Lennon Cheng | Principal Product Designer, System Thinker and Storyteller

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Drop me a note

**YouTube** / **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 Amsterdam.

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.