17 Best Product Design Companies To Work With On Your Product

You’ve got a fantastic product idea and are excited to bring it to life. But as you begin to outline your product development plan, you realize there’s a lot to figure out. First, you need to map out the product design process, which involves iterating on your product’s functionality and visual appearance before you start building it. This product design will help to identify any potential issues with your product early on to ensure your idea is both workable and appealing to your target audience. Next, you’ll need to decide whether to tackle this process on your own or enlist the help of a skilled team. If there are gaps in your expertise, it’s wise to work with experienced product designers who can execute a thorough product design process and create a product your customers will love. This article will introduce you to some of the best product design companies in the business, so you can find the perfect partner to help you achieve your goals. 

NUMI is one of the best product design companies and can help you navigate the product design process to create better product outcomes for your business. Our approach combines experience and creativity to produce innovative designs that will appeal to both your target audience and stakeholders.

17 Best Product Design Companies To Choose From

1. NUMI: The Webflow Development Agency That Elevates Design

NUMI is a Framer web design agency powered by world-class Framer developers and product designers. Backed by Y Combinator, NUMI handles all your needs for the design of your startups: 

• Sourcing
• Vetting
• Hiring

We have a fabulous design team that ensures all of your design work is being done well. NUMI helps with: 

• Product design
• Web design
• Framer development
• Webflow development
• Mobile design
• Prototyping
• UX design
• All of your startup's design needs! 

Subscribe to a guild of world-class designers ready to embed on your team today. Schedule a call with us today to learn more!

2. Fuzzy Math: Designing For the User's Needs

Fuzzy Math is a Chicago-based UX design, strategy, and innovation agency. They believe in a design process that doesn’t aim to look good but rather makes users feel good about themselves. Their approach strongly focuses on empathizing with the people they design for—they do this through extensive research, enabling them to discover their expressed and hidden needs. 

They keep their roster small and stable, allowing them to ensure that their clients receive an agile and all-hands approach during projects. 

3. Work & Co: The Product Design Agency That Puts Clients First

Recognized among the top product design agencies, Work & Co is a global digital product agency with offices in the US, Europe, and Latin America. Due to its approach, Work & Co focuses on hiring highly experienced professionals. Work & Co believes that the best products are made with small, senior teams that take a hands-on approach from the very beginning to the end of a project. 

They include their clients directly in their iterative process that is based on rapid prototyping, and meticulous testing, limiting the number of large meetings. Work & Co has a team of UX researchers, designers, and developers who work together to create a design-based digital strategy for a product. They help their clients better understand their markets and design products that help them scale.

4. UX Studio Team: End-to-End Solutions for Tech Startups

The UX Studio Team, with its 40 specialists, stands out as a beacon among the top product design agencies. Its expertise is predominantly dedicated to tech startups and enterprises in various sectors. 

Aside from providing their clients with end-to-end design solutions, they also create their own products. This gives them a deeper, more hands-on understanding of the industry as a whole and plenty of actionable insight into the latest tech and design trends. 

5. Lighthouse London: Elevating Ideas with Innovative Design

Since its inception in 2008, Lighthouse has distinguished itself as a luminary among London's top product design agencies, specializing in UX and UI solutions for complex products. They’ve been in the game long enough to develop their signature four-stage Product Innovation Framework that can elevate almost any idea and turn it into a full-functioning product. 

Their agency also features a wide array of UI and UX researchers and experts with vast experience designing innovative products and services for businesses of all sizes. Over the years, Lighthouse has also assisted many organizations in scaling by managing their design and brand identity.

6. Designit: Pioneering Product Design for Over 30 Years

Founded in 1992 by the pioneering Alan and Sue Cooper, Designit has evolved into one of the top product design agencies globally, deeply influenced by Alan's visionary contributions to UI and the Visual Basic programming environment. Although a professional manager now runs the studio, its founders are still actively participating in “bigger picture” decision-making, undoubtedly allowing it to earn the top spot among UX agencies worldwide. 

Alan Cooper is the brain behind the Visual Basic programming environment, which became an essential asset in the Microsoft ecosystem. He was one of the visionaries who fully understood the importance of good design in the early days of computers and user interfaces. 

7. Goji Labs: Integrating with Client Teams for Better Design

Goji Labs distinguishes itself as a member of the top product design agencies by integrating closely with client businesses, functioning as an extension of their teams. This approach and broad technical expertise enable them to craft digital solutions that significantly contribute to market success, allowing clients to focus on growth and scalability.

8. Momentum Labs: Crafting Human-Centric Digital Experiences

Momentum Labs, recognized among the top product design agencies, specializes in developing high-quality human-centric customer experiences across digital product innovation, transformative business processes, and creative marketing. Their focus revolves around the: 

• Financial
• Healthcare
• Retail
• Consumer products
• Technology industries

Their approach is defined by extensive research and a thorough understanding of their client’s business goals and the needs of the people they design for. Whether it’s AI, IoT, Analytics, Blockchain, or Cloud-based Applications, their goal is to do more than just average marketing; their goal is to innovate and explore uncharted territories. 

9. Clay: Revolutionizing Digital Experiences for Big Business

Clay, situated in San Francisco and considered one of the top product design agencies, has a notable portfolio. It supports major global businesses in revolutionizing digital experiences, websites, and brand identities. Its large team of highly experienced UX designers allows it to design and develop world-class digital products that exceed user expectations. 

Their main interest fields are conversion optimization and customer engagement across mobile apps, websites, and enterprise software. Similarly, they’re very good at crafting successful and thoughtful brand identities and defining their visual and communication strategies. Their approach revolves around fusing UX and storytelling techniques to elevate brand communications.

10. Huge Inc.: Design and Innovation for Ambitious Brands

Huge Inc. is a design and innovation company specializing in creating products and experiences that grow the world's most ambitious brands. Founded in Brooklyn in 1999, Huge has been a pioneer in customer experience, leveraging emerging technologies and data-based insights to develop unforgettable digital experiences. 

The company's first client was IKEA, and it has since worked with several prominent brands, including: 

• JetBlue
• CNN
• Reuters
• Four Seasons
• Pepsi
• Target

With nearly 1,000 employees across North America, Europe, and Latin America, Huge has offices in Brooklyn, Bogota, London, and Medellín Huge offers a wide range of services, including: 

• Business consulting
• Branding
• Data science
• Research
• Experience design
• Physical design
• Service design
• Technology
• SEO
• Marketing campaigns
• Content development
• Social media
• PR
• CRM

11. Cuberto: Focused on User-Centered Design

Cuberto is a UI/UX design agency based in the United States that specializes in UI/UX design, branding, web, and mobile development. The company emphasizes user-centered design and collaboration to create custom solutions for clients between: 

• Developers
• Designers
• Strategists
• Analysts 

Cuberto is known for its expertise in design and development. It regularly releases design courses and shares resources and source files with the design community.

12. Beyond: Building World-Class Products

Beyond is a design and technology agency that specializes in building world-class products. It was founded in 2010 and has offices in London, New York, and San Francisco. The agency focuses on helping clients navigate shifting technologies and how they influence customers with a strong strategic approach to engagement. Beyond has worked with prominent brands like Facebook and Google, providing UI and other services to enhance customer engagement.

13. R/GA: An Innovation Consultancy and Design Agency

R/GA is a well-established company that's both an innovation consultancy and a digital design and advertising agency. They've been around since 1977 and have a global presence with offices all over the world; they have offices in 15 locations across US, Europe and Asia Pacific. 

• US
• France
• Germany
• Ireland
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Poland
• South Africa
• Spain
• UAE
• UK
• Australia
• China
• Hong Kong
• India
• Japan
• Malaysia
• New Zealand
• Singapore
• South Korea
• Taiwan 

They do: 

• Innovation consultancy: They help businesses develop new ideas and strategies for the future 
• Digital design and advertising: R/GA creates marketing campaigns and experiences that leverage technology and design. The company is known for its creative and forward-thinking approach and has won numerous industry awards.

14. Ustwo: Clean, Elegant Design for Major Brands 

Ustwo is a London-based digital product studio founded in 2004. Its focus is on creating innovative and user-friendly digital experiences for businesses and consumers. Ustwo designs and develops mobile apps and other software. It also has its own game development division, Ustwo Games, best known for the award-winning Monument Valley series. Through Ustwo Adventure, it invests in promising young companies. 

Ustwo Foundation provides resources and encouragement to help young people develop their creative skills. Ustwo is known for its commitment to clean and elegant design, and their work has been used by major brands like: 

• Sony
• H&M
• J.P. Morgan

15. Mediamonks: A Leader in Digital-Focused Marketing

MediaMonks is a global leader in digital-first marketing, advertising, and technology services. They create high-quality content like: 

• Websites
• Games
• Films
• Social media content

They operate as a single entity across ten locations worldwide, with their headquarters remaining in Hilversum, Netherlands. In 2021 and 2022, they were the fastest-growing company in the Netherlands. In 2022, they also won a prestigious Peabody Award for their "The Uncensored Library" project.

16. Frog: Shaping Innovation for Over 50 Years

Frog Design is a pioneering global creative and design consultancy that has shaped the future of innovation for over five decades. It was founded in 1969 by Hartmut Esslinger. With studios in North and Central America, Europe, and Asia, Frog Design has established itself as a trusted partner for some of the world's most influential brands, including: 

• Sony
• Apple
• NeXT
• Sun
• General Electric
• Disney

The company's unique approach to design is rooted in its commitment to challenging the status quo and crafting transformative human experiences that win hearts and move markets. Through its diverse range of services, including business, brand, experience, activation, and enablement, Frog Design helps clients navigate the complexities of the digital age and create innovative solutions that drive growth and engagement. As a part of Capgemini Invent, Frog Design continues to push the boundaries of what is possible, leveraging its expertise in design and innovation to help clients achieve their most ambitious goals.

17. UPQODE: A Product Design Firm with a Global Reach

A digital marketing and product design firm with headquarters in Nashville and a second office in Lviv, Ukraine. The company was established in 2016 and collaborated with over 300 clients worldwide. Its talented web designers, developers, marketers, and project managers stand behind the company’s success. 

The company has a strong focus on product design and development. According to Clutch, over 70% of its client portfolio consists of startups and small businesses. Upqode has a well-established online presence with over 100 testimonials, including such well-known companies as: 

• AmeriFreight
• DOXO
• Lyngva
• Blockchainloop
• Think Tank team

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What To Consider When Evaluating Best Product Design Companies

Regarding product development, it’s crucial to your bottom line that you choose a firm that can accommodate any necessary engineering changes as they arise during the design process. The best product design companies offer a variety of services that cover each stage of product development, including: 

• Industrial design
• Prototyping
• Engineering
• Testing

By selecting a versatile firm with a broad skill set, you can avoid the issues that arise when transitioning between specialized agencies to get a project from inception to production.  If you can’t eliminate these problems, a company that can perform all of the necessary tasks will be better equipped to mitigate them. 

Portfolio: Investigate Past Projects for Insight Into Capabilities 

A product design firm’s portfolio serves as a window into their capabilities. By reviewing their past projects, you can get an idea of what to expect from their team. Look for an agency with experience designing products in your industry or niche. If you can’t find any relevant examples, look for transferable skills in their portfolio that might apply to your project. 

You should also examine the details behind the products in their portfolio. Client testimonials and case studies can provide valuable insight into the design process, including any challenges and how the agency addressed them. If possible, try to evaluate a firm’s work in person to better understand their true capabilities. 

Expertise and Overall Capacities: Evaluate the Team's Skills and Resources

Product design processes can be complex, and it takes a diverse team with a variety of skills to get the job done right. When looking for the best product design companies, carefully assess their roster of expertise and the overall capacities of their design team. Learn about the qualifications of the engineers, designers, and analysts working on your project.  

Investigate their backgrounds to ensure they have relevant experience and skill sets that match your project’s needs. Additionally, look for a firm with up-to-date tools and technologies to optimize the product design process. Thorough research will help you avoid costly errors and miscalculations that could negatively impact your product’s market performance. 

Communication and Reputation: Choose a Firm with a Proven Track Record

Product development can take time, and it’s not uncommon for designs to change as you move through the process. Having a reliable product design firm on your side can help you navigate these changes smoothly. Look for an agency with a solid communication structure and a designated point of contact. This will help streamline communication between your in-house business team and your outsourced design company, guaranteeing efficiency for all stakeholders involved. 

You don’t want to deal with a firm you can’t get a hold of after they close a deal with you. This will keep your new product plans from any distortions of their original brand messaging without you staying in the loop for agency-suggested modifications. Your design consultants should also have a reputation for consistency in customer service. This is central to structured communication channels and strategies. Changes can be inevitable in product design, and procedures can be very dynamic. In these scenarios, your consultants should have the flexibility to adapt to developmental modifications. 

Guarantee: Look for a Commitment to Success

Product design firms often work on a contract basis, and it’s important to know what kind of guarantee you’re getting before signing on the dotted line. The best product design companies will have a solid and detailed plan for success and be able to catch up with shifting functionalities and scope alterations. 

Why Choose NUMI: Comprehensive Design Solutions for Startups

NUMI is a Framer web design agency powered by world-class Framer developers and product designers. Backed by Y Combinator, NUMI handles all your needs for the design of your startups: 

• Sourcing
• Vetting
• Hiring

We have a fabulous design team that ensures all of your design work is being done well. NUMI helps with: 

• Product design
• Web design
• Framer development
• Webflow development
• Mobile design
• Prototyping
• UX design
• All of your startup's design needs! 

Subscribe to a guild of world-class designers ready to embed on your team today. Schedule a call with us today to learn more!

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Why You Need To Get Your Product Design Right

Product design significantly impacts how customers respond to a product. By making a greater investment in product design, brands can improve their return on investment. This is largely because buyers tend to gravitate towards well-designed products. They feel comfortable using these goods; many have even been involved in the design process. 

How Product Design Helps You Stand Out

Poorly designed products can prevent a business from losing sales to competitors with better-developed alternatives. Often, products in the same category offer similar features and advantages. 

When faced with a choice, customers will almost always select the product that has the most appealing design.  By prioritizing product design, you can develop an application that stands out from the competition. 

How Product Design Addresses Customer Needs

Innovative design distinguishes your products by getting to the heart of the customers. Although the products may have the same fundamental advantages, the design gives them a special character and significance. Businesses should respond to customers' needs by developing unique, original, and creative products. 

Building Connections with Good Product Design

Good product designs connect with customers through color, layout, and clever font selection. By incorporating emotional ties, your visual representation conveys who you are and what your company stands for. The best method to gain customer loyalty is to establish a connection based on shared values, and the best way to communicate these views is through excellent design. 

Why Product Design Boosts Your Business

Product design is now more important than ever in ensuring your company attracts and maintains a customer base. When customers are inundated with options, it gets easier to capture their interest. Design is the key if you want to increase sales and become a noteworthy brand! For instance, when designing a website, product design means making sure everything on the page is clear and easy to find. 

This is crucial as 94% of a site's first impression comes from its design. If someone lands on your site and needs help figuring out what they're supposed to do next, they'll click back before they've had a chance to do any business with you.

10 Best Tips For Collaborating With A Product Designer

1. Start with the WHY

Understanding the reason for any project is the first step to achieving success. When collaborating with product designers, you want to start by explaining the creative project's overall goals and desired outcome. This will help the designer get on track quickly and understand their role in achieving project success. 

2. Outline the Creative Brief

The creative brief is the agreed-upon information and strategy for the creative part of the project. It should be presented as a reference document and include key details as well as the overarching strategic concepts. Don’t be afraid to present this research to the designer, and don’t worry about restricting their vision. 

The graphic designer's job in this situation is to use the information and work within it on your behalf or the behalf of your client. The better the creative brief, the less risk there is of the outcome not hitting the mark. It’s good for you and the designer, so share all the valuable information and research you have. 

Crafting an Effective Creative Brief: Key Elements for Success in Design Projects

The creative brief should include Vision and the mission:

• What is the aim of the project? 
• What is the expected goal and what will be a good result? 

Here you can add the unique brand elements you wish to encapsulate or push and the image I wish to create. 

• Audience: Who is the design for, what’s the demographic? 
• The current situation: What is the present status of the project? 
• Problems and solutions: What is the problem and how will you solve it? 
• Guidelines: What is the design criteria? 
• Logistics: What are the deadlines, timelines, and budget? 

The creative brief at this stage can still be open to change. However, it is a vital document to establish the rules of the project for both the graphic designer and you. It also serves as a great way to establish your collaborative relationship from the very start.

3 Discuss and Listen

You the graphic designers you work with to ask questions, so encourage them. Answer all questions with as much clarity and openness as possible. This fosters trust from the start. Questions from the designers are a way of testing the waters and getting a real feel for the project. Give them space to share their ideas and professional opinions. They need to know how tight the design brief is and if they can push it. Some designers will show their enthusiasm and energy by bombarding you with questions, while others will take a more laid-back approach. 

Building Collaborative Foundations: Fostering Open Communication with Designers

Either way, by spending some time discussing the project at this stage, you are setting the ground for positive collaboration with designers and putting the foundations in place for a positive business relationship. It is time well spent. This is also the right time to iron out potential misunderstandings, clarify positions, discuss the concepts from the outlined brief, and listen. 

Remember the two-way process? That's good; show it early. Designers have ideas, not just design skills. And that’s exactly what you want: a designer’s eye, throwing ideas into the mix, sharing thoughts on solutions and the latest fashions. 

Empowering Designers: Encouraging Active Participation in the Creative Process

A designer who feels they are playing an active role in the creative process is more motivated than the one going through the motions creating your set idea. When making decisions for the final creative brief document, the designer should be a part of them. This can include the solutions but also the platforms and tools being used. A good designer is not a robot that fulfills a function; a good designer is a fundamental part of the process, so let them know it. 

4. Inclusive Team Management

If you’re a team leader or a project manager, you know that a strong team is a team that has different strengths, different skills, and diverse personalities. Still, when the chips are down they pull together in the same direction to create something better than the sum of its parts. Disagreement is healthy as long as there is a code of mutual respect. If you are having team meetings, brainstorming sessions, and discussions of progress for the whole project, make sure to include the designers. 

Getting input from different sources is important, and so is the show of unity and strength that comes from an inclusive management strategy. Managing teams that are made up totally of creative types can be like being thrown into the lion’s den when you are used to working with cats. Some general guidelines can make managing creative teams a whole lot easier. 

5. Encourage Co-Creation

One of the best ways of creating an understanding and team ethic is co-creation. Team members with different roles actively work together to solve a problem or improve something. Non-designers and designers look at things from different viewpoints and can generate discussion and spot potential problems. 

6. Put Your Systems in Place

For business owners and project managers, the systems and processes of a business are some of the essential underlying factors that help your business function. Putting aside the philosophy and core values of the business and looking for practical project management and communications systems will ensure a smooth-running operation. Everybody on the team should be aware of the conventions of the project. Following these conventions helps avoid: 

• Miscommunication
• Niggles
• Annoyances
• Arguments

Creating a Practical Guideline Document for Seamless Team Collaboration

It also forms an invisible glue that truly holds a team together and adds a comforting familiarity. A practical guideline document available to all team members will help smooth these processes and avoid unnecessary problems. You can include things such as: 

• Tools and platforms for communication 
• File-sharing conventions 
• Format of communication 
• Roles and responsibilities 
• Remote team rules 

For graphic designers, is it also useful to include details such as: 

• Font sizes 
• Naming conventions 
• Margins sizes 

7. Correct Tools

For in-house collaboration with designers, you will still more than likely be using some form of online communication and collaboration tools. If they are working remotely, it is essential. Luckily, there are many great tools for online communication and collaboration, so choose wisely and choose well. These tools should be standard parts of your operating procedure and available to all members of all teams. 

Tools like Slack, Google Suite, and Microsoft Teams provide an easy means of communicating messages. Project management boards such as Trello allow all team members to view the different stages of completion or progress. 

Choosing the Right Communication Tools for Effective Collaboration

Zoom, Teams, or Skype are all commonplace for video communication, offering virtual meetings and many other functions for collaboration. The one thing you are not short of is choice. Using the correct tool for the right kind of communication is a valuable skill. Virtual meetings are time-consuming and can lead to practical issues such as mutual scheduling issues. 

Face-to-face meetings of this kind (when done well and for an appropriate situation) are important in keeping your relationship and communication more personal. Asynchronous communication, messaging, etc should be clear, concise, and have a definite point. How well you use the tools will often set the scene for your relationship and therefore your collaboration. 

8. Motivate! Designers Are People Too

Graphic designers are not always bags of ideas waiting to burst at the slightest pinprick from you. Like anyone else you work with, designers need motivation to reach their potential. Design can be a long-drawn-out process of drafting, redrafting, questioning, and more questioning. Part of the collaboration process is you offering advice and guidance along the way and providing a platform and space for the designer to feel confident and creative. 

Creativity requires freedom, you’ve created the brief so let’s see what they can come up with within these boundaries. Designers feel the trust, and most thrive on it. Add to this positive energy and encouragement and you’ll find your collaboration with designers much more productive. 

9. Feedback Honest, Constructive and Open

The value of feedback both during and after the completion of the project must be considered. Positive feedback is a huge motivational boost; even constructive negative feedback can be tempered with elements of positivity. As this is a collaboration,, you need to have input during the design phase and be upfront and honest about what you see, what I don’t see, what I get, and what I don’t get. 

Feedback is an expectation for any creative, and the ones who can’t cope with it haven’t got to this stage. So don’t be scared, but do it, be fair and balanced, and explain your view. Even if the design fits with the brie,f it might not be what you were expecting. Good communication on draft versions should have stopped this before it had gone too far, so speak up loudly and clearly early. It is ok not to like something; no designer has ever got 100% favorable reviews and none will. 

Providing Constructive Feedback for Positive Collaboration

The key is to remain professional, keep calm and be clear about what you don’t like and what I would prefer. Negative feedback is best given in person so you can fully explain and sense the mood. The feedback should be seen as a constructive step, not a destructive one. 

10. Credit Where Credit is Due

When you collaborate with designers on your project, you’re also working with them as people. If you are fair, thoughtful, and flexible throughout the project, you are establishing some pretty good building blocks for success. If you show your appreciation, the often forgotten designer will feel that inner glow that made them create in the first place. 

Appreciation will pay you back over and over with a: 

• Simple thank you
• A personal email or message
• A gift or bonus

Subscribe To A Guild of World Class Framer Developers with Our Framer Web Design Agency Today

NUMI is a Framer web design agency powered by world-class Framer developers and product designers. Backed by Y Combinator, NUMI handles all your needs for the design of your startups: 

• Sourcing
• Vetting
• Hiring

We have a fabulous design team that ensures all of your design work is being done well. NUMI helps with: 

• Product design
• Web design
• Framer development
• Webflow development
• Mobile design
• Prototyping
• UX design
• All of your startup's design needs!  

If you want to improve your startup's design work, subscribe to NUMI's guild of designers today. They'll join your team and help you with your design needs. 

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