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DesignersDevelopersAppleHerman MillerIKEAStanding Desks

Daniela Muntyan

Product Designer at Figma

London, UK Issue #548
A white desk at night with an Apple Studio Display showing a Monet water lilies lock screen, a chrome anglepoise lamp, a blue Totoro plush and small figures lined up below the monitor.

Daniela Muntyan's office in London.

About

Daniela Muntyan is a product designer at Figma, where she is part of the Expressive Design team working on Figma Motion. Originally from Ukraine, she moved to London in 2022.

She studied art and design and began her career as a graphic designer before moving into product design. In recent years her focus has been on building design tools. Before Figma she designed editor features at Craft, an app for writing and organizing notes.

Alongside her day job she loves building her own things. She created Token Master, a Figma plugin for managing design tokens and dark mode, and Mia Calendar, a calendar widget for FigJam. She is also the co-creator of Scribe, a voice memo app for capturing and organizing thoughts, and she designed and built Biscuit Camera, an experimental iOS camera app that puts composition and framing first.

Photos

10 images
The office under a rain-flecked skylight, with a white Herman Miller Sayl chair pulled up to a white standing desk and the Studio Display lit against the wall.
The setup sits directly under a skylight.
The desk seen from behind the chair, looking across to a green wall with a pinboard of photographs and prints above a white bookcase.
Looking across the room from the desk.
A close view of the monitor stand with a pink and a white lucky cat, a glass skull and a digital clock reading 10:19, beside a Magic Keyboard and a Ghibli mug.
The IKEA clock sits under the monitor, beside the lucky cats.
The desk from the side with silver headphones, a desktop DAC on a short stack of books, the Studio Display, a digital clock and two lucky cats beside the keyboard.
Headphones and a short stack of books at the left edge of the desk.
A small whiteboard covered in boxy sketches, with colored markers and a yellow eraser resting on it, a mug in the foreground and a tripod behind.
The small whiteboard she sketches ideas on.
Pens, pencils and colored markers in a wire pot and pink crates on a yellow trolley, beside a rolled New Yorker cover.
Pens and markers beside the desk.
The far wall of the office: a black board pinned with photographs and art prints above a white bookcase holding books, a framed antique world map and a smiling vase.
The inspiration boards she wants to organize, above the bookshelves.
A close view of art postcards held to a dark board with colored magnets, including an op-art spiral, a figurative painting and a grid composition.
Art postcards, held to the board with magnets.
A white bookcase packed with books on design, typography and photography, with a smiling vase and an hourglass on the shelf above, in front of a framed antique world map.
Assortment of books on design, typography, art and photography.

Gear

12 items
Monitor Apple Studio Display Buy
Computer 13-inch MacBook Buy
Desk FlexiSpot EG1 — Standing desk Buy
Chair Herman Miller Sayl — She owns three, one for every spot she might end up working Buy
Keyboard Apple Magic Keyboard Buy
Trackpad Apple Magic Trackpad Buy
Accessories IKEA RÖDSTRÄFSE digital clock — Sits below the monitor so the menu bar can stay hidden Buy
Lamp IKEA desk lamp — Borrowed from a friend, still there
Accessories Small whiteboard and colored markers
Miscellaneous Boards of postcards, photographs and art prints
Miscellaneous Design, typography, art and photography books
Miscellaneous Totoro and a collection of lucky cats

The census

Only 4% of the desks we’ve published have Daniela’s Herman Miller Sayl.

Ranked across all 521 setups that list their gear.

Apple Magic Keyboard 26%
Apple Magic Trackpad 18%
Apple Studio Display 17%
Herman Miller Sayl 4%
See top 50 gear items ›

Software

8 apps
Figma
Linear
GitHub
Notion
Raycast
Cursor
Codex
FontLab

Interview

6 questions

› What is the most recent item that you’ve added to your workspace?

An Apple Studio Display and a little IKEA clock. Two very different purchases, but I’m really happy with both! The clock sits just below my monitor. I like keeping my desktop completely clear, even hiding the menu bar, so I don’t usually see the time while I’m working. Having a separate clock lets me keep track of it at a glance without interrupting what I’m doing. It’s such a simple thing, but it’s made a surprising difference.

› You recently upgraded to an Apple Studio Display. What went into this decision?

For most of my career, I worked directly from a 13-inch MacBook. I loved being able to work from anywhere, and I still do. But as I started switching more often between Figma, Cursor, Codex and my own projects, that small screen began to feel limiting. I wanted more room to work and something that felt more comfortable for my eyes. The Studio Display has made a big difference. I still love the freedom of a laptop-only setup, but I’m happy with what I’ve gained at my desk. Reducing glare was also important to me, with so much natural light coming into this room.

› Would you recommend the Herman Miller Sayl chair? How did you land on this for your setup?

Absolutely. It’s been really comfortable for my back, which is the biggest reason it works so well for me. Honestly, it’s part of what makes it hard to leave my home setup and go into the office! I now have three of them around the house, covering pretty much every spot where I might end up working. So yes, I’m quite committed to this chair at this point.

› What is one change you’d like to make to your current workspace?

I’m pretty happy with the setup at the moment. I’d like to organise my inspiration boards a little better, and I’ve been meaning to replace the IKEA lamp I got from a friend. It was supposed to be temporary, but apparently nothing is more permanent than a temporary lamp from a friend!

› What’s the most underrated app or tool you use every day?

FontLab. Type design is a hobby of mine, and I spend quite a bit of time in it. I think font editors are an overlooked corner of design software. There’s so much to learn from how they handle curves, spacing and precision. Working in one gives me a different perspective on the vector tools I use elsewhere.

› You mentioned wanting your workspace to feel like a mix of a design studio and a home. Do you feel that you’ve accomplished that?

I think so! It feels like a place where I can focus, be creative and also relax. Having books, art, materials and little objects around me helps it feel personal. There’s always something I could change. Sometimes I imagine adding a nicer pouffe or upgrading the bookshelves, but overall, I feel really good about the space. It supports the way I like to work and gives me room to explore ideas.

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