maxProduct design & engineering studio

Design and code from the same desk

A small studio that draws the product and then builds it — websites, mobile apps, web apps and the custom software a business actually runs on.

Two build slots open · next start March
01Design and engineering, one desk Scroll Est. 2016 · Remote, UK hours

02The studio

No account layer, no handoff gap, no ticket queue. The person who drew the screen is the person who wrote the component, so the thing you approve is the thing that ships.

Projects shipped64
Years running9
Median build6 wk
Source handed over100%
About the studioAbout the studio

04Services

Everything we build

Four kinds of work. Most projects are one of them; a few are two stitched together.

01 / 04

Websitesthat load before you blink

Marketing sites, landing pages and editorial builds that load fast and hold up on a phone. Written as real components, deployed on your own domain, with a CMS if your team needs to edit without calling us.

  • Marketing sitesAstro · Next.js
  • Performance budgetIn CI
  • CMSIf you need it
  • IdentityOn request
See Fielder
02 / 04

Mobile appsused one-handed

Native iOS and Android, or one React Native codebase when the budget is better spent elsewhere. Store submission, review responses and the first two releases are part of the engagement, not an extra.

  • iOS & AndroidNative or RN
  • AccessibilityA release gate
  • Store submissionIncluded
  • First two releasesIncluded
See Northbank
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£2,480.19Everyday account
Spent this month62%
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Greenhill Bakery−£4.20
Transit · weekly−£22.00
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Ellis Hardware−£61.85
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03 / 04

Web appswith every state designed

Dashboards, portals, booking flows and admin surfaces. Auth, roles, billing and the unglamorous states — empty, loading, error, offline — designed before they are built, because that is where products usually fall apart.

  • Dashboards & portalsReact
  • Auth, roles, billingDesigned
  • Design systemHanded over
  • Empty & error statesFirst, not last
See Meridian
04 / 04

Custom softwarethat replaces the spreadsheet

The web-based tool your business runs on and no vendor sells: quoting, scheduling, inventory, reporting. We map the process first, then replace the spreadsheet that has been holding it together.

  • Internal toolsWeb-based
  • Offline-firstWhere it is needed
  • Parallel runBefore cutover
  • Data migrationAudited
See Halden

05Process

How it works

Four steps, no surprises. You see working software in week one and every week after that.

01Week 1

Scope

A paid discovery week. We map the flows, agree what is in and what is explicitly out, and you leave with a written scope and a fixed price whether or not you continue with us.

02Weeks 2–3

Design

Real screens in the browser, not static mockups. You review the actual thing on your own phone, and the design system that comes out of it is yours to keep.

03Weeks 4–n

Build

Weekly demos on a live staging URL. Your repository from the first commit, your cloud account, your domain — nothing sits on a studio account you cannot reach.

04Launch

Hand over

Source, documentation and a recorded walkthrough for your team. Thirty days of fixes included, and a retainer only if you actually want one.

06Engagements

Bold engagements

Three ways to work together. Pick the shape; the rate is fixed before we start.

A fixed two-week block. One problem, one prototype, one decision made — a rebrand direction, a flow redesign, a technical spike.

07What clients say

The deposit was the thing I fought hardest against and it turned out to be the thing that fixed our week. They ran it as an experiment instead of winning the argument.
Priya RaghunathanOperations director, Meridian Health
They stopped building and came out in the van with us. The version after that was the one the lads actually used, and nobody had to be told to use it.
Elin MarchettiOperations lead, Halden Industrial
They talked us out of half the roadmap and the app got better for it. I have never had an agency argue for less work.
Dominic FarrowChief executive, Northbank Credit Union
Two firms tried this before and both gave up. The difference was that max spent five weeks proving they understood our sheet before asking us to trust theirs.
Marguerite BellFinance director, Acre Provisions

08Before you ask

Before you ask

The questions that come up on nearly every first call, answered before you have to make it.

A sprint is a flat fee. A full build is priced after the paid discovery week, once the scope is written and we both know what is in it — never as a guess on a first call. Most builds land between the cost of one senior hire for a quarter and two.

The person on your first call. That is the whole point of the studio — no account layer, no junior handoff, no team you never meet. For larger builds we bring in one or two long-standing collaborators, and you meet them before they start.

Yes, from the first commit. Your repository, your cloud account, your domain, your design files. Nothing lives on a studio account you cannot reach, and handover is a scheduled step rather than a favour at the end.

Often that is the better arrangement. We design and build alongside an in-house team, in their repository and their conventions, and leave a design system they can carry on with. The Partner engagement exists for exactly this.

Thirty days of fixes are included. After that you can take it in-house with the documentation and walkthrough we hand over, or keep a retainer for a day or two a month. There is no lock-in either way.

Two build slots openNext start: March

Tell us what you’re building and we’ll scope it

Two working daysA reply from the person who would do the work
One paid weekDiscovery, written scope, fixed price
Yours either wayThe scope document, whether or not you continue
Start a projectStart a project