I'm Martins, a design engineer in Calgary. 5+ years at startups, from first designer to leading teams. I work across product design, design systems, and frontend engineering.

I've shipped AI platforms, native macOS apps, and design systems from token architecture to component library. I also do brand identity and marketing design when the team needs it. Most of my production work is under NDA. I share it in interviews.

Most of the products I've worked on share the same root problem: people stitching together too many tools to do one job. I find those seams and design the thing that closes them.

How I work

I design primarily in Figma, but ideation and iteration can happen in any tool: Paper, Claude, pen and paper. The tool changes, the process doesn't: solve the problem, ship the solution. I build production UI in React and Tailwind, and I'm used to working directly with founders and engineers: fast iteration, async-first, no ceremony.

I explore generative AI tools obsessively. Anything that changes how products get designed and built, I've probably tried it. When the team needs brand, marketing assets, or pitch decks, I do that too.

Stack

Previously

Writing

Looking for

Open to founding designer roles and small design teams at early-stage startups. I'm at my best in lean teams where I work directly with founders and engineers. It's the kind of environment where everyone wears multiple hats and decisions happen fast. If you're building something ambitious and need a designer who ships, let's talk.