Big news: I’ve launched a UX consultancy.
It’s called North & Form, and I couldn’t be more excited to finally share it with the world.
Built with my co-founder Gillian Salerno-Rebic, North & Form helps teams design experiences that actually work—for the people using them and the people building them.
Why Now?
Almost two years ago, I left a senior role in enterprise UX. I knew I needed a change—I just didn’t know what it would look like yet.
Since then, I’ve worn a lot of hats: consulting with early-stage startups, leading design strategy projects, mentoring designers, and experimenting with new ways of working. It was energizing, but also clarifying.
I kept seeing the same pattern:
- Teams moving fast but struggling to prioritize the user experience
- Product decisions made without real research
- AI-powered features that looked cool but confused actual users
- Designers pulled in too many directions, with no time to focus
I realized I didn’t want to just design better screens—I wanted to help teams make better decisions.
And that’s exactly what we’re doing with North & Form.
What We Do (and Why It’s Different)
North & Form is a UX consultancy for startups and SMBs that don’t have time for bad UX.
We’re not an agency. We’re not handing you a PDF and disappearing.
We embed within teams, figure out what’s broken, and help you fix it—fast.
Whether you’re launching your first product or scaling an existing one, we help you:
- Turn UX into a competitive advantage
- Align design, research, and business strategy
- Make AI-powered experiences intuitive, not robotic
- Get clarity on what your users need—and how to deliver it
- Build strong UX foundations without the enterprise overhead
Meet the Team
🔥 Maria Burke (🙋🏼♀️) – Product Design Principal with 10+ years of experience solving complex UX challenges, leading design teams, and building intuitive, high-performing digital products across fintech, healthcare, SaaS, and AI. I specialize in making the complex feel simple—and creating alignment between design and strategy.
🔥 Gillian Salerno-Rebic, M.A. – Research Principal with a sharp eye for cutting through assumptions and uncovering real user needs. Gillian leads AI-powered research and customer insight programs that drive clarity, confidence, and better product decisions. She’s helped startups and enterprise teams alike scale research-backed UX practices that work.
Together, we’ve built a partnership that blends strategic design, deep research, and a bias toward action.
We Believe…
✅ Great UX shouldn’t be reserved for big tech
✅ Research should drive decisions—not slow them down
✅ Your UX team deserves support, not more chaos
✅ Designing fast and designing well shouldn’t be mutually exclusive
Ready to Build Better UX?
If your team is navigating the tension between speed and strategy, we can help.
Startups and scaling companies deserve more than cookie-cutter design and guesswork. They deserve real UX leadership—without the overhead.
📬 Reach out to start a conversation
📍 Follow North & Form on LinkedIn to see what’s next
Let’s design smarter, scale faster, and make experiences that actually work.
💚
—Maria
