UX/UI Design
Design that works for the people who use it.
What UX/UI design delivers
- Clarity for your users. Thoughtful information architecture and interaction design that helps people find what they need without friction, whether they’re scheduling an appointment, renewing a membership, or making a donation.
- A visual system your team can use. Component libraries and documented design systems that reduce inconsistency and make future updates faster, without requiring outside help for every change.
- Accessibility from the start. WCAG-compliant design choices that serve all users, built in from day one rather than retrofitted after the fact when they’re harder and more expensive to address.
- Validated direction before anything is built. Prototypes and usability testing that surface problems early, when they’re still inexpensive to fix rather than after development has begun.
- Less rework in development. Close collaboration between design and engineering means fewer surprises, more accurate implementation, and a finished product that actually reflects the design.
- A digital presence that holds up over time. Design decisions made with longevity in mind, so the site still feels current and functional two years from now, not just on launch day.
Why COLAB for UX/UI design
- We start with your users, not your preferences. Research, stakeholder input, and content review shape our design decisions before any visual work begins.
- Our designers stay engaged through development. We review implementations and answer questions to make sure the work translates accurately from Figma to the finished product.
- We design systems, not just pages. Component libraries and documented design systems reduce drift and give your team something they can build on without starting over.
- Accessibility is part of the work, not an add-on. We apply WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines and test for compliance from the start, which is a baseline requirement for most of the organizations we serve.
- Good design is one of the few things that’s hard to recover from doing poorly. For mission-driven organizations, a confusing or outdated digital experience erodes the trust of the patients, members, and donors you’re trying to serve.
- We design with your team’s capacity in mind. A design system your team can’t maintain isn’t a system, it’s technical debt we’re leaving behind for you to deal with.
What UX/UI design includes
Scope varies based on where you are and what you need. Full redesigns and new product builds typically draw from most of the following. Focused engagements may address only a portion.
Our approach
Design at COLAB is a considered process, not a deliverable handed off at the end. We work iteratively, in close collaboration with your team and ours, keeping strategy, design, and development in tight alignment throughout.
Understand the full picture
We start by learning how your users think and what your organization needs. That means stakeholder interviews, content audits, and a careful review of your current digital presence to understand what’s working, what isn’t, and why. For marketing directors who have been through a previous implementation that didn’t go well, this is also where we listen for what went wrong and what needs to be different this time
Align on what matters
Before we design anything, we align on direction. We establish shared criteria for what success looks like, surface competing priorities across your team, and make sure everyone is working toward the same outcomes before visual work begins. The decisions made in this phase are what prevent expensive pivots later.
Grow with intention
We design the experience your users need now, with the flexibility to support what comes next. That includes defined information architecture, interaction flows, and a visual system your team can maintain and build on. Design and content work run in parallel so neither is waiting on the other, and development is looped in early enough to catch anything that would be difficult or costly to build as designed. Our designers stay engaged through build, reviewing implementations and making sure the finished product reflects the design accurately.
Who we work with
We partner with organizations where digital decisions carry real responsibility, and where the cost of moving in the wrong direction is measured in more than budget.
- Healthcare systems and specialty practices navigating patient experience, compliance, or post-merger consolidation
- Member organizations working to modernize platforms that serve thousands of constituents
- Nonprofits and social impact organizations that need to do more with less and can’t afford a false start
- Marketing and communications leaders who need stakeholder alignment before they can move forward
- Digital and IT teams inheriting sites or platforms they didn’t build and don’t fully understand
- Organizations that have outgrown their current structure but aren’t sure what comes next
I feel secure knowing that COLAB is on the other side of everything we do to our website. Even at five years out, the design still feels current, relevant, and right for our needs.
Belinda Falconer
Director of Development
When UX/UI design matters most
Design work tends to deliver the most value when at least one of the following is true for your organization.
- You’re planning a redesign, building a new digital product, or preparing for a rebrand and need design work that carries the same rigor across your site, your system, and your team
- Your current site no longer reflects your brand, serves your users, or supports the people maintaining it day to day
- You’re going through a merger or platform transition, want to improve conversion or usability without a full rebuild, or need a design system to support a growing team working across multiple properties
Frequently Asked Questions
A clearly defined brand makes the process more efficient and the outcomes more effective. That said, we’ve worked with organizations at various stages of brand maturity. If brand definition is a gap, we’ll flag it early and can help you work through it as part of the engagement.
There’s no hard limit, but all work is budget and timeline-bound. We typically work through one to two rounds of revisions per major design decision, with the goal of reaching a strong direction quickly and refining from there rather than cycling through multiple rounds on the same page.
Yes. Accessibility is part of our standard design practice, not an add-on. We apply WCAG 2.1 AA guidelines, use semantic design patterns, and test for keyboard navigation, contrast ratios, and other compliance requirements from the start.
We work primarily in Figma for interface design and prototyping. We adapt to your existing tools and workflows where it makes sense to do so.
Yes. Some organizations bring us in for design and handle development internally or with another partner. We structure those engagements to ensure the handoff is clean and well-documented so nothing is lost in translation.
We work iteratively, so these phases often overlap. Once strategic direction is clear for a section, we begin detailed design for that area while other parts of the project are still being planned. Developers are looped in early, which reduces rework and improves accuracy. Learn more about our approach.
It depends on scope. A focused UI effort might take two to three weeks. A full UX/UI project for a redesign typically spans six to twelve weeks. We provide a detailed estimate after an initial conversation.
No. We design interfaces for web applications, internal tools, member portals, and other digital products beyond traditional marketing sites.
