About
Hi, I'm Max
I’m a product designer, New York City native, painter, entrepreneur, and product leader. Lots of buzzwords, but all to say, I bring a unique set of skills to the table from a varied background as a generalist.
This background has created a good balance that’s kept me working efficiently as a product designer for 14 years. I enjoy bringing value to products, developing unique positioning strategies, and taking projects from 0 to 1. I’ve also been able to translate those skills to support public companies with design systems and bringing teams together to generate new products or feature ideas.
My goal is to combine research, strategy, creativity, technology, and craft to create functional, emotional products that are designed to last and help businesses succeed.
Lead product designer with 14 years of building and improving products for people to enjoy. I believe creating great software can reduce complexity and sometimes bring us joy. I like to work with teams with similar feelings and inspiring visions.
Now
Fast forward to now, I’ve had the opportunity to work across various industries; mapping, consumer social, education, fintech, healthcare, and many others. I’ve had the pleasure of working with a range of clients, including Instacart, Tripadvisor, Citizen, YouTube Gaming, Amazon Blumhouse, Keurig, Pantene, Insomnia Cookies, and some successful and early-stage startups that aren’t around anymore. Being self-taught means I've had to figure a lot of this out for myself. This has given me the ability to absorb information quickly and learn on the fly. I have a healthy tolerance for startups and resilience from the mistakes I've made along the way. Now, I’m focused on joining an established product people love, building a great design team, and delivering an excellent product experience. I want to continue delivering high-quality design solutions from concept to launch, and am energized at working both independently and as part of a team. Now, If you got this far, are you interested in what you’ve read? Let’s chat.
Capabilities
I’m a builder at heart. Whether designing products or team building, I enjoy big ideas and launching new products and services into the world.
Interaction Design
Design Systems
Research / User Testing
Conceptual Ideation
Prototyping
Documentation + Guidelines
Application Design
Website Design
Mapping
Past Clients
Footnotes
If you got this far, I’m so grateful you took the time – welcome to my footnotes. I haven’t had a comprehensive “about page” for many years, so I had a lot I’d like to say. Tell your story or somebody else will, right?
I’ve always been a creative person. I could say I’m an entrepreneur and that would make sense because in high school, I would buy candy in bulk at Costco and resell it out of my locker or because I’ve started a couple companies, raised money, and have worn all the hats required of being an early-stage founder. I could also say, I’m an artist and that would make sense because in middle school I was invited to spend weekends in advanced art classes or because I graduated college with a BFA in painting, and selling my work around local NYC galleries. Oscar Wilde said, “We are not nouns, we are verbs. I am not a thing. I am a person who does things, and I never know what I am going to do next.” I like this way of thinking over a job title. Doing these "things" is what I love to do.
I’m incredibly lucky that I get to spend my days doing something I enjoy. I've never been someone that buys courses, I like to figure things out myself. I believe in learning by doing, which can often mean breaking things and putting them back together. The positive outcome of that obsessive curiosity has been that I've developed a deep product sensibility, driven by understanding the impact a product has on peoples lives.
After co-founding two startups, being part of two separate acquisitions, I'm trying to slow down and be more present. What that means for me is to refocus and learn that my maximum output is not my maximum potential. My focus now is about creating a life that is peaceful and meaningful to me. Often, that is about doing less, but better. I moved to the Hudson Valley, New York with my fiancé (Gabby) and cat (Panda). Instead of city life, now it's about enjoying the little things: Like hiking, building things, volunteer coaching for a local high school basketball team, and working on my mixed media paintings on steel. I still enjoy lurking on twitter for the latest tech and design updates If you'd like, give me a follow.