Best Creative Design Platforms in 2023 (Honest Reviews)

The tremendous increase in market demand and current technological advancements made digital marketing and design automation technologies an inseparable pair. Companies and individuals may profit immensely from creative design automation technologies in today's fast-paced yet results-driven culture.

We looked into popular choices and narrowed our list to 20 automation platforms. Then chose six of them, regarding user experience, customer service, and how easy it is to use, while also considering critical reviews. Before we dig into the technologies that can aid you in removing the cost of an agency or third-party organization, let us first define what design automation is and how it can help you!

Graphic Design Automation

The use of technology to complete tasks in the design process is known as "graphic design automation". Graphic design automation could include everything that happens during the design process, such as generating, editing, and testing. The goal is to eliminate inaccuracy and manual labor while lowering the possibility of error and boosting consistency.  The usage of AI-powered tools for activities such as image editing, color correction, and layout optimization is a popular example of graphic design automation. It also incorporates the use of pre-made templates and design elements to speed up the design process and make it more approachable to non-designers.

There are a large variety of platforms you can choose from. However, when it comes to graphic design automation, primarily Renderform and Bannerbear come to mind. These platforms enable users to generate images using custom photos, texts, and QR codes. It automatically creates ideas for social media posts and blog posts and helps with email marketing campaigns. They both provide user-friendly tools that allow users to alter texts and access a variety of templates for their image-generating requirements. If you want to up your e-commerce game with dynamic images, you need to try them!

Top 6 Creative Design Automation Platforms in 2023!

1) Celtra

Celtra is a creative automation company that can immediately convert your creative ideas into media-ready goods. It assists you in producing innovative media by addressing your brand and keeping your prior designs in mind.

It offers services for both brands and designers. For designers, it has a designer mode, built-in specs, smart templates, and custom fonts. All of the features Celtra offers help designers with repetitive design tasks. It works best for freelance designers and designers that have a lot on their plate. If you are one of the two, you should definitely check out Celtra’s designer mode.

For brands, Celtra offers an easier and faster design process. Others can see what you work on and then comment about edits they prefer. You don’t have to switch between platforms to finalize your design process and can invest your time into other projects. If you are an enterprise or a mid-size business you should look into Celtra.

Unfortunately, Celtra does not kiss and tell, booking a demo and asking for the prices is the way to go! Here are some comments from users, and their pros and cons list summed up;

Pros:

• Easy to use
• Fast customer feedback
• Less troubleshooting
• Continuous updates and changes
• Don’t have to deal with codes

Cons:

• Panels could be overwhelming
• Workflow lacks and needs improvements
• Notification of updates could be better
• Not transparent with file sizes
• Expensive compared to other platforms

According to a happy Celtra user review from Capterra wrote:

“Its never easy to undertake a project, to make a business work, to keep it competitive, growing and innovative. Celtra is the best platform to make ads.”

Another Celtra review on Capterra followed with:

“There are limitations and certain features that are lacking. Over the past 2 years there have been many improvements which is encouraging.”

2) Bannerflow

Bannerflow is a company based in Sweden, that offers digital marketing services for mid and small-sized companies. One of Europe’s fastest-growing companies, Bannerflow is loved by many. But why? Because it is very easy to use, offers companies fast banner add creation, and is perfect for companies looking to go global like Microsoft. Bannerflow provides effective marketing in real-time, with a click your designs can be published on thousands of websites.

Bannerflow charges you for the service you want to use. Therefore, you can book a demo, see what you like, and get to work! Here are some comments and a list of pros and cons according to users;

Pros:

• Easy to use and learn
• Clean interface
• Offers many creatives
• The quality of creatives is top-notch
• Has a wide variety of tools
• Can build HTML5 quickly and easily

Cons:

• Minor bugs
• Outdated widgets
• Animation of banners can improve
• Slow ( banner load, banner save, library)

Bannerflow user posted on G2:

“First of all. Fantastic customer support . Always willing to help, and has always provided solutions for me. Easy user interface. Great widgets. As a designer, Bannerflow makes me focus on the design, and not the code running behind it all. Nice widgets. Love that you can update the banners and push changes even when they are live. I highly recommend Bannerflow to any inhouse/advertising agency that want to/need to make HTML5 banners.”

Another user who used Bannerflow for a long time wrote on G2:

“Bannerflow has a very "clean" and minimalistic design and sometimes I find it hard to find all the options that are available.”

The site's referral features have received a number of contradicting remarks, but we understand them as follows: Yes, it is not a platform that instructs and directs the user, but because it is so user-friendly, you may still find what you're looking for by wandering around.

Trusted by; HP, Kindred, Shutterstock, Storytell.

3) Spirable

The self-serve platform from Spirable makes it simple for marketing and creative teams to create dynamic, individualized, and engaging video content. You may easily create your own template from scratch or modify one that has already been created.

A single template can be quickly and easily adjusted to fit numerous formats. Utilize live, contextual, and first-party data to quickly and easily change your creative in real-time to your audience. Media and marketing teams can implement dynamic, data-driven creative across channels, placements, and formats from a single platform.

It can be used by graphic designers, freelancers, mid and small-sized companies, major companies…The list goes on. Spirable as most service providers do not like to talk about pricing. Maybe you can get through to them, book a demo and contact them right now to see their pricing!

Pros:

• Fast results
• Easy management of video marketing
• Good customer service

Cons:

• Lacks guidance for some tools
• Toolset is limited
• Has to improve

Review of Spirable posted on G2:

"... There are lots of little features in the ad builder (e.g. pre-built animations, dynamic audio tracks and layer masking) that are very useful to create engaging motion work. Templates are easy to organise and navigate with a folder structure to maintain good file management and collaborate with other members of the team.

Spirable also has the ability to integrate live feeds into the the ads, this is of great advantage to us as a business to leverage live odds so our customers are seeing the most up to date odds on the latest sporting events ."

But, they also added:

“Occasionally there can be small bugs within the ad builder platform, however the guys at Spirable are always available and on hand to resolve or escalate the issues to the relevant teams to look into and fix. It would also be useful to be able to keyframe animations on the timeline to be more accurate with animation timings.”

Firms that trust and work/worked with Spirable; Neutrogena, S. Oliver, Pandora, Deutsche Bahn, PlayStation, Philips, Captain Morgan, Domino’s, and Vodafone.

4) Rocketium

Rocketium is for companies looking for an easier marketing process. It helps with video production and editing while allowing you to store assets and organize them.  Companies' creative automation includes; on-brand templates, auto-resizing, and AI-writer.

Rocketium offers a wide range of templates, therefore you don't have to have any skill to use the platform. You can run A/B testing for your videos, you can create for hundreds of languages (language support and automatic translation features), you can import your brand logo, your images, and so on. The platform can be used with your team, which allows you to communicate faster and finish the design process faster.

As well as pricing, we don't have much to work with.

50wheel wrote: "Rocketium has flexible pricing plans for individuals and teams alike. You can go for monthly or annual subscriptions (annual plans come with 2 extra months for free). Individuals can subscribe the Professional or Expert plans, priced at USD $49 and USD $99 per month. Teams can choose from the Team or Business plans priced at USD $199 and USD $399 per month respectively. All plans come with a free 7-day trial."

However, the Rocketium site says pricing is available on request. If you are looking to grow your company globally you should definitely check out Rocketium! Let's look into happy reviews and confused comments about Rocketium:

Pros:

• Has over 2000+ templates
• "Trello-like" feature that allows you and your team to communicate
• Covers all steps of the design process
• Has over 2 billion images, sounds, and videos

Cons:

• Too expensive
• Doesn't offer templates, offers styles
• Plans are unfair (can't get anything that is actually useful without paying good money users wrote)
• Too complex
• The platform isn't easy for non-designers

A user on Capterra wrote about Rocketium:

"Rocketium system makes it easy and fast to create simple videos, what make them better than any other similar systems in their price range is the API that really lets you easily integreate and leverage their technology in your own workflow."

A concerned customer review from G2 on Rocketium:

"Very limited fonts are available while localising text.

We can only style one text size at a time and can not apply the same changes to any similar set.

Exporting options are also limited and although the platform tries to easy creative creation process for non-designers, there is still a long way to go and huge room for improvement before Rocektium becomes beginner friendly."

5) Widen Collective

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In Widen Collective, users can store media files, and search for them when in need. It is a cloud-based document management platform that also offers team communication tools. It provides mid and large-scale companies with creative automation tools such as; adaptable dashboards, easy project management, and a graphical workflow editor.

Although the fees are not displayed on the website, reviews indicate that it is a far more affordable platform than other options. However, you can always schedule a quick demo with the company and see what works for you!

Pros:

• Massive file-sharing program
• Organized and easy to search
• Easy to use and understand
• Open to feedback

Cons:

• The admin control panel is complex
• Users want more control (unchangeable templates and designs)
• Lack of email notification  
• Minimal bugs  

A review on Widen Collective from SourceForge:

"Got what I needed in a timely manor, filled out the questions for the team to create my conversion and BAM! perfection from the Dev team. Couldn't be happier."

"I like how easy it is to use, manage and customize our DAM. The support team is always available to help, no matter what the issues we are having. There's a great community forum where you can connect with other DAM Admins and help each other out."

Another user not-so-happily wrote a review about Widen Collective on Capterra:

"I'm still waiting for drag and drop functionality with Indesign. A small workflow addition that would make things easier!"

Did you know that Widen Collective offers/offered services for big companies such as Shiseido, New Balance, and The Salvation Army? If you like what you see so far, book a demo right now!

6) AdCreative.ai

With Adcreative.ai, you can create hundreds of visually appealing, high-performing ad creatives in just a few seconds, thanks to its artificial intelligence. Companies AI learn from your data to deliver the best results customized just for you. Small businesses looking for fast-delivered results should look into AdCreative.ai. Prices start from 29 dollars and they continuously give discounts. To get a good deal you don't have to be Sherlock, just check them out regularly and see what they offer.

What users thought of AdCreative.ai? Let's check it out

Pros:

• Lots and lots of options
• Fast results
• Promising and improving features

Cons:

• Misleading payment plan (lack of information to customer)
• Slow server
• AI provides many options but it ends up being too similar to its prior works
• Lack of formats and sizes

A positive AdCreative.ai review from G2:

"Fast in delivering intuitive designs with confidence and contemporary designs. One of the standout features of the software is its ability to analyze large amounts of data and provide insights into audience behavior, which can be used to optimize ad campaigns and improve ROI. Additionally, the software's AI-powered creative tools allow for the rapid creation of high-quality ad and social media content, saving time and resources."

A critical AdCreative.ai review posted on G2:

"While I have found the Adcreative tool to be useful in generating ad creatives, there have been a few limitations that have been frustrating for me. For example, I have found that it can be a bit of a pain to make further tweaks to the ads, especially when it comes to images. I have had instances where faces have been cropped out of the images I uploaded, which is not ideal."

Conclusion

Platforms and technologies for creative design automation are quite popular right now. Users may benefit greatly from it since it is user-friendly, easy to understand, and provides rapid designs with little to no experience or knowledge. Hiring an expert for basic but time-consuming designs can be pricey; yet, creative design automation solutions are less expensive and can create results in minutes. If any of the tools appeal to your tastes and needs, you should definitely explore them.

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