How to choose a UI agency
Choose a UI agency by matching its strongest work to the job you have, then checking that the people in the portfolio are the people on your project. The signals below take an afternoon to check and remove most of the risk.
Match the agency type to the job
Agencies that look alike on a homepage sell different things. Decide which of these four jobs you have before you compare anyone.
| If you need | Look for | Examples from our list |
|---|---|---|
| A flagship interface for one product | Interface craft studio | Metalab, Clay |
| A component library used by several teams | Design system specialist | Sparkbox, Big Medium |
| An interface designed and shipped by one team | Design-plus-build studio | BlackCard, Bakken & Bæck, ustwo, Edenspiekermann |
| A rollout across markets, brands and channels | Large digital agency | DEPT, Work & Co |
Portfolio signals worth checking
- Shipped products, not concept shots. Open the live app or site and compare it with the case study.
- Unglamorous screens. Settings, tables, forms and error states show craft better than a landing page hero.
- Consistency at depth. Click five levels in. Spacing, type and components should still follow the same rules.
- Motion with a purpose. Transitions should explain where something came from or went. Decoration is a weaker sign.
- Accessibility. Check contrast, focus states and keyboard navigation on their shipped work.
- Similar density to your product. A studio known for consumer apps may struggle with a data-heavy B2B tool, and the reverse is also true.
Questions to ask on the first call
- Who exactly will design our product, and can we meet them before signing?
- Which projects in your portfolio did those people work on?
- How do you hand over to developers, or do you build it yourselves?
- What does your design system deliverable include: Figma library, tokens, coded components, documentation?
- How many revision rounds are included, and what does a change request cost?
- How do you test designs with users or data before final delivery?
- Who owns the files, and which licences do we need for fonts and icons?
- Can we speak to a client whose project finished more than a year ago?
Red flags
- A portfolio made only of unshipped concepts
- Senior people in the pitch, unnamed people in the proposal
- No mention of states, responsive behaviour or accessibility in the scope
- A fixed price offered before anyone has looked at your product
- Designs delivered as flat images with no component structure
- Reluctance to share the working Figma file while the project is running
Check ownership and status
Several well-known agencies changed hands recently. Work & Co became part of Accenture Song in January 2024, and Edenspiekermann joined the Appsfactory Group in February 2024.
An acquisition is not a problem in itself. It can change who staffs a project and how contracts are written, so ask what is different since the deal.
Start with a paid pilot
Before committing to a full redesign, buy one or two weeks on a single important flow. You will learn how the studio communicates, how it reacts to feedback and whether the quality in the portfolio shows up in your own product.
A pilot also gives you real files to judge. Open the Figma document and look at how components and styles are organised. Order in the file predicts order in the delivered product.
Common questions
How many UI agencies should I shortlist?
Three is enough. Pick them from the same tier so the proposals are comparable. Comparing an interface craft studio against a large digital agency mostly tells you that they sell different things.
Does the agency need experience in my industry?
It helps in regulated fields such as healthcare and finance, where rules shape the interface. Elsewhere, experience with products of similar complexity matters more than the sector on the logo wall.