Best UX Design Agencies in Austin (2026)

Introduction

Austin has a deep bench of UX and product design firms, and the 12 below cover user research, enterprise and industrial software, AI product design, fintech and app development. They were chosen for recent work, the depth of their research practice and the strength of their client lists.

The city's product design scene grew up around its tech employers. Dell, Apple's Austin campus, Oracle and a large startup base keep demand steady for research, interface design and design systems work, and several studios here now concentrate on AI products. thirteen23 led design on Dell's agentic AI for its next generation of PCs, and Daito Design launched an agentic experience design practice for industrial clients. Ownership has shifted too: Guidea, founded in Austin in 2005, was bought by McKinney's Invene in May 2025, and the team behind Handsome closed that firm and started Raw Materials.

Every agency here has an active Austin office or hub in 2026. The list is unranked, since the right choice depends on your product, your users and how much of the build you want the agency to take on.

The best UX design agencies in Austin

1. argodesign

Independent · East Austin · argodesign.com

argodesign is a product design and technology consultancy with studios in Austin, New York, Amsterdam and Munich. Its senior team works on enterprise systems and emerging technology, and its recent writing covers generative AI and platform engineering.

It designed the interaction language for Apollo, the humanoid robot from Austin's Apptronik, and has worked for New York Life, Walmart, Samsung and Salesforce. argodesign also appears on our design agencies list because of its identity and physical product work.

2. Funsize

Independent · East Austin · funsize.co

Funsize is an experience design agency co-founded by Anthony and Natalie Armendariz. A team of around a dozen works from Springdale Road on digital products, brands and websites, and it covers both hardware and software interfaces. Its own site took an Awwwards Honorable Mention in August 2025.

The client list is long for a studio of its size: Volvo, Dell Technologies, Credit Karma, Capital One, Adobe, Atlassian, Intuit, Toyota and Peloton. It also offers staff augmentation for product teams that need extra design capacity.

3. thirteen23

Independent · Austin · thirteen23.com

thirteen23 is a design and technology studio founded by Doug Cook, with a team of around ten on West 49th Street. It now concentrates on agentic UX and AI product design, with services that run from research and roadmapping to design engineering and prototyping. It appeared on Inc.'s 2024 Regionals list.

It led design on Dell's agentic AI for next-generation PCs. Other clients include Microsoft, Capital One, Visa, iHeart, Tempur-Pedic and Honeywell, along with startups such as Fixify and Delphina.

4. Daito Design

Independent · West Ninth Street · daitodesign.com

Daito Design was started by industrial designers and human factors engineers, led by founder Jared Huke, and has offices in Austin and Amsterdam. It designs enterprise and industrial software for sectors such as oil and gas, maritime, nuclear energy and fintech, and says it has run more than 200 field studies on six continents.

Research often happens on site, in control rooms and on platforms. Clients include Shell, EOG Resources, Halliburton and TDECU, and the studio recently added an agentic experience design offer for human and AI collaboration in industrial settings.

5. Standard Beagle Studio

Independent, women-owned · Austin · standardbeagle.com

Standard Beagle is a UX strategy, research and design agency founded by Cindy and Andy Brummer. A small team handles user research, usability testing, accessibility, design systems and web development, mostly for B2B SaaS and health tech companies. It is a certified women-owned business with DBE and HUB certification.

Its featured case study is Circlage, and its client logos include Torchy's, BuildWitt, the Dallas Opera, the Austin Symphony and KUT. It also runs AI strategy workshops for product teams.

6. Slide UX

Family-owned · Austin · slideux.com

Slide UX was founded in 2012 by Erin and Brant Young and specialises in UX research and design for products used by older adults, care partners and the professionals who support them. It is a vetted member of AARP's AgeTech Collaborative.

Clients include Harvard University, the University of Texas, the Alzheimer's Association and SeniorAdvisor. Usability testing with older adults is a core service, which is hard to find elsewhere.

7. ArcTouch

Part of AKQA (WPP) · Downtown · arctouch.com

ArcTouch is an app, web and connected product studio founded in 2008, around the launch of the App Store, and now part of AKQA. Its Austin office on East 9th Street sits alongside offices in San Francisco, New York, Toronto, London, Paris and Florianópolis. It says it has built more than 500 products.

Clients include SKIMS, 3M Filtrete, Common Sense Media, Cirrus, Hawaiian Airlines, Marriott, HP and Audi. It designs and builds, so it suits teams that want one partner from research through to release.

8. Raw Materials

Independent · Austin · therawmaterials.com

Raw Materials was founded in 2023 by John Roescher, Pablo Marques and Jennifer Allen, after they closed their earlier firm, Handsome, rather than sell it. It describes itself as a design company that designs and launches digital products, and Print magazine reported that it was named D&AD's Design Agency of the Year for 2024.

Its work leans towards frontier technology, with clients including Anduril, Saronic and Meta. Brand and product design are handled together, which suits companies that want the two to share one system.

9. Praxent

Texas-founded · Austin · praxent.com

Praxent is a design and engineering partner for financial services companies, with more than 25 years in business and over 450 digital transformation projects. It combines product management, UX design and software development, with staff in Austin, Raleigh-Durham and Latin America.

Clients include Ameritas, Ascensus, Dimensional, Open Lending and NEWITY, across banking, lending, insurance and wealth management. It holds SOC 2 Type II certification, which matters for regulated clients.

10. SeeSaw Labs

Independent · Austin · seesawlabs.com

SeeSaw Labs is a digital product studio offering product design, AI consulting and custom software development, including fractional CTO support. It works across health tech, insurtech, fintech, ecommerce and construction tech, with a strong share of regulated industries.

Case studies include AI-assisted healthcare workflows for Archway Health and Hospice Pharmacy Solutions, an augmented reality project for Bacardi, and the platform for Kountable. It builds as well as designs, so ask how the design and engineering teams split each phase.

11. Mighty Citizen

Independent, certified B Corp · Austin · mightycitizen.com

Mighty Citizen works for associations, universities, nonprofits and government bodies, with offices in Austin and Washington, DC. Its services cover research and analytics, UX design and content, branding and web development. It is a certified B Corp and has been named an Inc. Best Workplace.

Recent clients include the Long Center for the Performing Arts in Austin, the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology, Auburn University's Harbert College of Business and the North Fort Bend Water Authority.

12. Guidea

Part of Invene · Austin · guidea.com

Guidea is a strategic product design consultancy founded in Austin in 2005 by Theresa Neil. Invene, a healthcare AI and software firm based in McKinney, acquired it in May 2025, and Neil joined Invene as chief product officer. Invene lists Austin as one of its hub cities.

Guidea's work spans digital health, femtech, fintech and edtech, for clients including Johnson & Johnson, IBM, PayPal, Humana, Mastercard and Miro. Since the acquisition its focus has moved towards healthcare AI, so check the size of the Austin team before you brief it.

What to look for in an Austin UX design agency

Start with how the agency does research. Some studios here run field studies and usability tests with specific groups, such as Daito Design in industrial control rooms and Slide UX with older adults. Others lean more on workshops and design sprints. Ask to see a research plan and a findings report from a recent project, and ask how they recruit participants.

Decide how much of the build you want the agency to own. ArcTouch, Praxent and SeeSaw Labs design and engineer, while studios such as Slide UX and Funsize usually hand designs and prototypes to your developers. Both models work. A clean handover needs a documented design system and someone on the agency side who stays available during the build.

Look for experience in your category. Austin's product studios have clear specialisms, from fintech and regulated industries to AI interfaces and hardware. Domain knowledge shortens discovery and reduces the risk of designs that fail compliance or field conditions.

Finally, ask how research and feedback are stored. A UX project produces interview recordings, transcripts, synthesis boards, prototypes and several rounds of design comments. Agencies that keep this material in one searchable place, and hand it over at the end, leave your team able to build on the research long after the engagement ends.

How Fabric helps UX design agency teams

Fabric gives a UX team one workspace for research, design files and client feedback, with AI search across all of it. The setup for UI and UX agencies works around one space per client, so briefs, research, prototypes and call notes stay together.

Interview and usability recordings can be uploaded and transcribed automatically, with clickable timestamps. Search then works by meaning across transcripts, documents, PDFs and screenshots, so a researcher can find every participant who mentioned a specific problem. On Team plans, self-writing docs can maintain a user research repository with interview summaries, findings and recurring themes.

For synthesis, a canvas holds sticky notes, screenshots and live Figma embeds in one place. Clients can join threaded comments through a shared link without creating an account, and annotations let reviewers highlight and comment on PDF reports and specs. Timestamped comments and drawing on images and video are coming soon.

For delivery, a research readout or design spec folder can be published as a web page and updated by editing the source files. Link analytics shows when each named stakeholder opened it and how long they spent on it.

Link analytics is included on Pro and Team plans, and self-writing docs on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best UX design agency in Austin?

It depends on the product. For AI interfaces, thirteen23 and Daito Design have the most focused practices. Funsize and argodesign have the broadest client lists in consumer and enterprise technology, and Slide UX leads for products aimed at older adults.

Which Austin UX agencies design and build software?

ArcTouch, Praxent and SeeSaw Labs all combine design with engineering, and Standard Beagle also offers web development. The others on this list mostly deliver research, designs and prototypes for in-house developers.

What happened to Handsome?

Its founders closed the firm rather than sell it, and in 2023 John Roescher, Pablo Marques and Jennifer Allen started Raw Materials in Austin.

Is Guidea still in Austin?

Guidea was acquired by Invene in May 2025. Invene lists Austin as one of its hub cities, and founder Theresa Neil is now Invene's chief product officer.

What is the difference between a UX agency and a design agency?

UX agencies focus on research, interaction design and digital products. Design agencies more often handle identity, packaging and print. For studios centred on those disciplines, see our list of Austin design agencies.

Related lists

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