Working with a UX designer
Working with a UX Designer: What You Can Expect (and What You Can't)
UX basics and processes
You hired a developer - you know how that goes. You hired a copywriter - that process is relatively clear too. But when you hire a UX designer for your SaaS product for the first time, suddenly you have a pile of questions that no one has answered directly.
What exactly do you get? How long does it take? What is required from you? And why does it cost so much?
This post exists for exactly that reason. No sales tone, no vague promises - just a concrete overview of what working with a UX designer looks like, step by step, from the first email to the delivery of the final files.
Why so many SaaS founders get it wrong
The most common scenario I see: a founder comes in with an idea, a tight deadline, and the sentence "I just need it to look nice." Two weeks later, the misunderstandings begin. A month later, nobody is happy.
The problem is not a bad designer. The problem is that nobody set expectations.
UX design is not decoration. It is not the final step before launch. It is a research and strategy process concerned with how your user thinks, where they get stuck, and why they don't finish what you intended them to do. The sooner you understand that, the faster you'll have a product that actually works.
Phase 1: Discovery - understanding before drawing
Every serious UX designer starts here. Before Figma is opened, the context needs to be understood.
In this phase, you can expect:
Kick-off call (60–90 minutes) where the designer asks questions about your business, users, competition, and goals. This is not small talk - this is the foundation of everything that follows.
Review of the current state - if you already have a product, the designer will go through it as if they were a user. They will note where they hesitate, where they get confused, and where they drop off.
Problem definition - not "make my onboarding better," but "users are not completing setup because they don't understand the value of step 3."
What is required from you: time and honesty. The more you share - analytics, user interviews, feedback you've received - the better work the designer can do.
Duration: 3–7 days, depending on the product's complexity.
Phase 2: User research - data, not assumptions
This is the part many founders want to skip. They shouldn't.
User research doesn't have to be expensive or time-consuming. Five well-structured interviews with real users can change the entire design strategy. The designer will either conduct the interviews themselves, or analyze the data you already have - support conversations, NPS comments, session recordings from Hotjar or a similar tool.
From that comes a user journey map - a visual representation of every step your user goes through, along with pain points and decision moments.
This may be the most valuable thing you get from the entire engagement. Even if the design changes, the understanding of the user remains.
What is required from you: access to data and, ideally, contact with at least 3–5 existing or potential users for short interviews.
Duration: 5–10 days.
Phase 3: Wireframes - structure before appearance
Only now does the visual part begin - but still not the one you are imagining.
A wireframe is a black-and-white, unstyled screen layout. No colors, no fonts, no illustrations. Just the arrangement of elements, information hierarchy, and the flow between screens.
Why this way? Because this is where it's easiest and cheapest to make changes. Changing the position of a button in a wireframe takes five minutes. The same change in a final high-fidelity design can disrupt everything.
In this phase, you get:
Wireframes for every key screen or flow (onboarding, dashboard, key action, account management...)
An interactive click-through prototype - you can "walk through" the product before any code is written
Room for feedback and iteration
This is the moment when you should be most active as a client. Comment, ask questions, say when something doesn't fit your vision. It is much easier to change a wireframe than a finished design.
Duration: 7–14 days.
Phase 4: UI design - now the colors come in
Once the structure is approved, the visual design begins. This is the part founders most often can't wait for - and I understand why. It finally looks like a real product.
This is where you get:
Design system - a set of colors, typography, and components (buttons, forms, cards, tables) that ensures consistency throughout the entire product
High-fidelity screens - the final look of every screen, ready for implementation
Developer specifications - annotations, measurements, interaction descriptions, asset exports
Good UI design is not just aesthetics. The color of a button affects conversion. Font size affects how quickly the user understands the information. The spacing between elements determines whether the interface feels professional or amateurish.
What is required from you: brand guidelines if you have them (logo, colors, fonts), and feedback on the proposed visual directions.
Duration: 10–21 days, depending on the number of screens.
Phase 5: Handoff and support
A designer's job does not end with delivering a Figma file.
A serious designer will:
Organize a handoff session with your developers where they explain the logic of the screens and answer questions
Be available during implementation for questions and small fixes
By agreement, also do a QA review - check whether the implementation matches the design
This is the difference between a designer who delivers a file and a designer who delivers a result.
What you should NOT expect
Let's be honest about this too.
You cannot expect miracles in two weeks. If your onboarding is fundamentally broken, there is no quick fix. It takes time to understand the problem, solve it, and test it.
You cannot expect the designer to provide all the answers. The designer works with the data they have. The less information they get, the bigger the assumptions and the higher the risk.
You cannot expect not to be involved. This is perhaps the biggest myth. Many founders think they hire a designer so they can focus on something else. In reality, the most successful projects are the ones where the founder is an active partner - available, open to feedback, and ready to defend the decisions that affect the business.
And you cannot expect the design not to change. Good design is alive. It will be tested, measured, and improved. Accept that as a feature, not a bug.
How do you know you're hiring the right designer?
In the end, a few practical signals:
They ask about your users before they talk about aesthetics. Red flag if they immediately ask for the brand book and start choosing colors.
They have a clearly defined process that they can explain in five minutes.
They can show results, not just beauty. Case studies that include conversions, retention, or user metrics are more valuable than a portfolio full of visually impressive screens.
They ask uncomfortable questions. "Why this feature?" or "Do you have evidence that users want this?" are signs that they are thinking about your business, not just their own work.
Conclusion
Working with a UX designer is an investment - in understanding your users, in the structure of your product, and in long-term growth. But like any investment, it delivers results only if you know what you're buying.
Now you do.
If you're at the stage of considering your first or next design engagement for your SaaS, feel free to contact me. I'd be happy to go through your specific case and tell you honestly at which stage the collaboration would make the most sense.