Sarah Chen

Brand systems for early-stage startups

Identity, design tokens, and the patient work of making 12 people agree on a button. Twelve years building visual systems that hold up when a brand goes from seed round to Series C.

Berlin, GermanyEmail↗LinkedIn↗Dribbble↗

Career

Experience

Design Lead · Nomad
2024 — Present
Remote
- Rebuilt the Nomad identity end-to-end (logo, type system, color, motion) ahead of Series B.
- Shipped a tokens-first design system used by 18 engineers across web + iOS + Android.
- Hired and onboarded the first two product designers; ran weekly design crit.
Senior Designer · Refold
2021 — 2024
Berlin
- Owned the brand and product design for Refold across web + mobile.
- Built the original design token pipeline (Figma → Style Dictionary → SwiftUI/Web).
- Led the 2023 rebrand that shipped alongside the public launch.
Designer · Freelance
2018 — 2021
Berlin · Lisbon
- Brand identity, web design, and design-system consulting for 14 early-stage clients.

Selected work

Projects

Featured

Nomad rebrand

A complete identity refresh for a Series B remote-work platform — wordmark, color, type, motion, and a fully tokenized design system.

FigmaTokensBrand

Refold tokens

Tokens-first design system used across Refold web, iOS, and Android. Style Dictionary pipeline + Figma libraries.

Style DictionaryFigmaDesign Systems

Veriton mark

Wordmark and identity exploration for a developer infrastructure startup. Selected mark shipped with their public launch.

IdentityType

Toolbox

Skills

Design

Brand identityDesign systemsTypographyIconographyMotion

Tools

FigmaStyle DictionaryPrincipleCavalryAfter Effects

Code

HTML / CSSSVGTailwindToken JSON

Background

Education

HfG Karlsruhe
Diploma, Communication Design
2012 — 2017

Say hi

Get in touch

Open for brand and design-system work with seed-to-Series B teams. Reach out below.