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UI UX Agency: What to Require Before You Hire
A UI UX agency is the studio hired to design the interface and experience of a digital product, such as an app, a SaaS or an internal system. Before hiring one, require three things in writing: the list of deliverables you'll receive, the accessibility level the design will meet and what happens to the files at the end of the contract.
Anyone searching for a UI UX agency in Portuguese today finds lists of names, with generic criteria like product maturity and research depth. None of the Brazilian pages I read in September 2026 says what the client should receive, how the agency charges or that accessibility became a technical standard in Brazil in 2025.
At Wama, this is routine: in more than 200 delivered projects, the studio has designed SaaS products, systems and apps in Figma for clients such as Wiz Benefícios, Gogame, Youmentor and Kpass. If what you need is the company website, not the product, the path is different: the questions to ask whoever builds the company website.
What does a UI UX agency deliver?
A UI UX agency delivers designed product decisions: who uses it, what they need to do, in what order and what happens when something goes wrong. Screens are the final form of those decisions. UX is the structure of the experience (flow, priority, interface copy, error states); UI is the visual layer that makes that structure readable.
By default, it doesn't deliver the product's code or its operation. Some agencies design and develop; others stop at the design file and hand off to the technical team. That boundary needs to be in writing, because that's where end-of-project disputes are born.
In product design, the scope changes depending on the type of software. In a subscription product, for example, the work revolves around the four moments that define a SaaS experience, from the first session to the permission screens. In an internal system, the weight shifts to tables, filters and repetitive tasks.
A pretty screen isn't a deliverable: what to ask to receive
The portfolio shows the prettiest screen of each project. What you need to receive is what makes the product work on the other hundred screens. Ask for the proposal to list, item by item, what ends up in your hands at the end.
Flow map. The path of each main task, from start to finish, including detours.
Clickable prototype. Navigable, to test with users and decision-makers before any line of code.
States nobody shows in a portfolio. Empty, loading, error, no permission and success screens, as detailed in the guide on the first session of someone who just subscribed.
Component library. Buttons, fields, tables and messages with usage rules, so the product can grow without becoming a patchwork.
Development specification. Spacing, behaviors and variations documented, so the technical team doesn't have to guess.
Files in the company's account. The design project lives in the client's workspace, not the agency's.
The last item looks like red tape, and it's the one that hurts most when it's missing. The logic is the same as who keeps the code at the end of the contract: whatever isn't written in the contract stays with whoever holds the file.
Accessibility became a requirement: NBR 17225 and the LBI
Digital accessibility is no longer an optional best practice in Brazil. Article 63 of the Brazilian Inclusion Law (Law 13,146, of 2015) makes accessibility mandatory on websites maintained by companies headquartered or commercially represented in the country, according to internationally adopted best practices and guidelines.
What was missing was saying which practices. On March 11, 2025, ABNT, Brazil's technical standards body, released NBR 17225, a standard for accessibility in web content and applications aligned with WCAG 2.2. According to the IFRS Accessibility Technology Center, in a page from September 2025, it brings together 146 items: 96 mandatory requirements, equivalent to WCAG levels A and AA, and 50 AAA-level recommendations.
Many of these items originate in design, not code. Color contrast, keyboard navigation order, form labels, touch target size and animations that can be paused are interface decisions. If the agency doesn't design with this on the table, development inherits the problem and the fix costs more.
In the proposal, ask for one objective sentence: the design meets the mandatory requirements of NBR 17225 on the screens in scope. If the answer is vague, you know what you're going to get. In financial products there's also a regulated layer of its own: the screens Brazil's Central Bank has already defined for Pix.
How does a UI UX agency charge?
There are three models: hourly, fixed-price project and monthly retainer. A European UX studio, in a guide published in September 2026, describes its market like this: 45 to 60 euros per hour in Eastern Europe and 70 to 150 euros in Western Europe; a fixed-price website or MVP project between 8 and 20 thousand euros; a mid-sized SaaS platform with research and testing between 20 and 60 thousand euros.
These are European market numbers, not a Brazilian price list, and they help you understand the logic, not convert currency. What they show is that user research and testing move a project into a different price range, and that a fixed price is only predictable when the scope is closed.
At Wama, design is the longest phase of the schedule. AI sped up the building, not the decision-making: the total timeline didn't change, and the gain shows up in finish quality within the same calendar. For the first version of a product, read the price of a product's first version.
How do you request a proposal from a UI UX agency?
A good proposal depends on a good request. Send the same description to every agency you consult, so you compare answers to the same problem, not three different readings of a loose conversation.
The business problem and why you're looking for someone external now.
Who decides and who approves, with the name and role of each person involved.
What already exists: a live product, research, brand, usage metrics, if any.
Investment range, even if approximate. Without it, each agency guesses a different scope.
Dates for proposal delivery, selection and kickoff.
Evaluation criteria, including accessibility and experience with similar products.
At Wama, the proposal conversation happens with whoever will do the work: a single person leads the project from briefing to deploy, with no account management layer in between. Ask any agency about this, because the person who sells isn't always the one who designs.
Red flags in the conversation and the proposal
Some signs show up before any screen. An American UI UX studio, in a guide updated in August 2026, lists the ones that also repeat here: a process the agency can't explain, a portfolio without a single measurable result, agreeing with everything the client says and a price far below the others.
Deliverables described as "screens". Without flows, states and components on the list, you're buying images.
No questions about the user. An agency that doesn't want to know who uses the product will design for its own portfolio.
Counted revision rounds, open scope. The reverse protects you better: closed scope and revisions within it.
Accessibility treated as an extra. Since 2025 there's been a Brazilian standard; it's not a luxury item.
Files in the agency's account. If the contract doesn't say who owns the design project, it isn't yours.
At Wama, revisions are unlimited within the contracted scope, and the limit is the scope, not a count of rounds. Payment is split 50% upfront and 50% on delivery, which keeps half the amount tied to what was promised.
Agency, freelancer or in-house designer?
An agency makes sense when the product needs several decisions at once: flow, interface, components and accessibility, within a defined timeline. A freelancer works well for a one-off, well-defined need. An in-house designer is the choice when the product already exists and changes every week.
Format | When it fits | Main risk |
|---|---|---|
UI UX agency | New product or redesign with a clear scope | Generic proposal with no listed deliverables |
Freelancer | One-off need, small scope | Continuity and documentation |
In-house designer | Live product with continuous change | Fixed cost and a single person's perspective |
There's a fourth format: the in-house team that needs extra hands during a peak period, which is reinforcement for a design team that already exists, not outsourcing the entire product.
Frequently asked questions
What's the difference between UI and UX?
UX is the structure of the experience: flows, priorities, interface copy and what happens on each error. UI is the visual layer: colors, typography, components and spacing. A UI UX agency delivers both, and UX comes first, because there's no point making a task pretty if the user can't complete it.
Does NBR 17225 apply to apps?
The standard covers web content and applications, which includes systems and SaaS products used in the browser. For native apps, the design reference is still WCAG, on which the standard is based. In the proposal, ask for the accessibility level to be written for each platform in scope.
How long does a UI UX project take?
It depends on the number of flows and how much research already exists. What delays it most is usually on the client's side: content that doesn't arrive, slow approvals and scope changes after the design is closed. In Wama's projects, those are the three most recurring causes of delay.
Do I need user research before design?
If the product is new or is going to change audiences, yes. A short round of interviews and a test of the clickable prototype cost little compared to redesigning screens that are already coded. If the product is already live, usage data replaces part of the research and shows where users give up.
What should I ask in the first meeting with a UI UX agency?
Ask who will design your product, which deliverables are included, what accessibility level the design meets, which account the files live in and how revisions work. Five direct answers say more than any portfolio, and the way the agency answers, clearly or evasively, previews how the whole project will go.
If you're going to design or redesign a digital product, start with the list of deliverables and the accessibility level. Talk to Wama and bring your product's current flow to the first meeting.
