Creative Studio Pro
Creative Studio Pro is the second-generation design editor I built for AET Automotive, where I serve as CTO and Co-Founder. Over the past three years, I’ve been focused on architecting the next generation of design tooling for the company. Founded in 2018, we entered the market with a good—but not yet exceptional—design editor. Because few others were building vertical-specific design solutions, early adopters quickly gravitated toward us, helping us capture market share. Creative Studio Pro is the result of years of user feedback and iteration, evolving from our original Creative Studio into a professional-grade platform now used by more than 1,000 dealerships across the United States, Canada, and the UK.
Coming from a motion and visual design background, I approached this project with the mindset of someone deeply familiar with tools like Figma, Illustrator, Photoshop, and Canva. My goal was to build an editor that felt instantly familiar and approachable, while surfacing advanced functionality only in context, rather than overwhelming the user. Since our primary users are dealership marketing teams working under tight timelines, ease of use was paramount.
The first version of Creative Studio proved dealerships wanted a tool they could own, but it wasn’t designed to handle complex creative workflows. I rebuilt the editor from scratch using React, Konva.js, and offscreen canvas to deliver a highly optimized design experience directly in the browser. That choice allowed me to support sophisticated layouts and assets while maintaining the speed and fluidity of a desktop design tool.
I integrated features dealerships rely on every day: access to OEM-approved imagery and vehicle photography, reusable components that can be applied across campaigns and teams, and AI-powered capabilities like background generation, compliance checks, and real-time creative assistance. Every design and technical decision was shaped by balancing flexibility with compliance, speed, and usability.
Creative Studio Pro is a reflection of my role at AET Automotive: I have built every product the company has shipped. With CSP, I combined my design instincts with technical execution and product leadership to create a platform that redefines what dealerships can expect from creative tools.
In addition to building the product, I created the narrated learning series that trains users on its full capabilities. This ensured that dealerships not only had access to powerful tools but also had the knowledge to put them into practice.