# Ches Wajda > Design Consultant; founding designer: LinkedIn, YouTube... Location: San Francisco, California, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/ches Ches Wajda is a Silicon Valley product design veteran. He was LinkedIn's first design hire and YouTube's first visual designer – designer of YouTube's “Play” button. A key foundational designer at numerous other startups, he's an advocate for how human-centered design can positively impact both the product and culture of early-stage companies. ## Work Experience ### Design Consultant @ ches.net Jan 2019 – Jan 2022 | San Francisco Bay Area Specializing in aiding early stage startups in shipping their MVP and beyond. I have helped Bright Live, Headroom, Optimizely, Turo, Storify, Aviso, Medallia, ARM, Nauto, and many others either get off the ground or get past design hurdles. Process is as quick or deep as the stakeholder’s needs dictate. Apart from a redesigned product, key deliverables are often a core Design System / Visual Language guide and executing tactical Product Design of key screens and flows. Since 2021 have focused on aiding mission-driven, charitable and nonprofit organizations. ### Director, Product Design & User Experience @ Credit Sesame Jan 2019 – Jan 2019 | San Francisco Bay Area Led and managed a team of 5 Product Designers and 1 Researcher. Recruited and hired for 3 additional roles, and re-leveled team. Initiated the process for a re-imagined product and presentation layer – with new pattern and component system. Facilitated and sold an internally-designed rebrand, implemented in 9/2019. ### Principal Product Designer, Mobile @ BlueJeans Network Jan 2017 – Jan 2019 Responsible for the design of BlueJeans’ mobile offerings – working with teams in Mountain View, Bangalore, and Dunedin, NZ – focusing primarily on the iOS apps (iPhone and iPad), conducting in-person research with our users / clients, and producing both testable concepts and production-ready flows and assets. Earlier at Zeen – a mobile-based meeting platform helmed by YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley – I held the same role, executing Product Design for both responsive web and iOS platforms. ### Design Director @ Zume Inc. Jan 2015 – Jan 2017 | San Francisco Bay Area Owner of Product Design. Drove the iOS app and responsive web product for customer menu, ordering, and tracking. Conducted guerilla usability studies in the field. Authored the design language, system, branding, and pattern library. Co-designed – with the founder – a patented packaging solution. ### Principal Product Designer @ AppDynamics Jan 2013 – Jan 2014 | San Francisco Bay Area Sole Product Designer in my time there, working within the Engineering UI team. Conducted a comprehensive audit of the core product’s design, iterated on alternative and conceptual approaches, drove consensus, and delivered complete overhaul of the visual language of the product to prepare for its IPO. Aside from redesigned navigation models and key screens, delivered a visual language guide, icon library, and screen templates. ### VP of Product & Design @ inDinero Jan 2010 – Jan 2011 | San Francisco Bay Area Collaborated closely with co-founder / CEO on design, UX, and structure of the product. Executed tactical design triage on the site, the on-boarding scheme. Designed the signature “Budgeting” feature, based on user research. Authored a visual language of the product, and designed its logo. ### Seed Investor @ Turo Jan 2011 – Jan 2011 ### Lead Visual Designer @ YouTube / Google Jan 2006 – Jan 2010 The lead visual designer at YouTube in my time there. Worked closely with co-founder Chad Hurley and partnered with a lead user experience designer in the design of the “watch” experience, search, home, and the entire site framework. Designed the signature chrome of the video player, and the first version of the signature “play” button / icon (now official logo, at left). Led the visual design on the inaugural versions of the YouTube mobile experience. Led visual design on first YouTube-sanctioned TV experience (native to Samsung and web-based), along with first game console integration (Wii). Design point person for Apple with YouTube's inclusion on the first iPhone and first Apple TV. Executed ongoing conceptual work for business development, partner, affiliate, and advertiser products. Co-architect of YouTube's first style guide. Recruited and hired 3 visual designers to help scale and continue to build useful, useable, and delightful experiences for YouTube's community of video lovers, creators, and advertisers. ### Lead Product Designer @ LinkedIn Jan 2004 – Jan 2006 LinkedIn's first Design hire, sole designer for the 2 years served. Responsible for the visual presentation and UX design of the entire product. Collaborated with Allen Blue, Josh Elman, Greg Cervelli, Sarah Imbach, Eng and Marketing teams, to continually iterate on the “Guest” and “Member” experiences, Search, Profile, co-branded partner landing sites, and site-wide UX to reflect the evolving Product direction. Partnered with Product to conceive and deliver new features and products such as Recommendations, Job Postings, Recruitment, In-Mail, and the now universally-understood pattern of a “profile completeness” progress bar. Authored LinkedIn’s first Product Design Style Guide. Revised the LinkedIn logo, and developed all brand strategy and identity systems in conjunction. ### Senior Manager, Design @ E*TRADE Jan 2003 – Jan 2004 Managed a 10-person team (7 graphic designers and 3 UI designers). Primarily responsible for the overall user experience and visual branding of E*TRADE Financial. Led the UE and Design group in both product (web site) and marketing (online and print promotions, adverts, and collateral) design. Responsible to overseeing the visual identity of all aspect of the brand, from the product itself (online) to retail locations, the look of the credit cards to the brochures, the ATM to the online account application. Led the delivery of the design of version 4.0 of the E*TRADE Financial website (June, 2004), my 3rd (and best) redesign. ### Lead Visual Designer @ E*TRADE Jan 1998 – Jan 2003 Led the Visual Design for all E-TRADE digital products. Principal Designer on versions 2.0 and 3.0 of the E-TRADE web site. Heavily prototyped forward-thinking interfaces for financial applications on alternative platforms in partnership with Product Leads and the CEO. Led 3 other designers in interface design and developed E-TRADE’s first Style Guide. ### Type Designer @ Monotype Jan 1999 – Jan 2002 Designed, sold, and delivered two typefaces: Styleboy (1999) and Posterboy (2002). ### Designer, Philly.com @ Philadelphia Media Network: Philly.com, Inquirer and Daily News Jan 1996 – Jan 1998 Overall site design, presentation, and internal production of Philly.com. Developed production templates and style guides for the Editorial team. Hand-coded and designed breaking news packages as they developed, as well as news-related sub-domains. Heavily involved in the editorial, marketing, and business aspects of the site. ## Education ### BFA in Design University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/wajda - Portfolio: https://ches.net --- Source: https://flows.cv/ches JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/ches/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-13