Artificial Intelligence (AI) has ushered in a transformative era for the creative industries, nowhere more so than in graphic design. By automating time-consuming, repetitive tasks, generating innovative design ideas, and refining intricate visual elements, AI tools for graphic design significantly enhance both creativity and efficiency. They allow designers to pivot their focus from mechanical execution to more strategic, conceptual aspects of their work.
In our continuous pursuit of streamlined and superior design outcomes, our office has thoroughly tested numerous applications. The result is a curated list of the 20 best AI tools that have dramatically accelerated our workflow and redefined our internal graphics design processes. This extensive guide shares our findings, empowering you to leverage these cutting-edge platforms and unlock unprecedented productivity in your own creative endeavors.
I. AI Tools for Foundational Design Elements: Typography and Color
A design’s foundation rests on its choice of typeface and color palette. These tools utilize AI to eliminate the guesswork, offering harmonious and visually compelling suggestions instantly.
1. Fontjoy
Fontjoy is a well-designed, AI-powered tool that has become an essential companion for selecting the perfect font combinations. Every designer has faced the frustration of trying to figure out the ideal font pairing that balances style with legibility. Fontjoy effortlessly addresses this challenge.
The tool’s underlying algorithm analyzes and pairs fonts based on critical factors like style, weight, and contrast. With Fontjoy at your side, you are presented with a collection of combinations that are not only visually pleasing but also prioritize ease of reading. Its user-friendly interface simplifies the font selection process, taking the guesswork out of the equation. Furthermore, it offers the ability to fine-tune font choices, allowing for adjustments in weight, contrast, and other intricate details of the suggested pairings. This level of customization ensures that the final selections perfectly align with a design vision, making it an indispensable asset in any creative toolkit. We recommend Fontjoy to anyone seeking efficient and visually pleasing font combinations.
2. Khroma
Khroma is an advanced color combination generator that has become a crucial element in our design toolbox for finding new color palettes and generating fresh ideas. This remarkable AI-based tool draws inspiration from thousands of human-made color palettes across the internet, ensuring a diverse and visually stunning array of options.
To generate personalized color combinations, the user simply selects a handful of initial colors on the site, and the software presents a curated list of harmonious palettes. These combinations can be viewed in various formats, including gradients and typography, and even tested on custom images uploaded by the user. The ability to discover, search for new combinations, and build upon existing collections empowers designers to explore endless possibilities. One of the standout features is its interactive interface, which allows for the seamless uploading of custom images to test color combinations directly on them. This ensures that color choices complement the designs perfectly, reducing guesswork and saving precious time. We highly recommend Khroma to professionals in the design industry or individuals looking to explore diverse and visually eye-catching color palettes with unparalleled ease and efficiency.
II. AI Tools for Idea Generation and Initial Creation
These applications bridge the gap between initial concept and digital canvas, offering immediate visual solutions and transforming simple sketches or text into polished artwork.
3. AutoDraw
AutoDraw, developed by the innovative minds at Google Creative Lab, is a drawing tool that truly understands creative intentions before the user even puts digital pen to canvas. This AI-powered web tool aims to make drawing an accessible and enjoyable activity for everyone, regardless of skill level.
The core magic of AutoDraw lies in its ability to guess what the user is sketching as they doodle. As you draw a rough shape, the tool presents a range of polished drawing suggestions crafted by a diverse team of artists and designers. These suggestions not only add polish to the art but also serve as a powerful source of inspiration. Its versatile toolbox is equipped with all essential drawing tools, including freehand drawing, a color picker, shapes, fill, text, resize, zoom, and rotate functions. The inclusion of handy keyboard shortcuts further streamlines the creative workflow, ensuring that ideas flow seamlessly from imagination to digital canvas. We recommend giving AutoDraw a try for seamless and intuitive digital sketching, whether you are a professional artist seeking a quick idea or someone simply looking to have fun with drawing.
4. Visily
Visily is an AI-powered design tool that has fundamentally transformed how we approach design replication and adaptation. It has proven invaluable in simplifying the process of converting screenshots, sketches, or templates into fully customizable designs.
The tool’s intuitive interface allows for the effortless upload of an image, and the AI generates a design based on it, ready for immediate modification. From editing text to replacing images and adjusting colors, Visily allows for the design to be adjusted to specific needs with ease. We were particularly impressed by its ability to accurately comprehend and replicate intricate design elements, saving valuable time and effort. Moreover, its ability to export seamlessly to tools like Figma has incorporated Visily effortlessly into existing creative workflows, significantly enhancing capabilities. We recommend this tool for anyone looking to elevate and accelerate their design workflow, especially for converting existing visuals into editable formats.
5. Recraft
Recraft has been a revelation in our design process, providing a versatile AI-powered solution for creating a wide array of visual assets. It generates Vector art, icons, 3D images, and illustrations across numerous artistic styles.
The approach is incredibly user-friendly and efficient: users simply describe their desired visuals, and the tool instantly generates them. The diverse style options cater to a wide range of creative needs, covering everything from flat Vector art to detailed illustrations and 3D renderings. A key feature we greatly appreciate is the ability to generate multiple variations and effortlessly adjust colors, enabling designers to explore different design possibilities flawlessly. Recraft’s intuitive interface and easy integration into the creative workflow have made it an invaluable addition to our toolkit, helping us create high-quality visuals efficiently. Furthermore, the ability to export designs in various formats has streamlined the process for incorporating creations into different projects with confidence. We recommend Recraft to anyone in the creative industry or individual creators looking for a versatile and efficient AI-powered solution for high-quality Vector and raster art creation.
6. Midjourney
Midjourney is a premier AI image generator that utilizes advanced artificial learning to transform text into beautiful visual artwork. It combines sophisticated machine learning models to convert textual descriptions—known as “prompts”—into stunning images with a unique and often fantastical visual quality.
Beyond its technical prowess, the tool is a valuable source of inspiration, allowing users to explore new artistic ideas through iterative prompting. While we appreciate the speed and quality of its output, we firmly believe in upholding ethical practices and respecting intellectual property rights. We encourage using Midjourney as a collaborative tool to quickly visualize concepts while continuing to rely on personal artistic skills and respecting copyright laws in all commercial work. We recommend Midjourney for individuals in the creative industry or anyone looking to rapidly produce highly imaginative visual representations of text-based descriptions.
7. Designs.ai
The Designs.ai platform offers an all-in-one suite that leverages AI to improve the entire graphic design and content creation process. The experience of using it was transformative, streamlining multiple steps into a single workflow.
The comprehensive suite includes an AI Image Generator, AI Writer, and Video Maker, enabling the effortless creation of high-quality content. For instance, the AI image generator produces stunning visuals from simple text prompts, saving hours of manual design work. Using the logo maker, we crafted a professional brand identity with remarkable ease. The speech maker was another standout, quickly converting text into natural-sounding voiceovers, which proved useful for multimedia projects. Crucially, each tool is intuitive, requiring a minimal learning curve, which makes it accessible even for team members with no prior specialized design experience. This suite is ideal for small businesses, content creators, and marketing teams looking to enhance their productivity and output quality without requiring extensive software investment. We recommend Designs.ai to anyone aiming to elevate their creative projects efficiently through a unified platform.
III. AI Tools for Image Enhancement and Manipulation
Achieving flawless image quality is paramount in graphic design. These AI-powered tools specialize in scaling, refining, and manipulating images with precision and speed far surpassing traditional manual methods.
8. Let’s Enhance
Let’s Enhance is a unique image enhancing and scaling tool that has become truly essential in our design process. It was specifically designed to address the limitations of non-professional images, such as those captured by customers using mobile phones, which often result in pixelated and low-quality visuals.
With Let’s Enhance, we can significantly increase the resolution of images—up to 16 times—without sacrificing quality, thanks to its cutting-edge image processing algorithm. This capability is invaluable when working with user-generated content, allowing us to improve those images to a professional standard. The platform offers a range of pricing plans, making it accessible to designers and creatives of all levels. Notably, the tool provides a generous number of free credits upon signup, allowing users to experience its powerful capabilities firsthand before committing to a paid plan. If you are a graphic designer, photographer, or simply someone who needs to enhance their images, Let’s Enhance is a remarkable solution for achieving professional quality visuals effortlessly.
9. Adobe Firefly
Adobe Firefly represents the vanguard of generative AI integration within a professional creative ecosystem. We found its capabilities to effortlessly create high-quality graphic designs to be truly revolutionary. This tool leverages generative AI to transform simple text prompts into stunning images and effects.
We frequently use it to experiment with different color palettes and generate unique text effects, which saves considerable time and effort. The Content-Aware Fill tool, a staple of Adobe products, is significantly enhanced by AI, seamlessly filling image areas by sampling nearby content, making editing far quicker. The Generative Recolor function is particularly useful, allowing us to try various color schemes on Vector artwork effortlessly, greatly enhancing our creative ideation. Overall, Adobe Firefly has significantly improved our productivity and made complex design tasks highly manageable. It is ideal for graphic designers, marketing teams, and content creators who require efficient and versatile generative design solutions integrated within the Adobe suite.
10. Vance AI
Vance AI offers a wide-ranging suite of AI tools specifically for photo enhancement and editing, which we found to be incredibly efficient for a variety of tasks. The AI Image Upscaler was a standout, instantly increasing image resolution up to eight times while maintaining premium quality, saving us hours of manual work.
The AI Background Remover helped us cut out backgrounds from photos quickly, providing clean PNG files ready for use in compositions. We also greatly appreciated the AI Image Sharpener, which transformed blurry photos into crisp, clear images with a single click. For restoration projects, the AI Photo Restorer effectively brought old, damaged photos back to life, removing scratches and adding vibrant colors. By utilizing Vance AI’s batch processing capability, we could handle multiple images simultaneously, which significantly improved our overall productivity. This tool is perfect for graphic designers, photographers, and e-commerce businesses needing high-quality image enhancements and fast, repetitive editing functions.
11. Designify
Designify is an essential AI tool used to transform ordinary photos into professional designs automatically. By simply uploading an image, we can quickly remove backgrounds, enhance colors, and adjust shadows. This dramatically simplifies our design process, making it highly efficient and user-friendly.
We experimented extensively with creating product photos for e-commerce, marketing visuals, and automotive imagery. The results were consistently impressive, with the tool producing high-quality, polished images every time. The smart editor allows for effortless additions like logos, shadow tweaks, and color matching to align with specific design elements. Batch editing is another standout feature, enabling us to process numerous images at once, which saves valuable time. Furthermore, the available API access provides greater flexibility for integrating its functions into existing workflows. Designify proved to be essential for anyone needing quick, high-quality design transformations, and we recommend it highly to e-commerce businesses, marketers, and designers looking for a reliable automated photo editing solution.
IV. AI Tools for End-to-End Design and Collaboration
These platforms offer comprehensive environments that integrate AI features with core design and collaboration capabilities, supporting entire teams from concept to final product.
12. Figma
Figma is a leading collaborative interface design platform that we utilize extensively for seamless teamwork on design projects. It allows us to work on a shared design file simultaneously, which makes it easy to brainstorm, create mockups, and iterate quickly.
While primarily a UI/UX design tool, its AI-powered features significantly speed up our workflow, such as generating simple UI components and making functional prototypes rapidly. We found the Auto Layout feature incredibly useful for scaling edits instantly, helping to maintain consistency across our designs. The ability to embed prototypes in presentations and keep design and code connected through Dev Mode ensures that our developers always have the correct specifications, greatly enhancing cross-functional collaboration. Figma’s centralized location for feedback and communication simplifies the process of gathering input from all team members. It is ideal for design and development teams seeking a unified platform for creating, refining, and building products efficiently.
13. Visme
Visme is a versatile tool we utilize to create engaging presentations, reports, infographics, and social media graphics with minimal effort. The AI Designer is particularly impressive, turning text prompts into ready-to-use, professional designs in minutes. This feature saves us significant time, especially for last-minute projects or quick internal communications.
One of Visme’s standout features is its ability to transform raw statistics into beautiful, easily digestible visuals. Customizable templates help us maintain brand consistency across different projects and platforms. The collaboration features are another highlight: real-time feedback and commenting streamline our workflow, making it easy to move from draft to final format efficiently. We also appreciate the convenience of being able to create, schedule, and publish content—all from one centralized place. Visme is perfect for marketing teams, educators, and business owners who need to produce professional, data-rich content quickly. We recommend it for its efficiency and versatility in handling a wide variety of design and content tasks.
14. Uizard
Uizard is a powerful AI design tool that allows us to create complete UI designs quickly using its sophisticated AI features. The Autodesigner 2.0 allows for the generation of entire projects and screens from simple text prompts. This feature helps us visualize and iterate on design concepts in minutes, saving a substantial amount of time in the initial phase.
The Screenshot Scanner is particularly useful, instantly converting our screenshots into editable mockups. We also effectively use the Wireframe Scanner to convert hand-drawn sketches into digital designs, effortlessly bringing initial paper-based ideas to life. The ability to modify any component by simply describing the desired changes has greatly simplified our workflow. We appreciated the option to generate new themes and seamlessly expand the scope of our design. Uizard makes collaboration with our team straightforward, allowing everyone to contribute to the project with ease. Uizard is perfect for product managers, UX designers, and startup founders who need to create and iterate on designs rapidly. We recommend it for its efficiency and innovative approach to UI design.
15. Simplified
Simplified is an incredibly versatile platform that we use for a wide array of creative tasks, consolidating multiple tools into a single application. It allows us to design, write, edit, and manage social media—all in one place.
The AI Design feature is particularly helpful, generating high-quality graphics from simple prompts, which saves a significant amount of time on our content projects. We also explored the AI Writer, which demonstrates an understanding of the context of our writing and provides relevant content suggestions, significantly improving the quality of our copy. The Social Media Planner helps us manage multiple accounts efficiently, enabling us to schedule posts and track performance easily. The extensive template library is remarkable, providing over 10,000 options for design, video, and copywriting needs. Simplified has markedly improved our workflow and enhanced our productivity. It is ideal for freelance designers, marketing teams, and businesses looking to consolidate their creative processes. We recommend it for its advanced features and user-friendly, all-in-one approach to managing creative projects.
16. Lunacy
Lunacy is a truly exceptional, free design software that has enhanced our workflow with its powerful AI tools and built-in graphics. The platform provides everything necessary for modern design, including Auto Layouts, real-time collaboration, and prototyping capabilities.
We use it to create responsive designs by defining constraints and rules, making our work more flexible across different devices. AI-powered tools such as the Image Upscaler and Background Remover save time on routine tasks. The Text Generator is invaluable for creating realistic placeholder texts—like names, job titles, and contact info—which is handy for interface designs. Additionally, the Avatar Generator helps us quickly create user avatars for contact lists and testimonials. Lunacy’s provision of free icons, illustrations, and photos directly within the app eliminates the need for external searches, streamlining our entire process. As it works seamlessly on Windows, macOS, and Linux, it ensures compatibility with diverse office setups. We recommend Lunacy to designers and businesses looking for a versatile, cross-platform, AI-powered design tool that enhances both productivity and creativity at no initial cost.
V. AI Tools for Branding and Specialized Visuals
From creating a cohesive brand identity to generating advanced digital art, these specialized tools cater to specific, high-value visual needs within the design workflow.
17. Brandmark
Brandmark is a dedicated tool that allows for the creation of unique, professional logos and brand assets effortlessly. Its menu offers a variety of tools and ready-to-use design assets, such as business card designs, social media graphics, app icons, and letterheads, which are extremely helpful for quickly establishing a comprehensive brand identity.
We appreciate the tool’s straightforward pricing model—no monthly charges, just a one-time payment for perpetual access to all branding tools, including unlimited revisions and full copyright. Using Brandmark, we can instantly customize and export logos in major formats like SVG, EPS, PNG, and PDF. Adjusting text and image size is simple, and the easy-to-use editor allows for quick on-the-spot text edits. The promise of free customization is consistently fulfilled, with tweaks to designs done promptly. We’d recommend Brandmark to any startup or business looking for a cost-effective, user-friendly, and complete branding solution.
18. Kittl
Kittl is a powerful platform that utilizes AI-powered design features to amplify creative impact, offering a vast library of stunning illustrations, fonts, photos, icons, and textures. We use it to significantly speed up our workflows, particularly for creating Vector logos and clip art by simply typing text prompts.
The advanced text editing feature allows us to transform text in real-time, warping it with just a few clicks. Magic Recoloring makes it easy to apply trending color palettes and replace colors instantly across complex designs. We frequently customize professional design templates for both personal and commercial projects, which is incredibly convenient. Access to thousands of high-quality illustrations and award-winning fonts saves us crucial search time. The photo catalog provides millions of free-to-use photos, making our design process much smoother. Using Kittl, we can craft complex, professional designs easily and efficiently. We’d recommend this tool to designers, small businesses, and content creators seeking a flexible, powerful, and user-friendly graphic design solution.
19. Pixlr
Pixlr is a popular free online photo editor that has impressed us with its versatility and professional-grade capabilities. It features a suite of AI tools for tasks like background removal, face swapping, and image upscaling—all directly accessible in the web browser, eliminating the need for downloads.
By utilizing the main Pixlr Editor, we perform advanced photo edits, while Pixlr Express allows for quick tweaks with AI assistance. The background remover tool quickly makes our photos transparent, saving significant time. Batch editing further streamlines our workflow, allowing for the simultaneous editing of multiple images. The AI Image Generator transforms our text into captivating visuals, and the Generative Fill expands images seamlessly. We also frequently use the design templates for creating collages and animations effortlessly. The tool’s built-in graphics, including icons and illustrations, enhance our projects without extra searches. We’d recommend Pixlr to designers and small businesses needing a powerful, user-friendly photo editor that significantly improves productivity and creativity, especially for fast, web-based work.
20. Leonardo AI
Leonardo AI is a cutting-edge platform we use to create high-quality visual assets with remarkable speed and consistency. Its suite of AI-powered tools includes image generation, 3D texture creation, and an intuitive AI Canvas. These features allow us to transform concepts into production-ready visuals effortlessly.
The image generation tool is particularly impressive, offering extensive customization settings to match specific project needs, consistently producing professional-grade graphics that exceed expectations. The AI Canvas makes it easy to visualize and tweak our designs in real-time through inpainting and outpainting. Leonardo AI’s strong Community aspect is another highlight; being part of a large, supportive network of creators provides ongoing inspiration and valuable feedback. We also appreciate the platform’s scalability, which suits both individual projects and larger team collaborations. We’d recommend Leonardo AI to designers, marketing teams, and developers seeking a powerful, feature-rich, and user-friendly tool to enhance their creative workflows, especially for generating highly customized art and textures.
VI. Honorable Mentions: Innovation and Efficiency
These tools offer unique solutions that further demonstrate the breadth of AI’s impact on the design world.
21. StarryAI
StarryAI is an AI-powered image generator we use to create eye-catching visuals quickly and efficiently. The tool transforms text prompts into high-quality images using advanced AI models like Stable Diffusion and DALL-E. This makes it perfect for generating digital art, logos, and a variety of graphics.
One feature that stands out is the extensive range of Artistic Styles available, allowing us to select from numerous options to perfectly match a project’s aesthetic. The AI’s ability to handle detailed prompts provides precise and varied outputs every time. Generating images is a simple, three-step process: type a prompt, click generate, and download the results. The platform also offers commercial rights and no watermarks, which is ideal for professional use. We found it highly useful for creating designs for merchandise like t-shirts, album covers, and social media content. We recommend StarryAI to businesses and individuals looking for an easy-to-use yet advanced AI art generator.
22. Brandmark (Re-emphasis on specialized tools)
While previously mentioned, it is worth re-emphasizing the critical role of specialized branding tools like Brandmark. The dedicated focus on a single, complex task—logo and brand identity creation—allows it to achieve a level of cohesion and efficiency that broader design suites cannot match. The immediate availability of assets like letterheads and social media templates ensures brand consistency is established from the very first day, saving new businesses countless hours of post-logo design work. Its commitment to unlimited revisions is a guarantee of client satisfaction, making the upfront investment exceptionally valuable.
Conclusion: The Future is a Collaborative Canvas
The integration of Artificial Intelligence into graphic design is not a fleeting trend but a fundamental shift in the creative landscape. The 20 tools detailed in this guide—from font pairing innovators like Fontjoy and color experts like Khroma, to all-in-one content powerhouses like Simplified and cutting-edge image generators such as Leonardo AI and Adobe Firefly—demonstrate a profound evolution in how visual assets are conceived, produced, and refined.
These platforms excel by automating the mundane, repetitive tasks that traditionally consume a designer’s time. By handling complex procedures like upscaling, background removal, wireframing from sketches, and generating initial concepts from text prompts, they empower designers to spend their valuable energy on the most strategic and creative aspects of their work: defining the narrative, understanding the audience, and pushing the boundaries of aesthetics.
The most successful contemporary designer will be one who views AI not as a replacement, but as an advanced, always-available co-pilot. This collaboration between human intuition and machine efficiency leads to a workflow that is faster, more innovative, and ultimately, more capable of delivering exceptional results. We encourage you to explore these tools, integrate them into your own processes, and discover how AI can unlock the next level of your creative potential. The canvas of the future is collaborative, and the possibilities are truly limitless.