Parvessh Agarwal
Founder & CEO
An entrepreneur at heart who connects business analysis, strategy, clear objectives and ROI with practical technology solutions.
LinkedIn →Hire UI/UX designers
who research before they draw.
A dedicated product designer, or a small team, who treats your interface as something to be tested, not just styled. They work inside the design system you already have, and you meet the designer who'd open your Figma files before a contract is signed.
Interview before signing · Scale monthly
14-day trial
Try before you commit
Start Your 14-Day Risk-Free Trial
Work together on a real brief for up to 14 days, then decide whether to scale.
What you get
Hiring a UI/UX designer through PixelCrayons gets you a vetted product-design specialist inside your team. They start from research and information architecture, test flows in usability sessions where scope allows, and work inside your existing design system, with a named coordinator and structured critique behind them. You interview the designer first and scale monthly.
- Vetted on shipped product, not portfolio polishEvery designer has worked live product files under our standards, reviewed in structured critique.
- Coverage when a critique can't waitA named coordinator, an escalation contact and a backup designer who picks up files without a ramp-up.
- Team integration, not a portalThey work in your Figma, critique sessions and project tools, with your email domain if you want it.
Selected work
Judge the work,
not the adjectives.
Outcomes tied to real engagements, not averages.
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
Where the work happens
Monthly rate for this hire
$2K–$4.5Kper month, per hire, entry to senior
Rates for brands and companies buying for themselves.
What they cover
Product-design skills,
commercially wired.
Not a screen decorator who's good with colour. A specialist whose job is the interface's job: whether people can use it, and proving that before it ships.
Research & UX
- User research: interviews, contextual inquiry, survey design
- Information architecture and content structure
- Usability testing: moderated and unmoderated
- Journey mapping and service blueprints
- Heuristic evaluation of an existing product
UI craft
- Figma: component-driven, dev-mode-ready files
- Design systems and component libraries
- Interaction and motion design
- Accessibility: WCAG 2.1 AA as the default, not an add-on
- Responsive interface design across breakpoints and platforms
The commercial layer
- Developer handoff: specs, redlines (measured spacing), annotated states
- Working inside an existing design system rather than replacing it
- Stakeholder presentation and structured critique
- Design QA against what actually shipped
- Documentation your team can extend without a designer in the room
In practice
How a UI/UX designer
spends the time between screens.
What the work involves beyond Figma, how to judge a candidate, and where this role hands over to others.
What the work looks like week to week
A typical week has three strands. Research: a few user interviews or a usability session on the current flow, with notes turned into findings the team can act on. Design: flows sketched in low fidelity first, then built in Figma from existing components, with the empty, error and loading states included. Delivery: annotations for developers, answers to their questions during the sprint, and design QA on what shipped. The balance shifts with the roadmap, but a designer who spends every day on high-fidelity screens is skipping the parts that decide whether those screens work.
What to look for in the interview
Ask them to walk through one project starting from the problem, not the final screens. Strong designers talk about what they learned from users, which idea they dropped and why, and what changed after launch. Give them a screen from your product and ask what they would test first. Ask how they decide when a new component belongs in the design system and when a one-off is fine. Ask how they handle a stakeholder who wants something the research argues against, and listen for whether they bring evidence or just preference. Polished visuals matter, but what you are really hiring is the reasoning behind them.
Before the first session
Edit access to your Figma files and libraries, a login to the live product and to staging, and access to whatever analytics shows how people move through your key flows. Share support tickets or sales notes that describe where users get stuck. Line up a small pool of customers willing to talk, or agree a recruitment route for usability sessions, because finding participants is the most common reason research slips. Name who signs off on design decisions, and invite a developer to the first critique so technical constraints surface early rather than at handoff.
Where UI/UX ends and other roles begin
A UI/UX designer decides how the product works and looks at the interface level. If the question is what the brand stands for, that's a brand strategist. If you need a logo, campaign visuals or sales collateral, that's a graphic designer. If the designs are settled and the gap is building them accurately, hire a frontend developer. The designer hands off annotated files and stays involved through the build, checking what ships against what was designed. Where both roles exist on your side, pair them from the start rather than passing files over at the end.
How it works
Brief to embedded,
interview before signing.
Start
Brief and a call
We sign an NDA and you talk us through the product, the existing files and the gap.
Once the brief is complete
Proposal and interview
We confirm when your proposal arrives and name the designer whose product work fits. You interview them before anything is signed; if the fit isn't right, we propose again.
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 designer starts
With Figma access in place, they review your existing design system and join your critique sessions.
Every month
Scale either way
Add a second designer when the roadmap widens; step down when it doesn't. Each month you can add or reduce design capacity, no headcount decision required.
Requests, approvals and the weekly review for this engagement live in your Prism workspace. Each decision is recorded against the outcome it expected. See how Prism runs an engagement →
Get a Proposal
Meet the actual people before anything is signed
Why through us
The designer,
plus the critique discipline.
Hiring a designer on their own gets you their craft. Hiring through a delivery organisation adds the structured critique and cover that keeps a design system coherent as more than one person touches it.
Vetted on shipped product, not portfolio polish
Every designer on the bench has worked live product files before yours. That work ran under our own delivery standards, reviewed in structured critique, held to the same accessibility bar you'll see. A polished case study photographs well; a component library that survived contact with real screens is the harder thing to fake, and the only kind we trust.
Coverage when a critique can't wait
Behind the designer: a named coordinator, an escalation contact and a named backup. Briefed on your product from day one, following the open files and critique notes as they evolve. Leave or a departure means they pick up the file without a ramp-up: the things a lone freelancer can't offer and an in-house hire needs a whole team to cover. You get a designer and the critique structure behind them.
Team integration, not a portal
Your Figma, your critique sessions, your project tools, your email domain if you want it. Dedicated means embedded in how you already work, not files thrown over a wall for someone else's queue to eventually open.
Design QA you can audit
Structured critique on the record, usability findings written up rather than summarised from memory, and a design-system decision log so nobody has to reverse-engineer why a component looks the way it does. Should you question the fee, the critique records and decision log answer before we do.
Side by side
How you typically hire,
versus through us.
A full-time in-house hire earns its keep once product design is permanent and central to your organisation, and we'll tell you plainly when it is. This page covers every other case.
| Hiring it yourself | Through PixelCrayons | |
|---|---|---|
| Time to a working specialist | A full recruiting cycle: sourcing, portfolio review, interviews, notice periods | Eligible work can typically start two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed |
| Vetting | Portfolio review and interview performance: you find out the truth on real screens | Delivery history on real product work under our own standards, reviewed in structured critique |
| Fit with your design system | A new hire's instinct is to reach for their own patterns first | Briefed to extend what exists before proposing to replace it |
| Management overhead | Yours entirely: objectives, critique cadence, career development, leave cover | A named PM and escalation path included; you review the files, not manage a headcount |
| Scaling | A full recruiting cycle in either direction: months to fill a seat, an awkward exit to vacate one | Resize monthly: add a designer or step down with a conversation |
Who is accountable
The people accountable
for the work.
Saundaraya Gupta
Technical Manager
Brings technical delivery, client communication and project management together so work moves from brief to release smoothly.
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.
14-Day Risk-Free Trial
For eligible managed specialists. Up to 14 calendar days or 80 logged working hours, whichever comes first. End within the trial and pay nothing for eligible trial hours. Continue beyond it and those hours are billed at the agreed rate. Unpaid trial work remains ours if you stop.
Eligible managed-specialist roles only, one trial per customer. Not offered for AI, chatbot, prompt, automation, API-integration or QA work. Brand and graphic designers, brand strategists, video editors, content writers, copywriters and content marketers start with a paid pilot.
Full termsTime-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 UI/UX designer
on the reasoning behind the screens.
Polished visuals matter, but what you are really hiring is the reasoning behind them. The vetting starts from the problem, the research and the evidence a designer brings to an argument.
- 01Shortlist on real product workWe propose the designer whose delivery history on real product work fits your product, existing files and gap, held to our own standards and reviewed in structured critique. Shipped screens from real products are available under NDA on request.
- 02Interview from the problem, not the screensAsk them to walk through one project starting from the problem. Strong designers talk about what they learned from users, which idea they dropped and why, and what changed after launch. Give them a screen from your product and ask what they would test first.
- 03Test evidence against preferenceAsk how they handle a stakeholder who wants something the research argues against, and listen for evidence rather than preference. Ask when a new component belongs in the design system and when a one-off is fine.
- 04The trial: inside your design systemIf you take the trial, it runs on a scope agreed before it starts. Expect your design system reviewed and written up rather than second-guessed, then flows sketched in low fidelity before Figma, with empty, error and loading states included.
Questions
Frequently
asked.
Once we have a complete brief, we confirm when your proposal arrives. You interview the designer before signing, with shipped screens from real products available under NDA. Eligible work can typically start two to three business days after scope, payment and required access are confirmed.
The NDA comes first, then Figma and product access. The designer reviews your current design system and writes up what they found before the first month's priorities are agreed. They're in your critique sessions from week one, so onboarding runs inside your process rather than off to the side of it.
Work inside it, by default. The brief is to extend the patterns, tokens and components you already have, not to arrive with opinions about starting over. If something in the system is holding the product back, they'll say so with a specific reason and a proposed fix, not a wholesale rebuild pitched on day one.
One is the normal starting point: a single product designer covers most roadmaps. A second, such as a researcher or a motion specialist, joins when scope justifies it, and the monthly resize works in both directions.
Say so early and we propose another designer; that's standard. Whoever replaces them inherits the system notes, research findings and decision log, so the switch costs days, not a restart. The proposal names a second product designer and makes clear whether covering for the first is included in the monthly rate.
Interview the person,
not the portfolio deck.
Brief us on the product and the gap, and meet the actual designer before anything is signed. If what you really need turns out to be a project rather than a person, we'll say so on the first call.
Interview before signing · Scale monthly
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