How Canva’s AI Tools Gave Small Designer Ashley Nguyen Her First Big Break

Ashley Nguyen didn’t go to art school. The 25-year-old designer from Seattle taught herself branding and design using online tutorials—and Canva. When a client needed a full rebrand in under a week, Ashley turned to Canva’s “Magic Design” tool. “I uploaded the logo and it generated templates instantly,” she explains. “I customized them, added animations, and delivered a full pitch deck in a day.” That client referred two more, and soon Ashley was booking steady freelance gigs. For small designers without access to expensive tools like Adobe Creative Suite, Canva’s AI shortcuts are game changers. Ashley still sketches by hand and fine-tunes layouts manually, but AI helped her compete in a crowded market. “It doesn’t replace creativity,” she says. “It just gets me to the good ideas faster.”