What to Look for When Choosing a UI/UX Agency

Nearly every UI/UX portfolio looks good. Screenshots are cherry-picked, filled with sample rather than real data, and empty states are never shown.

So evaluation shouldn't rest on the portfolio but on five questions.

1. Was research actually done?

"User research" is a broad phrase. Ask: how many people, how, and when?

In some engagements research genuinely happens; in others a competitor review is described as research. Both are valuable but they aren't the same thing and shouldn't be priced the same.

The honest answer sounds like: "no research was done on this project; we worked from existing product data and a competitor review." A party that says that can be trusted.

2. Are there flows, or only screens?

The hard part of product design isn't drawing screens, it's building the flow: where the user comes from, what they're trying to do, where they hesitate, what happens on error.

If the portfolio holds only beautiful screens, the flow side was either never done or isn't being shown. Ask: "can I see the main flow of this product?"

3. Are states designed?

A screen with data is the easy one. The real work sits here: empty, loading, error, partial data, very long text, no permission.

When these aren't designed, developers invent them and the product falls apart with the first real user. An agency that shows these states in its portfolio has done the whole job.

4. Is a design system delivered?

As a product grows, every new screen reopens decisions already made. A system keeps them in one place: how a button behaves, where a form error appears, what the spacing scale is.

Delivery without a system means paying for the same work again in month six. Ask: "are the component library and the scale part of the delivery?"

5. What does developer handoff look like?

This is where design loses the most value. If dimensions, spacing, behaviours and state definitions aren't written down, developers guess and the shipped product differs from the design.

Ask: "could a team that isn't your developer work from this handoff?" If the answer is "they'd ask us", the handoff is incomplete.

Two more questions

Who will work on it? A senior name attending the pitch while someone else does the work is common. Ask who works and for how long.

Who handles the software? Does the agency provide design only, or development too? Either is fine, but which one should be clear up front — "we'll sort it if needed" causes problems later.

Be careful with outcome promises

Read carefully any UI/UX proposal promising a specific usage, retention or conversion rate. Those numbers depend on the product itself, its price, its market and its marketing — not on design.

What can be committed to is the work: research, flow, interface, system and handoff.

I've written the scope of this work at Creative House on the UI/UX design agency page — including what's in and what stays out. If you'd like to look at your product together, you can book a conversation.