AI tools for designers

Tools worth integrating into a design workflow — what each does and how to use it. Pricing notes are indicative; always confirm current terms (especially licensing and training-data provenance for client work).

Adobe Firefly

Image & Visual
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Commercially-safe generative image & vector tooling, native to Adobe.

What it does

Text-to-image, generative fill/expand, text effects and (increasingly) vector and video generation, trained on licensed/Adobe Stock content marketed as commercially safe.

In your workflow

Generate or extend imagery directly inside Photoshop/Illustrator; produce on-brand visuals and backgrounds without leaving the Adobe stack. Strong choice for client work where training-data provenance matters.

💸 Free tier with limited credits; included with Creative Cloud plans.

Midjourney

Image & Visual
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High-aesthetic text-to-image generation.

What it does

Produces strikingly stylised, art-directed images from text prompts; strong for moodboards, concept art and visual exploration.

In your workflow

Rapid concepting and moodboarding early in a project. Check licensing/usage terms before using output in commercial deliverables.

💸 Subscription tiers (no permanent free tier).

ElevenLabs

Voice & Audio
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Realistic AI text-to-speech and voice cloning.

What it does

Generates natural-sounding speech in many languages and voices, plus voice cloning, dubbing and audio for products and prototypes.

In your workflow

Add realistic voiceover to prototype demos, generate UX voice/IVR content, or test voice-interface flows without a studio. Get consent before cloning any real voice.

💸 Free tier with monthly character limit; paid tiers scale usage.

Cleanvoice.io

Voice & Audio
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AI audio cleanup — removes filler words, stutters and mouth sounds.

What it does

Automatically detects and removes 'um/uh', stutters, dead air and background noise from podcasts and recorded audio.

In your workflow

Polish recorded user-research sessions, voiceovers or design-process walkthroughs before sharing with stakeholders. Speeds up post-production on any spoken content.

💸 Free trial; usage-based / subscription pricing thereafter.

Descript

Voice & Audio
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Edit audio & video by editing the transcript.

What it does

Transcribes recordings and lets you edit media like a doc; includes filler-word removal, AI voices and screen recording.

In your workflow

Turn research calls and demo recordings into clips and highlight reels fast; create narrated walkthroughs of prototypes.

💸 Free tier; paid plans for more transcription hours and features.

Runway

Video & Motion
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Generative video and AI motion tools.

What it does

Text/image-to-video generation, video editing, background removal and motion effects powered by generative models.

In your workflow

Create short motion concepts, animated explainers and dynamic backgrounds for pitches and prototypes without a full motion-design pipeline.

💸 Free credits to start; subscription tiers for more generation.

Figma AI / Make

Design & Prototyping
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AI features inside Figma — generation, rename, and prompt-to-design.

What it does

Assists with first drafts, layer renaming, content generation, search and (via Figma Make) turning prompts into working designs/prototypes.

In your workflow

Speed up boilerplate (placeholder content, renaming), kickstart layouts, and prototype ideas. Keep a critical eye — AI drafts are starting points, not final design.

💸 Included in Figma plans (availability varies by plan/seat).

Uizard

Design & Prototyping
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Prompt- and sketch-to-UI prototyping.

What it does

Turns text prompts, screenshots or hand sketches into editable UI mockups and multi-screen prototypes.

In your workflow

Very early ideation and stakeholder alignment — get a clickable concept in minutes before investing in high-fidelity Figma work.

💸 Free tier; paid plans for more projects and features.

v0 (Vercel)

Design & Prototyping
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Prompt-to-UI that outputs real React/Tailwind code.

What it does

Generates production-leaning UI components and pages from prompts or images, exporting React + Tailwind (shadcn/ui) code.

In your workflow

Bridge design and dev: hand engineers a working component, or build functional prototypes that use real code rather than throwaway mockups.

💸 Free tier with credits; paid plans for heavier use.

ChatGPT (OpenAI)

Research & Productivity
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General-purpose assistant for writing, analysis and ideation.

What it does

Drafting, summarising, brainstorming, code help, image generation and data analysis through a multimodal assistant.

In your workflow

Synthesise research notes, draft UX copy variations, generate personas/test scripts, and rubber-duck design decisions. Verify factual output.

💸 Free tier; Plus/Team/Enterprise tiers for more capability and privacy.

Claude (Anthropic)

Research & Productivity
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Assistant strong at long-form writing, reasoning and documents.

What it does

Long-context reasoning, writing, analysis, coding and document understanding with a focus on safety and helpfulness.

In your workflow

Analyse long research transcripts or specs, draft and critique UX writing, and reason through complex flows. Large context handles big documents well.

💸 Free tier; Pro/Team/Enterprise for more usage and features.

Perplexity

Research & Productivity
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AI answer engine with cited sources.

What it does

Answers questions by searching the web and returning a synthesised response with inline citations.

In your workflow

Faster, source-backed desk research for competitive analysis and domain learning. The citations make it easier to verify before trusting.

💸 Free tier; Pro plan for advanced models and more searches.

NotebookLM (Google)

Research & Productivity
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Grounded research assistant over your own documents.

What it does

Upload sources (docs, PDFs, slides) and ask questions answered *only* from those sources, with citations and audio overviews.

In your workflow

Build a grounded knowledge base from research, specs and reports; query it reliably without the model wandering off-source — a practical example of RAG.

💸 Free; higher limits via paid Google plans.

Krea

Image & Visual
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Real-time generative image canvas and upscaling.

What it does

Real-time image generation, enhancement and upscaling with a canvas-style, designer-friendly interface.

In your workflow

Iterate visuals live, upscale assets, and explore variations quickly during concepting.

💸 Free tier with credits; paid plans for more generation.