Best UX Design Agencies in Chicago (2026)

Introduction

These 13 UX design agencies are the Chicago firms doing consistently strong product and digital experience work in 2026, from small research-led consultancies to design and engineering firms with hundreds of staff. Much of the city’s UX work is for B2B software, financial services, healthcare and logistics, and many of its best teams build the product as well as design it.

The market has consolidated over the last few years. Solstice, once the city’s best-known mobile product consultancy, became part of Kin + Carta in 2020, and Valtech acquired Kin + Carta in April 2024. Rightpoint has now been fully absorbed into the Genpact brand. Among the independents, TXI (formerly Table XI) is fully employee-owned, Bright Bright Great merged with Sure Thing Studio in May 2026, and AI product design has become a core offer at firms such as 8th Light and Grand Studio.

Every agency here has an active Chicago office in 2026. Multidisciplinary studios that lead with print, identity and exhibitions sit on our separate design agencies list, so this page leans towards research, product and digital experience work. The list runs in no fixed order of merit, since the right choice depends on your product, budget and how you like to work.

The best UX design agencies in Chicago

1. Grand Studio

Independent · River North · grandstudio.com

Grand Studio is a digital and strategic design consultancy on North Wells Street, working across UX and UI design, product strategy, qualitative research, service design and conversation design. The studio grew out of Moment, a New York design consultancy, and brings more than 15 years of design and innovation work for large companies. AI experience design is now one of its listed services.

Clients include Amazon, McDonald’s, Chase, JP Morgan, Johnson & Johnson, Providence and the NBA. Recent case studies cover AI tools for finance and for franchise restaurant management, both from 2025, along with a digital overhaul for a legacy sports brand. Most of its work is in regulated sectors such as banking, insurance and healthcare.

2. 8th Light

Independent · the Loop · 8thlight.com

8th Light is a software consultancy founded in Chicago in 2006, with its head office on East Washington Street and further offices in London, New York, Los Angeles and Austin. Jenny Farver is chief executive, and the firm has more than 140 people across strategy, design and engineering. Its current focus is taking agentic AI products from prototype to production, alongside platform engineering.

Clients include Grubhub, Cars.com, Pfizer and Ticketmaster. Design-led case studies include product design and development for Fidelity Life Association and a fundraising platform for the nonprofit Illinois Partnered Solutions. It suits teams that want designers and engineers on the same product from discovery onwards.

3. TXI

Employee-owned · West Loop · txidigital.com

TXI, formerly Table XI, is a digital product consultancy founded in Chicago in 2002 and based at Riverside Plaza. It is 100% employee-owned through an ESOP, and lists 75 consultants and more than 150 digital products delivered. Recognition includes an Anthem Award Silver for accessible software and a Fast Company Innovation by Design honour.

Its work covers product strategy, design and engineering across web, mobile, IoT and data, with a current focus on AI-powered workflows for logistics, rail, industrial and digital health clients. Named clients include Tyson Foods, Keiser, AccuWeather, Motorcity Systems and Theragen. Some client relationships have lasted more than 20 years.

4. Highland

Independent · the Loop · highlandsolutions.com

Highland is a product design and development firm on South Clark Street, operating since 1999. It is led by president Jon Berbaum and managing partner Devin Parsons, with a team of around 20 designers, researchers, strategists and developers. The firm states its purpose as increasing human flourishing, and measures its work against Harvard’s Human Flourishing scale.

Much of its work is for membership associations, education and healthcare. Case studies include member journey design for the American Geophysical Union, which reports a 49.7% rise in first-year renewals, a knowledge platform for the precision medicine company Genioo, and digital work for the College of Lake County.

5. Fuzzy Math

Independent · Chicago and Toronto · fuzzymath.com

Fuzzy Math is a UX consultancy founded in 2009 and led by partners Mark Baldino and Ben Ihnchak. It specialises in enterprise and B2B software, under the line “Consumer-grade Design for B2B & Enterprise Software”, and offers UX research, product strategy, AI integration design, and UX training and hiring support. The firm is a member of 1% for the Planet.

Clients include Microsoft, Hyatt and GE, and the studio has also worked with the Chicago Architecture Foundation and the Active Transportation Alliance. It keeps a deliberately small team of around a dozen people, which suits product teams that want senior designers on complex internal tools.

6. Codal

Independent · West Loop · codal.com

Codal is a design-led digital agency headquartered on West Van Buren Street, with further offices in Lincoln in the UK, Ahmedabad and Toronto, and around 300 staff. Its experience design practice covers UX and UI, product design, service design and brand design, alongside commerce and product engineering. It won a 2026 Connected Commerce Award and is a Shopify Platinum and BigCommerce Elite partner.

Clients include Cost Plus Drugs, Children’s Health, Charles Schwab, Flexport, Thermos and CURE Epilepsy. Its size suits commerce and healthcare projects that need design and build from one firm.

7. IDEO Chicago

Independent, with a minority stake held by Kyu · West Loop · ideo.com

IDEO’s Chicago studio sits on West Jackson Boulevard. In 2017 it took in Datascope, a Chicago data science firm, adding machine learning to its product and service design work. Partners in Chicago include Steve Schwall on mobility systems, Travis Lee on product and service design and Kelly Bjork on brand and communication design. Mike Peng became IDEO’s chief executive in June 2025.

Steelcase held a majority stake in IDEO from 1996 until a management buyback, and Kyu, part of Hakuhodo DY Holdings, took a minority stake in 2016. The Chicago studio also runs public events and workshops, recently on design for health. Ask which projects the Chicago team itself has led before you sign.

8. Mightybytes

Independent, Certified B Corp · Andersonville · mightybytes.com

Mightybytes is a digital agency founded by Tim Frick in 1998 and based on West Balmoral Avenue. It has been a Certified B Corp since 2011 and is a certified LGBT business enterprise. The agency lists itself as a co-author of the W3C’s Web Sustainability Guidelines and runs sustainablewebdesign.org.

Its experience design work centres on accessibility, inclusion and lower-carbon websites for mission-driven organisations. Clients include the Alliance for the Great Lakes, Northwestern University, the Chicago Community Trust, Feeding America and KeHE. The team is small, at around seven people.

9. Clique Studios

Independent · the Loop · cliquestudios.com

Clique Studios is a digital agency founded in 2009, with its Chicago office in the Civic Opera House on North Wacker Drive and a second office in Denver. It has about 35 people with an average tenure of six years, and reports more than 100 awards. Its work covers web design and development, CMS migrations, conversion rate optimisation and AI search.

Clients include Southwest, Hilton, McDonald’s, Northwestern University, Red Rocks Amphitheatre and the Adler Planetarium. The studio also does a good deal of nonprofit work, for groups such as the Greater Chicago Food Depository and Howard Brown Health, and builds on WordPress, Webflow, Contentful and React.

10. Bright Bright Great

Independent · Chicago · brightbrightgreat.com

Bright Bright Great is an independent design, branding and UX agency founded by Jason Schwartz in 2008. Its strategists, designers and technologists cover UX and product design, web design and development, and branding. In May 2026 it merged with Sure Thing Studio, the brand design firm of Amy Schwartz, who joined as partner.

Clients include Nike, Fidelity, Steelcase, American Needle and Stern Pinball, and recent projects include Rit Dye’s centenary and work for Cranbrook Academy of Art. It also appears on our design agencies list, and suits clients who want product, brand and website work from one team.

11. One Design Company

Independent · River North · onedesigncompany.com

One Design Company turns research and insight into web design, development and brand strategy, and builds front and back end in-house from its office on West Superior Street. It also runs the 2:30 coworking space and the Confluence Chicago community events. The studio had winners in the 2026 STA 100, and its Watermelon Pictures identity, made with Field of Practice, was a 2026 Fast Company Innovation by Design finalist.

Clients include Quaise Energy, ISEE, Landkind, Field Notes and the Grand Rapids Art Museum. Science and technology companies that need a research-led website and identity at the same time are a common fit.

12. The Office of Experience

Independent · Gold Coast · officeofexperience.com

The Office of Experience (OX) is a digital agency on North Michigan Avenue focused on B2B digital transformation, ecommerce and AI-integrated experience design. It combines UX and UI with web, print and signage work, so one customer journey can be designed across channels.

Clients include Shamrock Foods, Mack Trucks, ASCM, DailyPay and Dot Foods. Its focus on B2B ecommerce and lead generation suits manufacturers and distributors moving more of their sales online.

13. ArtVersion

Independent · Chicago · artversion.com

ArtVersion is a design consultancy founded in 1999 and led by principal creative director Goran Paun. It works in UI and UX design, web design and development, and branding, with an emphasis on research-driven design systems built to scale. The firm lists recognition from the Webby Awards, Awwwards, the W3 Awards and the Vega Awards.

Clients include Qualcomm, Volvo, Johnson & Johnson, Hilton, Mack Trucks and the US Green Building Council. Technology companies that need a design system and a marketing site built together will find both here.

What to look for in a Chicago UX design agency

Start with research. Ask how the agency recruits participants, how many interviews or usability sessions a typical project includes, and whether your own team can sit in. Firms such as Grand Studio and Fuzzy Math lead with qualitative research, while others fold a lighter discovery phase into a build.

Decide early whether you need design alone or design and engineering together. Chicago has an unusual number of firms, including 8th Light, TXI, Highland and Codal, where designers and developers work on the same team through launch. That reduces hand-off risk. A design-only consultancy can be the better choice when you already have strong in-house engineers.

Look for experience in your sector. Much of the city’s product work is for banks, insurers, healthcare providers, logistics operators and B2B software companies, where accessibility, compliance and expert users shape the design. Ask for case studies with measured outcomes, and for the names of the people who did the work.

Finally, agree how research and design files will be handled. A UX project produces interview recordings, notes, Figma files, prototypes and decision logs, and these need to stay findable after the agency has gone. Settle where they will live, how feedback is gathered and how approvals are recorded before the first sprint.

How Fabric helps UX design 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 keeps each client’s interviews, prototypes, decks and notes together, and files sit in Fabric’s cloud drive, streaming on demand so they take no local disk space.

Research is where Fabric saves the most time. Interview and usability recordings are transcribed and searchable, with clickable timestamps that jump to the moment a participant said something. Search works by meaning across transcripts, documents, PDFs and images, and connected apps such as Google Drive and Notion. Client calls can be captured with AI meeting notes, which record without a bot joining.

For synthesis and early concepts, a canvas can hold Figma embeds, screenshots and video side by side, and exports to SVG or PNG. Clients and stakeholders can leave threaded comments on any file through a shared link without creating an account, and annotations add highlights and comments to PDFs such as research reports. Drawing directly on images is listed as coming soon. There is a wider comparison in the best design feedback tools.

Research readouts and final specs can be published as a web page with password protection, and link analytics shows when each named recipient opened them. On Team plans, self-writing docs keep a page for each client with decisions, deliverables and open items drawn from meetings, Slack and the workspace.

Password protection and link analytics are 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 Chicago?

There is no single answer, as the right agency depends on the product and how much you need built. Grand Studio and Fuzzy Math are strong research-led consultancies, 8th Light, TXI, Highland and Codal combine design with engineering, and IDEO’s Chicago studio suits early-stage service and product design.

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

UX agencies focus on how people use software and services, through research, prototyping and testing, and many also build the product. Design agencies usually lead with identity, print, exhibitions and websites. For the second group, see our list of the best design agencies in Chicago.

What happened to Solstice?

Solstice, founded in Chicago in 2001, was bought by St Ives and became part of Kin + Carta, adopting that brand in 2020. Valtech acquired Kin + Carta in April 2024.

Is Table XI still operating?

Yes. The firm now trades as TXI, is 100% employee-owned and is still based in Chicago, at Riverside Plaza in the West Loop.

Which Chicago UX agencies also build the software?

8th Light, TXI, Highland and Codal all have design and engineering teams working together. Bright Bright Great, One Design Company and Clique Studios design and develop websites in-house.

Related lists

UX design agencies in other cities: New York · San Francisco · London · Los Angeles · Toronto

More in Chicago: Creative agencies · Design agencies · Branding agencies · Marketing agencies · Advertising agencies · Social media agencies

Run your agency on Fabric: Fabric for UI and UX agencies · Fabric for designers · Best design feedback tools