Web design agencies: hire for sites that convert
Hire a web design agency when you need a marketing site, landing system, or CMS-driven page experience that clarifies the offer and converts — not a product UX research program and not brand identity alone. Use this hub to separate web design from UI/UX and development, brief for outcomes, and decide whether design-only or design-and-build fits. Start with the guides below, then browse Design agencies or get matched when your sitemap, brand constraints, and success metrics are written down.
Common questions
Web design vs UI/UX — which do I need?
Choose web design for marketing sites, landing pages, and template systems whose job is to explain and convert. Choose UI/UX when the bottleneck is in-product flows — onboarding, activation, admin IA, or app interaction. Some studios cover both; require recent case studies from the lane you are buying. A product redesign portfolio is weak proof for a demand-gen website, and a homepage comps book is weak proof for SaaS UX.
Design-only or design-and-build?
Buy design-and-build from one partner when they have CMS or front-end proof and you want fewer handoffs from Figma to launch. Buy design-only when art direction is the gap and your eng/CMS team (or a separate build shop) will implement — but freeze responsive specs, tokens, and acceptance criteria in writing. Split ownership mid-project without a seam owner is how “looked great in Figma” sites miss launch.
What should a web design brief include?
Lead with conversion or pipeline outcomes, audiences, must-have templates, brand rules, SEO/URL constraints, CMS and editor needs, analytics baselines, accessibility expectations, and decision owners. Include competitors you respect and reject. A sitemap plus goals beats a vague “modern redesign” RFP — comparable quotes need a shared inventory.
How long does a marketing-site redesign take?
A focused landing or key-template engagement can finish in a few weeks once brand and content are ready. A fuller marketing-site redesign with template system, CMS mapping, and content migration commonly runs 6–12+ weeks before launch-ready design — longer when build, localization, or stakeholder thrash is in scope. Calendar risk is usually content freeze and approvals, not drawing speed. Distrust “full redesign in two weeks” without a surgically narrow written scope.
Freelance vs web design agency?
A senior freelancer fits a narrow craft slice — one landing page, a visual refresh inside an existing system — when you can own IA, stakeholders, and CMS glue. Choose an agency when you need multiple templates, brand-to-web systemization, facilitation across executives, or continuity past one individual. Hybrid works: agency system and templates, freelance campaign pages later — if one owner holds the source of truth in Figma and the CMS.
Related articles
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Making a remote agency relationship work
Distributed teams can outperform local ones — if you set up communication, rituals, and expectations the right way from day one.
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