Steven Vanden Heuvel

Principal Designer

Steven
Vanden Heuvel

Principal Designer at PayPal. Designing checkout and payment experiences for top global merchants.

Payments. Design systems. B2B product.

View Resume Contact LinkedIn
LinkedIn
Spotify
Starbucks
HM
BestBuy
Gap
Canva
Nintendo
Target
HomeDepot
Alibaba
Xbox
Chewy
LEGO
DisneyPlus
Fanduel
Aliexpress
TikTokShop
SharkNinja
MicrosoftSurface
PayPal

About

Steven Vanden Heuvel

Currently a Principal Designer at PayPal, working on the Merchant Enablement team. In my first six months I shipped 20+ merchant proposal packages on weekly sprint cycles for top global brands including Home Depot, Nintendo, Target, Best Buy, TikTok Shop, Chewy, and Microsoft. The work feeds PayPal's top priority of growing TPV through greater checkout prominence.

Before PayPal I spent 18 years at MTG Media Group, growing from Senior Art Director to VP and Creative Director. I initiated the rebuilds of MTG's brand sites and introduced mobile-first responsive design, Figma, and Atomic Design to the company. I led a 6 person team and built responsive web products and design systems for 7 brands serving 128,000+ B2B professionals. Plate, the website I rebuilt as a responsive product, won the 2017 Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Website. Four-time Neal Award winner overall.

Through Steven Design Services LLC I also take on select design work, focused on design systems, responsive web products, and product strategy.

Selected Work

Case studies

PayPal
Principal Designer · PayPal

Becoming the Default at Checkout

PayPal's prominence at checkout varied by merchant. I shipped per-merchant proposals to make it consistent and grow TPV.

Read case study →
Creative Director · MTG Media Group

Plate: Website Redesign

Building the digital platform for chefs and foodservice professionals. Won the 2017 Jesse H. Neal Award for Best Website.

Read case study →
Creative Director / Design Lead · MTG Media Group

Project Blackbird

An interactive oral history of the restaurant that transformed Chicago's dining. Grand Jesse H. Neal Finalist, top 4 nationally.

Read case study →
Creative Director · MTG Media Group

Alt-Meat

Brand identity, magazine, and responsive news site for MTG's alternative protein property. Designed in under 8 weeks.

Read case study →
Creative Director · MTG Media Group

Meatingplace

Responsive rebuild of MTG's flagship daily news site for U.S. meat and poultry professionals. Served the largest audience across MTG's 7-brand portfolio.

Read case study →
30s build time
Principal Designer · PayPal

Merchant Flow Builder

Browser brief form and Figma plugin, built on my own initiative. Per-merchant checkout flow assembly: 30 to 60 minutes to about 30 seconds.

Recognition

Awarded work, on record.

  • 4Jesse H. Neal Awards
  • 6Neal Finalist Recognitions
  • 1Grand Neal Finalist (top 4 nationally)
  • Folio Ozzie Honoree
  • Multiple ASBPE Awards
  • Northwestern Medill Guest Speaker

What I Do

Design Systems · Responsive Web Products · Product Strategy.

  • Design Systems
  • Service Blueprints
  • UX and UI Design
  • Prototyping
  • Wireframing
  • Accessibility
  • AI Assisted Workflows (Claude Code, Cursor)
  • Figma

Let's talk.

Aurora, IL · Chicago area · Open to remote