Ionut Maxim · product designer and strategist, based in Europe

How about we slow down, look at your work, ideas and decisions together, and see what becomes clear?

Start here

Tell me, what are you working through?

Pick the one that sounds closest.

Clarity

We have an idea, but no clarity on the next step.

Before building anything, get clear on what matters and what is missing. That's what clarity before building is for: ideas, offers, and products becoming real.

About clarity before building→

First Proof

We're sure about the idea, but nobody has used it yet.

Being sure isn't evidence. First Proof builds the one part that decides it in two weeks and puts it in front of real people, against a bar we agree on before anyone sees it.

About First Proof→

Mentorship

I can't explain my design decisions.

Then the gap is rarely the design. It's the judgment underneath it, and how you make it visible to others. That's what mentorship works on.

About the mentorship→

Clarity

We keep talking about the offer, but can't say it in one sentence.

If it can't be said simply, it isn't clear yet. Clarity before building is a structured way to find what the thing actually is before you build around it.

About clarity before building→

Mentorship

I feel capable, but foggy about direction.

Fog about direction is usually a perspective problem, not a skills problem. Honest conversation, calm reflection, tough questions.

About the mentorship→

Mentorship

I'm going independent and want honest guidance.

Ten years of consulting on my own: carving a path, building client relationships, pricing the work. Fewer bruises than learning it alone.

About the mentorship→

First Proof

We could build all of it, but which part actually matters?

Usually one flow carries the whole idea. First Proof makes that part real and tests it, so the next decision rests on what people did, not on what they said.

About First Proof→

Clarity

Ask three people what we're building and you get three answers.

If it can't be described the same way twice, it isn't clear yet. Clarity before building gets a team to one honest description first.

About clarity before building→

Ways in

Mentorship

Where is (y)our work heading?

A second pair of eyes on your judgment and direction.

About mentorship

Insights

Things I am exploring in public.

Notes you can borrow for your own work. 38 pieces so far, in English and Romanian.

Read the insights

Lab

Always in progress.

Ideas before they're polished: interface, AI, motion, type.

Visit the lab