Sam I am here 👋

You might know me as SamIam_Designs on the socials and recognize me as

• a host and speaker at the Into Design Systems conference and meetups

• a Dive Club TA for Molly Helmuth’s Design Systems Bootcamp

• or that blonde who knows entirely too much about Design Tokens vs Variables in Figma.

Technically, I’m a Freelance Design Systems Lead & Product Designer with a Design Tokens obsession 🎨

From life-or-death design to AI agents, my sweet spot is working with start-ups solving problems that don’t have a playbook to reference.

Currently, I’m a part of the Tokens Studio team, and I’m on a mission to flatten the learning curve that beginners face when starting their design tokens journey.

As an early adopter of the technology and the first “Design Team of One” to create a fully automated CI/CD pipeline between design and development via Tokens Studio, I know exactly how intimidating it can be to get started. Back in those days, the only docs were in a code base and “I’m a designer; I don’t get Github” was my mantra.

I’m here to share what I’ve learned along my journey working with design tokens, as well as my favourite tips and tricks about design tools and ways of working that other designers might benefit from.

Why subscribe for free?

I hate emails. I have a “don’t email me” policy for my work life (which I should write about).

I spend more time unsubscribing to emails than reading emails.

Yet, people keeping asking for somewhere other than social media or a community slack channel to stay in touch.

If you subscribe, you can choose to get an email about what I’m sharing or visit my Substack page to view the archives of whatever you are looking for.

It’s always going to be free, until you decide otherwise 🤑

I believe in giving back to the open-source community and under-employed people trying to grow as designers.

So, if you opt to pay for a subscription, thank you!

I use my extra income to invest in other designers and content creators to help me publish more valuable resources faster than I can by myself.

To learn more about the tech platform that powers this publication, visit Substack.com.