Inside the creative process: Jay Demetillo leads Canva’s bold leap beyond traditional spreadsheets

2025-05-05

Download

In this episode of AI Product Builders, I sit down with Jay Demetillo, design lead at Canva, to talk about what it means to design spreadsheet experiences for the future. Jay has worked all over the world—from Grab in Southeast Asia to leading the design of AI features inside Canva Sheets. Now based in Australia, he shares what it took to reimagine a legacy product, modernize complex workflows, and bring AI in as a meaningful co-pilot, not just a gimmick.We get into:* The drag-and-drop design challenge no existing t...

In this episode of AI Product Builders, I sit down with Jay Demetillo, design lead at Canva, to talk about what it means to design spreadsheet experiences for the future. Jay has worked all over the world—from Grab in Southeast Asia to leading the design of AI features inside Canva Sheets. Now based in Australia, he shares what it took to reimagine a legacy product, modernize complex workflows, and bring AI in as a meaningful co-pilot, not just a gimmick.

We get into:

* The drag-and-drop design challenge no existing tool could solve and how he had to rely on his ingenuity

* Prototyping high-fidelity interactions with ProtoPie to shape engineering scoping

* Why working across time zones requires clarity, collaboration, and great prototypes

* How Canva Sheets makes data visualization, formulas, and mobile editing easier for everyday users

* The principles behind Canva’s “magic” AI features like Magic Insights and Magic Formulas

* Jay’s own side project: an article tracker app built with AI

* What working with AI taught him about the limits of solo building

This episode isn’t about slapping AI on a product. It’s about thoughtful design, real teamwork, and pushing past the hype to deliver something users actually need.

Mentions

* Canva Sheets: Jay’s current product focus

* ProtoPie: Interactive prototyping tool used for high-fidelity handoff

* Claude: Used for early AI prototyping

* Cursor: IDE for building with AI

* Jay Demetillo on LinkedIn: Follow his updates and perspectives

Follow Harrison Wheeler and Technically Speaking

* Newsletter

* LinkedIn

* YouTube

Technically Speaking is where I share reflections, insights, and conversations to help you lead with confidence, clarity, and community. Are you looking to level up your design leadership and management craft? Spend an hour with me for personalized 1:1 coaching to help you thrive in your role.

Get full access to Technically Speaking at technicallyspeakinghw.substack.com/subscribe

Comments (3)