It usually is. I help founders and small teams work out what's actually wrong, decide what to build next, and design it — at a pace that fits the problem, not the calendar.
Ionut MaximDesigner, strategist & mentor
Chapter · Writing
Essays on clarity, judgment, and the work of designing things that hold up. Written for people making product decisions — not for other designers.
Chapter · Mentorship
78 mentorship sessions and 28 five-star reviews — ADPList.
“Max is a very unique mentor, one that is not easy to find. He goes beyond what design is and what the industry is expecting us to do as designers. His holistic approach to his craft, and life in general, has been very insightful. It was a surprising and delightful experience and I learned a lot in our short session. Design has a lot of aspects, one of which is to ask tough questions and Max knows how to ask questions that lead to great insights.”
“I had a great session with Max. He took the time to learn about me and my concerns. Max gave me some really good suggestions and was really patient. He asked all the right questions and I had some amazing insights. Looking forward to another session with him.”
“I had an awesome mentorship session with Max, who is an exceptional role model for anyone looking to grow personally and start a career in UX Design. I especially appreciate that he takes things seriously while also being easygoing, relaxed, and open. I genuinely value his thoughtful approach to giving advice, always encouraging me to consider different perspectives and possibilities. It feels like he embodies and lives UX design. I felt truly honored to be his mentee.”
Where it usually starts
You are rarely short on effort. More often you are short on a clear read of what's going on — and the noise makes it hard to find on your own.
Mark what sounds like you — 6 common starting points.
That's usually exactly where a useful conversation starts.
The cost of unclear decisions rarely arrives as one visible failure. It arrives as quarters that should have taken you further than they did.
Speed doesn't fix that. Clarity does — and it's cheapest to find early, before much has been built in the wrong direction.
What clients say
Ionut did not just redesign our product. He helped us notice what we had stopped seeing — including about ourselves.
So I work the other way around: understanding before screens, decisions before pixels. When the decision underneath is clear, the design tends to follow almost on its own — and you can explain it to anyone who asks.
2024architecture
Redesigning a legacy institutional trading dashboard into a high-performance, structurally sound experience for modern traders.
2023system
Scaling a headless commerce experience through modular components and a brutalist design system.
2023identity
A complete visual overhaul and digital identity system for an AI research lab, focusing on sharp geometry and extreme typography.
2022architecture
Architecture · 2022
2022prototype
Prototype · 2022
Working together
How the work moves
Not every engagement uses all five steps — but this is the shape, and we only go as far as the problem needs.
01
I find the real problem under the stated one — through your data, your team, and your users.
Most wasted quarters begin by solving the wrong thing quickly.
02
We settle what the product is for, who it's for, and what comes next — in that order.
Design without a decision underneath just makes the confusion prettier.
03
Information architecture, flows, and the structure of the thing — before any visual polish.
A clear structure makes the interface almost obvious.
04
The visual layer — restrained, consistent, and built to be handed to engineers.
Beauty that can't ship is decoration, not design.
05
The rationale and framing your team needs to keep deciding well once I'm gone.
The goal is your independence, not your retainer.
Engagement shapes
Each is a fixed shape with a clear end — not an open-ended retainer. We can always start small.
Half a day
For when you mostly need to think clearly with someone who has seen the shape before.
Start here if you mostly need a clear read, not deliverables.
Two to four weeks
The heart of it: find what's wrong, decide what to build, design it — with the reasoning left behind.
Start here if something's off and you want it found, decided, and designed.
By the month
For teams who want a steady design partner without hiring a full-time lead yet.
Start here if decisions keep landing on your desk and you want a steady counterpart.
Honest answers
Then there's probably something on your mind. A short first email goes a long way — tell me what's going on and what a good outcome would look like. I read every one myself.
