Each and Every Day Cover Image Closeup

by Max Burnside

I wrote about designing, coding, and posting every day so far in 2025. Here's a closeup of the cover image I created for the post. I first illustrated daily posts as checkmarks in a calendar. Decent concept, but it felt too "ordinary". Like anyone might have landed on this concept. Also, even after several iterations, I never *loved* the quality of the calendar illustration. So, I went a different direction. I mocked up an abstracted version with 7 squares per row each representing a day of the week, and the iOS app icon "squircle" as the updated "calendar" container. Finally, I made the "track" of squares continuous to demonstrate a visual of the months progressing. I enjoyed layering dozens of effects, gradients, and blurs to get the dimensionality just so. Used the Figma Noise effect to subtly add realism. No AI was used for any of the illustrations (ideation or creation) or the blog post. Your brain is pretty remarkable if you give it a chance😃 Check out the post: https://maxburnside.com/blog/each_and_every_day