Design and Office Tools Converging
Grant Lee, co-founder of Gamma, on rethinking the primitives of presentations
The fight is over who becomes the default place where non designers turn raw work into something presentable. Canva, Figma, Microsoft 365, Google Workspace, and Gamma are all reaching toward the same workflow, pull in docs, data, images, and video, arrange them fast, then share them as a polished artifact. The difference is where each starts, design assets for Canva and Figma, office files for Microsoft and Google, and web native communication for Gamma.
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Design tools and office suites are converging from opposite directions. Canva expanded from quick graphics into presentations, video, and broader workplace content. Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides already sit inside bundles with docs and spreadsheets, which makes it easy to pull charts, tables, and brand assets into a deck.
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Figma and Canva have an easier path with marketers, product teams, and SMBs than with finance and company wide knowledge work. Design tools are built around reusable assets and templates, while horizontal work tools are built around searchable files, old board decks, meeting docs, and live collaboration across many functions.
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Gamma is trying to win by changing the unit of work itself. Instead of fixed slides, it uses flexible cards that can hold text, video, embeds, and live web apps, which fits hybrid work better and makes one artifact usable as a memo, presentation, and lightweight webpage.
The next step is fewer separate tools for doc writing, slide building, and lightweight publishing. The winners will be the products that can absorb existing files, connect to the rest of the work stack, and let one person turn a rough idea into a shareable, branded output without needing a designer or a formatting pass.