11 Top Digital Product Design Agencies in Canada (2026)

Finding a solid UI/UX partner among the many design companies in Canada is weirdly difficult, even though some of the world’s best software was born here (looking at you, Slack and Shopify).

The problem is the noise. If you search for "design agencies in Canada," you get a flood of shops that are great at making pretty marketing websites or print ads, but don’t design a SaaS dashboard or an AI tool that doesn't hallucinate.

If you’re building software, you need product designers. We did the digging for you and reviewed portfolios from Vancouver to Halifax, looking for teams that have actually shipped complex software, not just Dribbble shots.

The result is a shortlist of 11 top digital product design companies in Canada, from massive enterprise transformers to boutique startup partners.

1. MetaLab: best for zero-to-one interface design

If you want your product to look like the next billion-dollar unicorn, you go to MetaLab. Based in Victoria and Vancouver, this is the Canadian design team that designed the original interface for Slack, basically inventing the modern SaaS aesthetic in the process.

Founded in 2006 and now part of Andrew Wilkinson’s Tiny empire, they manage a rare balance: the muscle of a 200+ person powerhouse with the energy of a startup. MetaLab has perfected the art of zero-to-one product creation, turning rough ideas into market-ready products. 

Key info

• Location: Canada (Victoria & Vancouver), distributed NA + EU

• Founded: 2006

• Size: Large (~200+ employees)

• Pricing: Premium, undisclosed, $100K+ starting budgets

• Core services: UX/UI design, design systems, UX research & testing, ideation & prototyping, engineering, product management

• In-house dev: Yes

• Key industries: AI, ecommerce, finance, health & wellness, productivity, SaaS, media

• Notable clients: Suno, Uber, Ro, Atoms, Midjourney, Upwork, The Atlantic, Calvin Klein

Case studies

• Midjourney: Created the web platform for the world’s leading AI image generator.

• Suno AI: Designed an app that hit top charts within 24 hours of launch.

• Atomic Habits App: Productized James Clear’s bestselling behavioral system into a high-retention mobile app.

➕ What clients love

MetaLab is one of the few studios that can originate a product category instead of designing within an existing one. They’re exceptional at positioning + UX + polish, and they’ve emerged as a credible partner for AI-native products that need to feel intuitive to non-technical end-users. Besides, having MetaLab on your pitch deck acts as a signal of quality to VCs. 

⚠️ A few watch-outs

• Price tag: They are arguably the most expensive option on this list.

• Selectivity: They turn down a lot of work. You need a big budget and idea to get in the door.

2. Cieden: best for complex business logic & AI-readiness

Cieden is the design agency you hire when the problem is too complex for a standard design shop. If MetaLab is about consumer flair, Cieden is about operational precision. Founded by a former design professor, the team works from a simple philosophy: great design is useless if it doesn't align with business goals.

They specialize in the B2B trenches: ERPs, supply chain dashboards, and healthcare workflows where one confusing action can cost millions. They’re also a pioneer in AI prototyping, allowing founders to validate logic before writing a single line of code. 

Key info

• Location: Canada (Toronto), USA, Ukraine, hubs in Europe

• Founded: 2016

• Size: Medium (~45+ employees)

• Pricing: $50-$99/hr

• Core services: Digital product design, UX research, AI/ML interfaces, rapid prototyping, development

• In-house dev: Yes

• Key industries: Healthcare, edtech, fintech, real estate, ecommerce, sales intelligence

• Notable clients: Apollo.io, Blizzard, Sitenna, Lykon, Carbon Lighthouse, Foqal, Way2B1, MedEntry

Case snapshots

• Sitenna: Simplified telecom workflows, helping the client secure $5.1M in funding.

• Lykon: Redesigned a personalized nutrition platform, boosting their NPS by 135%.

• Apollo: Partnered with the unicorn to prototype hyper-personalized AI messaging flows.

• MedEntry: Revamped a medical education platform to improve student retention and engagement.

• Tandom: Redesigned an AI automation platform that builds chat-based agents for logistics workflows.

➕ What clients love

Clients consistently note that Cieden challenges their assumptions. If a founder asks for a feature that doesn't make business sense, Cieden’s design team will push back with data and research. They are also highly praised for their AI-readiness, helping non-technical companies visualize how LLMs can fit into their existing user flows without feeling forced.

⚠️ A few watch-outs

• Research-heavy: If you want a quick visual skin, their process might feel too thorough.

• Not for ads: They build software, not marketing campaigns.

3. Konrad: best for enterprise digital transformation

Konrad is the heavy hitter you bring in when failure is not an option. Operating less like a design studio and more like a massive digital consultancy, they focus on helping legacy giants (like McDonald's and Spotify) act like agile tech companies.

As a major player among design agencies in Toronto, their strength is orchestration: aligning product strategy, UX research, brand systems, and engineering across multiple user types (internal + external), regulatory constraints, and legacy infrastructure. If you’re a bank, telco, insurer, government org, or global brand with 10+ surfaces to unify, Konrad is a safe bet.

Key info

• Location: Canada (Toronto, Vancouver), USA, Costa Rica, UK

• Founded: 2006

• Size: Large (600+ employees)

• Pricing: $150-$200+/hr

• Core services: Digital strategy, enterprise UX, custom software development, AI & data

• In-house dev: Yes

• Key industries: Retail, automotive, finance, hospitality, fintech

• Notable clients: McDonald’s, Kia, Spotify, PCL, EQ Bank, NYU, Savant, DIAGEO

Case snapshots

• McDonald’s: Built the mobile ordering and loyalty app experience for the Canadian market.

• Kia: Completely reimagined their digital showroom experience.

• PayPal: Partnered on strategic interface initiatives to simplify financial transaction flows for business users.

➕ What clients love

If you are a bank, an airline, or a global retailer, you can't hire a team of three people. Konrad brings the sheer horsepower needed to overhaul massive systems without breaking them. They are as good at the backend engineering as they are at the pixels. Besides, they have been around for nearly 20 years and aren't going anywhere.

⚠️ A few watch-outs

• Consultancy vibe: The process can feel a bit corporate compared to smaller studios.

• Slow-moving: Big ships turn slowly; not ideal for an MVP launch.

4. Apply Digital: best for composable platforms

Apply Digital was founded by people who saw that the future of web design was in ecosystems. They specialize in composable commerce and headless architectures. This means they design systems where the UX is fluid across mobile apps, smartwatches, and web platforms, all powered by a flexible backend that can change without breaking the design.

They are the go-to partner for scale-ups and enterprises that need a platform strategy. Hit them up if you are building an entire digital infrastructure that connects sales, customer support, and user engagement.

Key info

• Location: Canada (Vancouver, Toronto), Chile

• Founded: 2016

• Size: Large (740+ employees)

• Pricing: Premium, undisclosed

• Core services: Business strategy, brand and experience, AI, product development, tech advisory and engineering, data intelligence, marketing services, managed services

• In-house dev: Yes

• Key industries: B2B manufacturing, D2D brands, healthcare, sports, gaming, telecom

• Notable clients: Moderna, Kraft Heinz, Arc’teryx, Sony, Lululemon, Coca-Cola, Telus

Case snapshots

• Bancolombia: Unified 200+ pages using composable architecture and increased page download speed by 51%.

• Atlassian: Delivered a modern CMS that cut time-to-market from 3 months to 10 minutes.

• Arc’teryx: Drove a double-digit lift in mobile ecommerce conversions through UX and performance improvements.

➕ What clients love

Clients love that Apply doesn't build monoliths. Their composable approach means that if you want to swap out your payment processor or CMS in two years, the whole design doesn't fall apart. They build digital products designed to evolve and work best when a company needs strategy, UX, and engineering to move in lockstep. 

⚠️ A few watch-outs

• Overkill for simple sites: If you don't have a tech stack, their approach might be too much.

• Enterprise-sized: Engagements assume multi-month digital programs, not seed-stage MVPs.

• Stakeholder load: Works best with dedicated internal PMs to keep cross-unit work moving.

5. Orizon Design: best for fast UI and product polish

There’s a moment in every product’s life where the functionality is there, but the UX and visual system can’t keep up. That’s Orizon’s lane. They focus on facelift projects, reworking flows and building design systems that make the product feel five years more mature overnight.

They’re very much a designer’s design studio: small, senior, visually sharp, and fast. Most clients come in with a working product or early MVP. Orizon runs a structured discovery → UX → UI process and comes back with flows and design systems that look expensive and still make sense to build.

Key info

• Location: Canada (Montreal)

• Founded: 2017

• Size: Small (~27 employees)

• Pricing: $5,990/mo (subscription-based)

• Core services: Web services, app design, branding & marketing, illustrations & motion, development

• In-house dev: Yes

• Key industries: Fintech, AI, healthtech, gaming, data platforms

• Notable clients: Apple, Red Bull, Zara, Instantly, Telus, Tinder, Netflix, Coinbase

Case studies

• Vivodyne: Reimagined the product + brand experience with immersive 3D and narrative UX, contributing to a $38M investment round.

• Instantly.ai: Redesigned the platform + mobile app with task-first UX, driving 50,000 new paid subscribers and ~$1M in new revenue.

• Creek: Built a new design system and wearable UX to bridge Asian → North American market expectations.

➕ What clients love

Clients repeatedly mention two things: speed and process. Orizon turns your ideas into sharp flows quickly and keeps everything organized with weekly milestones. Reviews call out their ability to translate brand and positioning into screens, their attention to detail, and the fact that they push back when something hurts the UX instead of saying yes to every request.

⚠️ A few watch-outs 

• Not cheap: Multiple clients started out thinking they were expensive and later decided the quality justified it.

• Needs your input: If you don’t give clear product goals, you’ll be doing more steering.

• Weekly cadence: If you want same-day micro-iterations, you’ll need to agree on tighter collaboration upfront. 

6. MindSea: best for digital health (mHealth)

MindSea started as a mobile app shop but successfully pivoted into a specialized healthcare design agency in Canada. They focus on the unique challenges of digital health: privacy (HIPAA/PIPEDA compliance), accessibility for diverse age groups, and the psychology of behavior change.

They act as a bridge between medical professionals and patients. They understand that a health app can't just be easy to use, as it has to be clinically valid and engaging enough that patients actually stick to their therapy.

Key info

• Location: Canada (Halifax, Toronto)

• Founded: 2007

• Size: Small (~25 employees)

• Pricing: $150-$199/hr

• Core services: Digital health app development, UX design, mobile app development, custom software development, wearable app development

• In-house dev: Yes

• Key industries: Digital health, wellness, medtech

• Notable clients: University of Toronto, University of Manitoba, Halterix, Blue Charm Adherence, Mathison Technologies

Case snapshots

• BEAM (University of Manitoba): Built a family mental health platform now used in research + ORCHA-recommended for digital mental health.

• Halterix: Designed a smartwatch-based PT motion tracking experience used for clinical research and investor validation.

• Blue Charm Adherence: Prototyped a privacy-first medication adherence platform across Canada/US with multi-stakeholder flows.

➕ What clients love 

Designing for health means you can't use standard growth hacks to hook users. MindSea understands the ethical boundaries of the medical field. They are excellent at making scary medical data look friendly and understandable to non-doctors.

⚠️ A few watch-outs

• Not a sprint shop: Institutional research cycles can be slow, and MindSea is built to match.

• Compliance overhead: Regulatory/privacy work adds scope, so clients must budget for audits and validation.

• Requires co-creation: Best results come when domain experts (clinical, PT, behavioral) are actively embedded.

7. Polyform Studio: best for the designer co-founder model

Polyform operates differently from almost every other Canadian design agency on this list. They position themselves as a designer co-founder. Instead of taking a brief and delivering screens as a vendor, they often embed themselves into early-stage startups to help pitch and launch the company from scratch.

Most startups fail because their marketing site promises one thing and their app delivers another. Polyform builds both simultaneously, making sure the story matches the software. Their team has a track record of helping launch 50+ startups, with founders who have previously led design for massive acquisitions.

Key info

• Location: Canada (Vancouver)

• Founded: 2020

• Size: Small (~6 employees)

• Pricing: $100-$149/hr

• Core services: Product strategy, product design, startup branding, launch creative

• In-house dev: No (they help source engineering partners)

• Key industries: AI, gaming, spatial computing

• Notable clients: BeatBox, Boost, Paramount, RTFKT, Red Bull, Juna, PopMart

Case studies

• Boost: Reimagined a financial management app for creators with new UX and refreshed branding that resonated better with their target users.

• BeatBox: Designed the entire digital ecosystem for a gamified karaoke experience in NYC, creating a link between the physical venue and the digital app.

• Youth Olympic Games AR App: Created an Emmy-nominated AR experience for the IOC that turned real Winter Youth Games venues into immersive digital twins.

➕ What clients love

Polyform is unusually strong at the high-stakes product definition stage. Reviews consistently call out their ability to think like founders and go deep on user research instead of shipping pretty screens. Clients praise the way they balance strategy and execution and their willingness to challenge assumptions to get to a better product.

⚠️ A few watch-outs 

• Not ideal for low-touch outsourcing: They behave like an embedded product team, which can feel intense for slower orgs.

• Development not in-house: You’ll need either your own engineers or a partner dev shop to build.

• Pace is startup-oriented: Great fit for fast-moving teams; can be a culture shock for more rigid corporate processes.

8. Webgamma: best for growth-driven product design

Sitting at the intersection of product design and growth marketing, Webgamma is a Montreal-based studio often hired by companies that have a product in the market but aren't seeing the user retention or activation metrics they want.

They frame their services around revenue-driven transformation. This means they look at your interface as a funnel. Whether it’s a SaaS dashboard or a B2B platform, they treat every screen as a conversion step, optimizing layouts to reduce churn and increase user value.

Key info

• Location: Canada (Montreal, Vancouver)

• Founded: 2015

• Size: Small

• Pricing: $150-$199/hr

• Core services: Branding, development, UI/UX design, UX research, AI integration, design support

• In-house dev: Yes

• Key industries: Beauty, construction, entertainment, fintech, health, manufacturing

• Notable clients: triLED, Ci Wallet, No Culture, VIA, Operatif, Haircheck

Case studies

• SaaS platform: Led a full platform redesign + new onboarding + design system for a CDP product consolidating customer data across sources.

• Ci Wallet: Designed a Web3 crypto wallet interface with staking, asset swaps, brand identity, and UI components.

• Looplay: Reintroduced a sports tech startup with refreshed UI/UX, website, development, and messaging clarity.

➕ What clients love

Clients appreciate that Webgamma speaks the language of business (ROI, leads, conversion) rather than just design theory. They are practical and flexible, and reviews frequently mention their ability to adapt to shifting timelines and surpass expectations on delivery speed.

⚠️ A few watch-outs 

• Structured cadence: Webgamma runs a design-led process, which may feel slow to teams expecting rapid code-first iteration.

• Category focus: Their portfolio leans consumer, so B2B and deep enterprise apps may need extra onboarding context.

9. Osedea: best for robotics & industrial interfaces

Osedea is unique on this list because they specialize in the interfaces that control physical machines. While most agencies design for screens in comfortable offices, Osedea designs for factory floors and construction sites. They are the team you need when your user is a maintenance worker wearing safety gloves.

If you are building tools for the real world (manufacturing, logistics, robotics), they understand the environmental constraints that standard web agencies miss.

Key info

• Location: Canada (Montreal)

• Founded: 2011

• Size: Medium (~68 employees)

• Pricing: $100-$149/hr

• Core services: Digital product design, software development, AI, robotics solutions

• In-house dev: Yes

• Key industries: Manufacturing, health, mining, finance, agri-food

• Notable clients: MoCA Cognition, Genius Solutions, Kruger, Halo Dental Technologies, NanoXplore, Corem

Case studies

• MoCA Cognition: Built and integrated AI models to automatically score the Montreal Cognitive Assessment in a tablet-based app, achieving >90% accuracy.

• Genius Solutions: Designed predictive models and a domain-specific agentic assistant, including Azure ML pipelines and multilingual knowledge ingestion.

• Opex (Kruger Products): Redesigned an internal setpoint tuning app for paper mills, turning it into a real-time visual tool that helps operators monitor heavy machinery.

➕ What clients love 

Clients love that Osedea behaves like a true product partner. Reviews highlight their customer-centric approach: they start from user stories and business value, then back into architecture and AI choices instead of over-engineering from day one. Teams praise their ability to quickly understand domain-specific problems and integrate seamlessly with existing tooling.

⚠️ A few watch-outs

• Cloud & AI learning curve: For clients new to Azure or advanced AI, you should budget time for internal education and joint decision-making.

• Documentation depth: Larger organizations that rely heavily on internal teams may want to specify upfront the level of documentation.

• Domain expertise: On very specialized AI or industrial use cases, Osedea will lean on your subject-matter experts.

10. Profico: best for staff augmentation

Profico operates on a hybrid model that is increasingly popular for scale-ups: they have local leadership and account management in Toronto, but their massive delivery team is based in Europe. This makes them a good choice for companies that need to scale their design and product teams overnight without the long lead times of local hiring.

Profico is a product delivery agency, often building the product end-to-end. They are particularly famous for their work in Smart City tech and complex SaaS tools, where the design needs to be functional above all else.

Key info

• Location: Canada (Toronto), Croatia

• Founded: 2012

• Size: Medium (~67 employees)

• Pricing: $50-$99/hr

• Core services: Product design, custom software development, digital transformation, applied AI, data analytics, and business intelligence

• In-house dev: Yes

• Key industries: Smart City, mobility, fintech, SaaS

• Notable clients: Hyre, Vinify, Hegnar Media, More Screens, Partslife

Case studies

• Vinify: Designed web and mobile apps, supporting growth to 50,000+ monthly users in 80+ countries.

• Hyre: Built four B2B car-sharing platforms (fleet management, invoicing, repair shops, and business rentals), enabling Hyre to expand beyond P2P.

➕ What clients love

If you need five senior product designers to start next Monday, Profico can usually make it happen faster than a local boutique. Clients love the one team feel. Despite the time zone difference, their process is set up to deliver work while the North American team sleeps, creating a 24-hour production cycle.

⚠️ A few watch-outs 

• Engagement model: They work best as an embedded product partner, so they’re overkill if you only need a tiny one-off project.

• Scope and ambition: Profico is used to owning full product slices, which is great if you want that leadership, but might feel heavy if you’re only looking for extra hands.

11. Idea Theorem: best for risk-averse corporate innovation

Idea Theorem lives up to its name by applying a structured, almost scientific approach to design. They are the favorite choice for mid-sized corporate and public sector clients who need to minimize risk. If you have a boardroom full of stakeholders who are skeptical about design, Idea Theorem is the partner to hire because they justify every pixel with data.

They focus heavily on the discovery & validation phase, using user journey mapping and persona audits before they ever open Figma. Their process is specifically designed to prove that a product will work before development starts.

Key info

• Location: Canada (Toronto)

• Founded: 2013

• Size: Small (~18 employees)

• Pricing: $100-$149/hr

• Core services: Customer experience, development, testing, product design, cloud services

• In-house dev: Yes

• Key industries: Healthcare, public sector, energy & resources, entertainment, fintech

• Notable clients: Woodbine, LifeLabs, College of Nurses of Ontario, FPInnovations, George Brown College, CPA, IBM

Case studies

• Woodbine: Completely reworked the IA and UI for a horse-racing hospitality site.

• LifeLabs: Redesigned and helped rebuild Canada’s largest lab provider portal used by 3M+ patients.

• College of Nurses of Ontario: Ran in-depth UX testing on CNO’s new online education portal (JE + QA modules), then delivered a detailed findings report.

➕ What clients love

You are buying the research paper that proves the design is correct. This is invaluable for getting budget approval in conservative industries. Clients often cite their UX audits as a standout service, as they will tear apart an existing product and tell you exactly why it's failing based on usability heuristics.

⚠️ A few watch-outs

• Scope upfront: You’ll get the best value if you come in with a reasonably clear problem statement and success metrics.

• Boutique scale: They are a small, senior team, so for massive multi-stream builds, you should confirm resourcing and timelines early. 

The methodology behind our top Canadian agency picks

We evaluated dozens of design agencies in Canada, from major hubs like Toronto and Vancouver to remote-first teams in the Maritimes.

We weren't looking for digital marketing agencies, but rather for serious product teams.

Here’s exactly how we vetted the list:

• Product complexity vs. marketing: We looked for portfolios that went deeper than landing pages. The agencies on this list have tackled the hard stuff: legacy system overhauls, complex SaaS dashboards, compliance-heavy healthcare apps, and AI interfaces. 

• Tangible business impact: Case studies are great, but results are better. We prioritized design agencies that could point to real ROI: increasing user retention, securing Series A funding, reducing support tickets, or boosting conversion rates. 

• Verified client reputation: We looked at third-party reviews on platforms like Clutch and verified client testimonials. Do they ghost clients after launch? Do they blow past budgets? Or do they act like true partners? We only included teams with a track record of reliability and transparency (Clutch ratings 4.9+).

• Industry adaptability: The best product teams can speak multiple languages: business, tech, and design. We favored agencies that showed they could adapt to different verticals, moving from fintech to healthtech to edtech without missing a beat. 

Who’s the right UX partner for you?

We hope this list makes your search for a great Canadian design partner a little less overwhelming.

If you’re not sure where to begin, feel free to reach out to Cieden. We’ve partnered with product teams across North America on everything from early-stage builds to full redesigns, and we’re always up for a no-pressure chat. If we’re the right fit, great. If not, we’ll gladly point you toward someone on this list who might be.