Microsoft is yet again at the forefront of an AI powered design revolution with formal launch of their AI-powered Designer app which is available on web, and mobile (iOS and Android) after being in preview for a year.
Designer can be accessed on the web (mobile download links included) by visiting https://designer.microsoft.com
Designer is built all around speed and simplicity, empowering users of any level to quickly create custom images, stickers, greeting cards, and invitations with a professional touch using a wide array of tools, simplified editing tools, a fresh and clean UI and rich AI editing capabilities.
Designer is also free though it does require sign-in with a Microsoft MSA app or Microsoft 365 Personal or Family account. Designer features are also popping up on Commercial apps and services such as Teams. More on this later in the blog.
To do this, simply add square brackets round the elements you want to be “custom” and share the prompt… You can also try many of the pre curated prompts that Microsoft provides in the examples in app.
One of the newest things which was introduced at launch was the concept of design prompt templates. These make help #DesignerCreators with ideas, along with editable prompts to help creative minds get to work quickly. You can simply make any prompt you love (or that people share) with you in a sharable and editable prompt.
To do this, simply add square brackets round the elements you want to be “custom” and copy the prompt to share it with others… You can also try many of the pre curated prompts that Microsoft provides in the examples in app.
Everyone gets get 15 AI Boosts a day (which speed up the AI creation process. If you are a Copilot Pro subscriber, this is further boosted to 100 boosts a day. Copilot Pro, also includes the use of Copilot across your Microsoft 365 Personal and Family apps and services for £19 per month.
How we use Microsoft Designer in our Family
Let’s dive into some of the key features. For those that know me, my children love London trains, so the theme of my feature explanation and examples will be very “train centered“.
Firstly, Designer has a rich set of starter apps and templates to help you achive a particular design related task – these range from AI image creation, to greeting cards, social media posts and much much more. You also get some great starter prompts too or creations you can use to get you started if you are having a bit of mind blur! You can access these visually or from the <create> menu at the top of the home page.
Powerful integrated or standalone apps and tools
Designer comes with a full design canvas (this was actually the first part of Designer that was built when the beta debuted about a year ago) along with a growing number of mini apps which make doing simple AI assisted tasks easy and quick. Many of these can also be accessed via the main Designer Canvas (which I highlighted above).
The video above is aimed to be a simple whistle-stop tour of the Microsoft Designer Interface. I have used a blank canvas to show just how easy and intuitive it is to create a design from scratch – which in this example is a new design that we will use to promotes my son’s next Train Themed YouTube video.
The sections that follow focus on some of the standalone apps and features that Designer brings in its AI Image Treasure Trove – keep reading!
Using the Designer (mini-apps)
The mobile app – Bringing AI Editing on the Go
The Designer mobile app brings the power of AI editing into the palm of your hand.
It’s a modern, clean app and provides most of the features you get in the browser version with a few things missing – more on that later. In short, you can use the mobile app to easily create images, cards, collages, invitations, drawings and generate decorative borders. The app is also slick and fast – a well-designed and written app.
Since our boys are really into trains, the theme of this and most of the examples will be around trains, as most of our weekends involve trips to train stations and journeys on different trains!!
Starting off, here’s how we used designer to create some inspiring images around the London Underground – using the Designer Mobile App.
The app’s intuitive interface makes it simple for anyone to enhance their creations with a professional touch.
The image below was created with a simple prompt. Designer will even suggest tweaks as you type to help make the image more vibrant and exciting.
Example: Image Restyling
Imagine you’ve taken a photo that’s perfect except for one detail. With Designer, you can easily edit that detail without affecting the rest of the image. The AI-powered tools can recognize and isolate different elements in your photo, allowing you to make precise edits.
Again, this is so quick and easy to use – simple open the tool, select a picture from your gallery (if you have pictures you want to use from your mobile, then you can either use the Phone Link or app, or the QR Code which you can scan with your phone that opens on your phone and lets you simply choose images from your mobile).
You then just choose the restyle image type you would like such as drawing or Claymation, add an optional element and off you go.
Now my only critique with this service/tool is that is not yet available on the mobile app – which to me seems an obvious one to include in mobile – shoot ➡️restyle ➡️post on social.
Example: Collage Creation
Creating a collage is usually quite a time-consuming task and tricky, but not with Designers Collage Creator. Here you can choose/select the photos you want to use, and the Collage app will automatically arrange them into a stylish collage. You can then adjust the layout, add text, and apply filters to perfect your collage.
When you open the Collages app, Designer gives you a set of example designs to give you inspiration or you can start from scratch. You can upload images from your device (or mobile using the QR Code), select background frame design you want and let Designer do its thing. Let’s see in action below…. again, sticking to the train theme!!
Greeting Cards
So, following a trip to London Charing Cross, where my boys got to have a tour of the station (behind the scenes, we used Designer to quickly create a thank you card. For this, we used one of the sample cards and simply modified the prompt. Let’s see this in action.
Create your own ClipArt (and Stickers)
One of the other cool features in Designer is the ability to create Stickers and Clipart. These are quite similar and create process is the same. The main difference being that Stickers have a nice cut-out-able border round them whereas Clipart does not. The main reason for separating them out (I think) is that it’s easier to distinguish between the two types of images – as in, it helps spark imagination.
Here’s another “Train” themed image we created – this was ClipArt using Designer. In the screen shot above, you can see the simple prompt we used and the options it gave us.
Wait there is more – Integration across your Microsoft Apps
The standalone Microsoft Designer app, whilst super intuitive and packed full of features is just the beginning – yet this is just the beginning of the Designer journey. Whilst much of the roadmap is under NDA still, what I can tell you is that Microsoft has already (just) seamlessly integrated Designer into Copilot (both in Copilot Pro for consumer and in the corporate Copilot for Microsoft Space). This has the effect of enhancing capability in apps like Word and PowerPoint, whereby users can now ask Copilot to generate images and designs directly within their documents, streamlining the creative process and making content more personalised and unique.
We have also seen Designer get native integration into Teams Channels and Chat and you’ll start to see it make more appearances across the other Microsoft apps and services.
Designer Document Integration in PowerPoint and Word
Imagine you’re working on a report in Word, or PowerPoint and you need an AI generated graphic to illustrate your point. Instead of switching apps and copying and pasting, you can now use Designer right within Word and PowerPoint to create a custom graphics that fits perfectly with your document’s style and content.
To do this, you can simply ask Copilot in Word or PowerPoint to create an image for you.
Why You Should Try Designer
The Designer app is more than just a tool; it’s a gateway to unleashing your creativity. With its user-friendly interface, AI-powered editing tools, and seamless integration with other Microsoft apps, Designer simplifies the design process, making it accessible to everyone, regardless of their design experience.
Whether you’re a professional designer looking for a convenient way to work on the go, a marketeer who needs some new ideas, a student needing to create presentations for school, or someone who enjoys creating personalised greeting cards for friends and family, Designer has something for you.
Moreover, with the daily boosts offered by Microsoft, you can explore the full potential of the app without any cost. And if you find yourself needing more, the Copilot Pro subscription is a worthwhile investment for the additional benefits it provides.
Conclusion
Microsoft’s Designer app is a game-changer for creators of all levels. With its user-friendly AI tools and cross-platform availability, the possibilities are endless. Embrace the future of design with Microsoft Designer. Try it and use it for free today and see how it can transform your creative process.
