Product Design That Engineers Can Actually Build
Pretty Figma files don't ship. We design products that survive the handoff, match the backend your engineers already have, respect the component library you've already paid for, and look the same in production as they did in the mockup. Research, IA, interaction, visual, and dev-ready specs — by designers who've shipped software, not just portfolios.
You don't need more screens.
You need a product your team can build.
Most design projects die somewhere between Figma and production. The mockup looks beautiful, the engineer opens it, and realises half the states are missing, the components don't match the codebase, the empty states were never drawn, and the loading skeletons are a figment of someone's imagination. Then a month later the live product looks nothing like the pitch deck and everyone blames the other side.
Gorgeous mockups, un-buildable reality
Custom typography the web can't render, shadows that tank mobile performance, a grid that breaks on 1366px, and 14 variants of a button that the dev has to rebuild from scratch. Beautiful. Useless.
Happy paths only, no edge states
Empty states missing. Error states missing. Loading, disabled, hover, focus, keyboard, RTL, long-string, offline — all missing. Engineers invent them under deadline pressure and the product ships inconsistent.
No design system, just vibes
Three shades of grey that are almost the same. Four button styles no one documented. Spacing that's "vibes-based". Every new screen is a judgement call, and the product looks assembled by six different people — because it was.
What You Actually Get
No vague deliverables. Here's exactly what lands in your hands.
Real user research, not personas invented in a Slack
Interviews with actual users or actual prospects, recordings, tagged insights, and a short brutal summary of what they told us. No stock persona templates.
Information architecture & flows
Site map, user flows, state diagrams, decision trees. The boring artefacts that decide whether the product feels obvious or feels like a maze.
A real design system
Tokens, components, variants, states, docs. In Figma AND in code (Tailwind / CSS variables / Storybook). One source of truth the engineers actually use.
Dev-ready handoff
Every screen with every state. Annotated interactions. Responsive breakpoints. Accessibility notes. Zero "ask the designer in Slack" moments during build.
A Real Product Design Team
Shipping a well-designed product takes more than one generalist in Figma. Six roles you get on every Pillai Infotech design engagement.
Senior UX Researcher
Runs discovery interviews, usability tests, and tree tests. Turns recordings into a list of sharp insights, not a 40-page deck nobody reads. Knows the difference between what users say and what they do.
Interaction Designer
Owns flows, IA, state logic, and micro-interactions. Thinks in state machines before thinking in pixels. The person who catches the empty state nobody else drew.
Visual & Brand Designer
Typography, colour, hierarchy, motion. Makes it beautiful without making it un-buildable. Knows what a browser can render and what a designer is hallucinating.
Design Systems Lead
Builds the token set, the component library, and the docs. Keeps Figma and code in sync. The reason the tenth screen takes an hour instead of a day.
Accessibility Specialist
WCAG 2.2 AA as a floor, not a goal. Colour contrast, keyboard order, screen reader labels, focus states, reduced motion. Tested with real assistive tech.
Design-to-Dev Liaison
Sits between design and engineering, lives in the PRs, answers the "what did you mean here" questions in minutes. The reason the live product matches the mockup.
You See Everything. In Real Time.
Every Pillai Infotech project comes with a dedicated client dashboard. Kanban boards, live logs, test results, meeting notes — it's all visible the moment it happens. No status-report theatre, no "we'll get back to you", no surprises at the demo. You work with us like you work with your own team.
Kanban Board, Live
Every epic, every story, every task — visible on your dashboard. Drag, comment, reprioritize. It's the same board our team works from.
Documented Everything
Every decision, spec, API contract, and architecture diagram lives in the dashboard. Searchable, versioned, linked to the tasks they shaped.
Live Logs & Test Results
Build logs, deployment logs, test suite results — streamed to your dashboard the moment they run. You never have to ask "did the build pass?"
Meetings → Tasks, Automatically
Every meeting is recorded, transcribed, and every action point is auto-converted into a tracked task assigned to the right person. Nothing gets lost between calls.
Sprint Burndown & Velocity
See exactly how much work is done, how much remains, and our velocity over time. If a sprint is slipping, you see it the same moment we do.
Comment, Approve, Decide — In-Place
Comment on any task, approve designs, sign off on specs, and raise blockers directly in the dashboard. Everything tied to the work, not buried in email threads.
Product Design Work We Know How to Ship
We pick the depth of engagement to match where you are, not to pad the invoice.
🚀 0-to-1 product design
Brand new product, blank page. Research, positioning, IA, flows, visual, prototype, design system v1. Enough to hand to engineering and go.
🛠️ Redesigns that don't break the business
Existing product, new skin. Phased rollout, A/B gates, migration plan, and a design system that lets old and new screens coexist during the transition.
📱 Mobile-first app design
Native iOS and Android patterns, not web shoved into a phone. Dynamic type, dark mode, haptics, platform-appropriate navigation and gestures.
🏢 Enterprise & internal tools
Dense data, complex permissions, keyboard-first workflows. Designed for the power user who lives in the product eight hours a day — not for a landing page screenshot.
🧪 Design system build & audit
Tokens, components, docs, governance. In Figma and in code. Or an audit of the one you already have with a fix-it plan and effort estimates.
🎯 Conversion & onboarding design
Landing, signup, activation, first-run experience. Funnel analytics wired in, hypotheses documented, tests shipped. Design as a growth lever, not a coat of paint.
The Design Stack We Use
Tools are cheap. What matters is how you use them. These are the ones we've standardised on.
Design & Prototyping
Research & Testing
Systems & Tokens
A11y & Handoff
A Six-Stage Product Design Process
Built around the reality that engineering starts the day design ends — and usually before.
Discovery & Framing
Who is this for, what job does it do, what does success look like, what are the constraints. Written down, signed off, referenced every week. No ambiguity at week four.
Research & Insights
User interviews, competitor teardowns, data review. A short sharp insights doc — not a 60-slide deck. The three things we learned that change the design.
IA, Flows & Low-Fi
Sitemap, user flows, wireframes, state diagrams. The cheap stage where we change our minds. Reviewed with engineering before any pixels get polished.
Visual Design & Prototype
High-fidelity screens, motion, and a clickable prototype on real devices. Every state drawn. Accessibility checked. Tested with real users before handoff.
Design System & Handoff
Tokens, components, variants, documentation. Figma Dev Mode set up. A walk-through with engineering. Redlines are dead; we use specs and code.
Build Support & QA
We stay in the PRs, review implementation, catch drift, and update the system as edge cases come up. Design QA before launch, not "looks fine, ship it".
Three Ways to Engage
Design work comes in different shapes. Pick the one that matches your stage.
Design Sprint
One or two weeks to validate an idea, pressure-test a flow, or unblock a stalled decision. Clickable prototype and a recommendation you can act on.
- 1–2 week engagement
- Prototype + user tests
- Go / no-go recommendation
Fixed-Scope Product Design
End-to-end design of a product or major feature — research, IA, visual, prototype, design system, and dev handoff. Fixed scope, fixed price, fixed timeline.
- Fixed scope, fixed price
- Typical: 6–16 weeks
- Design system included
Embedded Design Squad
A dedicated designer or design pod working alongside your product and engineering teams on a continuous cadence.
- Senior designer + systems lead
- Monthly retainer, flex up/down
- Best for: ongoing roadmap
Honest Answers to Design Reality Questions
The questions every smart buyer asks before signing. Here's what we tell them.
Can you work with our existing design system?
Yes, and we'd rather you have one than not. We'll audit it first, tell you where it's weak, and then design inside it. If it's incomplete we'll extend it with the same conventions. We don't rip and replace unless you ask us to.
Do you do research, or just "move pixels"?
We do research. Usually 5–8 user interviews up front, a competitor teardown, and a data review if you have analytics. If you want us to skip research, we'll say so in writing and put the risk on the record. We don't pretend the "gut feel" is a process.
How do you handle handoff to engineering?
Figma Dev Mode, annotated interactions, every state drawn, and a walk-through call with the engineers. We stay in the PRs during build and answer questions in minutes. Redline PDFs are banned. Screenshots in Slack are the bare minimum.
What about accessibility — WCAG compliance?
WCAG 2.2 AA is our floor, not a goal. Colour contrast, keyboard order, focus states, screen reader labels, reduced-motion variants. We test with VoiceOver and NVDA, not just with a Chrome extension.
We already have a brand. Will you work inside it?
Yes. Your brand is a constraint, and constraints make better product design. We'll stretch it where product needs demand (data density, dark mode, accessibility) and document any extensions so your brand team signs off.
Can you do visual design only, if we handle UX?
We can, but we'll push back if the UX underneath is broken, because the visual layer will inherit those problems. If you just want a skin, we'll tell you honestly whether that will help your product or just hide the bugs.
How do you measure whether the design worked?
Metrics agreed up front: activation, task success, time-on-task, support tickets, NPS, conversion on specific funnels. We'll wire up the analytics if they're not there. "Looks good" is not a success metric.
What about motion and micro-interactions?
We design motion as part of the system, not as an afterthought. Durations, easings, and triggers are tokens, not per-screen decisions. And we respect prefers-reduced-motion — we're not shipping a migraine.
Who owns the Figma files and the design system?
You do. Figma org in your name. Source files in your workspace. Tokens exported in a format your code can consume. If we walked away tomorrow, your next designer could keep going without a forensic recovery project.
Can you sign an NDA before we share details?
Always. NDA before the first call. Research recordings and source files stay under your control. We're happy to work inside your tooling if compliance requires it.