Best UX Design Agencies in Melbourne (2026)

Introduction

Melbourne has a strong bench of UX and service design firms, and the eight below cover most of what a buyer is likely to need, from research and service design to apps and large digital platforms. They were chosen for recent work, 2025 and 2026 recognition, and a verified Melbourne studio.

Much of the city’s UX work is shaped by its client base. State government, health services, universities, super funds and banks all commission service design and digital products here, and several of the firms on this list are certified B Corps with a focus on social impact. Recognition has followed: Today, based in Collingwood, was named Good Design Australia’s Design Team of the Year in October 2025, and an app Newpath designed with Superloop won a 2026 Australian Good Design Award in the Digital Design category.

Every firm here has an active Melbourne office or studio in 2026. The list runs in no fixed order of merit, since the right choice depends on whether your project leans towards research and service design, product design, or design paired with heavy engineering.

The best UX design agencies in Melbourne

1. Today

Independent · Collingwood · today.design

Today describes itself as an independent design and innovation studio working on social and environmental outcomes, and it was one of Australia’s founding B Corps. It has about 70 designers, strategists, researchers and technologists, with its Melbourne studio on Wellington Street in Collingwood and teams in Sydney, Canberra and Perth. Good Design Australia named it the 2025 Design Team of the Year, which the studio counts as its 45th Good Design Award.

Its work spans impact strategy, service innovation, product and AI, and brand. Projects include Dora, an art companion for the Art Gallery of New South Wales, work for Our Watch, and a visual language for Change.org; clients also include HESTA, Xero, Lifeline and several government bodies. Mental health is a recurring area.

2. Portable

B Corp · Melbourne · portable.com.au

Portable has spent about 20 years designing, engineering and running digital systems, mostly for government, health and the public sector. It has been a certified B Corp since 2016, employs around 65 onshore specialists, and runs studios in Melbourne, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide and Darwin.

Its strategy and design practice covers product design, research and transformation, alongside AI, data and cloud engineering. Recent work includes a national cancer navigation service designed with Cancer Council Australia, Victoria’s statewide wellbeing strategy (co-created with 600 people), data management for Yarra Trams, and #chatsafe with Orygen, a suicide prevention campaign that reached 1.4 million young Australians. Portable also runs human-centred design training, which suits teams that want to build skills in-house.

3. Paper Giant

Independent · Melbourne · paper-giant.com

Paper Giant is a strategic design studio based in Melbourne, Canberra and Wellington. Its work sits at the research and service design end of UX: service design and prototyping, systems mapping, stakeholder engagement and mixed-methods research.

It also takes on digital product and experience design, and combines design thinking with strategy for programme and product work. That mix suits briefs where the service around a product needs as much attention as the screens.

4. ThinkPlace

Global design consultancy · CBD · thinkplaceglobal.com

ThinkPlace is a design consultancy that works with governments, businesses and NGOs. Its Melbourne office is on Little Collins Street, part of a network that includes Canberra, Sydney, Brisbane, Wellington, Singapore, Nairobi, Washington and London.

Services cover human-centred and service design, research and insights, social behaviour change and capability building. Its published case studies range from innovation hubs in Bougainville to HIV self-testing in Côte d’Ivoire, so it is a sensible option for programmes with an international development or behaviour-change angle.

5. DiUS

Founded in Melbourne · CBD · dius.com.au

DiUS was founded in Melbourne in 2004 by Joe Losinno and Clency Coutet and has grown to more than 150 people across Australia and New Zealand. It designs and builds custom software and hardware, and its experience design practice covers research, prototyping, usability and inclusion. The Melbourne office is on Queen Street.

Clients include Qantas, NAB, Kmart, Seek and REA Group, and case studies include a digital experience for tradies at hipages. DiUS has also built and sold its own products: Pactflow was acquired by SmartBear in 2022. It says more than 95% of its work comes from repeat clients and referrals.

6. Thoughtworks

Global technology consultancy · CBD · thoughtworks.com

Thoughtworks was founded in Chicago in 1993 and now has more than 10,000 staff in 47 offices across 18 countries. Its Melbourne office is on Collins Street, with further Australian offices in Sydney and Brisbane.

The firm blends design, engineering and AI, and positions its design work around building and evolving digital products and customer experiences. It suits large organisations that want product design and delivery from one team; smaller brands may find a specialist studio a better fit.

7. Newpath

Melbourne-headquartered · CBD · newpathweb.com.au

Newpath is a digital agency headquartered on Collins Street in Melbourne, with offices in Sydney, Brisbane, India and the UK. It covers experience design (UX and UI), web and mobile app development, and business systems such as CRM and ERP.

In October 2026 a self-service app designed by Superloop and Newpath won an Australian Good Design Award in the Digital Design Apps and Software category. Other clients include Dulux Group, the Victorian Health Building Authority, Master Builders Victoria and Snaffle. Its systems work is useful where a product has to connect to back-office platforms.

8. Liquorice

Independent · CBD · liquorice.com.au

Liquorice is an independent brand and digital agency on Bourke Street that works mostly with purpose-driven businesses, government and not-for-profits. Services cover branding, UX and UI design, and web and app development, so digital products and the brand around them can come from one team.

Clients include ACMI, RMIT, Swinburne, State Library Victoria, Beyond Blue, UniSuper and Transurban, and case studies include work for Nike with Ultra Football. In 2025 it published a free guide to designing for accessibility, a useful sign for buyers with accessibility requirements.

What to look for in a Melbourne UX design agency

Start with where the project sits. Some of the firms above lead with research and service design and are strongest when the problem is a whole service, often a government or health one. Others pair design with large engineering teams and are better when the job is a product that has to ship and be maintained. Many Melbourne briefs need both, so ask how the two are handed over.

Ask about research. Good UX work in this city often involves co-design with users, staff and community groups, and public-sector work usually carries accessibility and inclusion requirements. Check which research methods the agency uses, who recruits participants, and how findings are documented for your team.

Check who will do the work, by name, and how much of it is onshore. Several firms here run studios across Australia and overseas. That can add capacity, but it is reasonable to ask where designers and researchers sit and how often they will be in the room.

Finally, look at how the agency runs reviews. A UX project produces research recordings, journey maps, prototypes and design files across many rounds of feedback. Agencies that keep this material in one place, with clear versions and a record of decisions, make it far easier to pick the work up after handover.

How Fabric helps UX design teams

Fabric gives a design team one workspace for its files, research and client feedback, with AI search across all of it. The UI and UX agency setup keeps each client’s research, prototypes, design exports and meeting notes together, and the product design setup follows the same pattern for longer product engagements.

Research sessions are a large part of UX work. Audio and video transcription turns interview and usability recordings into searchable text with clickable timestamps, and search works by meaning across those transcripts, documents, images and PDFs, so a team can find every mention of a pain point across a study. Files live in Fabric’s cloud drive and stream on demand without filling local disks.

For synthesis, a canvas gives an infinite whiteboard that can embed Figma files, which suits journey maps and affinity boards. Clients and stakeholders can leave threaded comments through a shared link without creating an account, and annotations cover highlights and comments on PDFs and documents. Commenters can also leave timestamped comments on video and draw on any video frame. Any file or folder can be published as a web page for a research readout or design handover.

On Team plans, self-writing docs can keep a page for each client from meetings, Slack and the workspace, covering decisions, deliverables and open items. There is more on choosing tools for this in our guide to the best design feedback tools.

Password protection and link analytics are included on Pro and Team plans, and self-writing docs on Team plans. See plans for teams.

Frequently asked questions

What is the best UX design agency in Melbourne?

There is no single answer, as the right agency depends on the brief. On recent recognition, Today was named Good Design Australia’s 2025 Design Team of the Year, and Newpath won a 2026 Good Design Award for an app built with Superloop.

What is the difference between UX design and service design?

UX design usually focuses on a digital product such as an app or website. Service design looks at the whole service, including staff, processes and offline touchpoints. Melbourne firms such as Paper Giant and ThinkPlace lean towards service design, while DiUS and Newpath lean towards products.

Do Melbourne UX agencies work with government?

Many do. Portable, Today, ThinkPlace and Newpath all list government clients or projects, and Today, Portable, Paper Giant and ThinkPlace run studios in Canberra as well as Melbourne.

Should I hire a UX agency or a branding agency?

Choose a UX agency when the main deliverable is a product or service people use, and a branding agency when it is identity and positioning. For brand-led projects, see our list of the best branding agencies in Melbourne.

How long does a UX design project take?

It varies with scope. A discovery and research phase often takes several weeks, and design and build for a full product can run for months. Ask the agency to set out phases, research rounds and review points before work starts.

Related lists

UX design agencies in other cities: Sydney · New York · London · Los Angeles · Toronto

More in Melbourne: Creative agencies · Design agencies · Branding agencies · Marketing agencies · Advertising agencies

Run your design team on Fabric: Fabric for designers · Fabric for agencies · Review and approval