Between Product and Partnerships

Designing for Developers: Integrations, AI, and UX at Canva

• Pandium

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In this discussion, Cristina sits down with Faria Anzum, Developer Experience Product Design Lead at Canva, to explore her approach to SaaS integrations, developer experience, as well as the impact of AI on building scalable partner ecosystems.

Faria’s Role and Canva’s Ecosystem Approach

Faria leads developer experience within Canva’s ecosystem team, focusing on optimizing the end-to-end journey for developers—from discovery and documentation to app submission and launch. Her work spans both external developers and internal teams, ensuring feedback loops that drive continuous improvement in tooling and processes.

Building for Developers: Key UX Considerations

  • Faria highlights the importance of systems thinking in developer experience, noting that every design decision impacts multiple stages of the developer journey.
  • Unique challenges include blending Canva’s established design system with the distinct UIs of external apps, ensuring a seamless and intuitive experience for users.
  • Developer tools must minimize cognitive load and context switching, so Canva strives for consistency across documentation, tooling, and theming to reduce friction for developers moving between environments.

Best Practices for Scalable Integrations

  • Canva empowers partners to build at scale by providing robust building blocks: app templates, design patterns, and a comprehensive Figma UI kit. This approach streamlines development and ensures consistency in user experience.
  • The team collaborates closely with partners through workshops and design reviews, fostering high-quality integrations and reducing surprises during app submission.
  • Smaller partners particularly benefit from these resources, as they can rely on Canva’s design guidance without needing in-house expertise.

AI’s Transformative Role in Developer Workflows

  • AI is lowering barriers to entry, democratizing software development much like Canva did for design. Tools like ChatGPT and Cursor enable even non-coders to build functional integrations using natural language prompts.
  • Canva recently launched Dev MCP server, for Canva apps and integrations, leveraging documentation and starter templates to accelerate development.
  • While Canva can’t always distinguish how much of an app is AI-generated, the focus remains on functionality and quality, not the origin of the code.

Looking Ahead: Trust, Transparency, and the Future of AI in Integrations

  • Faria emphasizes the need for transparency in AI-driven apps—clearly communicating what AI does, how data is used, and allowing users to override AI suggestions to build trust.
  • She predicts a future where AI agents handle more of the integration lifecycle, spinning up apps from natural language descriptions, while human developers refine and innovate at the edges.
  • The conversation closes with a call to embrace these changes, as AI and automation free up developers to focus on more creative and high-impact work.

Key Takeaways

  • Canva’s approach to developer experience centers on holistic design, strong building blocks, and close collaboration with partners.
  • AI is fundamentally changing how integrations are built, making development more accessible and efficient.
  • Trust, transparency, and adaptability will be crucial as AI-driven workflows become the norm in SaaS ecosystems.

For more insights on tech partnerships, integrations, and APIs, listeners are encouraged to visit Pandium’s blog and resources.

https://www.pandium.com/blog 

SPEAKER_00:

Welcome to Between Product and Partnerships, a podcast focused on bringing together product, partnership, and engineering leaders to discuss how to build, support, and scale SaaS ecosystems. This podcast is presented by Pandium, an integration platform for building native integrations.

SPEAKER_02:

Hello, everyone, and thanks for tuning in to our podcast Between Product and Partnerships. If you're just checking us out for the first time, we talk about the challenges and what it takes to build integrations and tech partnerships and SaaS platforms in general. We like to talk to leaders like we have today, working on these problems and learn about the trends and what they're doing to navigate the space. Today, I'm so excited to intro Faria Anzum, who is a developer experience product design leader. lead at Canva. Maybe Faria, if you can give a little bit of background about yourself and what kind of work you do within the ecosystem space and then we can kick it off.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, sure. Thanks for having me, Christina. So I'm a product designer here at Canva and I look after like the developer experience within our ecosystem team. So ecosystem is a super group within Canva and we have various teams like the app experiences, developer experiences where I'm in, APIs team, and yeah, I'm part of the developer experience and developer experience is about like the entire journey a developer goes through so from like discovery so like discovering our platform to documentation building their apps or integration and then submitting it and finally launching their product with us in the marketplace then we also have I also look after like the internal tooling for our team so like the review tooling and any other admin tooling that helps facilitate communication with the developers and And yeah, so my job is to like make sure the whole process is efficient and smooth, as smooth as possible. And prior to this team, I was always in like the ecosystem where I looked after like the strategic partner apps and integrations. And we focused on very niche, specialized apps, bringing them into our platform.

SPEAKER_02:

Can you share more about what like the niche apps were? Like just what that means in sort of Canva land?

UNKNOWN:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

One example that comes to my mind is like the Monday.com app, the Asana app that you can see within Canva or outside of Canva, for example, the Google Workspace add-on. We work very closely with partners when building some of these integrations or Salesforce integrations, for instance, that allows you to, within Salesforce environment, easily have Canva in there and generate a design without leaving the platform. So our team looked after that.

SPEAKER_02:

Got it. And that's interesting. I use the word like native Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. use the API like a partner does, they're like, oh, I should maybe like fix some of this stuff. I hope that wasn't your case for you, but it definitely, I've seen it.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, it's always the case.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes. All right. So we can dive right in. Thank you for the background. So to kick it off, what do you like about working on developer experience?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's a really good question. So when it comes to developer experience, I really like the opportunity that it gives me to think strategically. I really like system thinking. So designing for developers is just not about like building in isolation. It requires thinking holistically across like the entire developer journey. So every decision that you make can affect multiple parts of the experience. So the initial discovery and all the way through submission and review, and I really enjoyed that end-to-end process. And another thing I enjoy is developers can be really vocal as audience and they genuinely value good developer experience, like good design and usability And they're quite proactive. One thing that I am lucky is that here at Canva, our users are developers. They're everywhere. Like I'm working with them every day internally, in-house. So I always get feedback from them and it keeps things moving. So yeah, that's what I enjoy.

SPEAKER_02:

You get to talk to a lot of external developers, like folks that are using your work.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So yes, I get to talk. We have like our discourse community where we can like chat with developer anytime. We also have like have, for example, like events where we meet our developers. One of the developer actually like came to Sydney last month and he was like, hey, can we have a chat? And I was like, yeah, sure. And I invited him to have a coffee in Canva. So yeah, that was great. And yeah, we can reach out to them anytime. And we have an active community of developer members who are really passionate about giving us feedback.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah, I think it's fun to sell software that software designers or developers use because they always have really good feedback, in my experience. We here at Pandium work with product engineering folks, sometimes designers, but it's mostly different kinds of engineers. But we know if they have a piece of feedback that it's actually really well thought out and there's a good reason for it, which makes our product team life's a lot easier because they have a lot of good feedback for us because they use the product every day.

SPEAKER_03:

Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

To kind of keep going down that track, what do you think are the unique UX considerations to consider when you're building an integration-driven product or something for developer experience versus something for a different kind of user?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's a really great question. Yes. So when it comes to... The challenges that I see is combining the two distinct experiences together. So in Canva, we have our established design system, our users are used to like the button being purple or the text being like Canva font. And the external app might have its own distinct UI, right? So how do you combine those together for our shared users so that it feels seamless? That's like a big challenge that we always need to consider. And as a designer, I have to figure out how to blend this black pattern so that it feels unified and intuitive and never confusing or disjoint. I think another design challenge would be particularly in developer experience is the context switching. So Developers typically, they juggle between multiple tools at the same time, like IDE, terminal, version control, browser, debugging console, et cetera. So that cognitive load is real and there's like that constant context switching. So we strive to reduce friction wherever possible. So for example, one simple thing could be like having a consistent theming across like all like our documentation to like the tooling that we control, maybe like theme. which I assume many developers would use. And we have also seen that in our developer community. Having that concept, that at least like would go a long way to reduce strain, for example. So it's all about creating smooth experience as developers move between Canva environment and their own development tool. So yeah, those are the two that comes to my mind.

SPEAKER_02:

Got it. And talk to pivot a little bit into something that I'm really interested in. And then we'll talk about AI a little bit for the second part of this. I know you have from your previous work, your work on your previous team at Canva working with the integration's specifically. Do you have any best practices in building scalable partner integrations?

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. So when it comes to scalable, it's about how might we empower our partners to build at scale. And we do that by providing building blocks. So for instance, over the years, we now have three app templates that allows you to plug and play your platform. Then we have the app patterns so that You don't need to like worry about how if you need to, if your app is going to meet like our design guidelines, if it's going to meet like the review criteria, you can just like use them as building blocks. And we also have like our Figma UI kit that allows you to like design your app before you bring into production. So these are some honorable mention that comes to my mind that we have done over the years. And there are so many more that we are working on. So provide I think great building blocks is one way to look into it. The Figma file sounds cool. Yes.

SPEAKER_02:

That just sounds interesting. Yeah. Yeah, tell me a little bit more about that, like how you guys work with a tool like Figma to help your partners build apps that you're happy with.

UNKNOWN:

That's fine.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, we see like what are like the sum of the common submission coming in from the developers. So if we see like we are getting one thing, for example, like we have a consistent error messages and a style to display error message across all the apps or the empty state, they should look and feel the same across any app you're in. So if you bring like an empty state, that's from an external app in Canva and they all look different, it might confuse the user. So we provide those basic screens to our developers within Figma so that they know, so that they don't need to like worry about bringing them or rebuilding them. They can just consider on like the key screens. So that's one thing. And we work in collaboration with our partner. That's like very critical. So like they provide feedback. We run workshops, design reviews back in my time in the partner apps and integrations team. So that feedback leads to high quality app that's going to scale. So Tight collaboration means fewer surprises and better outcome. Yeah, TLDR would be providing strong building blocks, guidelines and partnership oriented approach to make sure like we have consistent quality, even as our ecosystem scales significantly.

SPEAKER_02:

I love the idea of providing like actual designs versus I know a lot of companies will do like a style guide or a component library, which is good. But having like the real like this is what I want an empty state to look like would be super helpful for. Yeah, I'm sure they deeply appreciate it, especially smaller ones where like they maybe don't want to or don't have in-house designers. They can just do whatever you guys say and make it make your lives a lot easier. Cool. So let's talk about what is on the tip of everybody's tongue, AI. And it sounds like you've got some thoughts on that, too. So. I guess more generally, like how is AI influencing your partners and the developer workflows that they use for building integrations for you guys?

SPEAKER_01:

AI is definitely game changing. And I think it's a very incredible time to be in the industry. So we're seeing like tools like ChatGPT, Cursor, Cloud. So that allows you to like generate complete code snippet from scratch, like the language and even like an entire feature. What that tells us is there is like a lower barrier to entry, which can turn like anyone into developer overnight. So like my mom can be a developer if she doesn't need to know how to code. So in a way, it's where democratizing technology the software development, similar to like how Canva democratized design. So like what that tells us is like, we need to think carefully about like how our platform supports these new tools for developers. For example, recently we launched the Canva Dev MCP that allows you to be in cursor or your favorite AI tool and just build apps with us easily. The cursor agent can read our documentation and helps you get like, it gets like the template from the library as a starter kit. And then you can just preview your app all within cursor without moving and all from natural language. And that's crazy how we're assessing how AI can assist in every step of like the developer journey. So whether by like helping generate the starter code or configuring setting or catching any potential errors early on, or there can be like many more. that hopefully you'll see in the upcoming days. So it's about making that process easier and faster and more accessible for our devs. So yeah, I think we're in a very fascinating time in the history. A century ago, we had humans that were literally computers

SPEAKER_03:

And

SPEAKER_01:

we didn't have the concept of software developers because, yeah, and now we're at a place where anyone can automate tasks, build integrations.

SPEAKER_02:

So yeah, I think it's like the next industrial revolution. So I can imagine that, you know, using AI, whether it's MCP or just using, you know, a cursor kind of vanilla, you guys would be a good company to work with, a good system to work with because you have all of these inputs already, right? You know, AI can, the LLM stuff can be a little bit more dodgy when there's not a lot to feed it, you know, like it's going to go look for the templates, look for the documentation that's been on the internet for a while. And if you guys already have that and you've built, you know, the MCP functionalities, Like that definitely, I could see that giving folks a real leg up. Do you, I don't know if there's any way for you guys to know, like how much of an app is being built with that versus, you know, like if there's like a percent, like if someone submits a new app to you, I don't, is there a way for you to tell? There may not be a way for you to tell if it's like 50% of it was built by a human and 50% of it was built by a cursor or something like that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Oh, that would be a great idea. We don't have that at the moment.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. I mean, I think that that's actually probably the point, right? Is that you can't tell the difference necessarily, like as long as it works. Exactly. That's kind of, yeah, that's what I find to be really interesting about, you know, using AI and generative code kind of functionality is that there is a, there is like a rubber meets the road moment where it's either going to work or it's not going to work versus some things that are like more subjective that, you know, if you're asking chat GPT for its opinion about something, or if it's a kind of inserting its opinion about

SPEAKER_03:

something,

SPEAKER_02:

you know, with coding, it's like, you either are able to run it and it does the thing that you want it to do or not. And for you guys, I'm sure you have some sort of app approval process and stuff that folks have to go through. So whatever can drive down the amount of effort while still maintaining the functionality, it doesn't matter where that code came from as long as the thing works. When did you guys launch the cursor support? I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes, yes, yes. It was just last month. So very recently. Yeah, very recently. Cool. Have

SPEAKER_02:

you guys seen any changes in the way apps are submitted since then? It hasn't been very long, so probably

SPEAKER_01:

not. It hasn't been very long, but I'm very curious to see how people use it. We designers, we're just using it. I tried out when our engineer just launched. I was in my computer trying out Cursor. I don't know how to code, and I could just generate the app from Cursor. So that was cool.

SPEAKER_02:

That's so cool. Yeah. I mean, I, transparently, I also am not a programmer. I, like you, probably know enough to be dangerous, but I don't write code myself. But I think every company has their finger on the pulse there and is also looking for ways to not replace humans, but to make people faster and get rid of that boilerplate stuff. And the way that we think about it internally, the way that I think about it, is it's replacing Stack Overflow. Instead of going through a billion posts and trying to find an answer, sometimes it will be able to provide you with that answer immediately. And again, as long as you're doing proper QA and you're testing it and validating that it works, I think everyone wants to do less boilerplate stuff. Exactly. And that goes back to the design too. I didn't realize that you guys actually provided that level of design guidance. Like that's really, I'm going to have to go back and look at your docs now and see if I could find some of that. It's cool. It's cool. Like I, the more that you can give to people and a lot of these, a lot of companies, large companies, like I said, have style guides and stuff. But then so many of the screens and the functionality with apps within an ecosystem are the same. Like, sure, like the label's different, but it's like, is it a pick list or is it a dropdown or what? The individual components are all very similar. And I think if folks were able to offer that, like, hey, it's not just the component library. It's also like, we're going to give you a whole configuration screen. This is what we want it to look like. Put your own configs in. That would help so many small companies, especially like don't have, don't have designers necessarily. And maybe don't even have a strong opinion About what they want it to look like? Like, just tell me. Tell me what you want me to do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, you're absolutely right. Our head of design, Andrew Green, over the time, built this culture where we always strive for high quality. And anything that comes to our product that we ship goes through a process where we test with user every single time. line that we ship is well considered. We have some design principles that you would also find in the developer guidelines, which is about waking up every line, just simple enough. And I always use that philosophy. I wait up every line. I consider, do I actually need that? So we want our developers to think just like that and so that it's easier for our audience to get their app and use that because Canva is used by anyone from my mom to my grandmom to highly technical users. So I guess it needs to be easier for anyone to use your tool just like Canva.

SPEAKER_02:

Yes, we are Canva users here. Great. Our team uses it. I sort of use it, but I have terrible eye for design. So I mostly just review things and make small changes to make it my own. But I know everybody, I mean, everybody uses Canva, everybody. So, and I would imagine, yeah, it makes sense that since you guys are a design company that you have strong opinions about it, but I would love to see that translate down to like other industries, just because again, like if someone on your team has to design at one time, why not allow other people to take advantage of that if it's possible? Cool. I think that that is mostly what we have for today. Any closing thoughts, any words of wisdom about developer experience? It's going to be an even more hot topic, I think, now that there's like all this generative AI stuff and there's going to be more people that are sort of hybrid developer, citizen developer kind of thing. So yeah, what are your closing words of wisdom?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. So I think like when it comes to AI and the way we are heading, I think it's going to be making sure we, if you're working on an AI app or you're using an AI tool, you make sure you're transparent about what the AI does, how the data is used and offer a clear way to correct or override any AI suggestions. So building that trust and trust is about openness or letting users stay in control. So having that in mind. And I think we would see more and more AI driven collaboration. We would see more and more agents coming in. It's about agents building and reading our docs, using our tool We are going to make that more and more automated. So the industry I see is going to change over time. And we might see an entire app framework that AI spins up from a simple natural language description. And human developers might be more refining at the edges. Yes. Thinking about what your role is going to evolve into is, I think, very critical. And it's a very exciting time to be in.

SPEAKER_02:

Yeah. And I love your description about saying that how Thank you so much. some of that stuff that nobody wants to work on anyway and that isn't innovative and that isn't fun. Yeah. It'll leave more space, more cognitive space for things that are a little more exciting. Well, excellent. Thank you so much for joining us. This has been a really fun chat. I'm going to think of you every time I'm messing around in Canva trying to make something look nice, not because of you, because I have terrible design skills. And yeah, I'm really excited to see what you guys do next and appreciate you taking the time and hanging out with us. And I hope our audience tunes in for more. You can also check out our blog at pandium.com for more of our podcasts and blog posts about product partnerships. Thank you, Faria. Thanks, Christina. Have a good day.

SPEAKER_00:

You too. Bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed our content, subscribe to our channel and give us a thumbs up. For more content on tech partnerships, integrations, and APIs, check out our articles, eBooks, and other resources in the description.