My graphic design journey started on Fiverr. I sold $5 banners and background removals. I’m not the best designer—far from it. But with Photoshop and Canva, I learned to “edit my way” to decent graphics using premium templates.
Even then, it was a grind. I’d spend hours tweaking colors and fonts, testing presets, and watching YouTube tutorials for that one Photoshop effect.
Now? With AI tools, I can spin up on-brand banner variations in a few clicks, hand clearer briefs to my team, handle minor edits myself, and deliver higher-quality work in half the time.
But which AI tools actually produce usable results—and a real ROI?
I tested the top 8 AI tools for graphic design to find out. Below you’ll see my exact prompts, real outputs, what each tool is best at, and whether I’d recommend it.
Table of Contents
- Why use AI for graphic design?
- How I tested (and the exact prompts)
- Best AI tools for graphic design (my hands-on results)
- Canva AI
- ChatGPT
- Ideogram
- AutoDraw
- Gemini
- Kittl
- Adobe Express
- Designs.ai
- So… should you use AI for design?
Why use AI for graphic design?
1) Faster time to design
Over 40% of marketers use image/design generators like DALL·E and Synthesia to move quicker. Real talk: AI excels at quick edits (resizes, crops, background removal/replace), media content for social, personalized variants by audience or season, and trend-based visuals (hello, Studio Ghibli-style posts and memes).
Expert tip: Robert Avila, Art Director at Platinum Black, uses AI to render scenes or generate assets he then composites: “When inevitable revisions arise, it’s much faster to update them through AI prompts than to re-draw an entire scene.”
2) Remove creative blocks
From writing briefs to picking color palettes, AI is a great strategic partner. Stuck on a campaign? Prompt five concept directions, feed it references, and iterate.
3) Creative experimentation
I A/B test a lot. AI lets me spin up dozens of on-brand variants and quickly see what wins. It also pushes me into color/typography combos I wouldn’t normally try—some of which become top performers.
How I tested (and the exact prompts)
Basic prompts didn’t cut it. So I used two optimized “mega” prompts that mirror common marketing tasks.
Prompt #1 — Blog Banner / Featured Image
“Design a clean, modern blog banner for an article titled ‘The Rise of AI in Graphic Design’ using a minimalist layout (1200x628px) optimized for web and social sharing. Prioritize a bold, high-contrast headline in a contemporary, tech-inspired font. Use a subtle background texture or gradient that enhances, but doesn’t compete with, text legibility. Incorporate understated AI-themed motifs like neural nodes, abstract chips, or creative lightbulb icons. Maintain visual harmony with generous white space and balanced composition. Enhance the title’s visual impact through font weight, spacing, or soft shadowing, and ensure strong text-to-background contrast for clarity. Export as a high-res PNG or JPG.”
Prompt #2 — Social Media Post
“Design a high-impact Instagram post (1080×1080 px) to announce a new AI-powered design tool, featuring the bold tagline ‘Design Smarter. Not Harder.’ in large, modern sans-serif typography with layered effects, dimensional shadows, or motion-inspired blurs for depth. Use a vibrant, futuristic background with gradients (blue, purple, teal, pink), abstract shapes, and subtle tech motifs like HUD overlays or network nodes. Include the product logo or name subtly in the bottom corner, with an optional CTA like ‘Try It Free Today.’ Ensure clean balance, mobile readability, and visual clarity on both light and dark interfaces. Export as a high-res PNG or JPG under 1MB.”
Evaluation criteria: output quality, prompt adherence, editability, speed, ease of use, and pricing.
Pro tip: Want more prompts like these? Check out my list of 33 best ChatGPT prompts for creative work.
Best AI tools for graphic design (my hands-on results)
1) Canva AI
Verdict: Great for social, fast variants, and editable results.
Canva’s Visual Suite 2.0 pushes hard into AI-assisted workflows. The banner output had decent type and layout (background was meh), but the big win is that you can edit the AI output directly in Canva’s designer. For social posts, it performed even better, and carousel workflows are smooth.
What I like
- Simple, intuitive UI
- Strong template ecosystem
- Edit AI results inline
- Integrates with tools like HubSpot
What could improve
- Stricter prompt adherence
- Faster generation on complex presets
Best for: Social graphics and reusable brand assets
2) ChatGPT
Verdict: Excellent creative partner; image outputs vary without references.
I rely on ChatGPT for ideas, briefs, and content—but it can also generate mockups. With good reference images, it gets surprisingly strong. In a fresh chat, the banner was minimalist but awkwardly spaced; the social graphic felt generic. It improves a lot with references and iterative prompts.
What I like
- Fits right into my broader AI workflow
- Fast generations
- Great when you provide references
What could improve
- Visual originality without references
- Inline “surgical” edits without regenerating the whole image
Best for: Teams already deep in ChatGPT for content/strategy
3) Ideogram
Verdict: Best text rendering and clean social designs.
If your graphics are text-forward (banners, billboards, social), Ideogram shines. My blog banner attempt included some odd extra elements, but the Instagram post was the cleanest, most brandable of the entire test—crisp type, balanced composition, modern vibe.
What I like
- High-quality typography and legibility
- Vibrant, scroll-stopping color
- Occasionally smart brand “ideas” baked in
What could improve
- Layer control
- Inline text editing
Best for: Text-heavy social posts and simple banners
4) AutoDraw
Verdict: Fun and fast for icons; limited for complex art.
AutoDraw guesses what you’re trying to draw and snaps it to a polished icon. With a mouse (no tablet), my smiley face worked; more complex sketches… not so much. Great for quick iconography, not full compositions.
What I like
- Frictionless, free, and fun
- Big icon vocabulary
What could improve
- Whole-canvas awareness (not just shapes)
- Support for custom uploads
Best for: Speeding up simple visuals and icons
5) Gemini
Verdict: Convenient all-rounder, decent design; stronger for research and video.
Gemini’s banner was simple and clear, the social post better but not standout. Where Gemini really wins is convenience if you’re in Google’s ecosystem—and its video model is powerful if you branch beyond static design.
What I like
- Familiar, clean UX
- Solid image generation for quick needs
What could improve
- More advanced editing tools
- Broader visual styles out of the box
Best for: One-tool simplicity across Google apps
6) Kittl
Verdict: Freemium Canva alternative with serious customization.
Kittl mixes Canva/Illustrator vibes with multiple AI models and lots of control. Pure image generations were hit-or-miss, but the Design Generator (Beta) produced editable results you can shape into something strong. Annoyance: the 50-character prompt cap in Design Generator.
What I like
- Multiple AI models
- Deep customization once you’re inside the editor
- Good for building brand kits
What could improve
- Text rendering quality
- Simpler UX for beginners
- Longer prompts in the beta generator
Best for: Tinkerers who want fine control without Adobe
7) Adobe Express
Verdict: Great templates; AI output lagged my prompts.
I wanted to love this. The Firefly 3 image engine is capable, and Express ties nicely into Adobe’s ecosystem. But my test outputs ignored core prompt instructions and the social graphic felt off-brand. Templates + manual edits beat pure AI here (for now).
What I like
- Tight integration with Adobe tools
- Strong pro-grade templates
What could improve
- Prompt adherence
- Text/layout quality from pure AI generations
Best for: Adobe-centric teams who will edit heavily post-generation
8) Designs.ai
Verdict: Ambitious suite; design outputs and pricing model held it back.
Designs.ai tries to be an “agency-in-a-box” with logos, video, voice… the works. For my tests, banners and social posts weren’t usable out of the gate, and the credit system made iteration expensive.
What I like
- Big, integrated toolkit
What could improve
- Trial friction (card requirement)
- Generous credits for exploration
- Higher baseline quality for banners/social
Best for: Multimedia campaigns that truly need the all-in-one bundle
So… should you use AI for design?
AI hasn’t replaced good designers. It’s amplified them. The real win isn’t “set and forget”—it’s faster iteration, stronger briefs, and more creative testing.
My keepers:
- ChatGPT for ideation, briefs, and quick mockups (best with references)
- Canva for social graphics, carousels, and editable AI outputs
- Ideogram for crisp, text-heavy visuals that actually look pro
Where AI still struggles: pixel-perfect edits, exact text placement, and nuanced brand art direction. A human designer still turns a good AI draft into a great final.
Bottom line: Use AI to draft fast and test more. Then have a pro (or your future pro self) polish it for production.