Lennon Cheng | Principal Product Designer, System Thinker and Storyteller

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Drop me a note

**LinkedIn** / Substack / Instagram

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About

Hello, I am Lennon 👋

I’m a multidisciplinary designer driven by curiosity, which is another way of saying I’ve worked on a wildly mixed bag of things: from digital products and web apps to brand, exhibitions, photography, events, interior and more.

I’m a queer immigrant from Shanghai, now living in Melbourne with my two rescued cats, Chipper and Sesame.

You can find me mumbling my thoughts on Substack and posting edited snaps on Instagram.

My corner when working from home

ex-Canva

I wrapped up an (almost) 4-year journey at Canva at the end of 2025.

In 2022, I started in the Search Experience team, where I helped establish the product-wide search and filtering patterns with Easel, the design system team at Canva.

Throughout the years, I collaborated directly with the founder and senior leaders across a dozen teams to:

Embrace the wave of AI and rethink the role of search and filtering
Establish Canva’s AI discovery pattern across the homepage and Editor — combining search and generative AI (patented) to help users find the right creative starting point
Refresh Canva’s global IA to support a more intuitive and scalable product surface
Simplify mobile experiences for clarity, speed, and everyday ease of use
Explore how documentation and prototyping could supercharge how we work

I departed the company as a Principal Product Designer in search for my next adventure.

Canva Create 2025 in LA

Experience

The 9 to 5

2022-25 Led AI discovery, search, and product architecture at Canva
2020-22 Tinkered on Design System at Xero
2018-20 Shaped web apps, brand, and interaction design at Today
2015-18 Designed web apps and digital experiences at NetEngine

A very mixed bag of things

🛠 Side Projects & Experiments

Co-hosted a queer podcast for 3.5 years
Created a photo exhibition from the ground up in 2024
Ran a UX meetup in Brisbane, co-hosted Notion’s online meetup in Australia, and organised a queer panel to open Canva’s Melbourne campus

🧠 Teaching & Speaking

Gave talks at DesignOps.lol and Melbourne International Student Conference
Taught an 8-week UI/UX course to international students

🎨 Creative Practice

Been taking photos and grading colours for over a decade
Commissioned for illustrations for a tech company’s blog

Cats

Of course, you are here for Chipper and Sesame, my two rescued cats. I do not blame you :)

Chipper and Sesame are friends usually for a good chunk of the day. The rest of the time though, they are archnemesis.

Chipper is a classic ginger. He knows he’s adorable so he demands your pats but with a lot of affection and warmth. He looks slightly chunky because he doesn’t really have a neck, but he’s in fact a small and light cat.

Sesame is a swift and nimble cow cat. She’s curious but slightly timid. She wouldn’t show up until you have spent a decent amount of hours in the house. She likes to ask for pats and jump onto your lap before you go to bed.