IONUT MAXIM Vol. 04
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02 / SELECTED WORK 2022 — 2026

Six projects.
Each started
with a question.

A small, honest sample from the last four years. Not the full case-study deck. Just the question each one began with, the shape the engagement took, and one thing that turned out to matter more than expected.

50+ projects since 2014 ~8 weeks average length Solo · always References on request
A studio desk with notebooks 01
FINTECH · BERLIN 2025

The bank that did not know
what it was for.

↘ THE QUESTION IT STARTED WITH

"We are growing, but our most loyal customers cannot describe us to a friend. Why?"

Eight weeks. Started as a brand-refresh brief, ended as a product-strategy engagement. The brand was not the problem — the bank had quietly drifted into being two products dressed as one, and the loyal customers were loyal to only half of it. Most of the work was naming the half that had been there all along.

OutcomeRenamed the segment · cut 23% of features · grew NPS 14pt
RoleLead strategist · sole external
ShapeOne brief · 8 weeks · two artifacts
A wall of post-it notes 02
CLIMATE-TECH · AMSTERDAM 2024

The pivot that
was already happening.

↘ THE QUESTION IT STARTED WITH

"Should we pivot? We have been arguing about it for three months."

Three sessions. Two of them were listening. The pivot had, in fact, already happened — six months earlier, quietly, in how the engineering team had been allocating time. The strategy work was less about making a decision and more about naming what had already been decided so that the leadership team could stop arguing about a ghost.

OutcomePivot formalised · 6-month roadmap rewritten · 1 person left, well
RoleStrategist · facilitator
Shape3 sessions · 4 weeks total · one page
An open book on a table 03
HEALTHCARE · TOKYO 2024

The audit nobody
had wanted to run.

↘ THE QUESTION IT STARTED WITH

"The design system has grown to 340 components. Most of us think this is a problem. Can you confirm?"

It was a problem, but not the one anyone expected. The design system was, in fact, healthy. The problem was that two product teams had stopped talking to each other and had been building parallel versions of the same flows. The audit became the occasion to notice that — and to do something about it without anyone having to lose face.

Outcome340 → 188 components · two teams reorganised · audit shipped
RoleDesign audit · ghost facilitator
ShapeOne brief · 6 weeks · one workshop
A long table with paper 04
INDEPENDENT MENTORSHIP COHORT · OSLO ONGOING

A small cohort, of careful designers.

↘ THE QUESTION IT STARTED WITH

"Could you take six of us for a year, properly — not the LinkedIn version of mentorship?"

A standing cohort of six designers, mid-career, who meet with me individually once a month and as a group once a quarter. No curriculum. No homework. Just a careful, recurring conversation about the engagements they are in and the calls they are weighing. Now in its third year.

Outcome3 promotions · 2 sabbaticals · 1 new studio · 6 careers in slower, better shape
RoleMentor · one-to-one · group
ShapeMonthly · 1 hour each · 12 quarterly group calls
A quiet courtyard 05
B2B SAAS · STOCKHOLM 2023

The redesign that was
quietly shelved.

↘ THE QUESTION IT STARTED WITH

"We want a redesign of the onboarding flow. We have eight weeks."

After eleven days, the brief was suspended — the onboarding was not the problem. The product was not selling the thing it was best at. A redesign of the onboarding would have made the wrong thing easier to find. The engagement ended on day twelve, with a one-page note. No invoice for the remaining six weeks. ↙ a project ended early is not a project failed

OutcomeEngagement closed in 12 days · positioning rewritten 6 mo later · same team
RoleDiagnostic · brief author
Shape11 days · one page · refund issued
An archive of folders 06
NON-PROFIT · NEW YORK 2022

A twenty-year-old
org, re-introduced.

↘ THE QUESTION IT STARTED WITH

"Two generations of staff. The newer ones think the older ones are stuck. The older ones think the newer ones are reckless. Both are partially right. Help us write what we still agree on."

Twelve weeks. The work was, almost entirely, listening. Sixty-three interviews. The deliverable was a six-page document and a single sentence — the kind one could write on a whiteboard the morning of a strategy day and have everyone in the room nod, including the two people who never agree.

OutcomeMission rewritten · 6 pages · adopted unchanged · still in use
RoleStrategist · interviewer · scribe
Shape12 weeks · 63 interviews · one document
↘ IF YOU HAVE A QUESTION OF YOUR OWN

The first call is about
your situation, not my deck.

Thirty minutes, free. Often it is enough on its own. References from any of these clients available before we talk, if useful.

Say hello — hello@ionutmaxim.com Or read about the practice