Designs That Survive Engineering
Figma files are easy. Interfaces that ship on time, match production pixel-for-pixel, pass WCAG audits, and still make sense in month six — that's harder. We design with the engineers in the room, in a real design system, with accessibility and state coverage built into day one.
Beautiful Figma,
Broken Product.
Most design engagements end when the Figma file is handed over. That's where the real problems start. Engineers reinterpret the spec, components drift, accessibility gets pushed to 'phase 2,' and the design system becomes a folder of stale screenshots. We design for the reality of shipping software, not for the dribbble portfolio.
Figma that doesn't match production
The mockup is pixel-perfect. The built version is 80% there. Spacing is off, states are missing, the empty state nobody drew is live in front of customers.
Designer-to-dev handoff broken
Specs live in comments, tokens live in screenshots, components live in a designer's head. Every sprint loses a day to "what did you mean by this?"
A design system made of screenshots
A PDF called 'brand guidelines' from 2022. Nobody uses it, nobody updates it, and every new feature reinvents the button.
Accessibility as a post-launch fix
Colour contrast flagged two weeks before launch. Keyboard nav broken on the main flow. A legal email about WCAG arrives and nobody owns it.
What You Actually Get
No vague deliverables. Here's exactly what lands in your hands.
A working design system
Tokens, components, variants, states — in Figma and in code (Storybook + your framework). One source of truth that designers and engineers both edit.
Full-state screens
Empty, loading, error, partial, success, edge case. Not just the happy path. If it can render, it's drawn.
Accessibility built in
WCAG 2.2 AA by default. Contrast, focus order, keyboard nav, ARIA, reduced-motion — checked in Figma and verified with Axe before shipping.
Research, not opinions
Interviews, usability tests, analytics review. Every big design decision is tied back to evidence you can audit.
A Real Design Team
Design for production needs more than one generalist. Six roles you get on every Pillai Infotech design engagement.
Product Designer
Owns the user flows, the information architecture, the state coverage. Draws the screens the PM didn't think of.
UX Researcher
Runs interviews, moderated tests, and analytics deep-dives. Turns opinions into evidence before they become features.
Design Systems Engineer
Lives between Figma and the codebase. Owns tokens, components, Storybook, and the handoff pipeline to your framework.
Accessibility Specialist
WCAG 2.2, ARIA patterns, screen-reader testing, keyboard nav. Catches a11y bugs in Figma — not six months after launch.
Prototyper
Builds clickable, motion-accurate prototypes in Figma, Framer, or real code. Lets stakeholders feel the product before we build it.
Design Ops
Keeps the file structure, naming, handoff flow, and review cadence clean. The reason three designers don't collide in the same file.
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.
What We Typically Design
The engagements where our "designs that survive engineering" approach pays for itself fastest.
🧰 SaaS design systems
Token sets, component libraries, Storybook, docs. Figma + code in lockstep, shipped as an internal package your product teams consume.
📱 Mobile app UX
iOS and Android flows that respect platform conventions, full-state screens, haptics, and offline behaviour. Designed for a real thumb, not a desktop cursor.
📊 Dashboard design
Dense data UIs that don't drown the user. Hierarchy, filtering, density toggles, and charts that actually answer a question.
🌐 Marketing site design
Conversion-focused pages with real content modelling, SEO-aware structure, and a component library the marketing team can extend without a designer.
♿ Accessibility audits & remediation
WCAG 2.2 AA audit against your live product, prioritised remediation plan, and hands-on fixes with your dev team.
🔁 Design-to-code pipelines
Figma variables → design tokens → Tailwind/CSS. One change in Figma, PR opened, Storybook updated. No more "please update the hex code."
The Design Stack We Use
Tools are tools. These are the ones that map cleanly from design into a production codebase.
Design
System & Code
Motion & Prototype
Accessibility & QA
A Six-Stage Design Process
Each stage has a concrete output your engineers can use. No stage ends with 'we'll iterate.'
Discovery & Research
Stakeholder interviews, user interviews, analytics review, competitive teardown. Output: a written problem statement your whole team agrees on.
IA & Flows
Site map, user flows, state diagrams. We draw the logic before the pixels — and catch the missing states early.
Wireframes & Prototype
Low-fi wireframes, clickable prototype, usability test with 5 real users. Decisions get made on evidence, not taste.
High-Fi & Design System
Full-fidelity screens built from a token-based component library. Every component has variants, states, and accessibility notes.
Handoff & Pairing
Storybook + Figma specs + a shared Slack channel with your engineers. We sit in PR review, not just kickoff.
Measure & Iterate
Post-launch analytics, session replays, a follow-up usability round. The design is done when the metric moves, not when the file is delivered.
Three Ways to Engage
Design work doesn't fit one shape. Pick the one that matches your stage.
Design Audit Sprint
A fixed 2-week audit of your current product — UX, visual, accessibility, design-system health — with a prioritised remediation plan.
- UX heuristics + a11y audit
- Design-system health check
- Ranked remediation roadmap
Product Design Build
End-to-end design of a product or major feature, shipped against a real engineering team on a fixed timeline.
- Fixed scope, fixed price
- Typical: 6–14 weeks
- Design system + full-state screens included
Embedded Design Squad
A dedicated designer + systems engineer working alongside your team across multiple squads and releases.
- Designer + systems engineer
- Monthly retainer, scale up/down
- Best for: ongoing product roadmap
Honest Answers to Design Reality Questions
The questions every smart buyer asks before signing. Here's what we tell them.
What if my developers reject the design?
They won't, because they're in the room from day one. Our design systems engineer sits with your devs during component design, reviews feasibility before Figma is locked, and writes the Storybook alongside the screens. 'Thrown over the wall' is how designs die — we don't work that way.
Who owns the Figma files and source?
You do. 100%. Figma files, components, tokens, Storybook, research transcripts — all in your workspace, your repo, your account. We leave you with everything we made, including editable sources.
What WCAG level do you target?
WCAG 2.2 AA by default on every engagement. AAA where it matters (contrast on critical text, motion-reduced alternatives). We flag a11y issues in Figma review, not after the audit arrives.
Is this research-driven or opinion-driven design?
Research-driven for the big decisions (flows, IA, pricing page structure, onboarding). Opinion-driven — backed by experience — for the small ones (spacing, button radius, microcopy). We'll tell you which is which on every recommendation.
How long does a design engagement take?
Audit sprints: 2 weeks. A focused product build: 6–14 weeks depending on surface area. A full SaaS design system: 8–12 weeks. You get weekly Figma walkthroughs and a working prototype by week 3, always.
What format is the handoff?
Figma file with documented components + Storybook + a design-tokens package your codebase can import. Specs live on the components, not in side comments. Engineers open Storybook, copy the code, ship.
How do revisions work?
Two review rounds per milestone are included. Big pivots trigger a scope conversation — we'd rather reprice honestly than pad the original number. You\u2019ll never be surprised by a change-order invoice.
Do you work with existing design tokens or brand systems?
Yes. If you already have tokens, a brand book, or a partial design system, we extend it — not replace it. If what exists is broken, we'll tell you plainly and propose the smallest rebuild that fixes it.