ustwo
The studio balancing JPMorgan engagements with its own hit video game.
Founded 2004 | London, UK | ~260 employees
product-designmobile-designweb-designux-research
What is ustwo?
Matt Miller and John Sinclair started ustwo in Shoreditch, London, in November 2004. Two decades on, the studio runs from London, New York, Malmö, Tokyo, and Lisbon with roughly 260 people (as of the last published figure, in 2022). ustwo's client work includes early engagements with Sony Ericsson and JPMorgan, but it's arguably just as well known for something it built for itself: the studio's own game, Monument Valley, picked up major industry awards on its own merits.
ustwo works primarily with clients in Consumer products, Enterprise transformation sectors. Its primary differentiator is: One of the few studios on this list that ships both enterprise client work and its own award-winning consumer product, Monument Valley.
ustwo tech stack and services
FigmaSketchSwiftKotlinAdobe Creative Suite
| Service area |
|---|
| Product Design |
| Mobile App Design |
| Web Design |
| UX Research |
ustwo pricing
Short answer: ustwo uses a fixed project, dedicated team pricing approach. Minimum engagement starts at Not published.
| Engagement model | Typical range | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| Fixed project | From Not published | Well-defined scope |
| Dedicated team | Variable; depends on team size | Large programmes or team augmentation |
ustwo does not publish a public rate card. Contact them directly via their website to get project-specific pricing.
ustwo pros and cons
| Advantages | Things to consider |
|---|---|
| +Independently owned and operating continuously since 2004 | -The 260-person figure is from 2022; no more recent public headcount is available |
| +Studio presence across five cities — London, New York, Malmö, Tokyo, Lisbon | -General digital product studio positioning means less vertical specialization than fintech- or healthcare-only boutiques |
| +Built and shipped its own consumer product (Monument Valley), evidence of design craft beyond client work | -Minimum engagement size isn't published, making early budget planning harder |
| +260-person team is large enough for multi-stream engagements while staying boutique in culture |
ustwo vs alternatives
How ustwo compares to the other top Product Design agencies.
| Company | Best for | Key difference | Rating | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Phenomenon Studio | Founders needing one accountable team, not a design/dev... | Runs a mandatory discovery phase before design work starts, then keeps the same senior team through development and post-launch support — a structural choice most competitors on this list don't make | 4.9 | Full comparison |
| IDEO | Enterprises, multi-year transformation programs, big budgets. | Originated the human-centered design methodology most of this list now practices, backed by roughly 24 studios and three decades of enterprise transformation work | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Frog | Enterprises needing digital plus physical product design. | Combines physical hardware design (IoT, automotive, medical devices) with software product design, a pairing most competitors on this list have dropped | 3.7 | Full comparison |
| R/GA | Large brands, product design bundled with marketing. | Pairs product design with marketing and brand strategy under one roof, now operating independently of a holding company for the first time in over two decades | 3.7 | Full comparison |
| Accenture Song | Regulated enterprises — banking, telecom, automotive — embedded... | 36 studios and 2,000+ specialists operating inside Accenture's enterprise consulting arm — the largest global footprint of any agency on this list, with compliance coverage to match | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Work & Co | Premium brands, design paired with strong engineering. | An engineering-heavy studio with a client roster (Apple, IKEA, Nike, Disney) unusually strong for its size, now operating inside Accenture Song | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Huge Inc | Large enterprise brands, big recently-restructured agency. | One of the longest-running agency names on this list, now reset under new private-equity ownership and merged with Hero Digital | 3.7 | Full comparison |
| Fantasy | Consumer/tech brands, independent studio, growing AI practice. | Stayed independently owned for over two decades while most agencies its size sold to a holding company — with a client list (Nike, Disney, Spotify) to match the larger names on this list | 3.8 | Full comparison |
| Instrument | Brands wanting design bundled with marketing, Stagwell-network. | Blends product design with brand and marketing services at Stagwell-network scale, backed by a client list spanning Nike, Google, and Airbnb | 3.7 | Full comparison |
| MetaLab | Well-funded SaaS/fintech, full-stack design through design systems. | A design portfolio (Slack, Uber, Coinbase, Midjourney) that outsizes its 160-person headcount, covering the full stack from research through design systems | 4.1 | Full comparison |
| Clay | B2B SaaS, AI, fintech — big-tech credibility, low... | An unusually large enterprise client roster (Coinbase, Meta, Google, Slack) for a studio that doesn't publish its own founding year or team size | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| Ramotion | Startups/mid-market, brand identity plus product design. | Bundles brand identity work with UX/UI and app development for a client range spanning early-stage startups to Fortune 500 companies | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| Netguru | Companies wanting design plus full development, one team. | Combines product design with full software delivery at a scale (600–900+ people, 1,000+ projects) most boutiques on this list can't match | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| Fireart Studio | Startups/mid-market, design plus full development, one studio. | 700+ delivered projects across 200+ clients, with independently verified 'Leading UX Design Team' recognition on Clutch | 4.5 | Full comparison |
| Qubstudio | Fintech, logistics, healthcare — MVP through enterprise redesign. | Ranked #1 UX/UI agency on Clutch's 2026 rankings across 90+ reviews, with Red Dot Design Award recognition on top | 4.6 | Full comparison |
| Excited | SaaS/fintech teams, Clutch-ranked specialist, accessible pricing. | Repeatedly ranked Top 5 UX agency worldwide by Clutch, with roughly 70% of reviews citing quality and creativity by name | 4.6 | Full comparison |
| Bakken & Bæck | Tech companies (AI, decentralized systems), design plus research. | A five-city European studio that blends design with genuine computer-science research depth, evidenced by recent AI work for Sierra and Coinbase | 4.2 | Full comparison |
| Big Human | Startups/consumer brands, small senior studio, product builders. | A compact 35-person studio with its own consumer product hits (HQ Trivia, Vine) behind it, not just client work | 4.0 | Full comparison |
| UXDA | Banks and fintech, exclusively financial-services UX. | The only studio on this list built exclusively around financial-services UX, with 150+ banking and fintech platforms shaped across 39 countries | 4.3 | Full comparison |
| Onething Design | Multi-vertical companies, one studio across five industries. | Covers five distinct industries — BFSI, consumer, enterprise, healthcare, automotive — from one team with both US and India delivery presence | 3.9 | Full comparison |
| UX studio | Complex B2B SaaS, research-first design partner. | A research-first methodology comparable in rigor to Phenomenon Studio's own discovery-first approach, applied specifically to complex B2B SaaS products | 4.4 | Full comparison |
| Halo Lab | E-commerce/web-app teams, #1 Dribbble studio, award-heavy. | Currently ranked the #1 Dribbble Team globally, backed by 70+ design awards and a 4.9 Clutch rating | 4.5 | Full comparison |
ustwo FAQ
What is ustwo?
The studio balancing JPMorgan engagements with its own hit video game.
How much does ustwo charge?
ustwo uses fixed project, dedicated team pricing. Minimum engagement starts at Not published. A discovery call is required to get project-specific quotes.
What tech stack does ustwo use?
ustwo works with Figma, Sketch, Swift, Kotlin, Adobe Creative Suite. Primary industries served include Consumer products, Enterprise transformation.
Is ustwo right for enterprise?
Enterprise/consumer teams, two decades, genuine product craft. ~260 team size. Key consideration: The 260-person figure is from 2022; no more recent public headcount is available.
What are the best ustwo alternatives?
The best alternatives to ustwo depend on your use case. Top options are:
- Phenomenon Studio: runs a mandatory discovery phase before design work starts, then keeps the same senior team through development and post-launch support — a structural choice most competitors on this list don't make
- IDEO: originated the human-centered design methodology most of this list now practices, backed by roughly 24 studios and three decades of enterprise transformation work
- Frog: combines physical hardware design (iot, automotive, medical devices) with software product design, a pairing most competitors on this list have dropped
Compare ustwo with other Product Design agencies
ustwo vs Phenomenon Studio ustwo vs IDEO ustwo vs Frog ustwo vs R/GA ustwo vs Accenture Song ustwo vs Work & Co ustwo vs Huge Inc ustwo vs Fantasy ustwo vs Instrument ustwo vs MetaLab ustwo vs Clay ustwo vs Ramotion ustwo vs Netguru ustwo vs Fireart Studio ustwo vs Qubstudio ustwo vs Excited ustwo vs Bakken & Bæck ustwo vs Big Human ustwo vs UXDA ustwo vs Onething Design ustwo vs UX studio ustwo vs Halo Lab
Verify all details directly with ustwo before making a decision.