Best UX Designers

What a good UX design project includes

UX gigs range from a quick audit to full product design. Check that the project states:

• Scope: audit, new flows, redesign, or a full product.
• Research: interviews, surveys, analytics review or competitor review.
• User flows: the steps users take to complete key tasks.
• Wireframes for each screen.
• Prototype: a clickable version for testing.
• Usability testing with real users, and a summary of findings.
• Visual design, if UI is included.
• Handover: design file access, notes for developers and a list of screens.

How to brief a UX designer

1. The product and what it helps users do.
2. The users: who they are and what they are trying to achieve.
3. The problem: where users get stuck or drop off today, with data if you have it.
4. Key tasks the design must make easy.
5. Constraints: platform, technology, brand rules and accessibility needs.
6. Access to users for research and testing, if you can provide it.
7. Timeline and when developers will start.

Watch at least one usability test yourself, even a recording. Seeing a real person struggle with a screen you thought was obvious is the fastest way to understand why UX work matters and which fixes come first.

Involve your developer early. A short review of the wireframes by the person who will build them catches ideas that are expensive to build and suggests simpler alternatives before designs are finished.

What drives the price

• number of screens and user flows
• amount of research and testing
• wireframes only versus full visual design
• interactive prototype detail
• design system or component library
• the designer's experience in your type of product

Red flags

• A portfolio of attractive screens with no explanation of the problem or process.
• No user research or testing of any kind.
• Designs delivered only as images, with no file access.
• No thought given to accessibility or mobile use.
• Designs that ignore what your developers can build.

To turn the designs into a working product, see our guides to website development and mobile app development. For visual design of a website, read our website design guide.

Ask the designer to write down the decisions behind the design, not just the screens: why a step was removed, why a button moved, what the testing showed. These notes help developers build it correctly, help new team members understand the product, and stop the same debates from coming back every time someone suggests a change months later. Keep them next to the design file so they stay together.

Quick pre-order checklist

• I have described the users, their tasks and where they get stuck.
• The project includes some research and testing with real users.
• I know whether visual design is included.
• I will get access to the design file, not just images.
• My developer will review the wireframes.