I’m Sam — a designer, creative director, and systems thinker who’s spent the past decade helping startups across North America and Europe grow through design.

Born in England, raised across Asia and the Middle East, and having spent my twenties in Canada, I bring a slightly confused accent to everything I do.

I lead Product Design and Brand at Monite, a London-based FinTech. Before that, I shaped design at Kriya (acquired by Alica Bank) and Unito, helping teams scale with intention, speed, and taste.

Starting from a tech incubator in Montreal, I helped build a CES Innovation Award–winning VR camera,  picked up a Bachelor’s of Engineering and a Diploma in Product Design, and became obsessed with how things work and feel.

I help teams design, scale, and ship beautiful products.

  • Product Design — intuitive, high-performing interfaces.

  • Design Systems & Ops — consistency at scale.

  • Brand & Art Direction — distinct identities that endure.

  • Motion & Micro-interactions — adding life to pixels.

  • AI-driven Creativity — exploring what’s next for design.

Ten years in, I’ve worked with startups from every funding stage to acquisition across FinTech, SaaS, and emerging tech, leading full product and brand redesigns, creative direction, and design maturity initiatives.

Great design is transparent.

I’m Sam — a designer, creative director, and systems thinker who’s spent the past decade helping startups across North America and Europe grow through design.


Born in England, raised across Asia and the Middle East, and having spent my twenties in Canada, I bring a slightly confused accent to everything I do.


I lead Product Design and Brand at Monite, a London-based FinTech. Before that, I shaped design at Kriya (acquired by Alica Bank) and Unito, helping teams scale with intention, speed, and taste.


Starting from a tech incubator in Montreal, I helped build a CES Innovation Award–winning VR camera,  picked up a Bachelor’s of Engineering and a Diploma in Product Design, and became obsessed with how things work and feel.


I help teams design, scale, and ship beautiful products.


  • Product Design — intuitive, high-performing interfaces.

  • Design Systems & Ops — consistency at scale.

  • Brand & Art Direction — distinct identities that endure.

  • Motion & Micro-interactions — adding life to pixels.

  • AI-driven Creativity — exploring what’s next for design.


Ten years in, I’ve worked with startups from every funding stage to acquisition across FinTech, SaaS, and emerging tech, leading full product and brand redesigns, creative direction, and design maturity initiatives.


Great design is transparent.

Work

Work

Head of Design at Monite

Head of Design at Monite

London, UK

Led the design team across all product and brand platforms; built scalable systems

Led the design team across all product and brand platforms; built scalable systems

Lead Product Designer at Kriya (acquired by Alica Bank)

Lead Product Designer at Kriya (acquired by Alica Bank)

London, UK

Oversaw end-to-end product design and brand from UX/UI strategy to implementation

Oversaw end-to-end product design and brand from UX/UI strategy to implementation

Senior Product Designer at Unito

Senior Product Designer at Unito

Montreal, CA

Led the product design of a full tool integration suite

Led the product design of a full tool integration suite

My tool stack

My tool stack

samuel.e.mclean@gmail.com

samuel.e.mclean@gmail.com

samuel.e.mclean@gmail.com