The graphic design platform Canva has acquired the British development studio Serif, which is behind the Affinity apps. Canva announced on Tuesday that the new programs will now also specifically target creative professionals. Until now, Canva was primarily designed to carry out quick design work in companies – especially by users who otherwise have little experience with it. According to the announcement, the Affinity apps now have a good 3 million users, and Canvas web-based graphic tools have a good 175 million users.
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Affinity Photo, Designer and Publisher instead of Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign
This means Canva is positioning itself as a direct competitor to Adobe: Affinity Photo, Affinity Designer and Affinity Publisher are popular alternatives to Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign. The Affinity Suite has so far clearly stood out from Adobe because of its business model: Instead of relying on subscriptions, Serif sells the applications as a one-time purchase and at comparatively manageable prices: Each of the desktop versions for macOS and Windows costs 75 euros, the iPad -Versions 20 euros each. The entire suite is offered for 180 euros. The apps are also regularly available at a discount, including at the moment.
Affinity users are immediately concerned that the acquisition could also result in a switch to a subscription model – after all, Canva already relies on this business model for its corporate customers. In an FAQ, Serif boss Ashley Hewson tried to allay these concerns directly: There are “no changes to the pricing policy planned at the moment”. What this means for the future remains unclear, however. Existing Affinity buyers can continue to use their versions “permanently,” it says. Further free updates for version 2 of the applications are also in the works.
Integration planned between Canva and Affinity apps
Serif's 90-person development team is to be completely taken over by Canva; there are reportedly no layoffs. In the long term, integrations between Canva and Affinity are planned, for example to use the professional tools to create images, logos, icons and other elements that can then be used directly in Canva on a team basis. A cloud platform for the synchronization of Affinity files is now also conceivable, explains the Serif boss.
(lbe)