Parvessh Agarwal
Founder & CEO
An entrepreneur at heart. He links business analysis, strategy, clear goals and ROI to practical technology.
LinkedIn →Hire product designers
who hand your developers screens they can build.
A dedicated product designer, or a small team, who turns a ticket into a screen your engineers can build. They work inside your sprints, not from a separate creative queue. Each designer is vetted on product work that has shipped before they see your roadmap. You interview the actual person, not just a portfolio link.
Interview before signing · Scale monthly
Tell us about the role
Start Your Enquiry
Send a short brief. Once we have a complete brief, we confirm the date you will receive your itemised proposal.
What you get
Hiring a product designer through PixelCrayons gets you someone who designs the whole feature inside your sprint. They take a requirement through wireframes and a clickable prototype. The result is a spec your engineers can build without a follow-up meeting. They join your stand-ups and sprint reviews. You interview the designer first and scale monthly.
- Vetted on features that shippedEvery designer has taken real tickets through to engineering handover under our delivery standards.
- A second designer briefed on the design system from day oneA named coordinator, an escalation contact and a named second designer briefed on your product.
- Working inside your product teamYour Figma, your ticket tracker, your stand-ups and sprint reviews, not a separate design queue.
Our work
See what we've built
and the results it brought.
Real projects for real clients, with results we can show.
2004
Established
500+
Agencies served
4,500+
Projects delivered
340%
Revenue growth · 7 months
eCommerce
+127%
Organic traffic · 5 months
SaaS
85%
Faster delivery · backlog cleared
via agency partner
Technologies we work with
- Commerce and web
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- Magento
- WordPress
- Webflow
- Next.js
- Marketing
- Google Ads
- Meta Ads
- GA4
- Klaviyo
- Cloud
- AWS
- Microsoft Azure
- Google Cloud
- AI models
- OpenAI
- Anthropic
- Google Gemini
- Build and deploy
- Docker
- Kubernetes
- Terraform
- GitHub Actions
- CRM and automation
- HubSpot
- Salesforce
- Zapier
- n8n
Product names and marks are trademarks of their owners. Naming a technology means our teams build with it. It does not mean a partnership, certification or endorsement.
Monthly rate for this hire
From $3,200per month, 160 hoursSenior specialists from $4,000, quoted per person.
Direct prices for brands and companies buying for themselves.
What they cover
Feature design
that fits how your team ships.
Their job is the shipped feature. That means the wireframe and the states nobody asked for but every user hits. It also means a spec an engineer can build from without help. They do not hand over a polished file and move on.
Product design skills
- Wireframes and clickable prototypes in Figma
- Design systems: components, design tokens (named colours, type, spacing) and states written up for reuse
- Common patterns for SaaS and web apps: forms, tables, dashboards, filters and onboarding flows
- Every screen designed with its empty, loading and error states, not just the ideal path
- Layouts that work at real screen sizes, not a desktop mock-up with mobile added later
Working in your product process
- Working from user stories and tickets, not a creative brief
- At home in your sprints: planning, stand-ups, design review and retros
- Designs for a partial rollout behind a feature flag, not just the fully-on version
- Variants built to run as an A/B test, not one screen presented as the answer
- Reading a roadmap and knowing which problem each feature is meant to solve
Handover to your developers
- Handover specs with spacing, states and edge cases marked up, not left for a developer to guess
- Working with a product manager on the same priorities, not a separate list
- Judging when a screen needs another pass and when shipping now beats polishing next sprint
- Design decisions written down so a developer, or the next designer, knows why
- Notes that still make sense when the designer moves to another ticket mid-project
In practice
What a product designer
does between the ticket and the build.
How the role runs inside a sprint, and how to tell early whether it is working.
A sprint from the designer's chair
Early in a sprint, the designer works a ticket or two ahead of engineering. They read the requirement and sketch flows. They check with the product manager which problem the feature should solve. Mid-sprint they build the screens and every state around them in Figma. Then they hold a short review with an engineer to catch anything that cannot be built. Late in the sprint they answer build questions and check the built screens against the spec. They also log decisions. Good product designers spend as much time talking to engineers as they do in Figma. A designer who vanishes into Figma for a week usually hands over surprises.
What to look for in the interview
Ask them to walk through a feature from ticket to shipped. Ask to see the handover file, not the polished final screen. A strong candidate talks about the limit that changed the design and the state they nearly missed. They also say what the engineer pushed back on. Ask how they would design a settings page for a feature that only some users have switched on. Ask what they do when research and the roadmap disagree. Be wary of designers who only show showcase screens. The job is mostly tables, forms and edge cases.
Common ways the hire goes wrong
The usual mistake is treating a product designer as a service desk. Tickets arrive fully written, the designer draws them, and nobody asks whether the feature solves anything. You get tidy screens and the same product problems. The opposite mistake is giving them no access to engineers, so designs arrive late and cannot be built. Another is skipping design system work because it never looks urgent. Include the designer in planning. Give them direct access to the developers building their work. Protect a little time each sprint for components. If engineers are redrawing screens during the build, the handover is the problem, not the engineers.
Ready before the first sprint
Give them edit access to Figma and the component library, and read access to the ticket tracker. Give them a seat in planning and sprint review. Share any analytics or support themes that show where users struggle, even rough ones. Name the product manager whose priorities the designer follows, so they do not take direction from three people. Then check the fit. Need a brand identity, marketing pages or dedicated user research? A brand designer or UX researcher suits that work better. A product designer is right when features ship every sprint and need proper design.
How it works
How hiring works,
from brief to first day.
Start
Brief and a call
We sign an NDA and you tell us about your product, your tech stack and the gap in your roadmap.
Once the brief is complete
Proposal and interview
We confirm when your proposal will arrive and put forward the designer whose shipped feature work fits. You interview them and walk through a past handover before anything is signed.
Your decision
You sign off
You confirm the scope, the payment and the access we need. Nothing starts before this.
Typically 2 to 3 business days later
The work starts
You grant Figma access, they review the backlog, and the designer joins your stand-ups and sprint reviews.
Every month
Scale up or down
Add a second designer when the roadmap grows. Step down when it shrinks. You can resize month by month, without a hiring decision.
You make requests, give approvals and see the weekly review in your Prism workspace. Each decision is written down with the result it was meant to bring. See how Prism runs the work →
Get a Proposal
Meet the people who will do the work before you sign
Why through us
Why hire through us:
the designer and the handover checks behind them.
Hiring a designer gets you their skill. Hiring through a company that delivers this work every day adds support around that skill. It keeps your roadmap moving when life gets in the way.
Vetted on features that shipped
Every designer in our team has taken real tickets through to engineering handover. That work met our own delivery standards. It was reviewed weekly and held to the same handover standard you will see. A portfolio shows the best screen someone ever made. A track record shows what they ship on a deadline.
A second designer briefed on the design system from day one
You get a named coordinator, an escalation contact and a second product designer, named in advance. The second designer is briefed on your product from day one. They follow the component library and decision notes the first one keeps. If the first designer is on leave or leaves, the second steps in without a slow start. Nobody opens Figma cold. A lone freelancer cannot offer that. A single in-house hire leaves a gap in your roadmap the moment they are out sick.
Working inside your product team
Your Figma, your ticket tracker, your stand-ups, your sprint reviews. Dedicated means working the way your product team already works. Requests are not thrown over a wall and returned as finished mock-ups with no context.
Handover notes you can check
Specs are marked up down to each state and edge case. Design decisions are logged with the reasons behind them. You get a weekly written update tied to what is actually in the sprint. An engineer guessing what a screen meant should be rare.
Side by side
Hiring on your own,
compared with hiring through us.
An in-house hire is still right when product design is a permanent, full-time and central job for you. We will say so when it is. This page is for every other case.
| Hiring it yourself | Through PixelCrayons | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to a working designer | A full recruiting cycle: sourcing, interviews, notice periods and onboarding | Eligible work can typically start two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed |
| Vetting | Portfolio review and interviews: the quality of their handover shows up later | A track record on shipped tickets, held to our own standards and reviewed weekly |
| Management work | All yours: sprint priorities, design review, handover checks and cover | A named PM handles the admin; you set the roadmap, not the stand-up schedule |
| Scaling | A new hiring cycle each way: months to grow, a difficult conversation to shrink | Resize monthly: add a designer or step down after a conversation |
| Risk when it doesn't work | A wrong hire slows you down until it is spotted, then ends in a difficult exit | If the fit is wrong, we propose someone else, who starts from the component decisions, not a blank file |
Who is accountable
The people responsible
for your work.
Saundaraya Gupta
Technical Manager
Brings technical work, client updates and project management together, so work moves smoothly from brief to launch.
LinkedIn →Every engagement
A named coordinator and escalation contact
Know who coordinates your engagement, who owns the work and how to escalate an issue.
All engagements. Roles may be combined and vary with your engagement.
Before you sign
Our commitments
Each one says where it applies and links to its full terms.
Time-zone overlap
At least four hours a day inside your core working hours. Two hours plus a daily written handover for the US West Coast.
Managed specialists only; not a staffing promise for project teams.
Full termsClear IP & Ownership Terms
Your materials remain yours. Bespoke deliverable rights, licences and handover are agreed before work starts.
All engagements.
Full termsClear Delivery & Escalation Ownership
Know who coordinates your engagement, who owns the work and how to escalate an issue.
All engagements. Roles may be combined and vary with your engagement.
Full termsWhy not just hire a freelancer?
A freelancer can be the right choice for a single, well-defined task. We are set up for work that needs an accountable team: a named coordinator, delivery reviewed by QA and a senior lead before release, and continuity arrangements written into the engagement. Confidentiality, ownership and escalation terms are agreed in writing before work starts.
How does time-zone overlap work?
Your engineers work at least four hours a day inside your core working hours. We set the window with you before the engagement starts and hold it for as long as the engagement runs. For the US West Coast the live overlap is two hours each morning, with a written handover at the end of every Indian day. We do not run night shifts: engineers who work nights leave quickly, and keeping the same people on your team matters more to us than a longer overlap.
Can we try you before we commit?
For eligible managed specialists, yes: up to 14 calendar days or 80 logged working hours, whichever comes first. Stop within it and eligible trial hours are free; continue and they're billed at the agreed rate. Unpaid trial work stays ours. Project work and other roles get a paid pilot with scope, acceptance criteria, duration and fee agreed first.
What if we want to stop?
Cancellation, notice and any renewal terms are written into your proposal or statement of work before you accept it. If an engagement ends early, we hand over completed, paid-for work and list any unfinished work separately. For an eligible specialist trial, you can stop within the trial window and pay nothing for eligible trial hours.
How we handle claims, credentials and your data: group credentials, dated ratings, how case figures are signed off, client permissions and data handling.
How we vet
How we vet a product designer
and what to ask them.
The quality of a handover shows up after the portfolio review, once engineers start building. So our vetting looks at shipped tickets. It also looks at the tables, forms and edge cases that make up most of the job.
- 01Shortlist on shipped feature workWe put forward the designer whose shipped feature work fits your product, tech stack and roadmap gap. That work met our own standards and was reviewed weekly. No generic portfolios. Shipped screens from real products are available under NDA on request.
- 02Interview on a handover fileAsk them to walk through a feature from ticket to shipped, using the handover file rather than the polished screen. A strong candidate talks about the limit that changed the design and the state they nearly missed. They also say what the engineer pushed back on.
- 03Test partial rollouts and disagreementsAsk how they would design a settings page for a feature that only some users have. Then ask what they do when research and the roadmap disagree. Be wary of designers who only show showcase screens.
- 04First sprints: inside your FigmaOnce started, they review your design system and backlog and write a summary. Then they join planning and sprint review. A thin design system means some quiet tidying alongside ticket work. If the fit is wrong, we propose someone else.
Questions
Frequently
asked.
Eligible work can typically start two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed. Once we have a complete brief, we confirm when your proposal will arrive. You interview the designer before anything is signed. If your design system is thin, expect some quiet tidying alongside the ticket work.
It starts with an NDA, then access to Figma and your ticket tracker. Next, they review your current design system and backlog, and write up what they found. You agree the first sprint's priorities before anything ships. They join your stand-ups from the start, so onboarding happens inside your process, not next to it.
They work in yours. That means your Figma workspace, your component library where one exists, and your ticket tracker for status. A file from an outside tool adds a translation step your engineers pay for on every handover. Working inside your own setup is what makes the design easy for your team to ship.
Yes, one is the normal start: a single product designer covers most roadmaps comfortably. A second person joins when the scope needs it, such as a design system specialist or a researcher. The monthly resize works both ways. We would rather start with one designer than sell you a team your roadmap cannot use yet.
The skill can be the same, but the support around it is not. Here, a named coordinator, an escalation contact and a named second designer come with the engagement. The second designer is briefed on your product and component library from day one. So leave or a departure does not mean a slow start.
Tell us early and we will propose someone else. The new designer gets the component decisions, handover notes and open questions the first designer kept. So a switch costs days, not a restart. Your proposal names the second product designer who would step in. It also says whether their cover is part of the monthly rate.
Interview your product designer
before you sign anything.
Tell us about your product and the roadmap gap, and interview the designer who would sit in your sprint. If you really need a UX researcher or a brand designer instead, we will say so on the first call.
Interview before signing · Scale monthly
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