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UX Design Studio

Translating complex problems into beautiful and useful designs

We achieve the impossible; transforming tech debt into simplicity, delight and design magic.

UX Bot

ROI of UX

Excellent design creates a competitive advantage

Design is the foundational element that leads to:

Greater user adoption

Stronger market differentiation

Decreased development costs

Learn more about our UX services
“P&P has a deep understanding of data and user empathy in complex experiences. They can walk the fine line between innovation and familiarity that is rare in the industry. Plus, they are equally comfortable diving deep into the weeds and zooming way out in a way that is essential for building high quality software.”
Chris Parmer, CPO and co-founder at Plot.ly
"Collaborating with Pencil & Paper was instrumental as we shifted our product culture towards greater user-centricity. Their expertise in B2B software kickstarted this journey for us, and we can visibly see how their guidance shaped our current UX practices."
Nakisa product team, (Nakisa HR Suite)

AI Revolution

There's no better time to innovate

Artificial intelligence is causing us to rethink our value proposition as tech companies. Though this causes many companies a reasonable feeling of threat, it also creates the basis for us to build experiences that are much more ambitious at a speed and scale we've never known. Now is the time to reimagine what's possible.

Our outside and expert perspective gives companies the ability to imagine entirely new possibilities. From radical modernization to exploring entirely new product lines and markets, investing in design has never been a better idea than it is now.

Our clients

The types of companies we work with

Our sweet spot is in data-rich and/or complex workflows, whether they are startups or established companies.

Illustration of a laptop and mobile phone with a credit card and money floating between them

Software Companies

Companies who have SaaS products in the enterprise space

Internal Tools

Companies who need solutions for internal workflows and operations

Hard Tech Companies

Companies who need software to drive their robotics or instruments

UX services for complex products

Rich expertise in B2B SaaS and Enterprise Software

We’ve worked with teams from tiny startups to publicly traded companies to deliver user value across data rich applications, with flawless execution.

Mini Case Studies

Recent projects with enterprise software companies

Voice forms for realtors on the go

Scenario
A real estate company needed their realtors to comply with the forms required by the state, but realtors are constantly on the go. Paperwork like this would pile up, and context switching and remembering what was said was unnecessarily difficult.
Outcome
Streamlined voice forms interaction, resulting in 20% faster and more complete forms.
Natural Language Processing
AI
Real Estate

Data exploration unlocked with AI

Scenario
Data analysts historically have performed manual effort in unnecessary places, for example chart creation, data cleanup, transformation and many other places. Our mission was to determine where we could create behaviour and defaults to ease this pain through AI technology.
Outcome
Product architecture which reduces painpoints along the user journey.
Data dashboard
AI
Interaction
Analysis

Protecting patient anonymity through streamlined UX

Scenario
A data analytics company anonymized giant clinical reports through a manual process which was exceedingly difficult to execute quickly. However, producing safe anonymized reports was required urgently by regulators, creating an urgent need for automation.
Outcome
A robust software-based experience creating efficiencies, error reductions and allowing the company to present professionally to pharma customers.
Biotech
AI
Database
Automation

Instrument experience for novice users

Scenario
An instrument company was producing a mid-range instrument for the first time, where software training would be much less available, making reliance on easier software and in-app help urgent and important to the team.
Outcome
A clear setup process for new users getting started preparing an experiment for the first time.
Biotech
AI
Interaction
Lab Software

Physician Portal for "Lay" Oncologists

Scenario
A medical diagnostic company providing genetic testing for patients provided AI-informed diagnostics to doctors via traditional means (paper-based test requests) but the process did not scale. Additionally, doctors without extensive genomics knowledge had difficultly interpreting results at a glance.
Outcome
Streamlined digital portal with embedded education and improved awareness around test requisitions and test status and timing.
Health
AI
Interaction
Diagnostics

Rethinking dashboards for HR suite

Scenario
An established HR platform has historically valued quantity over quality, as a result the 6+ dashboard views were underused and not seen as valuable by users.
Outcome
The amount of dashboards and views were cut down significantly. Data visualization standards were established and useful metrics were derived for different user persons.
Human resources & Ops
AI
Data tables
Data dashboards
Design System

Iterative workflow remix

Scenario
A data analysis company used semi-automated process (macros, scripts etc) to transform unstructured data and perform highly sensitive secondary analysis.
Outcome
Created a state of the art SaaS experience which reduced the risk of errors and manual effort by half.
AI
Health
Data tables
Interaction
design of an iterative workflow in an enterprise product

Manual to software product

Scenario
A data analysis company used semi-automated process (macros, scripts etc) to transform unstructured data and perform highly sensitive secondary analysis.
Outcome
Created a state of the art SaaS experience which reduced the risk of errors and manual effort by half.
Pharma
Data dashboard
AI
Design System
Examples of a documentation tool's features and ux

User-specific dashboards

Scenario
A real estate company with a large dataset didn’t know the ROI on their marketing spend across platforms. The sales team was not empowered to use data to make decisions due to fragmentation of reporting across marketing and advertising systems.
Outcome
Custom dashboard experiences lead to members of the team to measure effectiveness of their part of the sales pipeline.
Real Estate
Data Dashboard
Large Datasets
Enterprise ux data dashboard examples
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Design capacity

Our roles on client teams

Collaborating with P&P is an entirely new experience for clients. Let's paint a picture of "who we could be" on your team.

  • Executive design consultant: the design authority in the room; acting as a sounding board for product strategy, design direction and operations
  • Daily collaborator: embedding in teams to deliver the sprint
  • Concept artist: thinking beyond the constraints of today, helping the team think for the future
  • Design "QA" & implementation supporter: working with the devs and QA crew to make sure the details of implementation are carried out
  • Design mentor: supplementing teams with our expertise in enterprise UX and design systems
  • Design system manager: creating and managing design systems including designOps processes
"Their deep knowledge of user experience design and best practices was evident in every stage of the project, they had a clear design rationale and their attention to detail ensured that every aspect of the UI was carefully considered and refined."
Devin Pickering, VP of Product, Orennia
“The professional approach to engaging with the team is among the best I've seen. They communicated in a timely manner, were consistently upbeat and optimistic, and produced outstanding designs.”
Andy Leikucs, Head of Development at IQVIA
"I recommend them highly to any fintech or startup looking for user focused design and would use their services again without hesitation."
dan b
Daniel Barton, Co-founder, COO of Billi Labs

for legacy products

Is it time to redesign?

Established products that have undergone several iterations, versions and team changes often accumulate "design debt". Can UI improvements solve this, or is a full redesign needed?

For enteprise saas teams

Nailing the software demo

"The only thing more tragic than a flawed product is a brilliant one obscured by a clumsy demo."

You only get one chance to make a first impression, make it count. See how a user-oriented design lens can elevate the sales experience you’re aiming to deliver.

FAQ

Rule out risks and reservations

You aren’t alone in having concerns around collaborating with an external team for your UX. We’ve compiled a list addressing the most common FAQs we’ve seen

In what capacity does your team work?

We act as a plug-and-play design team for a range of situations. From teams who have never integrated any kind of UX design resource, to supplementing and collaborating with existing design teams. Depending on your needs, we can take the lead on new ideas, or support the team you have in place. We shine when it comes to collaboration and integrating quickly in teams. See our article about product management and design collaboration.

Is there anything in the scope of design you don’t do?

We do the full scope of UX/UI design for software in the enterprise arena. This includes “zooming out” and formulating logic around the whole flow, to wireframing (mapping out screens) and producing realistic prototypes. However, UX/UI design does not extend to branding or marketing, so we will happily refer you to wonderful teams we know.

When should a UX team be brought into a new project?

Our team gets brought into projects across a spectrum of stages. Sometimes, we’ll work with a single visionary to establish direction and then grow with the team. Other times, development will be underway and there’s a more urgent context to the work. Ideally, we’re brought in earlier rather than later.

Do I need to do a huge UX project to move the needle?

We’ve had great success making relatively small UX improvements to software which have significantly improved the usability and flow of products (and it doesn’t always need to be fancy UI or animations either). We believe that incremental improvement to your product and development process can make a huge difference. Often, this is accompanied with longer-term work that sets a vision for the future. Both of these approaches work hand in hand to improve your product.

How do I “sell” to my superiors?

Your business case and ROI calculations around a UX investment may come down to several different factors that relate to the specifics of your business. A very common situation we see is the development team spending a lot of time trying to make design decisions. This cost savings might be a useful initial lens to apply. If you’re in a particularly competitive field where your enterprise product is starting to lag behind in a scary way, you may want to apply the lens of opportunity cost. Many of our clients have used design concept work to de-risk development efforts and secure interest for large opportunities. Regardless of the approach you have, please leverage our resource “How to calculate the ROI of UX” as a guide and inspiration for you and your team.

“P&P has a deep understanding of data and user empathy in complex experiences. They can walk the fine line between innovation and familiarity that is rare in the industry. Plus, they are equally comfortable diving deep into the weeds and zooming way out in a way that is essential for building high quality software.”
Chris Parmer, VP of Product at Plot.ly
alex leduc
“Their ability to quickly get up to speed, understand things so clearly from a user perspective and rapidly iterate ideas makes for a collaborative environment that always results in a better product than we originally anticipated. ”
Alex Leduc, CEO of Perch
julie b
"The learning program gave our team a shared vocabulary and framework from which to approach our designs. For some in the team who came to design from other disciplines, this helped build a foundation in design fundamentals as well as diving into more advanced complicated design patterns."
Julie Baher, Vice President of Design & UX at Myriad Genetics
pot
"Collaborating with Pencil & Paper was instrumental as we shifted our product culture towards greater user-centricity. Their expertise in B2B software kickstarted this journey for us, and we can visibly see how their guidance shaped our current UX practices."
Nakisa product team, (Nakisa HR Suite)
pot
P&P’s expertise in building complex data products and integrating AI functionality was a game-changer for our UX. Their attention to detail and ability to clearly explain design principles was instrumental to our product development, and we would recommend them without hesitation
Devin Pickering, VP of Product, Orennia
pot
“The professional approach to engaging with the team is among the best I've seen. They communicated in a timely manner, were consistently upbeat and optimistic, and produced outstanding designs.”
Andy Leikucs, Head of Development at IQVIA
dan b
"I recommend them highly to any fintech or startup looking for user focused design and would use their services again without hesitation."
Daniel Barton, Co-founder, COO of Billi Labs
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