# Simon Chalk **Principal Product Designer · Sydney** sichalk@gmail.com · 0492 873 039 · [linkedin.com/in/simon-chalk](https://www.linkedin.com/in/simon-chalk) I design and build complex creative tools, from product vision and interaction design through to production code. My work spans AI agent workflows, large-scale editor redesigns and connected physical products. I lead through hands-on work, setting direction, working closely with engineers and helping other designers develop their craft. ## Experience ### Canva Sydney · Jul 2020 – Nov 2026 #### Principal Product Designer Dec 2022 – Nov 2026 ##### Flying Fox · AI tooling for product designers Design lead for an internal AI design tool, turning an engineer-built proof of concept into a visual workspace for building functional prototypes. Reached 140 daily active product designers within four months, among 340 total daily active users, through entirely voluntary adoption. - Set the product direction around designers' workflows: visual tools, point-and-click editing, annotations and pinned artefacts, with code and repository management handled under the hood. - Designed and shipped substantial production features in an Electron app, including a restructured editor architecture, a Markdown editor, agent interactions and Git-backed sharing and publishing. - Shaped the agent harness and collaboration model, using a central agent, threaded work and automatic version synchronisation to let designers work together without managing Git worktrees. Established agreed points for engineering handoff within an end-to-end design and development workflow. ##### Glow Up · Canva editor redesign Product design lead and company goal owner for the editor's first major overhaul since 2016. Turned a three-year vision into an eight-month delivery programme for Canva Create 2024, coordinating approximately 100 leads across teams contributing to the editor. - Defined the editor's design direction and shared interaction patterns, addressing years of accumulated design and technical debt and making feature contribution clearer across teams. - Worked directly with the CEO, COO and CPO to build a shared vision, while remaining hands-on in the detailed design alongside two senior designers. - Modernised the editor while protecting revenue performance. The broader Glow Up release recorded 4.5/5 user satisfaction. ##### Magic Video · AI-powered mobile video creation Sole product designer for flows that turn phone clips and photos into shareable short-form videos using AI-powered templates. Took the work from initial brief to global rollout in four months for a headline launch at Canva World Tour 2025. The product reached 2.6M monthly active users and 70.4K daily active users. - Defined product strategy with the PM and shaped the experience around model capabilities and latency constraints, keeping the scope achievable for launch. - Shared concepts and design intent early with engineers so they could contribute and build independently. Pushed to remove an interim release milestone to preserve time for user testing and iteration before the public launch. ##### Video Timeline Defined the vision and shipped the MVP for Canva's transition from page-based video editing to a video-first experience, establishing interaction patterns for future video features. #### Product Designer Jul 2020 – Dec 2022 ##### Canva Creators Marketplace Designed and launched Canva's first two-sided creator marketplace, working in a product and engineering triad to shape the marketplace model and creator experience. Designed creator portfolios, template publishing and internal tools for reviewing and auditing submissions. ##### Core editor features Partnered with founders, product and engineering to launch gradients, text styles and advanced text styling in an editor serving 100M+ users. Led research, interaction design, usability testing and UI refinement, contributing patterns to the design system. ### RVU London · Jun 2018 – Feb 2020 #### Lead Product Designer · Money.co.uk Apr 2019 – Feb 2020 Led end-to-end web design for credit card, loan, mortgage and insurance comparison products, drawing on qualitative research and analytics across 1M+ monthly sessions. #### Senior Product Designer · Bankrate.com/UK Dec 2018 – Apr 2019 Partnered with SEO on intent-driven product pages during growth from approximately 10K to 125K monthly sessions. Led home-loan research to inform the roadmap and established a design system across touchpoints. #### Product Designer · Uswitch.com Jun 2018 – Dec 2018 Sole product designer for a new B2B web analytics release. Used ethnographic research to simplify core workflows and established UX practices within a small engineering team. ### Ørsted Watches #### Founder & Designer Feb 2018 – Mar 2020 Founded a watch brand and designed an automatic watch, working with a China-based manufacturing partner on industrial design and engineering. Created the visual identity, custom type, packaging and pre-sale website. ### Breville Sydney · Mar 2011 – Dec 2017 #### UX/UI Manager Oct 2016 – Dec 2017 Established Breville's global UX/UI department, recruited and mentored four designers, and introduced agile digital design practices within a business grounded in physical product development. #### Senior UX Designer Dec 2015 – Oct 2016 Designed a recipe-driven connected product spanning web, iOS and embedded interfaces, leading research, prototyping, testing and handoff to an offshore development team. #### Rapid Innovator Jun 2015 – Dec 2015 Created methods for prototyping digital coffee-machine interfaces with physical buttons and dials, enabling high-fidelity user testing before committing to development. #### Industrial Designer Mar 2011 – Jan 2015 Designed toasters, kettles and coffee machines from concept through to production, spanning user research, physical prototyping, engineering and design for manufacture.