Available for projects

Hi, I'm Max.

I'm a designer who builds apps.

Most recently, I built Preview SMS and Home Plate Deals.

Over the course of my career, I've worked with

Daily Posts

Wireframes for Trainer and Client views of the TRX virtual tainer app

Virtual Trainer Wireframes

TRX

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For the TRX virtual trainer app, I mocked up a series of mid-fidelity wireframes to demonstrate how the experience might appear for different class sizes.

I designed the trainer video as an image with translucency to show how much of the other content (if any) the video would occupy.

What are you creating today? Start typing, add text you've written, or past a link to get started. A blog post about streamlining in-person payments.

Minimal AI Home Screen

copy.ai

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"What are you creating today?"

Made before ChatGPT was introduced, this was a simpler, friendlier front-end to AI experiences I designed while at copy.ai. I'm biased, but I think it holds up pretty well 2.5 years later.

The inspiration section offered one-click solutions to begin creating content.

Closeup of copy.ai Workflows UI design

AI Workflows UI

copy.ai

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Some of the most rewarding design work is the kind you don't notice until you zoom all the way in.

A few years back, I created a concept of how Workflows would enable copy.ai users to chain together a variety of tasks. Had a lot of fun creating the UI and enhancing it with subtle details.

Contentstack CMS search input drodown UI

Search Input Dropdown

Contentstack

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In re-designing Contentstack's CMS search experience, an area sorely needing improvement was context of results.

Users could have thousands of results for a query. Sometimes the query appeared in the result's title, other times in a folder or tag.

My solution? Literally highlighting the context.

Stylized number 42 symbolizing Jackie Robinson, on a blue diamond

Happy Jackie Robinson Day 2025

Home Plate Deals

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78 years ago, on April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson made his regular season major league debut for the Brooklyn Dodgers.

He became the first Black major league player since 1884, and paved the way for diversity in MLB and other leagues.

Happy Jackie Robinson Day ❤️ 💙

Drift Trade Mobile UI appearing on an iPhone 16 Pro Max in front of a rainbow gradient background.

Mobile Trading UI/UX

Drift Trade

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Designing for mobile can feel like solving a 400-piece puzzle on a nightstand; only some content will fit the allotted space, so you better make sure it's the most relevant.

A few years back, I designed and co-developed this mobile trading experience. Prices are higher today. Knock on wood 😬

Plate Diamond Pattern Animation

Home Plate Deals

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I was adjusting the stroke width of a component-based pattern I'm creating in Figma for Home Plate Deals and ran into this fun effect.

Hypnotizing. Especially with the recording reversed and looped.

iPhone 16 Pro Max showing Preview SMS UI

Case Study Header Image Update

Preview SMS

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Updating case study header images to better highlight the key experience and/or features of the work.

First up, Preview SMS.

'Home' text in block-letter, grayscale style

Work-in-Progress Wordmark Refinement

Home Plate Deals

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Working on refining a wordmark.

I'd describe the style as a blend of retro-future, block-letter, grayscale, and low-fidelity gradients.

Same hue, same saturation (both of 0), only lightness value changes.

Share Content Asset modal showing card previews of exported file

Share Content Asset Modal

UserEvidence

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A few years back, I designed several share modals for UserEvidence.

This modal allows users to preview the available themes for the selected data visualization (referred to as "Content Assets"), as well as select the file type.

Work-in-progress team card designs for Home Plate Deals featuring Milwaukee Brewers and Culver's restaurant

Work-in-Progress Team Cards

Home Plate Deals

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It’s easy for an interface to become a chaotic rainbow when displaying multiple color palettes.

To combat this on Home Plate Deals, I’m de-emphasizing full-color presentation of team palettes until a user interacts with the team cards.

Work is still in progress but it’s feeling nice.

Three rows of light grey logos on a dark grey background

Animated Logo Carousel

Personal Site

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It only took over a dozen years to add client logos to my site.

For logos I didn't already have in SVG format, I image traced bitmap versions into vectors. I then optically aligned all logos, grouping based on general symbol themes (circular, outline, letterforms, etc.)

Side-by-side view of dark and light modes of Subtle UI navbar component

Side Navbar - Dark and Light Modes

Subtle UI

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Side navbar details are coming together for Subtle UI.

Dark and light modes are getting equal attention.

Diagram demonstrating the HTML elements used to create a Daily Post card.

Daily Posts HTML Structure Updates

Personal Site

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For the initial version of Daily Posts, I used a very basic HTML structure of <li>'s inside of <ul> with a few <span> and <div>'s.

I recently updated the structure to accurately reflect the content using <article> with <header> and <footer> as well as <time> and <figure>.

Logo with four mountains positioned above a stream of water. A rainbow is also part of the logo; beginning behind the mountains and ending at a sun above the mountains.

Logo Redesign

Dream Street Foundation

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It's great when passion aligns with purpose. Several years ago, I did a bit of design work for a nonprofit organization.

Of that work, I'm particularly proud of this logo redesign. I kept the core concept the same as the original but redrew and repositioned the elements to be more balanced.

API Dashboard UI displaying card being hovered, along with SDK versions for Go, TypeScript, and Python.

API Dashboard Cards

Speakeasy

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Closeup of cards in an API Dashboard.

Hope everyone has a great weekend ❤️.

Logos presented on home plate shapes in two rows. From top left to bottom right: 99 Restaurants, Jack in the Box, Panda Express, McDonald's, Culver's, Rubio's, and Petco.

Company Logo Diamonds

Home Plate Deals

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Updating the way I present company logos on Home Plate Deals.

A little depth goes a long way.

Section of a medical dashboard showing header, buttons, and cards

Medical Dashboard Early UI Design

Pam

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Initial versions of a UI can be sparse and final versions garish. This work falls somewhere in between.

From the archives, here's an early, more minimal version of a medical dashboard. Not too bad, but doesn't have enough detail either.

Sharing the process can be as helpful as the end results.

Closeup of 'Plate' within 'Home Plate Deals' wordmark

Wordmark Refinement

Home Plate Deals

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I've been steadily updating Home Plate Deals. The MLB regular season is the prescribed timeframe and a daily rhythm of visitors has me striving to upgrade the "good" to "great".

My latest focus has been refining the wordmark. Bold lines are contrasted by subdued details to create a nice balance.

2-by-2 grid of designs. Left-to-right from top-to-bottom: Stacky app icon, GitHub contributions comparison UI concept, copy.ai navbar grid system, Preview SMS upgrade modal

Favorite March 2025 Designs

Personal Site

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Here are some of my favorite designs from this past month. Onward to April 🙌

Screenshot of maxburnside.com, showing two posts that contain: - Image/Video - Title - Date/Time the post was made - Social platform links where the content was also shared

Daily Posts Version 1

Personal Site

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In updating my personal site, I've created "Daily Posts". Version 1 is a feed where posts contain:

- Image/Video
- Title
- Date/Time
- Caption
- Social platform links where the content was also shared
- Optional: relevant blog post/Figma Community links.

Next, I'll add gallery features to the post media.

Looping animation featuring a black and white home plate, with a diamond shape that starts in the center, and then proceeds to move around the home plate shape counterclockwise, before ending up back in the center.

Loading Animation

Home Plate Deals

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The best loading state is no loading state.

But, since users will usually have to wait for some data to load, at least I can give them a fun animation to help pass the time.

Crafted by hand using SVG and CSS keyframes for Home Plate Deals.

Internal dashboard UI showing charts and tables in dark mode appearance

Internal Dashboard UI

Grammarly

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Dark mode dashboard details from a recent project.

A row of iPhone illustrations. From left to right, iPhone 16 Pro Max, 16 Plus, 16 Pro, 16.

iPhone 16 Models Work-In-Progress

Dynamic Devices

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Working on a series of devices for an upcoming Figma Community file.

Screen content and bezels are made using a single frame. The devices are created using vectors instead of bitmap images, which means you can export UI mockups at any resolution, and still maintain details.

Card Hover States Work-in-Progress

Home Plate Deals

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Here's how the cards are coming along for this year's UI refresh.

On hover, lots of little changes occur: pseudo-elements, scaling logos, changing saturation level, shifting opacity, rotating background gradient angles, and more.

Deals shown are from 2024. Not all 2025 deals have been publicized.

Screenshot of Preview SMS upgrade modal UI, which features three illustrations comprised of pink and yellow gradient colors, and the option to select either a yearly subscription or lifetime access to the application.

Upgrade Modal - Desktop

Preview SMS

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Upgrade modals don't have to be boring. In fact, they should be visually enticing.

If you're asking users for money, at least give them a nice experience while doing so.

I'm biased, but I believe the Preview SMS upgrade modal does just that.

Several instances of subtle depth + warm gradients = happy eyeballs.

Closeup of a user interface concept of a GitHub contributions graph for 2025 above 2024 graph, showcasing stats for each year.

Year vs Year Contributions Concept

GitHub

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For the final installment in my GitHub contributions concept series, I designed a year vs year view.

Maybe I’m just slinging more code these days, but I’d really like to easily visualize how my years stack up.

P.S. Figma outline view has me feeling like I’m designing Scantron sheets.

X post (Tweet) in custom container on Max Burnside's personal site

Custom, Embedded X Post

Personal Site

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Goal: I'd like to embed content from X within posts on my personal site.

Problem: If I use X's embed code, it'll track users on my site, force its formatting, and can be changed/deleted anytime without my knowledge or permission.

Solution: I'll just code my own post container.

See the Live Version

Diagram of visual guides that detail spacing between elements, size of UI elements, and padding of collapsed and expanded navigation bar UI for copy.ai

Survey Results Table

UserEvidence

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Sometimes, you just need a nice table. From the archives, here's one of the many tables I designed for UserEvidence a few years back.

Data-heavy experiences don't have to feel like a slog.

Mitigate text volume by decreasing visual weight, only emphasizing the absolutely most important items.

iOS Example for Figma Community File

Stacky

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Happy Friday!

I added an iOS example to Stacky - a free Figma Community file that demonstrates how you can create stacked, sticky headers in Figma.

Get the Figma File

Diagram of visual guides that detail spacing between elements, size of UI elements, and padding of collapsed and expanded navigation bar UI for copy.ai

Navigation Bar Grid Spacing

copy.ai

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Here's the grid spacing I used to create copy.ai's updated navigation bar component a few years back.

The collapsed state (shown on the left side of the image) keeps icon labels persistent to improve UX.

The expanded state (right side) has a popover menu, activated by clicking on the user's current Workspace, to quickly switch between Workspaces, create a new Workspace, access User Profile, access Experiments, or log out.

All icons were drawn on a 16px grid, custom made by yours truly.

Illustration displaying 'Show' with a strikethrough, and 'Own Your Work' text displayed on a brick wall, with a ladder shown off the right side of the image

Own Your Work: Climbing out of the Walled Garden

Personal Site

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I wrote about how the pink basketball site has become yet another walled garden.

2,000+ words. Many of them spelled correctly.

Read the Blog Post

Illustration of Los Angeles Dodgers and Chicago Cubs logos, drawn using a grid of home and diamond shapes by Max Burnside

MLB Tokyo Series 2025 Season Opener: Dodgers vs Cubs

Home Plate Deals

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Woke up at 3am PT today to watch the Dodgers vs Cubs MLB 2025 season opening day game, which took place at the Tokyo Dome in Japan. The Dodgers went on to win 4-1 over the Cubs.

While watching, I drew this illustration, using Home Plate Deals diamond grid.

Happy Opening Day to those who celebrate 🎊.

An illustration of a four-leaf clover, on a green gradient background

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Holiday

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Hope you have an enjoyable holiday!

Stay safe and wear green 🍀.

A graphic showing a screenshot icon, followed by Apple's Image Capture macOS app icon, and then Figma macOS app icon, shown diagonally from top left to bottom right, respectively

Maintaining Screenshot Quality and Color Profile in Figma

Personal Site

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If you take screenshots on an iOS device and work with those screenshots in Figma, you're likely losing the Display P3 color profile and original screenshot image quality along the way.

Here are the steps I take to ensure that the final exported image retains all of the high quality aspects of the screenshot(s) used.

Read the Blog Post

Home Plate Deals web app header, featuring logo and wordmark, along with background pattern and black gradient.

Web App Header

Home Plate Deals

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Adding a subtle background pattern to the header and shadows to the wordmark for the 2025 MLB season refresh of Home Plate Deals.

Live in less than 2 weeks 🚀

In the meantime, see the countdown.

Preview SMS Logo shown on light pink gradient background, with a formula showing chat bubble + 'P' letter

Logo Formula

Preview SMS

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The process behind the Preview SMS logo.

iPhone 16 Pro Max, shown in front of Home Plate Deals logo, displaying screenshot of Home Plate Deals iOS application

Work-in-Progress iOS App

Home Plate Deals

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Dialing in the details for the upcoming launch of the Home Plate Deals iOS app.

Having fun with scaleEffect and horizontal offsets on scroll in SwiftUI.

P.S. The deals shown here are from the 2024 season. Still compiling the 2025 MLB season deals.

Concept of an updated GitHub contributions graph for 2025 vs last year, shown as an iOS widget

Contributions Comparison Concept - iOS Widget

GitHub

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Mocked the GitHub contributions comparison concept as an iOS widget as well.

A little depth goes a long way.

Stacky app icon consisting of four rows, subtly creating an uppercase 'S'

Figma Community File App Icon

Stacky

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I recently created a free Figma Community file to help you add offset sticky headers your UI work. The project deserved a better name, so I gave it one: Stacky.

And, then, I created an app icon cover for the project.

Check out the file and let me know any feedback you have!

Redesigned logo and wordmark of Internet Archive concept featuring a depiction of a building with four columns

Logo Redesign Concept

Internet Archive

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I absolutely love Internet Archive. It's one of the most important online resources and keeps the timeline of the web intact.

I redesigned its logo and wordmark with a refined grid and better overall balance, especially when viewed at smaller sizes.

For this redesign, it was important to keep the spirit of the original logo but update the depiction.

I redrew the logo with more consistency and weight. Subtle negative space creates the shadow from the building cast down on the columns.

For the wordmark, I used the typeface "Young Serif" by Bastien Sozeau.

A series of translucent icons on a blue and purple gradient background

24px Icons

Wally

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Made these chunky icons for a project a few years back but never got around to sharing them.

Green circle in a rounded square with ellipse-based grid lines in the background

Blog Post Illustration Drafts

Personal Site

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Here are a few blog post illustration drafts that didn't make the final cut.

Love stacking blend modes and blurs in Figma 💚.

Read the Blog Post

Side-by-side comparison of current Claude iOS app icon and redesign concept by Max Burnside

Logo and iOS App Icon Redesign Concept

Claude

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Claude is really good - by far the AI tool I use most frequently. Anthropic has been crushing it.

The Claude logo, however, leaves a bit to be desired. I decided to make a quick redesign.

Here's my thought process behind this exercise.

I appreciate the hand-drawn aesthetic of the Claude brand within Anthropic's ecosystem, but the Claude logo just seems sloppy. I understand the "no rounded corners" design, and it seems like it is trying to represent neural pathways.

Closeup of a concept of an updated GitHub contributions graph for 2025 vs last year

Contributions Comparison Concept

GitHub

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In GitHub, I'd love to be able to compare contributions between years based on the current day.

Also, it'd be cool to see how many days I've consistently contributed code, similar to how Duolingo, Reddit, Apple Fitness, and others surface these streaks.

Stats in concept are real (contributions might be higher by the time you see this) 😃

Illustration of an iPhone 16 Pro Max in Desert Titanium color on a light pink gradient background

Figma Community File Preview

Dynamic Devices

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Coming soon...

Home Plate Deals logo drawn on grid of diamond and home plate shapes

Plate Diamond Grid

Home Plate Deals

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Created a version of the Home Plate Deals logo using the custom grid I made for the 2025 MLB season countdown.

#MadeWithSketch

Green circle in a rounded square with ellipse-based grid lines in the background

Defining "Quality" - Blog Post Illustration

Personal Site

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Wrote a few words on what "quality" means to me.

The topic for this post is inspired by a question that Karri Saarinen posed on X a few days ago. Karri's CEO of Linear - an app that demonstrates "quality" as I define it.

Read the Blog Post

Figma outlines of swirling lines

Behind the Lines - Sunday Swirls

Personal Site

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Sunday swirls for an upcoming blog post hero illustration

Figma UI showing daily designs from February 2025 by Max Burnside

February 2025 Daily Designs

Personal Site

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Was a fun February in Figma.

The March continues 🌼 ☘️