From user research through design system — interfaces engineered to be used, not just admired
UI/UX Design
We run the complete design process: user research, information architecture, interaction design, visual design, and usability testing. The output isn't just deliverables — it's a design rationale your engineering team can implement with confidence and your users can navigate without training.
Usability problems are architecture problems in disguise
When users can't find features, take wrong paths through workflows, or abandon tasks halfway, the instinct is to improve the UI. Often the underlying issue is information architecture: features organized by system module rather than user task, navigation patterns that reflect internal team structure rather than user mental models. We start design work by understanding how users think about their goals, then design the information structure and interaction flow around those mental models. Visual design comes last — after we've validated that the structure works.
Feature-complete software that users still struggle to operate
Usability failures are expensive — in support costs, user adoption rates, and the engineering time spent re-implementing features that were built correctly but used incorrectly. Most are preventable with earlier design investment.
Navigation organized around system modules, not user tasks
Features categorized by system architecture rather than user intent. Power users who've memorized the layout navigate efficiently. New users have no reliable way to discover functionality without instruction.
Interface designed from the system's perspective, not the user's
Workflows that make sense as database operations are confusing as user tasks. Completing one business action requires navigating across unrelated system modules. Task completion rates are low without dedicated training.
Inconsistent UI patterns create maintenance overhead
Each feature built independently, each developer making local design decisions. Button variants, input patterns, and interaction behaviors differ across the product. Every update requires inconsistency audits. Design debt compounds.
Mobile interaction model is a scaled-down desktop
Desktop layouts shrunk to fit a phone screen. Touch targets sized for mouse cursors. Interaction patterns that require hover states don't exist on touch devices. Mobile users get a degraded, frustrating experience.
Design-to-engineering translation loss
Interaction details dropped, visual specifications interpreted loosely, behavior diverges from approved designs. The resulting product neither satisfies the designer nor the engineer — and the user inherits the gap.
Design decisions made without behavioral data
Redesigns driven by opinion rather than user behavior data. No usability testing baseline. No A/B testing. No way to determine whether the redesign improved outcomes — or which direction to go next.
Structure before aesthetics — validate before you build
User research establishes the mental models and task flows that structure design decisions. Prototypes validate interaction logic before development investment. Visual design is applied to a validated structure, not invented as part of it.
User research surfaces real usage patterns
Structured interviews and observational sessions with representative users identify actual mental models and task priorities. Design decisions are traceable to observed user behavior, not designer assumptions.
Information architecture organized by user task
Feature groupings and navigation structure derived from card-sorting and user journey analysis — not mirroring internal system organization. Users navigate by intent, not by knowing which module owns which feature.
Design system creates sustainable consistency
Color tokens, typography scale, spacing system, and component library documented and maintained as single source of truth. Consistency is enforced structurally, not through per-component review. Accumulated design debt stops growing.
Interactive prototypes validate before engineering begins
Core user flows tested with clickable prototypes before development investment. Usability failures found in a prototype take hours to fix. The same problems found in production code take weeks.
Mobile design starts from touch interaction model
Mobile layouts designed from first principles for touch input, thumb zone ergonomics, and small viewport constraints — not adapted from desktop. Interaction patterns are native to the platform.
Usability testing closes the design loop
Moderated usability sessions on key flows with target users before handover to engineering. Task completion rates and error paths documented. Design revisions made before build investment.
Research through validated design handover
Four-phase process: research, define, design, validate. Each phase produces documented outputs that carry forward into the next.
User research & journey mapping
Stakeholder and user interviews, task analysis, and user journey mapping. Output: user personas, job-to-be-done definitions, and key scenario flows that anchor all subsequent design decisions.
User research & journey mapping
Stakeholder and user interviews, task analysis, and user journey mapping. Output: user personas, job-to-be-done definitions, and key scenario flows that anchor all subsequent design decisions.
Information architecture & flow design
Navigation structure and primary user flows designed based on research outputs. Low-fidelity wireframes reviewed with stakeholders before moving to interactive prototypes.
Information architecture & flow design
Navigation structure and primary user flows designed based on research outputs. Low-fidelity wireframes reviewed with stakeholders before moving to interactive prototypes.
Interactive prototype development
Clickable prototype covering core user journeys. Used for internal review and usability testing before visual design investment begins.
Interactive prototype development
Clickable prototype covering core user journeys. Used for internal review and usability testing before visual design investment begins.
Visual design & design system
Visual design applied to validated interaction structure. Design system (tokens, components, usage guidelines) produced alongside the visual designs.
Visual design & design system
Visual design applied to validated interaction structure. Design system (tokens, components, usage guidelines) produced alongside the visual designs.
Usability testing
Moderated usability sessions with representative users on key task flows. Session recordings, task completion rates, and error pattern analysis. Design iterations before engineering handover.
Usability testing
Moderated usability sessions with representative users on key task flows. Session recordings, task completion rates, and error pattern analysis. Design iterations before engineering handover.
Engineering handover & build support
Annotated design files, component specifications, and asset exports delivered. Available for design clarification during development. Implementation review on key screens before launch.
Engineering handover & build support
Annotated design files, component specifications, and asset exports delivered. Available for design clarification during development. Implementation review on key screens before launch.
Common design engagements
UI/UX design services apply across product development lifecycle stages.
Greenfield product design
End-to-end design for new products — from user research through validated design system — before a line of code is written.
Product redesign
Systematic redesign of existing products with documented usability problems — grounded in current-state user research, not speculation about what's wrong.
Design system implementation
Establishing a shared design language for organizations with multiple products or large design teams, enabling consistent design at scale.
Mobile-specific design
Native mobile design for products with an existing web presence — not a responsive adaptation but a purpose-built mobile experience.
Conversion rate optimization
Targeted design improvement for high-value conversion touchpoints — registration, purchase, and form completion flows — with quantitative measurement of design change impact.
Accessibility-compliant design
WCAG-conformant design ensuring the product is usable by people with visual, auditory, and motor differences — delivered as a design system standard, not a compliance retrofit.
Why Metavun
Design and engineering from the same organization — designs are buildable, and implementation quality is our responsibility too.
Design decisions are traceable to user research
Every significant design decision is grounded in observed user behavior or stated user need. Design reviews are conversations about evidence, not about taste.
Designs are implementation-ready
Our designers understand frontend implementation constraints. Design specifications are annotated for engineering consumption. Handover sessions don't produce a ticket queue of clarification questions.
Deliverables your team can use
Design files, component documentation, and asset exports are structured for downstream use. Engineering teams can onboard without extended design support availability.
Design system capability
We've built and maintained design systems for multi-product organizations. We understand the governance model that keeps a design system useful rather than abandoned.
Design outcomes are quantified
Usability testing produces task completion rates, error rates, and time-on-task measurements — not just qualitative impressions. Redesign impact is measurable against a pre-change baseline.
Accessibility integrated into design standards
WCAG compliance is built into the design system specification, not audited at the end of the project. Accessibility requirements don't create rework — they're requirements from the first design token.
Who we design for
Teams where design quality directly affects user adoption, productivity, or business outcomes.
Product companies
Competitive differentiation through UX quality. User retention and feature adoption are business metrics that design directly affects.
Enterprise software programs
Internal system usability affects employee productivity. Poor UX in operational tools accumulates as support cost and workflow inefficiency.
Consumer-facing platforms
Registration conversion, feature adoption, and retention are directly tied to UX quality. Design investment has measurable ROI.
Engineering-led teams
Strong engineering capability with limited design resource. External design support provides the research, structure, and specification that engineering teams need to ship with confidence.
E-commerce & retail platforms
Conversion rate and retention are direct UX outcomes. Design investment is measurable in revenue terms — making UX one of the highest-ROI product investments available.
Government & public services
Public service interfaces used by citizens across age and technical literacy ranges. Accessibility compliance is a legal requirement. Clear information hierarchy is a public service obligation.
Design tools & front-end technology
Design output is implementation-ready — we understand the constraints and capabilities of the frameworks our designs are built in.
Let's Build Something Great Together
Whether you need a custom AI solution, legacy system modernization, or a production-grade data pipeline — we’re ready to scope, architect, and deliver.
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