In the world of software, “soul” isn’t a word you hear often. You hear “scalable,” “robust,” “enterprise-ready,” maybe even “disruptive.” But soul? That’s not a line item in a roadmap or a KPI in a quarterly review.
Marcel van Zwieten
In the world of software, “soul” isn’t a word you hear often. You hear “scalable,” “robust,” “enterprise-ready,” maybe even “disruptive.” But soul? That’s not a line item in a roadmap or a KPI in a quarterly review.
Yet, for Marcel van Zwieten, co-founder and CCO of HYMA, the company behind Tokens Studio, bringing soul into SaaS isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s the whole point
We meet in a bright Rotterdam café. Marcel has just returned from London, where open-source design tool Penpot hosted a collaboration event. Tokens Studio was there as one of the speakers.
He sets his coffee down, and before I can ask my first question, he tells me a story about shirts.
The day people tried to steal
the shirts off their backs
“It started as a bit of fun,” Marcel says. “We made some Tokens Studio shirts for our team to wear at Config London. Simple black, our logo on the chest. Just enough to make us feel part of the same crew.”
But at the event, something unexpected happened. People began coming up — not to ask about features, not to talk about integrations, but to ask for the shirts. “Not just ‘Where can I get one?’” Marcel grins. “A couple of people literally joked about taking them off our backs.”
He pauses, remembering the moment. “That’s when it hit me. This wasn’t about merch. It was about identity. People wanted to show they were part of something. That we saw them.”
The invisible heroes
of design systems
Tokens Studio is not built for the stereotypical “rockstar designer” or the loudest voice in the product meeting. It’s for a different breed entirely — the people who keep a brand’s identity intact across hundreds of decisions, tools, and teams.
“They’re the quiet forces,” Marcel says. “The ones who might never stand on stage, but without them, a brand falls apart in a thousand small ways.”
As he talks, I think about my own experiences with design systems. The endless spreadsheets, the Slack threads, the version control nightmares. Marcel nods knowingly. “Exactly. These people aren’t just pushing pixels. They’re maintaining trust. They’re making sure your checkout page matches your app, your marketing site, your internal tools — every single time.”
It’s a thankless job. And yet, it’s the backbone of modern brand consistency. “We see them,” Marcel says. “Because we’ve been them.”
A technical tool with a human face
Tokens Studio is, at its core, a deeply technical product. It manages Design Tokens — the structured values that define a brand’s visual identity in code and design tools. But Marcel insists that technical doesn’t have to mean cold.
“A tool can have a soul,” he says. “It can feel like home. Like you’re among likeminded people. Like someone gets what you’re building, and why it matters.”
This philosophy is baked into the company’s brand promise: Powering the pride behind design systems.
“We’re not here to just deliver software,” Marcel explains. “We’re here to give the people behind design systems a place where they feel recognized, respected, and represented.”
From shirts to stickers:
building a sense of belonging
After Config London, the shirt requests kept coming. So the Tokens Studio team decided to lean in. The next step: stickers.
“We could have gone the easy route,” Marcel says. “AI-generated designs, quick turnaround. But that’s not soul. We wanted something with craft.”
They found an illustrator in Brazil whose style mixed clean lines with a touch of analog warmth. “We sent them our ideas — pride, nerdiness, identity — and let them run with it,” Marcel says. “The results blew us away. You can see the human touch in every line.”
Some stickers feature playful nods to design systems — tokens, grids, brand swatches — while others are more abstract, designed simply to make someone smile when they see them on a laptop lid.
The first batch is being sent out soon, free to community members who sign up. “It’s a small thing,” Marcel admits, “but small things can carry big meaning. A sticker is a way of saying: you’re part of this.”
The brand refresh:
not to look cool, but to feel right
This focus on soul is also driving Tokens Studio’s brand update. Marcel is quick to point out that it’s not about chasing trends. “We’re not refreshing our brand to look cool,” he says. “We’re doing it to reflect the humans we’re building for.”
That means visuals that feel less like corporate software and more like an invitation. Language that speaks directly to the real problems design system people face. And community touchpoints — from swag to events — that make those same people feel seen.
“It’s easy to make software feel like a transaction,” Marcel says. “But if you care about the people using it, you can make it feel like a relationship.”
Why soul matters in SaaS
As the conversation turns philosophical, I ask Marcel the obvious question: Why does any of this matter? Why bother with soul in SaaS?
He leans back, thinking. “Because software is everywhere now,” he says slowly. “We spend hours a day in these tools. If they feel cold and transactional, that’s the tone we set for our work. But if they feel human, we remind ourselves that behind every file, every commit, every release — there’s a person.”
In other words, soul isn’t just about brand loyalty. It’s about shaping the experience of work itself.
An open invitation
Before we wrap up, Marcel circles back to the shirts, the stickers, the events. “All of this — the merch, the illustrator from Brazil, the brand update — it’s our way of saying: we see you. And we’re building for you.”
He laughs. “And if that means people try to take the shirt off my back again, I’ll take it as a compliment.”
Tokens Studio’s message to its community is simple: You’re not invisible. You’re the pride behind the system. And there’s a place for you here.
Spice up your laptop too?
If you want one of those stickers, you can sign up at tokens.studio/stickers. No shirt-stealing required.
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