The W’s:
- Design fast with agent is a killer feature, as Moda Agent is pretty smart - it not only trained well on design logic, but it also is smart enough in identifying design/tech issues and solving them, Example: when it noticed the text rendering issues - it worked on them until it was switching between fonts until finding one that worked. Might not work in many use cases, but that’s a strong signal of the model’s “problem solving maturity”
- The ability to design and animate on the same canvas + rich options to export is a powerful feature - especially with its ease of use.
- Overal UI is great and super easy to navigate - both for beginners & pros. Compared to most AI & non-AI design tools, Moda looks like “the solution”. And it feels way more premium and pro than Canva.
- Dividing the left bar to “Pages” / “Layers” is also a great solution that feels easier for beginners than (for example) Figma’s “Pages-Frames-Layers” system.
- The “Insert” menu is extremely valuable with all of its options (which can be enriched with more graph types, visual templates, AI features (like adding “image generator” nodes, chat assistants etc)).
Issues:
1. Core Issue: Post-Editing "Ghost" Rendering
The canvas renderer currently fails to maintain visual persistence after a text layer loses focus.
- Behavior: During active editing (double-click/active cursor), the typeface renders correctly. Upon deselecting the layer, the engine fails to render the full string, resulting in "ghosting" where only random characters remain visible.
- Impact: This is a critical blocker for high-end production. A design tool that cannot guarantee WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) reliability is unusable for professional workflows.
2. Weight Mapping Inconsistency
There is a fragmented support of font weights across the primary library. The system fails to map specific weights correctly, leading to layer invisibility or rendering errors.
- Manrope: Only Light, Bold, and SemiBold weights function reliably. Other weights cause the text block to either vanish or render partially.
- Inter: Support is limited to Thin, Extra Light, and Medium. Standard weights expected in a professional UI/UX context are missing or broken.
- IBM Plex Sans: Only Thin, Regular, SemiBold, and Bold are functional. Crucial intermediate weights (Extra Light, Light, Medium) fail to render.
- more tests are coming