I operate as an independent practice — pairing the focus of a solo designer with a trusted network of engineers, motion artists, and writers.
For eight years I've helped studios, founders, and cultural institutions translate ambitious ideas into coherent visual systems — from the first sketch to the last pixel shipped.
My work lives at the seam between brand and product, where typography, motion, and code meet. I care less about trends and more about clarity, craft, and the quiet details that make a thing feel inevitable.
Previously at Pentagram and Linear. Now building Maya Chen Studio — selective by design.
A focused index of recent work — each engagement a partnership, each outcome a system built to outlast the launch.
A real-time analytics platform for climate scientists. We rebuilt the data layer, the visual language, and the dashboard from scratch — shipping a 40% faster experience.
A specialty coffee roaster's full identity system — wordmark, packaging architecture, retail signage, and a 64-page brand book.
Title sequence, generative poster system, and festival microsite for a three-day experimental music gathering on the Rhode Island coast.
A consumer banking app reimagined around behavioral savings. Designed the iOS app end-to-end, then handed off a 240-component design system.
An independent print journal on craft and creative practice. Art-directed four issues, set the typographic system, and built a companion web archive.
An open-source WebGL playground for generative type and shader experiments. Built with Three.js, GLSL, and a custom React renderer.
Engagements are scoped around outcomes, not deliverables. Below is the shape of the work — most projects draw from all four.
Identity, typography, voice, and the connective tissue that holds it together. Built to scale across teams, markets, and decades.
End-to-end interface design for web and mobile — from low-fidelity flows to production-ready component libraries your engineers will thank you for.
Editorial websites, marketing builds, and interactive narratives — designed and shipped in code. React, Next.js, WebGL, and a lot of attention to type.
Title sequences, product motion, and generative systems. Motion as language — not decoration — with a system that survives the handoff.
A four-phase rhythm refined over eight years. Each phase ends with a decision — never a surprise, always a checkpoint.
We start with conversations — not briefs. Stakeholder interviews, audits, competitive mapping, and a shared definition of what success looks like.
Strategy sharpens into direction. We align on positioning, principles, scope, and the singular idea the work will orbit around.
The longest phase. We explore broadly, then converge — sharing work weekly, prototyping in code where it matters, refining until it sings.
We ship — together. Production-ready files, documented systems, a launch plan, and a 30-day window to support the rollout.
A practice measured not in volume but in care — and a few honest numbers to ground the work.
Selected reflections from collaborators — founders, directors, and the teams who lived inside the work alongside me.
Maya doesn't decorate problems — she dissolves them. By the end of the engagement our team had a language, a system, and a product that finally looked like the company we wanted to become.
Working with Maya felt like hiring a partner, not a vendor. She cared about the roastery, the farmers, the baristas — and the brand shows it. Two years on, the system still holds.
Selected recognition from juries and communities I respect. Listed for the record, not the wall.
Two slots open for 6–12 week engagements starting March. Reply within 48 hours, Monday through Friday.