The Best Product Design Software Development Companies in 2023

6 Tips for Choosing the Best Product Design Company

1. Reputation

There are a lot of companies that offer product design services. Parsing through them and vetting each one would be a very large undertaking. Thus, you need a simple way to create a list of 15 to 20 companies that you will later research in depth.

The simplest way to do this is to sort the companies by reputation. Go to independent review platforms and look at a company’s ratings and client reviews. We stress that you should go to independent review platforms, as they have systems to nullify fake reviews, be they positive or negative.

You can also look at a company’s website or social media to examine what their clients think of them, but that should be secondary. Companies curate their public image, so it’s to be expected that what a company puts out will paint them in a positive light.

Now, parsing through so many companies, even if you are just sorting them by reputation, is a time-consuming task. That’s where can help – our list of the 16 best product design companies only contains those with a proven track record. So use it as the basis of your search.

2. Experience

In product design, experience is key. Does a company have experience in your niche and have they worked on comparable projects in the past? Do they have knowledge of the market environment? What about the applicable regulations in your field? Do they know what certifications you may need to get the product to market?

These are all facets of product design that the company you are outsourcing to must master. Each product is different so the exact requirements will change, but the top product design companies have a comprehensive understanding of the development process and can explain how it applies to your product.  

The best way to find out if a product design company has experience in your niche is to read its portfolio. The portfolio will contain previous projects the company has worked on and you will start to understand their design process and how it fits with your objectives.

As a side note, if you find a company you believe is capable of taking on your project but can’t find anything similar in their portfolio, it may be worth contacting them directly. There is always a chance that they signed NDAs with previous clients, so they aren’t allowed to make previous projects public.

It may even be something as simple as that they haven’t updated their portfolio. Whatever the case may be, it’s worth setting up a meeting with a company representative if you find a product design company you like but without a good portfolio.

3. Core Capabilities

Product design is a multidisciplinary field and not a lot of companies do everything in-house. Just like you are outsourcing product design to them, they may be outsourcing specific segments of it to smaller, specialized companies. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

But the company you are outsourcing to still needs to have a core team of capable engineers, designers, and developers, and the accompanying project management structure that will take on the majority of the work.

It is their job to design your product from start to finish, with your input. If they do collaborate with independent contractors, it is their job to manage them. They are accountable to fulfill the terms of your contract, regardless of whether the entire project is done in-house or if parts of it are outsourced.

Here’s a simple (and unfortunately not uncommon) example of what we’re talking about. Let’s say you hire a smaller product design company. They employ three senior UI designers, while they outsource many of the manual tasks to independent contractors (for the sake of this example, let’s assume the independent contractors do high-quality work).

One of those senior UI designers is on your dedicated team to do the most important tasks and for QA, while the other two are working for other clients. As the independent contractors are not full-time employees, their employment is task-based. Once they deliver the segment they were hired to do, they are free to leave.

Maybe they got a better offer or are overwhelmed with other obligations and can’t work on your project anymore. Maybe they simply got sick. This can delay your product unnecessarily, unless the company you hire has the in-house capability to absorb these types of fluctuations.

So you need to look for a company that will take full accountability for the entire product design process, regardless of any external factors.  

4. Quality Management Systems

You should look for a company that has a quality management system that has been approved and audited. Quality systems are created to ensure that a company follows industry best practices, ultimately guaranteeing the quality of its services. Quality management systems encompass all company processes, procedures, and responsibilities.

One of the most prestigious quality management systems is ISO 9001. Then, you have industry- and product-specific quality management systems that demonstrate that a company provides high-quality services in a given niche.

For example, if your product has a high need for data protection and cybersecurity, you should look for a company that is audited according to ISO/IEC 27001 or a similar standard. If they are to design a medical device, they should be compliant with ISO 13485, etc.

In short, the company you outsource product development to should be able to demonstrate that it provides high-quality services with internationally recognized certificates.

5. Company Growth and Retention

Product design is a long-term project that rarely lasts less than six months and often significantly longer. Consequently, you should try to gauge whether the company will have the same capabilities for the duration of your entire project as it had at the start.

In other words, is the company growing or shrinking? Senior product designers are in high demand, so is the company able to retain its senior employees? Do they have repeat clients with long-term projects? Contacting existing clients and investigating the business profiles of current and former employees is a good way to gather much of the information you need.

6. Compatibility

The final stage of the selection process is more intangible and ultimately rests on your subjective interpretation. Again, product design is a long-term commitment and the success of your business venture depends on how well the company you hire can develop your vision. Do you share the same sensibilities? Can you trust them to work towards your goals?

Do you understand each other? What do you think of their internal company culture? Do you click? Yes, the company you hire is providing a service. But product design is not a one-and-done deal. You are looking for a partner and there will be a lot of back and forth until your product is out to market. So it’s necessary to work with people you mesh with well.

Don’t Rush the Selection Process

As we’ve mentioned multiple times, product design is a long-term commitment that involves multiple disciplines. And just like you can’t rush product design, you can’t rush the selection process. Examine, vet, and investigate the companies we have on our list until you find the best product design company that is the right fit for your unique project.

Additionally, if you require other specialized services, we have similar lists of the best companies from other subfields of IT. So take a minute to consider whether you will need any additional help to get to your end product. If the answer is yes, scroll below to find companies that can meet your needs.