UX & UI Design
Good design isn't about making things pretty. It's about helping people accomplish their goals with as little friction as possible. We design interfaces that are intuitive, accessible, and actually work.
What do UX and UI actually mean?
These terms get thrown around loosely, so let's be specific.
User Experience (UX) is about the overall journey
How do people find what they need? What steps do they take to complete a task? Where do they get confused or frustrated? UX work involves research, user flows, information architecture, and testing. It's about understanding and solving the right problems.
User Interface (UI) is about the specifics
What do the buttons look like? How does the form behave? What colour is the error message? UI is the visual and interactive layer, making sure each screen is clear, consistent, and supports the user's task.
Good design requires both. A beautiful interface (UI) that confuses people (poor UX) is just as problematic as a logical flow (UX) that looks unprofessional (poor UI).
When design work makes a real difference
New product development
Before writing code, design work helps you validate that you're building the right thing. We create prototypes you can test with real users, catching expensive mistakes early. It's far cheaper to iterate on a Figma file than on production code.
Improving existing products
If users are getting stuck, support tickets are high, or conversions are low, there's usually a design problem. We identify where users struggle (through analytics, session recordings, or testing) and design solutions that address the actual issues.
Scaling teams
When multiple people build on the same product, consistency suffers. Design systems and component libraries give everyone a shared language and reusable building blocks, so new features look and feel coherent without bottlenecking on designers.
Accessibility requirements
Making interfaces accessible isn't just about compliance - accessible design tends to be clearer for everyone. We design with WCAG guidelines in mind, considering keyboard navigation, screen readers, colour contrast, and cognitive load.
How we approach design projects
Understand
We start by learning about your users, business goals, and constraints. This might involve interviewing users, reviewing analytics, auditing the current experience, or workshops with your team. The goal is to make sure we're solving the right problem.
Explore
We map out user flows, create wireframes, and explore different approaches. These are intentionally rough. The point is to think through structure and logic before investing in visual detail. We share these early and often.
Design
Once we're confident in the direction, we create high-fidelity designs in Figma. You see exactly what the final product will look like across different devices and states (empty, error, loading, etc.).
Test & Refine
Where appropriate, we test designs with real users before development. This might be moderated sessions where we watch people use a prototype, or unmoderated testing at scale. Findings inform final refinements.
Handoff
We deliver designs with specifications developers need: spacing, colours, interactions. For ongoing projects, we work directly with development teams, answering questions and adapting designs as technical realities emerge.
What you actually get
Research outputs
- User personas based on real research
- Journey maps showing current pain points
- Competitive analysis and benchmarking
- Usability test findings and recommendations
Design outputs
- Wireframes and user flow diagrams
- High-fidelity mockups (mobile and desktop)
- Interactive prototypes for testing
- Design system documentation
Not every project needs every output. We tailor the work to what will actually help your situation.
Working with your development team
Design doesn't happen in isolation. We work closely with developers throughout the process.
- →Early involvement: Developers see work in progress and flag technical constraints before we finalise designs
- →Practical handoff: Designs come with the information developers need: not just pictures, but specs, assets, and documentation
- →Ongoing support: We stay available during development to answer questions and make sensible trade-offs when needed
If you don't have a development team, we can also build what we design. See our Web & Mobile Apps service.