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Maya Chen

Maya Chen

Product Designer & Developer

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Brooklyn, NYmayachen.design0 followers·0 following

I design and build digital products that feel human. Previously at Figma and Stripe, now independent—helping startups find their voice through thoughtful interfaces and clear systems. I believe the best products are invisible: they get out of the way and let people do what they came to do. I write code to prototype ideas faster and ship things that actually work.

How I Work

I start every project by listening. Before pixels, before code—just conversations. What are you actually trying to solve? Who are you solving it for? What does success look like? I prototype early and often. Ideas need to be felt, not just discussed. A rough prototype in Figma or code tells us more than a hundred meetings. I believe in shipping. Perfect is the enemy of good. Get something real in front of users, learn, iterate. The best products are grown, not planned.

Now

Updated December 2024
  • Taking on 2 new client projects for Q1 2025
  • Writing a guide on design system architecture
  • Learning 3D modeling in Blender
  • Training for the Brooklyn Half Marathon

Experience

2024 — Now

Independent Designer

Self-employed

Working with early-stage startups on product design, design systems, and frontend development.

2021 — 2024

Senior Product Designer

Figma

Led design for FigJam widgets and plugin ecosystem. Shipped collaborative features used by millions.

2019 — 2021

Product Designer

Stripe

Designed merchant onboarding flows and the Stripe Atlas incorporation experience.

2017 — 2019

Designer

IDEO

Design research and prototyping for Fortune 500 clients across healthcare and fintech.

Projects

2024Shelf

A minimal bookshelf app for tracking what you read. Built with Next.js and Supabase.

Open-source tool for generating accessible color palettes from a single brand color.

2023Design Tokens Sync

Figma plugin for syncing design tokens to code. 50k+ installs.

Weekly newsletter on product design, technology, and creativity. 12k subscribers.

Education

2013 — 2017

B.A. Design Media Arts

UCLA

Summer 2016

Design Intern

Google Creative Lab

Skills & Tools

Design

Development

Tools & Infrastructure

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