Aug 31, 2020
Top UI/UX Design Agencies Worldwide
Hire the best UX Design Agency for a startup, B2B, SMB, enterprise, SaaS. In San Francisco (SF), Los Angeles (LA), New York (NYC), London (UK), Berlin (Germany)
Last Updated: March 1, 2023
Is your company about to tackle a big project for a new or overhauled app, product, or large website? You might want to consider hiring a UI/UX design agency to do the heavy lifting. Research shows that businesses that put their customers first in terms of usability come out ahead in all areas, from attracting new customers to keeping the old ones. It just makes sense to get the right professional design firm on board to make sure you get your project right the first time. The right firm will help you design a beautiful, usable interface that satisfies your user needs as well as your project stakeholders, timeline, and budget. Still not sure? Checkout Forrester’s report on ROI for usability.
Once you’ve decided to go with a UX design agency, how do you know where to start? We’ll show you how to get started and help you choose an agency that fits your particular needs.
The best UI/UX design companies in the world:
1. Ramotion
Digital product agency: Web, Mobile, UI/UX
📍San Francisco, CA 🇺🇸
👤Top clients
Salesforce, Turo, Mozilla
2. WANDR
Design agency, based in Los Angeles, California. Focuses on strategy, brand identity, UI/UX design and development.
📍Los Angeles, CA, US
👤Top clients
WWF, Samsung, Adobe
3. AGENTE
Full-stack software development company with extensive experience in UX/UI design for web and mobile applications.
📍New York, NYC, US
👤Top clients
Atterley, Workfusion, Lendline
4. Creative Navy
Agency that design mobile experiences, web interfaces and GUI for embedded devices.
📍London, UK 🇬🇧
👤Top clients
Google, Gap, Warner Bros
Social networks
📷 Instagram
5. Futuro Team
Futuro is a Product Development Team based in Berlin
📍Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪
👤Top clients
Nexquare, Tradelize, Wasteless
Social networks
👥 Facebook
Is your company about to tackle a big project for a new or overhauled app, product, or large website? You might want to consider hiring a UI/UX design agency to do the heavy lifting. Research shows that businesses that put their customers first in terms of usability come out ahead in all areas, from attracting new customers to keeping the old ones. It just makes sense to get the right professional design firm on board to make sure you get your project right the first time. The right firm will help you design a beautiful, usable interface that satisfies your user needs as well as your project stakeholders, timeline, and budget. Still not sure? Checkout Forrester’s report on ROI for usability.
Once you’ve decided to go with a design firm, how do you know where to start? We’ll show you how to get started and help you choose an agency that fits your particular needs.
Define Your UI/UX design Project Goals
The first step is to sit down and figure out exactly what your project is, and isn’t going to accomplish. This step will help you define criteria for selecting an agency, and save you time later when you are trying to define a scope and requirements with your chosen firm.
● What is the main goal of the project? Start with the very basic need, in the form of “we need to build/redesign/create/rebrand the <Company Name> website/app/product to better compete/increase market share/solve customer issues”. Tailor this statement to suit your situation, keeping in mind if you are brand new, branching out, starting over, or in some other current state. Then, go a level deeper to lay out specific goals related to the performance of your end product. Thinking about the needs and goals will help you identify areas where you need the most help. Should the firm have particular specialties in areas like brand development or usability testing? Do you need a firm that is knowledgeable in your field or market? Pay attention to, and document, andy requirements that come out of this exercise.
● What’s your general scope for your project? This step continues to dig deeper into the driving factors and requirements of the project. Have you outgrown your existing digital products? Do you need specific features? The firm you choose will help you dig into this if necessary, but you should have a good feel for the size and shape of whatever it is you are trying to accomplish.
● Are any current resources already available? Look at existing digital assets, marketing collateral, staff, or other tools that can be leveraged to save time and money. Consider your existing services and technology platforms as existing tools as well.
● How much can you spend? What is your time frame?
Define Your UX Agency Selection Criteria
You should now have a small list of criteria started based on your goal and scoping exercises. Of course, the cost is a huge factor as well, but there are a few other areas you might not have considered.
• Type of Firm
• Geography
• Cultural Fit
Types of Firms: UI/UX design agencies and firms come in many different shapes and sizes. Just like your company and your company’s needs, these firms have different skills, capacity, areas of specialty.
• Boutique — small firms that cater to a few niche clients. They often have unique specialties and can offer a more personal touch.
• Enterprise — big, robust agencies that handle a variety of client and project types and sizes. They may offer a wider variety of skills and services but could be less focused on your project with a less personal touch.
Both types of firms can specialize in a particular industry, location, or other specialization. Your previous work can help you identify if you need help in a particular area such as eCommerce, application development, or brand identity.
You’ll want to find a firm that has completed projects like yours in the past, including your industry and end product needs.
Geography: UI/UX design agencies can literally work from anywhere these days, and we have never been more aware of the importance of having teams connected, but not necessarily physically nearby than we are now. Companies off-shore may offer advantages in cost, but drawbacks in working hours or communication. Local UI/UX design agencies from San Francisco or user interface design studios from Los Angeles allow you to meet in-person if you live there. This can be great for collaboration and developing a good working relationship but could impact the cost. Firms in large urban areas may also end up costing more but may have the advantage of more experience and more skilled staff. Consider what aspects of location are the most important to completing your project. Are you willing to working primarily asynchronously to save money? Or does your team need to have a great working relationship to get the best result possible? Consider how your chosen partner will be conducting usability testing as well. DO they need to be located nearby to find potential users? Or can testing be done online?
Cultural Fit: We’ve already touched on culture a bit in the other factors. If your priority is to get a decent product out the door cheaply and/or quickly, a big off-shore firm might work great for you. If however, you are wanting to get the best experience for your users and can spend a bit more time and money, finding a firm that fits well with the working style of your internal team will have an immense impact. You should be able to get a feel for how an agency works, their priorities, and style through research and interviews. More on that in the following sections.
Locate and Select UX design company
Now that you know what you are trying to do, and the type of partner you think will work best for your project it is time to start considering actual agencies.
Start a List of User Experience Design Agencies
Begin looking for firms that seem like they fit your general criteria of type, size, and location. There are lots of places you can find out about available firms, but we recommend using networking as much as Google. Here are a few ideas.
• Talk to your business colleagues and find out what firms they recommend.
• Check with local entrepreneur groups to see if there are any firms that also belong, or to get referrals.
• Look at web sites you like, or who are in similar industries. THey’ll often have a credit in their footer stating who designed their site.
• Find out if your community has any services and resource listings.
Apply Your UI Design Agency Selection Criteria
Contact several of the firms you have identified that look like a good fit. Conduct some online research by looking at their portfolio, reading reviews, and checking business rating or ranking sites. Get your list down to a few, and start contacting these favorites. When you’ve reached out you’ll want to set up an interview. In addition to getting a better feel for each firm consider the following.
● Get references
● Ask who would be working on your project, and meet them if possible.
● Find out what standard processes they use. Which design philosophies do they employe? You are looking for a team that has a method for repeatable results but is flexible enough to change things up when necessary.
After you’ve interviewed several firms you will likely have a good feel for which team is going to mesh well with your project team and fit the needs you laid out. If you are having trouble deciding, go through your selection criteria and rate each firm on each of the aspects you found important.
Complete a Discovery Phase
After you’ve selected your perfect firm, you may be eager to jump in and get running. It can be helpful to just dip your toes in first though. A discovery phase allows both you and your firm to explore requirements and needs more deeply while getting a feel for how well you work together, getting a more clear scope and estimate, and identify if there are any gaps in what they provide and your project needs. They will do some research, possibly early design work, and even some user research. This gives you a chance to test them out before fully committing.
Summary on hiring UX design agency
UI and UX design is a highly specialized field. Hiring the right team to help you will serve both you and your users well in the long run. And, finding a great firm can lead to lasting relationships that can fulfill your project needs better and better as time goes on.
