Information technology / Design software
Canva: Search for replacement images inside a design
- Company
- Canva
- Country
- Not classified
- Adoption stage
- In operation
- Source published
- Date basis
- The date the source was published. It can differ from the date adoption started.
- How the source was checked
- Read the full source text
The work problem
Canva needed to replace existing images to maintain the quality of its template library. When a partnership with an external media provider ended, templates using that provider's content had to be found and updated, requiring substantial manual work. Existing recommendations also considered popularity and design context, so the results were not similar enough to the original. Text search did not adequately capture visual differences such as color tones or subject positioning.
Technology and data
Canva built a search system that finds images similar to the original using image embeddings, which represent an image as an array of numbers. Engineers and designers directly compared the search results of several models and selected DINOv2. The system stores image representations and metadata in an external vector database, reflects changes in the library, and filters results by aspect ratio. Template Assistant highlights media that needs replacement and suggests eight similar images. A designer selects an image, and the workflow connects to human review before the template is republished in the library. Designers can use regular search if the suggestions are unsuitable.
Results
Canva stated that the search system was live when the article was published. It reported that initial pilots involving professional designers achieved image replacement speeds 4.5 times faster with replacement suggestions than with regular search. Results were strong at preserving subjects, backgrounds, and the overall mood of photographs, but weaker for images containing text, symbols, cartoons, or drawings.
Limits and open questions
The 4.5-times result comes from initial pilots, and the number of participants and measurement period were not disclosed. The source also does not report the total number of replacements or average time saved in production.
Sources
- Image replacement in Canva designs using reverse image searchcanva.dev, Accessed
Compiled from public sources. These are not results from ATF Works customers.