8 Best Design Thinking Companies to Partner with

Businesses face a challenge of keeping pace with changing customer needs while driving real innovation. Many struggle to bridge the gap between creative ideas and practical implementation, resulting in wasted resources, missed opportunities, and products that fail to resonate with users.

According to a McKinsey report, companies that integrate design-led thinking outperform their peers by 32% in revenue growth and 56% in shareholder returns. However, building such an approach internally takes time, expertise, and cross-functional alignment.

Design thinking consulting firms can change that. These agencies help organizations reimagine their processes, align with user needs, and turn innovation into measurable outcomes. In this article, we’ll explore the top design thinking consulting companies, their unique methodologies, and how they help businesses transform challenges into opportunities for growth.

Design thinking sounds simple: listen to users, prototype fast, iterate often. But executing it well across a large organization is complex. Teams often lack the structure, data, and cross-functional perspective to turn ideas into measurable outcomes.

Many companies try to build design thinking internally. They organize workshops, form innovation teams, and hope creativity will follow. Yet, without a clear framework and leadership commitment, such efforts lose momentum. Teams can get stuck in delivery cycles, turning empathy, the heart of design thinking, into a mere formality. 

According to McKinsey’s Business Value of Design report, over 40% of companies never engage directly with end users during development, and more than half lack systems to measure design’s impact. Without data-driven accountability, design thinking becomes inspiration without execution.

How External Expertise Changes the Game

Design thinking consulting firms bring what most organizations lack: the balance between human understanding and business discipline. They turn creativity into structured, results-oriented action by:

• Translating empathy into outcomes through transforming real user insights into measurable improvements across products, services, and experiences.
• Embedding structure into innovation, guiding teams through proven frameworks that connect creativity with strategic goals.
• Bridging departmental gaps by aligning design, product, and business units around a shared vision of customer value.
• Driving clarity and focus, which helps organizations prioritize what truly matters to users instead of chasing assumptions.
• Ensuring scalability and consistency, allowing for building repeatable systems for continuous innovation and long-term growth.

High-performing companies treat design thinking as a strategic engine. This is a mindset proven by real examples of companies who use such an approach (like Apple, IBM, and Airbnb). In digital transformation, it ensures technology investments solve real problems. In product design, it aligns engineering with user behavior. In service innovation, it bridges the gap between what companies deliver and what customers feel. That’s why many organizations partner with the best design thinking agency to embed this approach systematically. 

Technology means nothing if it doesn’t help people. That’s the secret behind Apple and Airbnb: they design for real human needs instead of just business goals. The best designing thinking agencies do the same; they bridge the gap between what you build and how your customers feel.

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Picking the right design thinking means finding a partner that drives real business impact through human-centered innovation. For this list, we went beyond flashy creativity and focused on how well each firm combines design, strategy, and execution.

Here’s what we looked for:

• Firms that consistently deliver measurable outcomes, such as improved customer satisfaction, faster go-to-market, or increased operational efficiency.
• Teams that apply structured, research-driven design thinking processes rather than relying on one-off workshops or trend-driven creativity.
• Agencies with a track record of solving complex problems across sectors like technology, healthcare, finance, and education, adapting design thinking to different business models.
• Companies that bridge design with business consulting, ensuring insights lead to decisions and tangible results.
• Partners known for co-creating with internal teams, transferring knowledge, and helping clients sustain design-driven innovation long after engagement.
• Industry awards, client testimonials, and long-term relationships that reflect trust, expertise, and lasting value.

The firms highlighted below stand out for their ability to turn customer insight into business performance. Each has a proven record of integrating design thinking into strategy, technology, and operations, helping companies that use design thinking build products and services that solve real problems and scale effectively.

Founded in 2014, Gapsy Studio has earned recognition as a top design thinking company helping startups and established brands transform raw ideas into market-ready products. With over 50 verified five-star reviews on Clutch, it stands out for integrating design thinking with strategic UX research and business-focused creativity.

The company’s services span UI/UX design, web and mobile app design, branding, motion graphics, and AI-powered UX. Every project begins with deep user research and data analysis, allowing Gapsy to uncover user motivations, test hypotheses, and craft designs that maximize both usability and business performance.

What differentiates Gapsy is its lean, iterative design process that combines speed with precision. By embedding analytics into every design stage, the team ensures each product decision is both creative and commercially sound. Gapsy helps startups in SaaS, eCommerce, and creative tech move from concept to validated digital ecosystems that grow with their users. For clients, this means not just stunning design, but a data-informed foundation for long-term scalability and success.

inVerita: Human-Centered Design for Regulated Environments

Founded in 2015, inVerita applies design thinking in sectors where precision and compliance are critical (such as healthcare, logistics, and fintech). The company integrates DevOps, QA, and UX design from the earliest stages to create reliable, user-centered digital solutions that meet strict regulatory demands.

Their strength lies in merging creativity with structure. Through cross-functional collaboration and structured discovery, inVerita helps clients transform complex challenges into intuitive, compliant products that enhance trust and efficiency.

Brights: Bridging Design Thinking and Data Intelligence

Brights is a Ukraine-based product development company that merges design thinking with data intelligence. Known for its strong engineering foundation, the company focuses on web and mobile development, AI/ML, and data analytics, delivering digital products that are both creative and highly analytical.

Their design approach starts with problem framing and data-driven insight generation. By integrating machine learning models and behavioral analytics, Brights builds products that continuously adapt to user behavior. This makes them a preferred partner for data-heavy industries like fintech, logistics, and enterprise SaaS platforms.

S-PRO: Structured Innovation for Digital Transformation

S-PRO combines service design expertise with agile delivery to support clients through complex digital transformations. Certified in service design, the company applies design thinking frameworks to align business goals with user needs, ensuring every product iteration moves closer to measurable impact.

With strengths in blockchain, AI, and custom software, S-PRO helps organizations redesign not just products, but entire service ecosystems. Its structured approach ensures innovation is scalable, sustainable, and aligned with long-term digital strategies.

Uptech: Turning Ideas into Market-Ready Products

Uptech is well-known for its expertise in MVP design and generative AI integration. Specializing in mobile and web development, Uptech supports startups through every stage of product design: from initial validation to scalable growth.

Their teams operate with speed and flexibility, using rapid prototyping and user testing to ensure each iteration delivers real value. For startups seeking to move from concept to market fast, Uptech’s design thinking process provides both the creative spark and the operational discipline needed to launch successfully.

Redwerk: Reliable Design for Enterprise-Scale Systems

With nearly two decades of experience, Redwerk focuses on software development and UX/UI design for enterprises and public sector clients. Known for its outsourcing excellence, the company helps established businesses modernize large-scale systems while maintaining usability and performance.

Though less design-centric than others on this list, Redwerk excels at integrating design thinking principles into complex engineering environments, ensuring enterprise-grade reliability with user-focused improvement.

Phenomenon Studio: Blending Aesthetics with Technical Depth

Phenomenon Studio stands out for merging high-end visual aesthetics with technical innovation. The company specializes in branding, UX/UI, web and mobile development, and AI-powered experiences, creating bold digital products that balance form and function.

Their award-winning team works with clients worldwide, helping enterprises and startups elevate their customer journeys through immersive, emotionally intelligent design systems. For complex projects requiring creativity and robust tech, Phenomenon is a go-to partner.

Rocketech: Collaborative Design Thinking in Action

Rocketech brings a collaborative approach to design thinking consulting, combining software development, branding, and UX/UI design. The company is known for its iterative, transparent workflow and cost-efficient delivery model — ideal for startups and SMBs that value close communication and flexibility.

By embedding clients directly into design sprints, Rocketech ensures every decision is user-informed and business-driven. Their balance of affordability and creativity makes them a strong choice for brands looking to test, refine, and scale quickly.

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Collaborating with experienced design thinking firms such as Gapsy Studio, inVerita, Brights, S-PRO, Uptech, Phenomenon Studio, and others helps organizations translate user insights into measurable growth.

Each company brings a unique strength, like lean prototyping, rapid experimentation, or regulated-industry precision. Yet, all share a commitment to aligning creativity with business performance.

Driving Innovation and Creativity

Design thinking thrives on experimentation, collaboration, and iteration. Partnering with leading firms helps teams break free from traditional thinking and create frameworks that consistently generate new ideas.

Firms like Gapsy Studio, S-PRO, and Brights lead this charge. 

• Gapsy combines lean design processes with rapid feedback loops, helping teams refine ideas early and cut down on costly rework. 

• S-PRO brings structure through its service design methodology

• Brights integrates AI and data analytics to fuel innovation grounded in insight, not intuition. These companies prove that innovation can be both creative and predictable.

Enhancing User-Centric Product Development

The success of any digital product lies in how well it solves real user problems. Design thinking firms specialize in uncovering hidden pain points and turning them into opportunities for value creation.

Gapsy Studio is a prime example, as its research-driven approach identifies user motivations and behaviors that inform intuitive, emotionally engaging interfaces. Uptech and Phenomenon Studio apply similar principles, emphasizing continuous validation and human-centered design. This shared focus ensures that every decision, from wireframes to final visuals, directly reflects user needs, boosting satisfaction and retention.

Improving Market Competitiveness

Working with design thinking firms helps companies stay ahead in fast-changing markets. By combining business strategy with creative agility, organizations can adapt faster, discover new opportunities, and strengthen their market position.

Companies like Brights and S-PRO enable this agility by connecting design thinking to measurable business outcomes. Brights leverages data and AI to help businesses predict trends, while S-PRO’s agile framework allows teams to prototype and test new ideas with precision. The result is a sustainable cycle of learning, testing, and improving — ensuring continuous growth even in volatile environments.

Anyone can run a workshop. The right design thinking consultancy understands your business. They help you build a lasting culture that turns creativity into real, measurable growth.

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Assessing Expertise and Industry Experience

Not every design thinking consultancy goes deep enough. You need a partner who combines strategic insight with real experience to solve your specific business challenges.

When assessing expertise, focus on:

• Industry relevance: Look for firms that have direct experience in your sector — they’ll better understand your audience, pain points, and compliance needs.
• Portfolio depth: Review case studies and past work for evidence of results across projects of similar scope or complexity.
• Cross-industry exposure: Firms that work across multiple industries often bring fresh perspectives and broader problem-solving approaches.
• Project complexity: Check if they’ve led full-scale projects — from research and prototyping to implementation — not just design execution.
• Team composition: A strong consultancy blends strategic thinkers, UX researchers, and technical design thinking experts to deliver holistic results.
• Outcome-driven mindset: Prioritize partners that tie their design solutions to metrics like conversion, engagement, or ROI.

A consultancy with a strong portfolio and proven industry insight can anticipate challenges, identify opportunities faster, and design solutions that truly move the needle.

Evaluating Methodologies and Approaches

Every consultancy uses its own approach to design thinking. What matters is whether their process aligns with your company’s workflow, goals, and culture.

Ask about:

• Research and empathy practices: How do they uncover user insights and validate assumptions?
• Ideation and prototyping: Do they use lean design, rapid iteration, or agile sprints to reduce risk and increase speed?
• Testing and validation: How do they measure user feedback and translate it into actionable improvements?
• Stakeholder collaboration: Do they involve cross-functional teams throughout, or only during key milestones?
• Adaptability: Are they flexible in tailoring their framework to your project’s unique context?
• Communication rhythm: Do they provide consistent updates, workshops, and transparent deliverables?

A great partner balances structure with freedom. By adapting a proven process to real-world needs, creativity is channeled directly into measurable outcomes, ensuring the work solves actual problems rather than just following a script.

Considering Client Testimonials and Case Studies

Client feedback is the most honest indicator of a consultancy’s reliability and results. Beyond glossy logos and awards, look at how they’ve transformed businesses in real scenarios.

When reviewing testimonials or case studies, focus on:

• Problem-solving impact: How clearly did they define the challenge and deliver a measurable outcome?
• Innovation success: Did their design thinking approach lead to tangible improvements like faster launches, better retention, or new revenue streams?
• Authenticity of reviews: Prioritize verified third-party platforms (like Clutch) and direct client references.
• Narrative depth: Good case studies explain not just what was done, but why it worked — highlighting the firm’s ability to strategize and adapt.
• Long-term outcomes: Look for clients mentioning sustained improvements or continued partnerships — a sign of real value creation.

Authentic stories backed by metrics demonstrate an ability to combine creativity, strategy, and execution effectively.

True innovation isn't about guessing; it's about understanding people. Partnering with leading design thinking consultancies allows businesses to uncover user insights, iterate smarter, and create solutions that resonate with people.

At Gapsy Studio, we bring this mindset to every project. Our strength lies in combining deep UX research, data-driven design, and lean delivery methods to build products that are not only visually compelling but also strategically sound.

If you need a partner who can align design decisions with your business objectives, contact us. We help teams build digital products that are efficient, scalable, and rooted in what users need.