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Contact

✉️ cj[at]jonesish[dot]com

📍 Sydney, Australia

Howdy. I’m CJ, a global design leader and writer. I study how humans build shared worlds.

Not just how humans live together (which is already pretty fascinating), but how we perceive the same reality, build trust, coordinate at scale, imagine futures, use technology, and pass worlds on for generations to come.

Currently

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Head of Design, AI

Canva is a visual communication tool used by 230+ million users in over 190 countries. I’m a player-coach, zooming in and out where strategy and craft are needed. Previously, I was the group design lead for Discovery, leading teams in search, recommendations, and browse experiences. I’ve been here since 2021.

Leadership

Launch of Canva AI 2.0 and the Creative Operating System
Org design for Discovery & GenAI
Coaching and growing designers into senior, principal & staff level

Previously, I worked on the transport and food delivery businesses at Grab 🇸🇬, research on NLP at the Allen Institute for AI 🇺🇸, pet-centered marketplace at Rover 🇺🇸, and consulting for various non-profits and SaaS companies 💅🏻.

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Speaking

Keynotes

Presenter for Canva AI, Canva Create, 2025
Building Towards Utopia at The Noun Project’s Iconathon at San Francisco Design Week, 2023

Panels

Ada Lovelace Day at the Australian Computer Society, 2024
Queer x Design: Past, present and future at Canva x Sydney Mardi Gras, 2023
Communication by Design: A Conversational Approach to Search & Recommendations at Canva at OzCHI 2022
Design with Pride: Getting your first job in design as an LGBTQ+ person at Canva Space, 2021

Podcasts

In the Blink of AI, coming soon!
All Things Design, 2025
Emerging Tech Unpacked, 2025
Design Surfaces, 2024

Events

Host, AI Design and Tech at The Hive Table, 2025
Presenter, Women in AI (APAC) Awards, 2024