On Canvases

A recent point of discussion for pro-AI-linkedinfluencers has been the ‘death of the canvas.’ Most of these declarations are targeted towards Figma in particular, however the sentiment is universal in its rejection of a canvas native design workflow.

I have some thoughts on this. Coding in the terminal is more methodical and iterative, but the canvas is expansive and limitless. There is a freedom that can’t be achieved in a linear chat UI.

• The canvas is inherently a collaborative tool.
• Good design is collaborative.
  

I believe (and hope) that the next great design tool will marry both the collaborative-ness of the canvas with the iterative nature of prompting.

Figma has recently acquired Weavy, so I would be interested to see how they navigate it. A node based approach lends itself more towards collaborative workflows, as the full process is mapped out. I wonder if a node/canvas hybrid will be the future.

Whatever happens, I believe the canvas will remain triumphant as a creative tool, as it has done since physical media. It will never replace truly creative work.