.

• Templates and presets: Use AI-powered templates to quickly apply a consistent look to your images.

• Smart retouching: Adjust skin tones, remove blemishes, and refine portraits with precision.

• Sky replacement: Replace skies in your photos to transform the mood and lighting.

• Batch processing: Apply edits to multiple photos simultaneously to save time and maintain consistency.

Example use case:

A photographer needed to process hundreds of photos from a recent event. Using Luminar AI, they quickly applied AI-driven enhancements to all images and adjusted lighting and colors with presets.

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