Max Cespedes
- Creative Designer | NYC
As a creative with extensive experience working with demanding global brands, I specialize in creating powerful, results-driven design solutions that elevate brand identities and capture attention in competitive markets. Over the years, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with top-tier companies like Jefferies, Deutsche Bank, and Newell Brands, helping them craft compelling visual narratives across various platforms.
- Professional Experience
- Bank of America (WIP)
- Newell Brands
- M Science
- Societe Generale
- Deutsche Bank
- Skills
- Presentations
- UX Design
- Motion Design
UX Design
Building interfaces that feel obvious in hindsight and effortless in practice.
Tools: Figma, Adobe XD, Framer, Miro
- Bank of America
- Online Banking Portal
Bank of America
Online Banking Portal
UX Design Prototype
UX Design Prototype — Alternative Data Intelligence Platform
The Problem
Financial analysts live inside data. But most data platforms confuse volume for value, dumping hundreds of metrics, tickers, and KPIs onto a screen and leaving the user to make sense of it. The result is cognitive overload at exactly the moment when clarity matters most. A portfolio manager making a thesis call at market open does not have time to navigate a cluttered dashboard to find the signal buried in the noise.
The question: how do you design an intelligence platform that surfaces the right data instantly, without flattening the depth that professional users actually need?
Research
Studied professional data platforms across Bloomberg Terminal, FactSet, and Refinitiv Eikon. The pattern was stark. Legacy terminals prioritize density over hierarchy, treating information architecture as a solved problem from the 1990s. Modern alternatives often overcorrect, stripping depth in pursuit of aesthetics and losing the power users in the process.
M Science sits in a specific niche: alternative data (web traffic, credit card spend, booking volume, channel mix) mapped against public and private company coverage. The user is not a casual investor. They are a trained analyst who knows what they are looking for. The interface needs to match that sophistication without creating unnecessary friction to find it.
Design Principles
Signal over noise: The dashboard answers “what’s moving and why” before the user has to ask. Recent charts, performance deltas, and sector filters are front-loaded. Everything else is one level deep.
Data as the hero: Visual chrome is minimal. Charts, tickers, and KPIs occupy the space; UI elements frame rather than compete. The analyst’s eye should land on data first, navigation second.
Personalization without configuration: The personalized greeting and Recent Charts row reflect the user’s actual activity. Relevance is automatic, not dependent on manual setup.
Color System
Teal (#00B4D8): Signal. The platform’s primary accent, applied to positive performance deltas, active states, interactive elements, and the user’s name in the greeting. High visibility without alarm.
Deep Navy (#0D1B2A): Anchor. Sidebar navigation and icon backgrounds. Creates a professional, terminal-adjacent visual weight that signals precision and seriousness.
White and Off-White (#F8F9FA): Canvas. Light background keeps data readable across long sessions. Avoids the eye fatigue of a fully dark interface when charts carry most of the visual complexity.
Green (positive delta): Upward movement. Applied to positive percentage changes (+12.4%, +8.7%, +6.3%). Universally understood in financial contexts. No label needed.
Red (negative delta): Downward movement. Applied exclusively to negative deltas (2.1%, 4.8%). Same convention as every trading floor on the planet. Deviation would create dangerous misreads.
Sector Colors: Consumer (blue), TMT (purple), Financials (green), Industrials (amber). Distinct enough to parse at a glance, consistent enough to learn quickly. Color carries meaning, not decoration.
Iconography
Filled icon style within dark rounded-square containers for stat cards creates visual weight that anchors key metrics on the page. Line icons used in the sidebar navigation for contrast and visual economy. Each sector uses a distinct icon that maps to industry convention: shopping bag for Consumer, circuit for TMT, bank pillar for Financials. Recognizable without instruction.
Spacing and Layout
8px grid: Consistent increments throughout. Cards, charts, and stat blocks align to a shared rhythm that lets analysts scan horizontally and vertically without losing their place.
Sidebar navigation: Collapsed icon-only rail at 60px. Maximizes horizontal real estate for data without hiding navigation. Active state indicated by filled icon and subtle highlight. Present but not demanding.
Chart card grid: Six ticker cards in a horizontal row, each containing the company name, sector tag, performance delta, chart type, and metric label. Compact but not cramped. Every element earns its space.
Stat cards: Four KPI blocks with large typographic numbers (1,400+, 850+, 6, 200+), supporting labels, and growth indicators. Numbers at 32px. Users scan for magnitude first, context second.
Sector tiles: Full-width grid below the fold, color-coded and icon-anchored. Filtering the entire dashboard by sector is a single click.
Key Decisions
Recent Charts as the entry point: Analysts return to ongoing coverage repeatedly. Surfacing the six most recently viewed tickers immediately on login eliminates navigation entirely for the most common session type.
Delta indicators on every card: Percentage change displayed with a directional arrow on each chart card. Analysts assess movement before they assess charts. The delta answers the first question so the chart can answer the second.
Platform scale made visible: 1,400+ covered companies, 850+ unique KPIs, 6 global regions, 200+ data endpoints. Displaying platform depth on the dashboard is not vanity. It is a daily reminder of competitive moat for users who evaluate data quality as part of their job.
Search as primary navigation: The search bar spans the full top header: “Search tickers, companies, sectors.” For a platform of this coverage breadth, search is faster than any nav tree. Filters layer on top without leaving the search context.
Sector filtering without page changes: Verticals and Sectors tiles filter coverage in place. No full page reload, no context lost. Analysts pivot between sectors the same way they pivot between tabs in a spreadsheet.
Accessibility
WCAG 2.2 AA contrast ratios across both light canvas and dark sidebar. Color never used as the sole differentiator for data states. Delta direction is paired with directional arrows, not just red and green. 44px touch targets on interactive elements. Keyboard navigable sidebar with visible focus states. Chart data accessible via screen reader labels and tabular data alternatives.
Outcome
A data intelligence platform that respects how analysts actually work. Coverage depth is immediately apparent, the most-used data is immediately accessible, and the interface stays out of the way when the work gets serious. The design solves for professional clarity in a category that has historically forced users to adapt to the tool rather than the other way around.
- Greyhound Lines
- Onboard Entertainment Portal
Greyhound Lines
Onboard Entertainment Portal
UX Design Prototype — In-Transit Streaming Interface
The Problem
Passengers on a multi-hour bus ride have one thing in common: they want to disconnect from the journey and lose themselves in content. But entertainment portals built for captive audiences tend to fail in predictable ways. Cluttered interfaces, no sense of where you are in your trip, and zero awareness of the unique constraints of in-transit use. Motion sickness, shared screens, intermittent connectivity, and constantly shifting attention spans make this a harder UX problem than it looks.
The question: how do you build a streaming experience that feels effortless at 65mph, on a shared WiFi network, for passengers ranging from commuters to first-time riders?
Research
Studied in-flight entertainment systems (Delta Studio, United Inflight) alongside consumer streaming platforms (Netflix, Hulu, Disney+). The contrast was instructive: airlines over-engineer their portals with loyalty integrations and upsells; consumer platforms optimize purely for passive browsing. Neither maps cleanly onto a bus environment.
Key findings:
- Passengers check trip status compulsively. ETA, next stop, rest stops.
- Content decisions are made within the first 2 minutes of boarding or settling in.
- Browsing drops sharply after content starts. Discovery must be front-loaded.
- Shared WiFi creates latency anxiety. The interface must feel fast even when the stream buffers.
Design Principles
Context-first layout: Trip data lives persistently at the top. Passengers always know where they are and how long they have. Content decisions get made around that reality. A 3-hour ride means a movie; 45 minutes to the next stop means a TV episode.
Zero-friction discovery: Featured content hero, genre filters, and curated rows answer “what should I watch?” before the user has to ask.
Streaming-aware UI: Visual language accounts for motion and low-light environments. High contrast, readable at arm’s length, comfortable for sustained viewing.
Familiar over novel: The interface borrows conventions from platforms users already know. Cognitive load stays low because the interaction patterns are already learned.
Color System
Teal (#006E7F): Brand anchor. Greyhound-adjacent without being literal. Applied to active states, CTAs, and the persistent nav bar. Signals “you’re in the system” without demanding attention.
Deep Navy (#0D1B2A): Canvas. Dark backgrounds reduce eye strain in dimly lit buses and create the cinematic frame content deserves.
White (#FFFFFF) and Light Gray (#E8EAED): Readability. Text, metadata, and secondary labels stay crisp against the dark base without harsh contrast fatigue.
Amber (#F4A261): Wayfinding. Used exclusively in the trip status bar for arrival times, next stop, and rest stop alerts. The warm tone distinguishes trip info from entertainment UI at a glance.
Red (#C62828): Alerts only. WiFi drops, content unavailability. Not decorative.
Iconography
Line icons, 2px stroke, consistent 24px scale. Navigation categories (Movies, TV Shows, genres) use universally recognized metaphors including film reel, play button, and category tags. Trip status icons (location pin, clock, WiFi signal) are visually distinct from entertainment icons to prevent parsing confusion. Labels persist on all nav items. In-transit use means users will not memorize iconography.
Spacing and Layout
8px grid: All elements align to 8px increments. Consistent rhythm makes scanning fast even with peripheral attention.
Persistent status bar: A 48px fixed header dedicated entirely to trip context: route, travel time, next stop, rest stop, WiFi, current time, and bus ID. Always visible. Never competes with content.
Hero carousel: Full-bleed featured content with a 2-line description and dual CTAs (Play and More Info). Dominant but not overwhelming. Carousel dots indicate depth without demanding interaction.
Content rows: Horizontal scroll cards, 16px internal padding, 8px radius. Genre filter tabs collapse the content library into digestible chunks. New Releases, curated rows, and category sections create natural browse paths.
Touch targets: 44px minimum across all interactive elements. Accounts for in-motion use where precision tapping is reduced.
Key Decisions
Trip data always visible: Passengers are not just viewers; they are travelers. Knowing you have 4 hours to Washington changes what you pick. The status bar earns its permanent real estate.
Content length metadata: Runtime and episode length displayed on every card. Passengers calibrate choices against their remaining travel time. This reduces abandonment mid-content.
Offline-aware design: UI states account for buffering and partial connectivity. Loading skeletons instead of spinners. Progress preserved on reconnect.
Search as a safety valve: The search bar is prominent but not dominant. Most users browse; search catches the ones who know what they want.
Minimal account friction: Profiles exist but are not gatekept. Content is accessible immediately. Account creation is optional, not mandatory.
Accessibility
WCAG 2.2 AA contrast ratios maintained across dark backgrounds. 44px touch targets throughout. Logical tab order for keyboard navigation. Screen reader labels on all icons, metadata, and interactive states. Motion reduced to essential transitions only to respect passengers with motion sensitivity.
Outcome
An entertainment portal that understands its context. Passengers get content fast, stay oriented throughout their trip, and never feel like they are fighting the interface. The design solves a problem most transit systems ignore: that where you are shapes what you want to watch, and a great in-transit experience accounts for both.
- M Science
- Data Dashboard Portal
M Science
Data Dashboard
UX Design Prototype — Alternative Data Intelligence Platform
The Problem
Financial analysts live inside data. But most data platforms confuse volume for value, dumping hundreds of metrics, tickers, and KPIs onto a screen and leaving the user to make sense of it. The result is cognitive overload at exactly the moment when clarity matters most. A portfolio manager making a thesis call at market open does not have time to navigate a cluttered dashboard to find the signal buried in the noise.
The question: how do you design an intelligence platform that surfaces the right data instantly, without flattening the depth that professional users actually need?
Research
Studied professional data platforms across Bloomberg Terminal, FactSet, and Refinitiv Eikon. The pattern was stark. Legacy terminals prioritize density over hierarchy, treating information architecture as a solved problem from the 1990s. Modern alternatives often overcorrect, stripping depth in pursuit of aesthetics and losing the power users in the process.
M Science sits in a specific niche: alternative data (web traffic, credit card spend, booking volume, channel mix) mapped against public and private company coverage. The user is not a casual investor. They are a trained analyst who knows what they are looking for. The interface needs to match that sophistication without creating unnecessary friction to find it.
Design Principles
Signal over noise: The dashboard answers “what’s moving and why” before the user has to ask. Recent charts, performance deltas, and sector filters are front-loaded. Everything else is one level deep.
Data as the hero: Visual chrome is minimal. Charts, tickers, and KPIs occupy the space; UI elements frame rather than compete. The analyst’s eye should land on data first, navigation second.
Personalization without configuration: The personalized greeting and Recent Charts row reflect the user’s actual activity. Relevance is automatic, not dependent on manual setup.
Color System
Teal (#00B4D8): Signal. The platform’s primary accent, applied to positive performance deltas, active states, interactive elements, and the user’s name in the greeting. High visibility without alarm.
Deep Navy (#0D1B2A): Anchor. Sidebar navigation and icon backgrounds. Creates a professional, terminal-adjacent visual weight that signals precision and seriousness.
White and Off-White (#F8F9FA): Canvas. Light background keeps data readable across long sessions. Avoids the eye fatigue of a fully dark interface when charts carry most of the visual complexity.
Green (positive delta): Upward movement. Applied to positive percentage changes (+12.4%, +8.7%, +6.3%). Universally understood in financial contexts. No label needed.
Red (negative delta): Downward movement. Applied exclusively to negative deltas (2.1%, 4.8%). Same convention as every trading floor on the planet. Deviation would create dangerous misreads.
Sector Colors: Consumer (blue), TMT (purple), Financials (green), Industrials (amber). Distinct enough to parse at a glance, consistent enough to learn quickly. Color carries meaning, not decoration.
Iconography
Filled icon style within dark rounded-square containers for stat cards creates visual weight that anchors key metrics on the page. Line icons used in the sidebar navigation for contrast and visual economy. Each sector uses a distinct icon that maps to industry convention: shopping bag for Consumer, circuit for TMT, bank pillar for Financials. Recognizable without instruction.
Spacing and Layout
8px grid: Consistent increments throughout. Cards, charts, and stat blocks align to a shared rhythm that lets analysts scan horizontally and vertically without losing their place.
Sidebar navigation: Collapsed icon-only rail at 60px. Maximizes horizontal real estate for data without hiding navigation. Active state indicated by filled icon and subtle highlight. Present but not demanding.
Chart card grid: Six ticker cards in a horizontal row, each containing the company name, sector tag, performance delta, chart type, and metric label. Compact but not cramped. Every element earns its space.
Stat cards: Four KPI blocks with large typographic numbers (1,400+, 850+, 6, 200+), supporting labels, and growth indicators. Numbers at 32px. Users scan for magnitude first, context second.
Sector tiles: Full-width grid below the fold, color-coded and icon-anchored. Filtering the entire dashboard by sector is a single click.
Key Decisions
Recent Charts as the entry point: Analysts return to ongoing coverage repeatedly. Surfacing the six most recently viewed tickers immediately on login eliminates navigation entirely for the most common session type.
Delta indicators on every card: Percentage change displayed with a directional arrow on each chart card. Analysts assess movement before they assess charts. The delta answers the first question so the chart can answer the second.
Platform scale made visible: 1,400+ covered companies, 850+ unique KPIs, 6 global regions, 200+ data endpoints. Displaying platform depth on the dashboard is not vanity. It is a daily reminder of competitive moat for users who evaluate data quality as part of their job.
Search as primary navigation: The search bar spans the full top header: “Search tickers, companies, sectors.” For a platform of this coverage breadth, search is faster than any nav tree. Filters layer on top without leaving the search context.
Sector filtering without page changes: Verticals and Sectors tiles filter coverage in place. No full page reload, no context lost. Analysts pivot between sectors the same way they pivot between tabs in a spreadsheet.
Accessibility
WCAG 2.2 AA contrast ratios across both light canvas and dark sidebar. Color never used as the sole differentiator for data states. Delta direction is paired with directional arrows, not just red and green. 44px touch targets on interactive elements. Keyboard navigable sidebar with visible focus states. Chart data accessible via screen reader labels and tabular data alternatives.
Outcome
A data intelligence platform that respects how analysts actually work. Coverage depth is immediately apparent, the most-used data is immediately accessible, and the interface stays out of the way when the work gets serious. The design solves for professional clarity in a category that has historically forced users to adapt to the tool rather than the other way around.