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

UserEvidence Content Asset Publishing UI

Content Asset Publishing UI

UserEvidence

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A few UI details from a content publishing experience. Mostly minimal with a few areas of visual depth.

Small easter egg - the checkmark icon is the same symbol I created for the "Check Smile" UserEvidence logo. Little things really do make an experience special.

Custom 16px location-based social network icons, shown in dark mode on black background

Location-Based Social Network Dark Mode Icons

Stealth

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Working on revising these duotone dark mode icons.

I'm liking how they're looking. 16px grid with 2px stroke. Chunky and friendly.

Home Plate Deals wordmark drafts

Wordmark Drafts

Home Plate Deals

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A few iterations of Home Plate Deals wordmark.

2-by-2 grid of UI and visual design work

Dark Mode Design Showcase

Personal Site

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A collection of some recent dark mode designs 🌑

copy.ai upgrade modal UI showing billing frequency, number of seats, cost, and user testimonial.

Upgrade Modal with User Testimonial

copy.ai

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When working on upgrade modal designs for copy.ai, I explored versions that included customer testimonials.

The testimonial needed to capture user attention while still only being a supporting element, as cost and seat selection were the most important details.

copy.ai Workflows header section UI

Location-Based Social Network iOS App Settings

Stealth

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They're often low stakes, undervalued, and nearly forgotten. And I still love designing settings screens.

In revisiting a location-based social network iOS app to create the dark mode UI, I decided to keep the settings structure minimal, allowing the custom icons to have more visual impact.

copy.ai Workflows header section UI

Early Workflows UI

copy.ai

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One of the early iterations of copy.ai Workflows

Workspace selector dropdown for Speakeasy web application

Dark Mode Workspace Selector

Speakeasy

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I loved working on the dark mode version of a workspace selector for Speakeasy.

'Mom' text shown with 'Wow' text reflected below

Mother's Day 2025

Holidays

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Happy Mother's Day 🩷

Dribbble logo redesign concept that shows a combination of basketball image and 'D' letterform

Logo Redesign Concept

Dribbble

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I redesigned social media platform logos as a way to present consistent, proportioned, and unique usage on my personal site.

For Dribbble's logo redesign, I created a version of the iconic basketball that hides a subtle "D" letterform.

Abstract flower logos shown in app icon containers

Abstract Flower Logo Redesign Concepts

Claude

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When redrawing the Claude logo, I created a few iterations. These are a few of the more symmetric concepts.

I still prefer the asymmetric final version, as some of these concepts were too similar to other logos, and none of them properly conveyed the abstract flower concept.

Drift mobile position cards, shown on iPhone on dark background

Crypto Position Mobile Cards UI

Drift Trade

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Simple yet powerful. Position cards for Drift.

Swipe to quickly access ability to close position.

Dashboard UI showing line chart and statistics

Internal Tool UI Redesign

Grammarly

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I had a great time working with Grammarly to redesign portions of an internal tool. So many small tweaks and iterations led to the final version. It was a complete group effort with plenty of team feedback implemented to make it as useful as possible.

And it looks good in dark and light modes.

Subtle UI table displaying nature content, shown in dark mode

Table Component Work-in-Progress Dark Mode

Subtle UI

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The Subtle UI table looks pretty good in dark mode, too.

Examples of a few product showcase section UI design for the Saks Fifth Avenue iOS App by Max Burnside

iOS Product Showcase Section UI

Saks Fifth Avenue

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Every app has a collection of design iterations that didn't make the final cut.

I helped redesign sections of Saks Fifth Avenue's iOS app and, in the process, created a number of iterations of a product showcase section.

Aspects of these designs are live in the app today.

Number '4' created with light sabers

Star Wars Day Illustration

Holidays

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May the 4th be with you.

Subtle UI table displaying nature content

Table Component Work-in-Progress

Subtle UI

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I’m finally taking more deliberate time to revisit Subtle UI. Here’s how the table component is coming along.

Every aspect is made in light and dark modes. I’m a dark mode user but this light mode table is one of my favorite parts of the library. It still needs more depth but it’s taking shape.

Notes Sticky Table Header Concept

Apple

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Apple Notes should have sticky table headers.

Figma UI showing April 2025 daily posts

April Daily Posts

Personal Site

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April was pretty great.

May this month be even better.

X account drawer UI redesign concept

Account Drawer Redesign Concept

X

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The X account drawer is... not awesome.

I'd like to avoid the drawer altogether with a long press to switch between accounts.

When the drawer is needed, a few small tweaks would make it more obvious which account you've selected, instead of using the same UI as the notifications indicator.

Threads logo redesign concept, combining a spool of thread and letter 'T'

Logo Redesign Concept

Threads

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Threads' logo is lackluster. I understand the continuous line is supposed to represent a thread of text, but the execution is uninspired. If it pioneered using the @ symbol to tag a person/business, it would make sense, but it didn't so it doesn't.

As such, I redesigned the logo, blending the 🧵 emoji and "T".

UserEvidence content assets shown as cards in a grid view

Content Assets Grid View UI

UserEvidence

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Showing all UserEvidence assets without confusing users or removing critical information was a challenge.

I set a consistent height for cards, vertically-justified content, and hid actions by default. This made different chart types, variable length testimonials, and case studies easier to parse.

Contentstack CMS Settings UI

CMS Settings UI

Contentstack

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Settings are often neglected; an after-thought of product design.

I made custom icons, employed ample whitespace, and distinctly separated sections in Contentstack's settings experience.

Upgrading the typical wall of bland forms with clear options made it easy for users to tailor their preferences.

B2B Research Lab logo concepts

B2B Research Lab Logo Concepts

UserEvidence

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While at UserEvidence, the founders and I explored the idea of creating a sub-brand called B2B Research Lab, which would showcase customer insights.

I created a few different logo and wordmark concepts for the company. The aim was to match the bold UserEvidence style, while creating a distinct voice.

Home Plate Deals Wordmark on grayscale background

Wordmark Refinement

Home Plate Deals

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Design. Refine. Align. Repeat.

Packing details into Home Plate Deals’ wordmark.

No rounded corners. No gradients. No problem.

Notes Table Sticky Column Concept

Apple

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I wish Apple Notes tables had sticky columns.

Manage Workspace UI showing members table

Manage Team Members UI

copy.ai

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Managing SaaS user seats should be easy and clear.

Make it obvious which team members are free and which are paid.

Stylized, grayscale 'S' letters

Wordmark Work-In-Progress

Home Plate Deals

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Tuesday typography tinkering

Closeup of movie search UI concept on X by Max Burnside

Search Dropdown UI Redesign Concept

X

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In addition to movie search and details concepts, I've re-imagined X's search dropdown experience.

Despite Sinners' #1 spot at the US box office this weekend, X fails to assign it any relevancy.

My experience places relevant results first and highlights featured media.

Stylized bunny illustration drawn on green background

Easter Bunny Illustration

Holidays

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Challenged myself to draw a bunny in 30 minutes. No reference images, AI, tracing, etc.

Happy Easter, everyone 🐰

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 🌼 ☘️