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User experience research and design that de-risks the build

Research, journey mapping, and usability testing that decide what to build and for whom — before engineering spend compounds. Visual design lives on Design Systems; end-to-end build lives on Product Design & Engineering.

When user experience is the right fit

UX work pays back hardest when there is a decision to make and the cost of being wrong is high. These are the situations where the research earns its keep.

You're about to invest serious money in a build and want to validate the assumptions first

Before the engineering bill compounds, we pressure-test the riskiest assumptions with real users so you commit to features that have already earned the spend.

Your conversion is dropping and you need to know why

The analytics show the symptom, not the cause. We map where users hesitate, abandon, or work around the product — and prioritise the friction worth fixing first.

Your product works for power users but is failing new ones

What feels obvious to your team is invisible to a first-time user. We surface the onboarding gaps, mental-model mismatches, and information-architecture knots that cost you activation.

You need WCAG 2.2 AA evidence for government or regulated procurement

AU and NZ public-sector buyers expect documented accessibility conformance. We audit against WCAG 2.2 AA, produce the evidence, and prioritise remediation that engineering can ship.

You're rebuilding and need to capture what users actually do today before changing it

Replatforms fail when the new product silently drops a workflow the old one supported. We document the real journeys — including the workarounds — before anything is rewritten.

Productised offer

Five-day UX Audit

Fixed scope, fixed duration, fixed deliverable. A senior researcher reviews your product against usability and accessibility principles, runs a short round of validation, and hands back a report your engineers can action in the next sprint.

  • Annotated journey maps of the flows that matter most
  • Friction prioritisation ranked by user impact and engineering cost
  • Principles framework for the team to apply beyond the audit
  • Engineering-friendly report sized for sprint planning
Duration
Five working days
Format
Fixed scope, fixed price
Deliverable
Engineering-ready report
Best for
A first job before a longer engagement

What we cover

Six named practices, each with a specific artefact you can hold in your hands at the end. We avoid the lazy "user-centred design" bullet — every engagement leaves you with something engineering can act on.

UX Research

Interviews, contextual enquiry, and diary studies that surface why users behave the way they do.

Deliverable: Synthesised research report with prioritised insights and design implications.

UX Audit

Heuristic and expert review of an existing product against usability and accessibility principles.

Deliverable: Annotated screens, severity-ranked findings, and a remediation backlog ready for sprint planning.

Usability Testing

Moderated and unmoderated testing with real users on prototypes or live product.

Deliverable: Tagged session recordings, task-success metrics, and prioritised fixes with rationale.

Information Architecture

Card sorting, tree testing, and navigation design that match how users actually group concepts.

Deliverable: Site or product map, navigation specification, and validated labelling system.

Journey Mapping

End-to-end maps of how users move through your product — including the steps that happen off-screen.

Deliverable: Annotated journey maps with friction points, opportunities, and engineering-aware notes.

UX Writing

Microcopy, error messaging, and content patterns that reduce confusion and support recovery.

Deliverable: Voice and tone guide, content principles, and revised copy across critical flows.

How it works

A four-step path from listening to shippable recommendations. Research is sprint-embedded — findings land in the next sprint, sized against what your stack can actually ship.

01

Listen

Stakeholder interviews, user research, and analytics review. We learn the product, the users, and the constraints before forming any opinion.

02

Map

Journeys, information architecture, and friction logs. We make the current state visible so the team is arguing about the same picture.

03

Test

Usability testing on prototypes or live product. Findings come back tagged, prioritised, and tied to specific screens — not buried in a 60-page deck.

04

Recommend

Engineering-aware recommendations sized for your sprint cadence. Findings land in the next sprint, not next quarter — and account for what your stack can ship.

How this fits with our other services

User Experience answers what to build and for whom. Product Design & Engineering builds it. Design Systems makes it scale. Three services, one continuum — pick the entry point that fits the question on your desk.

Frequently asked questions

Do we need UX if we already have a designer?

Often, yes. A product designer is usually focused on shipping the next screen. UX research, journey mapping, and usability testing are a different muscle — making sure the screens you ship are answering the right questions in the first place. We work alongside in-house designers, not instead of them.

How is this different from your Product Design & Engineering page?

Product Design & Engineering is a single team that designs and ships an end-to-end product. User Experience is research, validation, and strategy — the work that decides what should be built and for whom. UX engagements often feed into a Product Design & Engineering build, but they stand on their own when you only need the evidence.

Can you embed a researcher into our team?

Yes. We embed a researcher into your standups, your tools, and your sprint cadence. Findings land in the same workflow your engineers already use, so there is no separate report that nobody reads.

How fast can you deliver findings?

Our fixed-scope UX Audit returns findings in five working days. Research engagements with primary user interviews typically deliver synthesised insights within two to three weeks. We size the engagement to your decision deadline, not the other way around.

What if we just need an audit, not a full engagement?

That is exactly what the five-day UX Audit is for. Fixed scope, fixed price, fixed deliverable. If a deeper engagement makes sense afterwards we can plan it together — but plenty of teams take the audit, hand it to engineering, and ship from there.

Do you do accessibility and WCAG 2.2 audits?

Yes. We audit against WCAG 2.2 AA — the standard AU and NZ public-sector procurement expects — and produce documented evidence, severity-ranked findings, and a remediation backlog your engineers can action. We can also bake conformance into ongoing usability work rather than treating it as a separate line item.

What decision are you trying to make?

Tell us where the uncertainty is and we'll figure out the fastest way to get you the evidence to act on.

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