ChatGPT answers, unedited

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Rocket Wagon - 600 W Fulton St Suite #510, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• One Design Company - 230 W Superior St #700, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• IA Collaborative - 218 S Wabash Ave 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States
• First Insights - 401 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• Ux.haus - 318 W Adams St, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

If your priorities are specifically usability testing + rapid prototyping, and you want someone reasonably close to Fulton Market / River North, I’d narrow the field considerably.

I wouldn’t pick based on generic “best UX agency” lists alone; I’d look for evidence that they actually combine research → prototype → test → iterate.

My shortlist

• Grand Studio — River North

• 444 N Wells St, right in River North.
• Particularly relevant if you have a complex product, enterprise workflow, or ambiguous problem.
• Their offering explicitly combines UX research, usability testing, prototyping, and product strategy. Clutch currently lists them at 20% usability testing / 60% UX strategy / 20% user research. Clutch
• Best fit: complex product where you want serious research and rapid iteration rather than just UI production.
• Watch-out: Clutch lists a typical minimum of $100K+, so this may be overkill for a small sprint. Clutch
• Rocket Wagon — Fulton Market

• 600 W Fulton St, directly in the Fulton Market area.
• More product/innovation-oriented than a conventional branding agency.
• Clutch lists $25K+ minimums and $150–199/hr, which gives you a rough sense of the engagement level. Clutch
• Best fit: you want to get from idea → prototype → something testable quickly, with engineering/product capability nearby.
• One Design Company — River North

• 230 W Superior St.
• Research-driven design and digital product work, with a relatively boutique feel.
• Best fit: a smaller engagement where you want close collaboration rather than a large consultancy.
• TXI — Chicago

• Strong combination of user research, human-centered design, rapid prototyping and software development. Clutch
• Best fit: you're not just testing screens—you want the research to feed directly into a product that gets built.
• Watch-out: typically a more substantial engagement; Clutch lists $50K+ projects and $200–300/hr. Clutch
• Fuzzy Math — Chicago

• Particularly interesting for B2B/enterprise products and complicated workflows.
• Their capabilities include prototypes/wireframes and usability testing; Expertise specifically cites both prototyping and usability testing. Expertise
• Best fit: SaaS, internal tools, enterprise software, or anything where understanding the workflow matters more than flashy UI.

If I were hiring for your exact criteria

I'd interview Grand Studio, Rocket Wagon, and Fuzzy Math first.

Not as a ranking, but because they represent three materially different approaches:

There's also Bold Insight (Chicago) at 125 S Wacker if usability research itself is the dominant requirement. They operate a dedicated research facility for moderated studies, stakeholder observation and hybrid/remote research. Clutch That would make more sense if you already have the prototype and primarily need rigorous testing rather than someone to design the product.

One important distinction

If you tell an agency, “We need UX,” you can end up paying for a lot of deliverables you don't actually need.

For a rapid cycle, I'd ask each firm for a proposal around:

1 week discovery → 1 week prototype → 1 week usability testing → 1 week iteration

and require that the proposal specify:

• number and profile of test participants
• whether they recruit participants
• moderated vs. unmoderated testing
• clickable Figma prototype
• number of prototype iterations
• whether you can observe sessions live
• what research artifacts you receive
• how quickly they go from findings to redesigned prototype
• total fixed cost

That will reveal very quickly which agencies are actually optimized for rapid learning versus agencies that primarily sell larger UX/design engagements.

If you give me your approximate budget (e.g. $10–25K, $25–50K, $50K+) and whether this is B2B SaaS, consumer, fintech, healthcare, etc., I can narrow this to 2–3 firms and tell you exactly what I'd ask each one in the first call.

If you tell an agency, “We need UX,” you can end up paying for a lot of deliverables you don't actually need.

For a rapid cycle, I'd ask each firm for a proposal around:

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States
• Perficient Digital Labs - 217 N Jefferson St #300, Chicago, IL 60661, United States

If your two priorities are usability testing + rapid prototyping, I’d narrow the Chicago field considerably. I wouldn’t choose purely by proximity, but there are several strong options in or very close to Fulton Market/River North.

My shortlist

• Grand Studio — River North

• 444 N Wells St
• Particularly relevant if you want the whole loop of research → prototype → test → iterate.
• Their current offering explicitly includes usability testing during builds, concept development, prototyping, and iterative testing. Clutch
• Best fit: complex product, enterprise workflow, service/product innovation.
• Fuzzy Math — near Fulton Market

• 1440 N Dayton
• Strong research orientation: moderated/unmoderated usability testing, contextual research, task analysis, tree testing, and UX assessments. Expertise
• Best fit: you already have a product/problem and want rigorous research feeding directly into prototype iterations.
• UX 4Sight — Loop

• 111 W Jackson Blvd
• Explicitly combines user research, usability testing, wireframing, UX strategy and design validation. Clutch currently lists 20% usability testing, 50% UX strategy and 30% user research. Clutch
• Best fit: research-heavy SaaS, fintech, healthcare, or enterprise product work.
• TXI — Chicago

• 10 S Riverside Plaza
• More of a product development partner than a pure UX shop: user research, rapid prototyping/Lean UX, experiments, design and engineering. Clutch
• Best fit: you want to go from prototype into an actual working product rather than stop at UX deliverables.
• Bold Insight (Chicago) — Loop

• 125 S Wacker Dr
• I'd consider them if testing/research is the dominant requirement. They specialize in usability testing, concept evaluation, workflow studies and human-factors research, with facilities for moderated studies and stakeholder observation.
• Best fit: rigorous research/testing where you don't necessarily need an agency to own the entire product-design process.

So, who should you hire?

For the specific combination you gave me, I'd interview Grand Studio, Fuzzy Math, and TXI first.

The distinction is:

I would not treat the published agency rankings as a definitive “best” ranking—for example, Clutch's September 2026 data has different firms prominent depending on whether you filter for general UX or usability testing. Clutch Clutch

One thing I'd ask each agency

Give all three the same 30-minute brief and ask:

“We need to turn this concept into a clickable prototype, test it with 5–8 target users, identify the highest-impact usability problems, iterate the prototype, and deliver the validated version. Show us exactly how you'd run the first two weeks.”

The responses will tell you much more than their portfolios. In particular, look for who will actually conduct the sessions, how quickly they'll get a prototype in front of users, whether recruiting is included, and how many test/iterate cycles your fee buys.

If you tell me what you're building, your approximate budget, and whether you need them to build the product after prototyping, I can narrow these to the 2–3 firms that fit your project and pull together their current contact/site details. Clutch

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Perficient Digital Labs - 217 N Jefferson St #300, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• Matrix Research, Inc. - 171 N Aberdeen St, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• First Insights - 401 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States

If your brief is specifically usability testing + rapid prototyping, and you want a Chicago partner reasonably close to Fulton Market / River North, I’d put the shortlist around these firms:

• Grand Studio — 444 N Wells St, River North. Their documented process runs from discovery and concept development through prototyping and iterative usability testing. Clutch lists them at 20% usability testing, 20% user research and 60% UX strategy; their typical engagements are also relatively substantial. Clutch

Fit: complex products, service design, enterprise workflows, research-heavy prototyping.

• UX 4Sight — 111 W Jackson Blvd. Their service mix explicitly includes usability testing, user research, wireframing and design-validation testing. Clutch lists 20% usability testing, 30% user research and 50% UX strategy. Clutch

Fit: a fairly direct match if you want a dedicated UX research/design engagement rather than a large software-development shop.

• Fuzzy Math — 1440 N Dayton, near the West Loop/Fulton Market area. They specialize in UX research and complex digital products, including moderated/unmoderated usability testing, task analysis, prototyping and UX assessment. Expertise

Fit: B2B SaaS, enterprise tools and complicated workflows where understanding users matters more than visual polish.

• TXI — Chicago-based, with product discovery, user research, rapid prototyping/Lean UX and pilot experiments combined with software development. Bolder Apps

Fit: particularly relevant if you want to go from research → prototype → working product, rather than stopping at Figma.

• Perficient Digital Labs — 217 N Jefferson St, in the Fulton River/West Loop area. Their Chicago operation is associated with UX/UI and rapid prototyping alongside technology development.

Fit: when prototyping needs to connect closely to engineering or emerging technology.

Who I'd interview first

Rather than declaring one universally "best," the documented differences point to three particularly relevant conversations:

For pure UX research + testing: UX 4Sight or Fuzzy Math.
For complex product/service problems: Grand Studio.
For rapidly turning validated concepts into actual software: TXI.

One useful independent Chicago UX guide similarly distinguishes Fuzzy Math for complex enterprise systems and UX 4Sight for research-led UX, usability testing and product redesign. UX Planet

For context, current Chicago listings show substantial variation in minimum project size: Clutch lists UX 4Sight at $50K+, Grand Studio at $100K+, and Intechnic at $10K+, so budget can change the practical shortlist considerably. Clutch Clutch

If you tell me your approximate budget (e.g. <$25k, $25–75k, $75k+) and whether this is a SaaS/product, website, mobile app, or internal tool, I can narrow this to 2–3 agencies and give you a concrete interview scorecard.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• Ux.haus - 318 W Adams St, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• IA Collaborative - 218 S Wabash Ave 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604, United States

If usability testing + rapid prototyping are the two priorities, I’d narrow the Chicago field considerably. Based on current Chicago agency listings, service mix, and proximity to Fulton Market/River North, these are the firms I’d interview first. Clutch Clutch

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — my pick for your brief

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-819-2030)

444 N Wells St, River North

This is the strongest fit if you want a team that can go from research → prototype → usability testing → iteration without treating research as a separate deliverable. Their Chicago office is right in River North, and their offering explicitly includes usability testing, iterative prototyping, product strategy, and human-centered design. Clutch

Why I'd hire them: They appear particularly good for complex products where you don't yet know exactly what the right experience should be.

Watch-out: Likely more expensive and enterprise-oriented than a small startup-focused studio.

Best for: A meaningful product/workflow redesign where getting the UX right matters more than simply producing screens quickly.

2. Fuzzy Math — best pure UX/research choice

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+18665634650)

1440 N Dayton St — very close to Fulton Market/West Loop

Fuzzy Math is unusually aligned with your requirements: its service mix includes user research, usability testing, UX strategy, prototypes/wireframes, and product design. Clutch currently lists it at 25% usability testing, 25% user research, and 50% UX strategy. Clutch Expertise

I'd put them ahead of most generic "UX/UI agencies" if your real question is:

Can we get users in front of this thing quickly, learn what's wrong, and redesign it based on evidence?

Best for: B2B SaaS, enterprise workflows, complicated products, and teams that want a research-heavy partner.

Watch-out: They're not actually in Fulton Market proper; they're north of it. Still a very convenient Chicago option.

3. Ux.haus — best smaller/fast-moving option

Directions[Call](tel:+1 312-487-1675)

318 W Adams St

This is worth talking to if speed and hands-on execution matter more than having a large consultancy behind you. Their capabilities span product strategy, UX research, journey design, rapid prototyping, product design and testing.

I'd favor a smaller studio like this if you're a startup/product team saying:

"We need to turn our hypothesis into something testable in the next few weeks."

Best for: Early-stage products, MVPs, rapid validation.

4. TXI — best if prototyping needs to become software

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-244-3766)

TXI is less of a traditional UX agency and more of a digital product consultancy, with Chicago roots. Its capabilities include product discovery, user research, rapid prototyping/Lean UX and pilot experiments, alongside software development.

That's attractive if you don't just need a Figma prototype—you eventually need someone to build and validate the actual product.

Best for: Complex digital products where design and engineering need to work tightly together.

5. ArtVersion® Creative Agency — best dedicated testing infrastructure

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-837-7466)

Their Chicago office is downtown rather than Fulton Market/River North, but they have a particularly interesting Experience Lab offering focused on UX research and usability testing. Their process runs through research, strategy, design, development and testing.

I'd consider them if the testing operation itself is a major requirement rather than merely something you want included in a design project.

Who I'd actually hire

If you gave me your brief with no other information, my ranking would be:

There's independent support for putting Fuzzy Math and Grand Studio near the top: the current Chicago usability-testing rankings specifically highlight Fuzzy Math's usability-testing/user-research capabilities and Grand Studio's ability to synthesize research, develop prototypes and improve experiences. Clutch

My recommendation

I'd start with Grand Studio and Fuzzy Math.

Ask both for a 2–4 week usability/prototyping sprint, rather than asking for a giant UX redesign proposal. Specifically request:

1. 5–8 target-user interviews/usability sessions.
2. Review of your existing product or prototype.
3. Identification of the highest-risk workflows.
4. Low/mid-fidelity prototype.
5. Testing with actual target users.
6. One or two rapid iteration cycles.
7. A final prioritized set of UX recommendations and validated prototype.

That structure will tell you much more about whether they're good than their portfolios will.

One important distinction: if by "near Fulton Market or River North" you literally need the agency within walking distance of those neighborhoods, Grand Studio is the clear geographic winner of this shortlist. If geography is just shorthand for wanting a Chicago team familiar with the startup/product ecosystem, I'd prioritize Grand Studio → Fuzzy Math → Ux.haus.

If you tell me your product type (B2B SaaS, consumer app, healthcare, fintech, etc.), approximate budget, and whether you need an interactive Figma prototype or working code, I can narrow this to one agency and tell you exactly what I'd ask them to quote.

3. Ux.haus — best smaller/fast-moving option

318 W Adams St

This is worth talking to if speed and hands-on execution matter more than having a large consultancy behind you. Their capabilities span product strategy, UX research, journey design, rapid prototyping, product design and testing.

I'd favor a smaller studio like this if you're a startup/product team saying:

"We need to turn our hypothesis into something testable in the next few weeks."

Best for: Early-stage products, MVPs, rapid validation.

4. TXI — best if prototyping needs to become software

TXI is less of a traditional UX agency and more of a digital product consultancy, with Chicago roots. Its capabilities include product discovery, user research, rapid prototyping/Lean UX and pilot experiments, alongside software development.

That's attractive if you don't just need a Figma prototype—you eventually need someone to build and validate the actual product.

Best for: Complex digital products where design and engineering need to work tightly together.

5. ArtVersion® Creative Agency — best dedicated testing infrastructure

Their Chicago office is downtown rather than Fulton Market/River North, but they have a particularly interesting Experience Lab offering focused on UX research and usability testing. Their process runs through research, strategy, design, development and testing.

I'd consider them if the testing operation itself is a major requirement rather than merely something you want included in a design project.

Who I'd actually hire

If you gave me your brief with no other information, my ranking would be:

There's independent support for putting Fuzzy Math and Grand Studio near the top: the current Chicago usability-testing rankings specifically highlight Fuzzy Math's usability-testing/user-research capabilities and Grand Studio's ability to synthesize research, develop prototypes and improve experiences.

My recommendation

I'd start with Grand Studio and Fuzzy Math.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Dialogue Theory - 1932 S Halsted St #509, Chicago, IL 60608, United States
• Perficient Digital Labs - 217 N Jefferson St #300, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States

If your priorities are (1) real usability testing and (2) rapid prototyping, I’d narrow the Chicago field considerably. Being physically near Fulton Market/River North is useful, but I’d prioritize demonstrated research + prototype iteration over a 10-minute shorter commute.

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — my top pick

• River North: 444 N Wells St.
• Particularly strong fit if you're building a digital product, SaaS platform, complex workflow, or enterprise tool.
• Their work combines user research, UX strategy, workflow design and rapid prototyping. Clutch's current Chicago usability-testing ranking specifically highlights Grand Studio's ability to synthesize feedback and turn it into prototypes and actionable design solutions. Clutch
• Hire them if: you want a partner who will run research → prototype → test → iterate rather than simply make attractive screens.
• My rating for your criteria: 9.5/10
• TXI — best if you also need to build

• Chicago-based, with experience in user research, rapid prototyping, Lean UX and pilot experiments.
• Strong choice if the agency needs to go beyond prototypes into an actual MVP/product. Current Chicago listings put them at roughly $200–$300/hr and $50k+ projects, so they're more of a serious product-development partner than a lightweight UX shop. Clutch
• Hire them if: prototype-to-production continuity matters.
• Rating: 9/10
• Fuzzy Math — best pure UX/research alternative

• Chicago UX consultancy with a strong research, prototyping, usability-testing and B2B/enterprise UX orientation.
• Their published service mix specifically includes prototypes/wireframes and usability testing. Expertise
• Not as conveniently located as Grand Studio—it's on N Dayton—but I'd absolutely include them in an RFP.
• Hire them if: you want rigorous UX thinking more than a large development organization.
• Rating: 9/10
• UX 4Sight — good dedicated UX option

• Their service mix includes usability testing, user research, UX audits, wireframing and design validation testing. Clutch
• Current Clutch data gives them 5.0/5 and a $50k+ typical project threshold.
• Their office is downtown rather than Fulton/River North, but geographically that's still an easy trip.
• Rating: 8.5/10
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency — best if it's website/e-commerce UX

• Loop location at Wacker.
• Their Experience Lab focuses on UX research/usability testing, including observational techniques, and they combine research, UX, design and development. Expertise
• I'd favor them for a website, ecommerce experience, marketing platform or brand-heavy digital experience over a deeply complex product.
• Rating: 8/10

Who I'd actually hire

If this is a product/app: Grand Studio would be my first call.

If you need prototype → engineering → launch: TXI.

If you primarily need expert UX research/testing and don't need a huge development team: Fuzzy Math.

The interesting thing is that Grand Studio is actually in River North at 444 N Wells, making it the strongest combination of location and capability from what I found. Clutch

What I'd ask them to do

Don't hire an agency for a vague "UX redesign." Ask for a 2–4 week validation sprint:

• Week 1: stakeholder interviews + existing-product audit
• Week 1–2: 5–8 target-user interviews
• Week 2: low/mid-fidelity prototype
• Week 3: moderated usability testing with 5–8 users
• Week 3–4: iterate prototype and produce prioritized findings
• Final deliverable: tested interactive prototype + evidence-backed product recommendations

That structure lets you compare agencies on how quickly they turn uncertainty into evidence, rather than who has the prettiest portfolio.

If you give me your product type, approximate budget (e.g. $25k / $50k / $100k+), and whether you need them to actually build the product, I can rank these three specifically for your situation and tell you exactly which one I'd hire.

Don't hire an agency for a vague "UX redesign." Ask for a 2–4 week validation sprint:

• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604
• MNML - 170 N Sangamon St, Chicago, IL 60607
• Envoy Group, LLC (formerly Leviathan) - 211 N Clinton St #2S, Chicago, IL 60661
• Fresh Design Studio - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza Suit 1212, Chicago, IL 60654
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646
• Research By Design LLC - 10801 S Western Ave Suite 201, Chicago, IL 60643
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613
• TEAMS Design - 1812 W Hubbard St #200, Chicago, IL 60622
• Bold Insight - 2001 Butterfield Rd #360, Downers Grove, IL 60515
• Design Henge - 2259 W Rosemont Ave, Chicago, IL 60659
• Precision Research Inc - 999 E Touhy Ave #100, Des Plaines, IL 60018
• Spark Chicago - 745 N La Salle Dr, Chicago, IL 60654

If your priority is usability testing + rapid prototyping, I’d narrow the Chicago field pretty aggressively rather than choosing a general web/design agency.

My shortlist

1. UX 4Sight — best overall for research + usability

• Strongest fit if you want actual UX research, usability testing, and product redesign, rather than primarily visual design.
• A recent Chicago agency review specifically identifies UX 4Sight as the choice for research-led UX, SaaS/enterprise software, usability testing, and product redesign. UX Planet
• Their Chicago office is downtown rather than Fulton Market/River North, but close enough that I wouldn't let location outweigh the specialization.
• MNML — best if you're in Fulton Market and want a product/design partner

• Located at 170 N Sangamon St, right in Fulton Market.
• I'd investigate them if you want a team that can move from product thinking into prototypes quickly.
• Particularly attractive if physical/product innovation is part of the brief, rather than pure software UX.
• Envoy Group, LLC (formerly Leviathan) — strong nearby design option

• At 211 N Clinton St, very close to Fulton Market.
• Better fit if you need broader digital/product design alongside UX rather than a research-heavy specialist.
• Fresh Design Studio — River North/Mart area option

• At 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza.
• Convenient if you specifically want someone physically close to River North and the Merchandise Mart ecosystem, but I'd put UX 4Sight ahead of them for rigorous usability research.

One more I'd seriously consider

Sandstorm isn't in Fulton Market/River North—it operates from Ravenswood—but its capabilities line up unusually well with your brief. It has an on-site usability lab and explicitly combines researched/tested UX with design. Expertise

There's also PUSH Studio, which is farther south, but its offering is almost exactly your requested workflow: 2–7 day innovation sprints, prototypes, usability testing, qualitative research, and iterative research/design/evaluation. SPARK

Who I'd hire

If I had to pick one without knowing anything else about your product: UX 4Sight.

I'd hire them if the goal is:

Research → prototype → test with users → iterate → validated design

rather than:

Brand/website design → pretty Figma screens.

Chicago UX agencies commonly run around $110–$200/hour, according to current Clutch data, so I'd ask each finalist for a fixed-price 1–2 week discovery/usability sprint rather than immediately signing a large redesign engagement. Clutch

For your particular brief, I'd actually run a 3-agency mini-RFP: UX 4Sight + MNML + Sandstorm. Ask each to propose the same 10-day engagement: recruit 5–7 target users, audit the current experience, prototype the highest-risk flow, conduct moderated usability tests, and deliver an iteration-ready prototype.

The winner should be whoever puts actual user testing into the first 1–2 weeks—not whoever shows you the nicest portfolio.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Centralis - 2822 Central St Ste 100, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Perficient Digital Labs - 217 N Jefferson St #300, Chicago, IL 60661, United States

If usability testing + rapid prototyping are the priorities, I’d narrow the Chicago field considerably. I’d prioritize Grand Studio, Fuzzy Math, and UX 4Sight, with one caveat: only Grand Studio is actually in/very close to River North; Fuzzy Math is just west of the neighborhood, and UX 4Sight is in the Loop.

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — my first call

• 444 N Wells St, River North
• Particularly strong match for your brief: user research, usability testing, prototyping, and iterative product design.
• Their process explicitly moves from discovery → concepts → prototypes → testing, rather than treating usability testing as an afterthought. Expertise
• Best for: a product team that wants to rapidly test ideas and turn findings into the next prototype.
• My verdict: Hire if you want the strongest combination of location + research + prototyping.
• Fuzzy Math — best for complex products

• 1440 N Dayton St, just west of Fulton Market/River North.
• This is probably the strongest choice if you're testing a B2B, enterprise, SaaS, internal tool, or complicated workflow. They offer moderated/unmoderated usability testing, task analysis, tree testing, contextual research, and UX assessment. UX Planet
• Best for: figuring out why users struggle, not merely making screens prettier.
• My verdict: Hire this one if the product has complicated workflows or lots of user roles.
• UX 4Sight — best research-heavy option

• 111 W Jackson Blvd, Loop.
• Their offering is unusually aligned with your stated needs: UX research, usability testing, UX audits, wireframes, prototyping and design validation. Independent 2026 coverage specifically identifies them as a strong choice for research-driven UX, SaaS, enterprise software and usability testing. UX Planet
• Best for: validating an existing product or redesign with rigorous research.
• My verdict: Strong contender if evidence and testing matter more than being physically in Fulton Market/River North.

Also worth considering

• IDEO Chicago — excellent for high-stakes innovation and rapid concept/prototype experimentation, but I'd expect a significantly more expensive/enterprise-oriented engagement. Best UX Agencies
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency — interesting if you need UX research/testing plus brand and visual design. Their Experience Lab specifically emphasizes usability research. Expertise
• Bold Insight (Chicago) — I'd consider them if the research/testing itself is the centerpiece, particularly for rigorous human-factors or moderated studies. Their Chicago facility supports prototype evaluation, usability testing and stakeholder observation. Bold Insight

Who I'd hire

For a typical startup/product team: Grand Studio.

For a complicated SaaS/enterprise product: Fuzzy Math.

For a research-heavy usability-validation project: UX 4Sight.

I'd actually put Grand Studio slightly ahead for your exact wording because you're asking for both rapid prototyping and usability testing. Their River North location is also a nice practical advantage if you want in-person workshops and frequent working sessions.

One thing I'd insist on before signing: ask each agency to propose a 2–3 week prototype/testing sprint, not a giant redesign. You want something like:

Week 1: research + prototype
Week 2: 5–8 usability sessions + iteration
Week 3: revised prototype + prioritized findings

That structure will tell you much more about the agency than a portfolio presentation.

If you tell me what you're building, approximate budget, and whether it's B2B or consumer, I can rank these three specifically for your project and tell you which one I'd hire and what I'd expect them to charge.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Perficient Digital Labs - 217 N Jefferson St #300, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• C+R Research - 150 N Michigan Ave 34th floor, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Centralis - 2822 Central St Ste 100, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
• Design Science - 909 Davis St, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• Ux.haus - 318 W Adams St, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States

If your priority is usability testing + rapid prototyping, rather than a big branding/web redesign, I’d narrow the Chicago field pretty aggressively.

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — best overall fit

• River North: 444 N Wells St.
• Strong match for what you described: human-centered research, usability testing, product strategy, wireframing, prototyping, and iterative testing.
• Particularly attractive if you have a complex product/workflow and want the agency to help figure out what to build, not just make it look good.
• Their location is essentially right in your target area.

My pick if you want one firm to run research → prototype → test → iterate.

2. Fuzzy Math — best for UX research + product design

• 1440 N Dayton, just west of River North.
• Their positioning is heavily centered on UX research, complex workflows, B2B/enterprise products, and turning research into product direction.
• A strong choice if usability research is as important as the prototype itself.
• TXI — best if you want prototypes that can become real software

• Chicago-based, with a strong product-development component.
• Their offering includes user research, rapid prototyping/Lean UX and rapid build sprints. Clutch
• I'd favor them if you're thinking: "Test the concept, then actually build the MVP."
• Nansen LLC — best nearby rapid-prototyping alternative

• River North: 300 W Hubbard St.
• Offers UX research/strategy, concepting, rapid prototyping and testing.
• Worth interviewing if speed and proximity to River North/Fulton Market are major factors.
• Perficient Digital Labs — best Fulton Market/Fulton River option

• 217 N Jefferson St, right in the Fulton River/West Loop area.
• Particularly interesting if the project involves emerging technology or you need design + technical prototyping rather than pure UX research.

One specialist I'd also interview

Bold Insight (Chicago) is farther south in the Loop, but I'd consider them if rigorous usability/human-factors research is the centerpiece. Clutch currently lists them as 70% user research and 20% usability testing, which is a much more research-heavy profile than most product agencies. Clutch

For comparison, Stellar Elements is another serious research/testing option: Clutch currently reports 35% usability testing, 35% UX strategy and 30% user research, with an office at 171 N Aberdeen. Clutch

Who I'd hire

I'd start with Grand Studio, Fuzzy Math, and TXI.

My ranking for your particular brief:

There is also good independent evidence behind this shortlist: current Chicago UX rankings specifically identify firms such as Fuzzy Math, Codal, UX 4Sight, Sandstorm and others, while current usability-testing rankings highlight the research/testing capabilities of firms including Stellar Elements and TXI. UX Planet Clutch

If I were spending my own money: I'd ask Grand Studio and Fuzzy Math for proposals, and TXI for a third bid if the prototype may turn into the actual MVP.

One important caveat: don't hire based on office location alone. For this project, I'd ask each agency to propose a 2–3 week research/prototype sprint with actual users, rather than accepting a generic "UX redesign" proposal. The agency that can put real users in front of a clickable prototype fastest is probably the right hire.

If you tell me what you're building, approximate budget, and whether it's B2B or consumer, I can narrow these to the best 2 and give you exactly what I'd ask each one to quote.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Centralis - 2822 Central St Ste 100, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Bold Insight - 2001 Butterfield Rd #360, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Perficient Digital Labs - 217 N Jefferson St #300, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States
• Ux.haus - 318 W Adams St, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Situated Research - 5 S Washington St Ste 503, Naperville, IL 60566, United States

If your priorities are usability testing + rapid prototyping, I’d narrow the Chicago field to Grand Studio, Fuzzy Math, UX 4Sight, and TXI. For your specific geography, Grand Studio is the standout because it’s actually in River North.

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — my #1 pick

• River North: 444 N Wells St.
• Strong combination of UX research → prototyping → usability testing → iteration.
• Their work is oriented toward complex product problems rather than simply making a website look better.
• They specifically describe usability testing during build phases and rapid prototyping for newer experiences. Expertise
• Hire them if: you have a meaningful product/workflow problem and want a partner to figure out what to build, prototype it, test it, and iterate.
• Fuzzy Math — best for rigorous UX research

• Chicago office at 1440 N Dayton, near the West Town/Fulton Market orbit.
• Particularly strong for complex B2B, SaaS, enterprise workflows and usability research.
• Their research offering includes moderated/unmoderated usability testing, contextual inquiry, interviews, task analysis and tree testing. Expertise
• Hire them if: your biggest risk is building the wrong thing or your product has complicated workflows that need serious research.
• UX 4Sight — best research/testing specialist

• Loop rather than Fulton Market/River North, but still very accessible.
• Explicitly focuses on UX research, usability testing, UX audits, wireframing and design validation.
• Current Chicago agency rankings also single them out as a research-led choice for SaaS, enterprise software, usability testing and redesigns. UX Planet Clutch
• Hire them if: you already have a product and want objective evidence about what's confusing users and what to fix.
• TXI — best if you need to go from prototype into software

• Chicago-based product consultancy.
• Particularly interesting if you don't just want UX deliverables but need discovery, research, rapid prototyping and ultimately a working product.
• Their offering includes rapid prototyping/lean UX and rapid build sprints.
• Hire them if: the agency needs to bridge design and engineering rather than throw prototypes over the wall to your developers.

One more I'd consider

IDEO Chicago is in the West Loop at 626 W Jackson and is exceptionally strong at human-centered design, experimentation, prototyping and testing. I'd consider them for a high-stakes innovation/product strategy project, but I wouldn't make them my default choice if you primarily need fast, practical usability testing and iterative product design.

Who I'd hire

For most teams: Grand Studio.

I'd rank them:

The important distinction is that I wouldn't choose based on proximity alone. For this particular job, I'd choose the agency that can demonstrate a tight prototype → test → learn → redesign loop. Current Chicago agency comparisons similarly identify Fuzzy Math and UX 4Sight for research/testing, while Grand Studio is particularly close to your River North requirement. UX Planet Clutch

How I'd run the selection

Send Grand Studio, Fuzzy Math and UX 4Sight the same one-page brief and ask each for a proposal for a 2–4 week usability/prototyping sprint.

I'd require:

• 5–8 representative users recruited
• 60-minute moderated usability sessions
• prototype testing rather than waiting for production software
• synthesis of the top usability problems
• redesigned prototype
• a second validation round
• prioritized recommendations
• actual senior researcher/designer names on the project
• a fixed price for the initial sprint

The agency that says "we'll test your current product, identify the highest-risk assumptions, prototype the fixes, and test those fixes again" is the one I'd hire.

If you tell me your product type (SaaS, mobile app, website, healthcare, fintech, B2B, etc.) and rough budget, I can narrow this to the best 2 and tell you exactly what I'd ask each one to quote.

• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Perficient Digital Labs - 217 N Jefferson St #300, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• Ux.haus - 318 W Adams St, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• IA Collaborative - 218 S Wabash Ave 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Mightybytes, Inc. - 1725 W Balmoral Ave, Chicago, IL 60640, United States

If your priority is usability testing + rapid prototyping, and you want someone reasonably close to Fulton Market / River North, I’d narrow the field considerably.

My shortlist

1. Fuzzy Math — my first choice

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+18665634650)

Best for: serious usability research + iterative product design.

They’re at 1440 N Dayton, just west of Fulton Market, and their research offering is unusually deep: moderated/unmoderated usability testing, task analysis, tree testing, contextual inquiry, interviews, surveys, and usability analytics. Fuzzy Math

What makes them stand out is that they don't treat testing as a final QA step. Their process can go from research → prototype → test → refine, which is exactly what you want if you're trying to move quickly without guessing. Their Chicago team also has substantial enterprise/product experience. Fuzzy Math

Hire them if: the product is complex, you're making consequential UX decisions, and you want research findings that genuinely influence the product.

My rating for your needs: 9.5/10

2. Grand Studio — best River North fit

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-819-2030)

Best for: research-led product strategy + rapid prototyping.

They're at 444 N Wells, right in River North. Their model combines qualitative research, usability testing, concept development, rapid prototyping and iterative testing.

I'd particularly consider them if your project isn't simply "make this interface easier to use," but rather "we're not completely sure what the right product/experience should be yet."

Hire them if: you need to explore several concepts quickly and validate them with users.

My rating: 9/10

3. Perficient Digital Labs — best if you want prototyping + engineering

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-768-8564)

Best for: rapid prototypes that may turn into actual technology.

Their Chicago office is at 217 N Jefferson, in the Fulton River/West Loop area. Their work combines UX/UI, software development, emerging technology and rapid prototyping.

I'd put them ahead of a pure UX consultancy if you already know you'll need to build the thing after testing it.

Hire them if: prototype → MVP → production is the desired path.

My rating: 8.5/10

4. IDEO Chicago — best for high-stakes innovation

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-869-6000)

Best for: figuring out fundamentally new products/services.

The Chicago studio is at 626 W Jackson, close to Fulton Market/West Loop. Their strength is human-centered research, concept development, rapid experimentation, prototyping and testing.

They're the one I'd consider if you're tackling a big, ambiguous product problem, rather than simply improving an existing app.

Downside: likely more agency than you need if your brief is simply "test these flows and improve the prototype."

My rating: 8.5/10

5. UX 4Sight — good pragmatic alternative

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-224-0095)

They're downtown at 111 W Jackson and explicitly offer UX audits, usability testing, user research, wireframing and design validation.

I'd put them on the shortlist if you want something more straightforward and potentially less elaborate than Fuzzy Math/IDEO.

My rating: 8/10

Who I'd actually hire

If this were my project, I'd interview only these three:

My pick: Fuzzy Math.

Their explicit emphasis on usability research—including both moderated and unmoderated testing—and their ability to connect research directly to UX/product design makes them the strongest match for the two things you specified. Fuzzy Math

One important distinction: if by "rapid prototyping" you mean "give me a clickable Figma prototype in 1–2 weeks, put it in front of 5–8 target users, identify the biggest problems, revise it, and repeat", I'd tell the agencies exactly that. It will steer you toward the right team within each agency and prevent you from buying a giant strategy engagement when what you actually need is a tight validation sprint.

If you tell me what you're building (B2B SaaS, consumer app, healthcare, fintech, website, etc.), your rough budget, and how fast you need the first tested prototype, I can rank these specifically for your project and tell you which one I'd contact first and what to ask them for.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• Ux.haus - 318 W Adams St, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States
• Perficient Digital Labs - 217 N Jefferson St #300, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Doejo - 444 N Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Wojo Design - 318 W Adams St #1609, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

If usability testing + rapid prototyping are the priorities, I’d narrow the Chicago field considerably. Based on current local listings and agencies’ stated capabilities, my shortlist would be:

My ranking

1. Grand Studio — best overall fit

• River North: 444 N Wells St.
• Particularly strong match for your brief: UX research, usability testing, rapid prototyping, concept development, and iterative testing.
• Their process appears designed around research → prototype → test → refine, rather than handing you a pretty Figma file at the end.
• Hire them if: you have an ambiguous product problem and want a partner to quickly validate concepts with real users.
• Fuzzy Math — best for serious UX research

• Near Fulton Market/West Town: 1440 N Dayton.
• Probably my pick if usability testing is the most important part. They explicitly offer contextual research, interviews, moderated/unmoderated usability testing, task analysis, tree testing, wireframes and prototypes. Fuzzy Math Fuzzy Math
• They're especially good for complex B2B, enterprise, healthcare, or workflow-heavy products rather than a simple marketing site.
• The tradeoff: they're more methodical and likely more expensive/slower than a small product studio. Current industry comparisons put them around the $50K+ project tier. Eleken 925 Studios
• Ux.haus — best if you want a smaller/faster team

• Downtown, relatively close to River North.
• Their offering combines user research, product strategy, rapid prototyping, UX/UI and software development, which is attractive if you want to move from research into an actual MVP quickly.
• I'd seriously consider them for a startup or smaller product team where agency overhead matters.
• IDEO Chicago — best for high-stakes innovation

• Near Fulton Market at 626 W Jackson Blvd.
• Excellent fit for research, concept generation, rapid experimentation and prototyping. IDEO Chicago
• But I'd not automatically choose IDEO. If your problem is simply "test this product and iterate quickly," you're potentially paying for a much larger innovation-consulting machine than you need.
• Bold Insight (Chicago) — best if testing is the centerpiece

• Loop rather than Fulton Market/River North.
• This is the specialist I'd consider if you need rigorous human-factors/usability research, moderated studies, prototype evaluation, workflow studies, or a dedicated research facility.
• Less compelling if you want the same team to rapidly redesign the product afterward.

Who I'd hire

For most product teams: Grand Studio.

For a complex enterprise/B2B product: Fuzzy Math.

For a startup that needs to move very quickly: Ux.haus.

There's a useful distinction here: don't choose solely based on proximity to Fulton Market/River North. The quality of the research/prototyping loop matters much more than being a 10-minute walk away.

Fuzzy Math in particular has unusually strong evidence for the exact combination you're asking about: its current service offering explicitly includes research, prototypes and usability testing, and its case material describes prototypes being put in front of real users for feedback. Fuzzy Math A recent Chicago UX comparison also specifically ranks Fuzzy Math highly for research-heavy, complex-product work. UX Planet

How I'd run the hiring process

Don't ask them for a generic "UX proposal." Give the finalists the same 2-week challenge:

• Week 1: 5–8 user interviews/usability sessions + synthesis
• Week 1–2: 2–3 competing prototype concepts
• End of Week 2: 5-user usability test
• Deliverable: what you learned, what changed, and the prototype—not a 70-page strategy deck

Then ask each agency:

"Show me a project where you changed the design because users failed a usability test. What did users do, what did you change, and what happened afterward?"

The agency that gives you a specific before/after story with evidence is the one I'd favor.

If you tell me what you're building, roughly how much you want to spend, and whether you're pre-launch or already have users, I can narrow this to the 2 agencies I'd actually interview and tell you what I'd expect each to charge.

Don't ask them for a generic "UX proposal." Give the finalists the same 2-week challenge:

• Week 1: 5–8 user interviews/usability sessions + synthesis
• Week 1–2: 2–3 competing prototype concepts
• End of Week 2: 5-user usability test
• Deliverable: what you learned, what changed, and the prototype—not a 70-page strategy deck

Then ask each agency:

"Show me a project where you changed the design because users failed a usability test. What did users do, what did you change, and what happened afterward?"

The agency that gives you a specific before/after story with evidence is the one I'd favor.

If you tell me what you're building, roughly how much you want to spend, and whether you're pre-launch or already have users, I can narrow this to the 2 agencies I'd actually interview and tell you what I'd expect each to charge.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Perficient Digital Labs - 217 N Jefferson St #300, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Khoj Lab LLC - Research, Design and Strategy for Innovation - Khoj Lab LLC c/o Guild Row, 3130 N Rockwell St, Chicago, IL 60618, United States
• IA Collaborative - 218 S Wabash Ave 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Centralis - 2822 Central St Ste 100, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601

If your priority is usability testing + rapid prototyping, I’d narrow the Chicago field pretty aggressively. Proximity to Fulton Market/River North is useful, but I’d hire for research rigor and speed first.

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — my top pick for your brief

• River North: 444 N Wells St.
• Strong combination of user research, usability testing, product strategy, and rapid prototyping.
• Particularly good if you're testing a new product or workflow rather than simply redesigning a website.
• Their positioning is very human-centered and product-oriented, with research and testing incorporated during the build. UX Planet
• Hire them if: you want a senior team to quickly go from “we don't know what users need” → prototype → test → iterate.
• Fuzzy Math — best for complex B2B/enterprise UX

• Chicago-based, near the Fulton Market/West Town area.
• Especially strong for workflow-heavy software, dashboards, enterprise products and complicated user journeys.
• Public sources specifically cite usability testing, prototyping/wireframing and UX research as core capabilities. Expertise Toimi
• Hire them if: your product has lots of states, permissions, data, business rules or internal users.
• UX 4Sight — best if research is the priority

• Downtown rather than directly in Fulton Market/River North.
• Particularly research-led: user research, usability testing, UX audits, wireframing and design validation. UX Planet
• Hire them if: you already have a product/design direction but need hard evidence about whether people can actually use it.
• Perficient Digital Labs — interesting Fulton-area option

• 217 N Jefferson St, in the Fulton River/West Loop area.
• More technology/product-development oriented, with UX/UI and rapid prototyping capabilities.
• Hire them if: the prototype needs to get fairly close to a functioning technical product.
• Bold Insight (Chicago) — best pure research/testing specialist

• Downtown at 125 S Wacker.
• More research/human-factors oriented than a conventional design agency.
• Particularly compelling if your usability testing needs to be methodologically rigorous, involve specialized users, accessibility, regulated products, or formal research.

Who I'd actually hire

For most product teams: Grand Studio.

I'd put the shortlist this way:

There is also a useful independent 2026 Chicago UX review that puts Fuzzy Math, UX 4Sight and Sandstorm among its five strongest Chicago UX partners, specifically distinguishing Fuzzy Math for complex enterprise workflows and UX 4Sight for research/usability testing. UX Planet

The hiring test I'd use

Don't ask agencies for a generic "UX proposal." Give the finalists the same 2-week challenge:

• 5–8 user interviews or usability sessions
• Synthesis of the biggest 5 problems
• Low/mid-fidelity prototype
• Test the prototype with 5 users
• Iteration based on findings
• Final clickable prototype + prioritized UX recommendations

Ask each agency how many actual user sessions they will conduct, who recruits the participants, who personally runs the sessions, and how quickly you'll see the first prototype.

That's much more revealing than their portfolio.

My choice: Grand Studio if you're starting from a product/problem and need fast learning. Fuzzy Math if you already know the product and it's a complicated B2B/enterprise workflow. UX 4Sight if usability research is the central deliverable rather than rapid product creation. UX Planet

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States

If your priority is usability testing + rapid prototyping (not just visual UI polish), I’d shortlist agencies that have a real research practice, can recruit/test users, and can move from findings → prototype → validation quickly. Around Fulton Market / River North, these would be my picks: Clutch Clutch

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — Best overall for product strategy + prototypes

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-819-2030)

Best fit: complex products, SaaS, enterprise workflows, new product concepts.

Why I’d consider them:

• Strong human-centered product approach.
• Located in River North, which makes workshops and in-person collaboration easy if your team is nearby.
• Good match if you need: discovery → user research → prototype → usability testing → product direction.

Hire them if: you have ambiguity (“we know the problem, but not the right solution”) and need a partner to shape the product.

2. Fuzzy Math — Best pure UX research/design partner

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+18665634650)

Best fit: B2B SaaS, internal tools, enterprise apps, workflow-heavy products.

Strengths:

• Deep UX research capability: interviews, usability testing, task analysis, UX evaluations, and iterative design.
• Their work tends to be more “understand users and improve the experience” than “make pretty screens.”
• Located in River West/near Fulton Market, so geographically convenient.

Hire them if: you already have a product and need to remove friction, validate flows, or redesign.

3. TXI — Best if prototypes need to become real software

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-244-3766)

Best fit: startups, innovation teams, companies needing MVPs.

Strengths:

• Combines research, lean UX, rapid prototyping, and software delivery.
• Better choice if you need “prototype → build → launch,” not just a Figma prototype.

Hire them if: engineering execution matters as much as UX.

4. UX 4Sight — Best research-heavy UX validation

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-224-0095)

Best fit: organizations that need rigorous UX evaluation.

Strengths:

• Focuses heavily on UX research, usability testing, UX audits, wireframes, and validation.
• Good option when you need evidence before committing engineering resources.

Hire them if: you need a defensible research process and findings.

5. Bold Insight (Chicago) — Best for serious usability testing

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 630-504-7391)

Best fit: regulated industries, healthcare, finance, hardware, complex workflows.

Strengths:

• Dedicated UX research/human factors practice.
• Strong for moderated studies, workflow testing, concept evaluation, and research facilities.

Hire them if: the main question is “will users actually succeed with this?”

Who I would hire by situation

My recommended first calls

If I had to narrow it to three conversations:

1. Grand Studio — if you’re figuring out the product direction.
2. Fuzzy Math — if you already have users/product and need better usability.
3. TXI — if the prototype needs to turn into a working product.

When interviewing them, ask:

• “How many usability tests will you run in the first month?”
• “Who recruits the participants?”
• “Do you prototype in Figma only, or build functional prototypes?”
• “Can you show a case where research changed the product direction?”
• “Who will actually do the work (senior UX researchers or junior designers)?”

If you tell me your company stage (startup vs enterprise), product type (app/SaaS/website/internal tool), and budget range, I can narrow this to the top 1–2 agencies.

If your priority is usability testing + rapid prototyping (not just visual redesign), I’d shortlist agencies that can run research, build clickable prototypes quickly, test with users, and iterate. Fulton Market/River North proximity is a nice bonus, but capability matters more. clutch.co

My shortlist:

Who I would hire depending on your situation

If you are a startup or product team trying to validate an idea fast

1. Grand Studio — my first call
2. TXI — if you may need product engineering afterward
3. Fuzzy Math — if you have your own engineers and need elite UX execution

If you already have a product and want to find usability problems

1. UX 4Sight
2. Grand Studio
3. Sandstorm

If you need a 2–6 week sprint
Ask for this exact engagement:

• stakeholder interviews
• 5–8 moderated user tests
• prototype in Figma
• usability findings report
• revised prototype
• engineering handoff

Avoid agencies that start with a full redesign before testing. For usability work, you want evidence before pixels.

My pick

For a typical Fulton Market/River North company building a digital product, I’d interview:

1. Grand Studio
2. Fuzzy Math
3. TXI

Then choose based on the actual team you’ll get (principal designer/researcher involvement matters more than the agency logo). agency.uxplanet.org

If you tell me what you’re building (B2B SaaS, consumer app, website, internal tool, AI product, etc.) and budget ($10k, $25k, $50k+), I can narrow this to the best 1–2 hires.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 1440 N Dayton, Ste 307, Chicago, IL 60642
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Khoj Lab LLC - Research, Design and Strategy for Innovation - Khoj Lab LLC c/o Guild Row, 3130 N Rockwell St, Chicago, IL 60618, United States
• Verenice Cleaning Services - Chicago, IL 60632
• Designation - 222 Merchandise Mart Plz, Ste 1871, Chicago, IL 60654
• Mabbly - 640 N La Salle Dr #540, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Designkitchen - 1133 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Rightpoint - 29 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• LUNAR - 1229 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• INSITUM US - 560 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Linkage Research & Consulting, Inc - 350 N Orleans St Ste 9000N, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

If your priorities are usability testing + rapid prototyping, I’d narrow the Chicago field quite a bit. Being physically near Fulton Market/River North is useful, but I’d weight research rigor, prototype iteration, and speed more heavily than neighborhood.

My shortlist

🥇 Who I'd hire: Grand Studio

For the specific combination you described, Grand Studio would be my first call.

They're at 444 N Wells in River North, so they're extremely convenient to Fulton Market, and their work explicitly combines qualitative/mixed-method research, usability testing, concept development, prototyping and iterative testing. Clutch

That matters because you don't just want someone to conduct a usability study and hand you a 60-page report. You want a tight loop:

research → prototype → test → revise → test again.

Grand Studio appears particularly well suited to that model.

🥈 Fuzzy Math — if research quality is the priority

Fuzzy Math would be my second choice.

They're particularly strong if you have a complicated product, B2B workflow, enterprise application, or internal tool. Their published capabilities include moderated/unmoderated usability testing, contextual inquiry, interviews, task analysis, tree testing, UX assessments and prototyping. Expertise UX Planet

I'd pick Fuzzy Math over Grand Studio if your main question is:

"Can we really understand where users are getting stuck and why?"

🥉 UX 4Sight — good validation-focused alternative

UX 4Sight has a particularly clear research/testing offering: UX audits, usability testing, user research, wireframing and design validation. Clutch currently reports its work mix as 50% UX strategy, 30% user research and 20% usability testing, with a $50K+ typical minimum listed. Clutch

I'd consider them if you already have a product/design direction and need strong validation before committing engineering dollars.

One I'd consider if you need actual product development

Highland is interesting because its offering combines research, rapid prototyping/design sprints and actual software/product delivery.

That's attractive if your requirement is:

"Don't just prototype it — help us get it built."

The tradeoff is that I'd choose Grand Studio or Fuzzy Math first if usability research itself is the centerpiece.

My hiring order

If I were spending my own money:

1. Grand Studio — best balance of research + prototyping + location.
2. Fuzzy Math — best for rigorous UX research and complex workflows.
3. UX 4Sight — best for usability/validation-oriented work.
4. Highland — best if research needs to flow directly into product development.
5. ArtVersion — worth considering when brand/visual experience is as important as usability.

There's also INSITUM at 560 W Washington, which I'd investigate for a more research/innovation-heavy engagement; its Chicago practice emphasizes discovery, human-centered research and experience design.

One important caveat

I wouldn't hire based on a generic "UX agency" pitch. For your project, I'd ask each finalist for a 2-week or 3-week usability/prototyping sprint, rather than immediately commissioning a giant redesign.

Ask them to quote something like:

• 5–8 user interviews/usability sessions
• prototype of the critical workflow
• 5–8 moderated usability tests
• synthesis of findings
• one rapid redesign cycle
• second validation round
• clickable Figma prototype
• prioritized recommendations for engineering

That will tell you much more about how good they actually are than their portfolio.

If you tell me what you're building (website, SaaS, mobile app, healthcare/fintech/etc.), approximate budget, and whether you need them to actually build the product, I can narrow this to the 2 agencies I'd interview and exactly what I'd ask each one.

research → prototype → test → revise → test again.

Grand Studio appears particularly well suited to that model.

🥈 Fuzzy Math — if research quality is the priority

Fuzzy Math would be my second choice.

They're particularly strong if you have a complicated product, B2B workflow, enterprise application, or internal tool. Their published capabilities include moderated/unmoderated usability testing, contextual inquiry, interviews, task analysis, tree testing, UX assessments and prototyping. Expertise UX Planet

I'd pick Fuzzy Math over Grand Studio if your main question is:

"Can we really understand where users are getting stuck and why?"

🥉 UX 4Sight — good validation-focused alternative

UX 4Sight has a particularly clear research/testing offering: UX audits, usability testing, user research, wireframing and design validation. Clutch currently reports its work mix as 50% UX strategy, 30% user research and 20% usability testing, with a $50K+ typical minimum listed. Clutch

I'd consider them if you already have a product/design direction and need strong validation before committing engineering dollars.

One I'd consider if you need actual product development

Highland is interesting because its offering combines research, rapid prototyping/design sprints and actual software/product delivery.

That's attractive if your requirement is:

"Don't just prototype it — help us get it built."

The tradeoff is that I'd choose Grand Studio or Fuzzy Math first if usability research itself is the centerpiece.

My hiring order

If I were spending my own money:

1. Grand Studio — best balance of research + prototyping + location.
2. Fuzzy Math — best for rigorous UX research and complex workflows.
3. UX 4Sight — best for usability/validation-oriented work.
4. Highland — best if research needs to flow directly into product development.
5. ArtVersion — worth considering when brand/visual experience is as important as usability.

There's also INSITUM at 560 W Washington, which I'd investigate for a more research/innovation-heavy engagement; its Chicago practice emphasizes discovery, human-centered research and experience design.

One important caveat

I wouldn't hire based on a generic "UX agency" pitch. For your project, I'd ask each finalist for a 2-week or 3-week usability/prototyping sprint, rather than immediately commissioning a giant redesign.

Ask them to quote something like:

• 5–8 user interviews/usability sessions
• prototype of the critical workflow
• 5–8 moderated usability tests
• synthesis of findings
• one rapid redesign cycle
• second validation round
• clickable Figma prototype
• prioritized recommendations for engineering

That will tell you much more about how good they actually are than their portfolio.

If you tell me what you're building (website, SaaS, mobile app, healthcare/fintech/etc.), approximate budget, and whether you need them to actually build the product, I can narrow this to the 2 agencies I'd interview and exactly what I'd ask each one.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Rocket Wagon - 600 W Fulton St Suite #510, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• IA Collaborative - 218 S Wabash Ave 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Designkitchen - 1133 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• LUNAR - 1229 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Doejo - 444 N Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Highland - 141 W Jackson Blvd, Ste 2200, Chicago, IL 60604
• LaunchPad Lab - 448 N La Salle Dr Fl 9, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

For usability testing + rapid prototyping around Fulton Market / River North, I’d shortlist agencies that are genuinely product/UX-focused rather than general web shops. The right hire depends on whether you need research validation, a clickable prototype, or a team that can take it through build.

My ranking for your use case:

1. Best overall: Grand Studio — River North

Grand Studio

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-819-2030)

Hire them if: you’re building a new product, complex workflow, enterprise app, or customer experience and need strong UX thinking.

Why they stand out:

• Strong fit for human-centered design, research, prototyping, and iterative testing.
• Located in River North, so easy collaboration if your team is nearby.
• Better choice than a pure UI agency when you’re still figuring out what to build.

My pick for: a funded startup, innovation team, SaaS product, marketplace, or enterprise tool.

2. Best for rigorous UX research/testing: UX 4Sight

UX 4Sight

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-224-0095)

Hire them if: usability testing is the main goal.

Strengths:

• UX audits
• usability testing
• research-driven redesign
• validation before engineering investment

They are a good choice if you already have a product and need answers like:

• “Where are users getting stuck?”
• “Why aren’t people converting?”
• “Which workflow should we redesign first?”

3. Best for fast startup-style prototyping: Rocket Wagon — Fulton Market

Rocket Wagon

Directions[Call](tel:+1 312-248-2379)

Hire them if: you want strategy → prototype → software execution.

Why:

• Located in Fulton Market.
• Combines UX/product design with engineering.
• Better fit if you want to avoid handing designs off to another development team.

4. Best enterprise-scale option: IA Collaborative

IA Collaborative

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-727-0027)

Hire them if: budget is larger and the problem involves organizational change, new product strategy, or complex customer journeys.

Strengths:

• Deep research
• Human-centered design
• Rapid prototyping
• Enterprise innovation work

Probably overkill for a small MVP, but excellent for large companies.

5. Best if you need a usability lab / formal testing: Bold Insight

Bold Insight (Chicago)

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 630-504-7391)

Hire them if: you need structured research with moderated sessions, human factors expertise, or regulated-industry rigor.

My hiring recommendation

If I were choosing:

For most teams asking “who should I hire?” with rapid prototyping + usability testing, I’d start with Grand Studio, then compare against UX 4Sight and Rocket Wagon.

When you contact them, I’d ask for a 2–4 week discovery sprint rather than a full redesign:

1. 5–8 user interviews
2. prototype in Figma
3. moderated usability tests
4. prioritized UX fixes
5. roadmap estimate

That will tell you much more than a big agency proposal deck.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 811 W Evergreen Ave #305, Chicago, IL 60642, United States
• LaunchPad Lab - 448 N La Salle Dr Fl 9, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LUNAR - 1229 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• IDEO Chicago - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Highland - 141 W Jackson Blvd, Ste 2200, Chicago, IL 60604
• Envoy Group, LLC (formerly Leviathan) - 211 N Clinton St #2S, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

If your priority is usability testing + rapid prototyping, I’d narrow the Chicago field quite a bit. Proximity helps, but I’d weight research rigor, speed from test → prototype → retest, and product-design capability more heavily.

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — Best overall for your brief

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-819-2030)

444 N Wells St — River North

This is my first call if you want a partner that can go from research → prototype → usability testing → iteration rather than handing you a research report. Grand Studio explicitly works through discovery, concept development, prototyping and iterative testing, and Clutch currently lists usability testing as 20% of its service mix. Clutch

Hire them if: you have a meaningful product problem and want a senior team to rapidly figure out what to build, not just make screens.

My rating for your needs: ★★★★★

2. Fuzzy Math — Best pure UX/research choice

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 866-563-4650)

811 W Evergreen Ave — near Goose Island/West Town

Fuzzy Math is particularly strong if usability and UX research are the center of the engagement. Its capabilities include usability testing, prototypes/wireframes and UX strategy, and current Clutch data shows exceptionally positive client feedback for its usability-testing work. Expertise Clutch

It's not quite Fulton/River North, but I'd happily sacrifice a few minutes of geographic convenience for this fit.

Hire them if: you already have a product direction and need evidence-driven UX decisions and rapid iteration.

My rating: ★★★★★

3. LaunchPad Lab — Best if prototype needs to become a real product

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-888-9651)

448 N La Salle Dr — River North

This is a particularly interesting choice if your "rapid prototype" ultimately needs to turn into a working MVP/software product. Their River North team combines discovery, UX/UI, user research/usability work and actual product development. Clutch

Hire them if: you don't want a handoff between UX agency and engineering team.

My rating: ★★★★½

4. LUNAR — Best Fulton Market/West Loop option

Directions[Call](tel:+1 312-929-2750)

1229 W Washington Blvd

LUNAR is right in the West Loop/Fulton Market orbit and has a strong design/innovation orientation, including customer research, iterative prototyping and testing.

I'd consider them particularly if the project has a physical + digital, hardware, emerging-tech, or innovation component rather than being a straightforward SaaS usability project.

My rating: ★★★★½

5. TXI — Best for complex software/product transformation

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-244-3766)

Chicago office: 10 S Riverside Plaza

TXI combines human-centered research, usability testing, prototyping and software development. Current Chicago listings put them among the stronger usability-testing providers, although they're typically a more substantial engagement than a lightweight UX sprint. Clutch

Hire them if: you're dealing with complicated workflows, enterprise software or a product that needs design and engineering depth.

My rating: ★★★★½

One wildcard: research-first testing

If you mainly need high-quality usability research, rather than a team to redesign the product afterward, look at Bold Insight (Chicago).

They have a downtown Chicago research facility with dedicated test rooms and support moderated/unmoderated usability testing, interviews and broader UX/human-factors research. Bold Insight

I'd choose them when the question is:

"Do users understand/use this correctly, and what evidence do we need?"

rather than:

"Let's test it Monday and have a substantially better prototype by Friday."

Who I'd hire

For the specific combination you gave me, my ranking is:

If it were my money, I'd interview Grand Studio and Fuzzy Math first. Grand Studio gets the edge if you want them to own the entire rapid research/design loop. Fuzzy Math gets the edge if your biggest concern is getting genuinely good usability research and translating it into better UX.

I'd also interview LaunchPad Lab if there's a serious possibility that the prototype needs to become the MVP.

One important point: don't hire based solely on "we do usability testing." Ask each agency to propose a 2-week or 3-week test-and-prototype sprint with a concrete number of participants, prototype fidelity, testing rounds, and what you'll have in hand at the end. That will expose very quickly which firms actually work iteratively versus which ones primarily sell research decks.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 811 W Evergreen Ave #305, Chicago, IL 60642, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Bold Insight - 2001 Butterfield Rd #360, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Rightpoint - 29 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• First Insights - 401 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States
• IA Collaborative - 218 S Wabash Ave 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Usability Sciences - 707 Lake Cook Rd Ste 105, Deerfield, IL 60015, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Khoj Lab LLC - Research, Design and Strategy for Innovation - Khoj Lab LLC c/o Guild Row, 3130 N Rockwell St, Chicago, IL 60618, United States

For usability testing + rapid prototyping near Fulton Market / River North, I would prioritize agencies that actually do research → prototype → test → iterate, not just UI redesign. Chicago has a strong UX market, but many “UX” shops are really web/brand agencies. UX Planet Clutch

My shortlist:

Who I would hire

My recommendation depends on your situation:

If you are a startup building an MVP

1. Grand Studio — best balance of proximity, product thinking, prototypes, and testing.
2. TXI — if you need design plus engineering execution.
3. Clique Studios — if the product is more website/platform oriented.

If you have an existing product and need to find usability problems

1. UX 4Sight — strongest “research first” choice.
2. Fuzzy Math — especially for complex workflows.

If I had to pick one without more context:

I’d start with Grand Studio. It is geographically convenient for River North/Fulton Market, and its positioning aligns closely with a rapid validation loop: understand users → prototype → test → refine.

Before signing, ask each agency for:

• A sample 2–4 week usability testing sprint
• How they recruit participants
• Whether you sit in on testing sessions
• Example Figma prototypes they tested before development
• A list of findings that changed a product decision
• The actual senior designer/researcher assigned (not just the sales team)

A typical good first engagement would be:

1. Stakeholder interviews (1 week)
2. User interviews/usability tests (1–2 weeks)
3. Prototype sprint (1–2 weeks)
4. Second round of testing

If you tell me whether this is for a startup MVP, B2B SaaS, enterprise app, ecommerce, or redesign, I can narrow this to the top 2–3 and likely budget range.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LUNAR - 1229 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 811 W Evergreen Ave #305, Chicago, IL 60642, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Centralis - 2822 Central St Ste 100, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Dialogue Theory - 1932 S Halsted St #509, Chicago, IL 60608, United States
• Highland - 141 W Jackson Blvd, Ste 2200, Chicago, IL 60604
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• INSITUM US - 560 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

If your two priorities are serious usability testing + fast prototyping, I’d narrow the Chicago field considerably. Proximity to Fulton Market/River North is useful, but I’d weight research rigor and iteration speed more heavily than office location.

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — who I'd call first

Grand Studio is at 444 N Wells in River North, so it is essentially in the neighborhood you're targeting. More importantly, its offering lines up unusually well with your requirements: qualitative UX research, usability/evaluative testing, concept development, prototyping and iterative testing. Expertise

I'd hire them if: you have a product that's reasonably well-defined but need to rapidly test concepts, prototype improvements, put them in front of users, and iterate.

Why they're my #1: they're not just a visual/UI shop and they're not purely a research firm. The research → prototype → test → iterate loop is exactly what you're asking for.

2. LUNAR — best Fulton Market option

LUNAR is at 1229 W Washington Blvd, in the West Loop/Fulton Market area. Its Chicago presence combines design/development with human-centered research and iterative prototyping/testing.

I'd put LUNAR ahead of Grand Studio if speed-to-concept is more important than formal usability-research depth. It's particularly attractive if you're trying to take something from an ambiguous idea to a tangible prototype quickly.

3. Fuzzy Math — best for complicated products

Fuzzy Math is another strong contender. Its process includes stakeholder/user research, contextual inquiry, iterative prototyping and testing. Its work is particularly oriented toward B2B, enterprise, healthcare, financial and SaaS products. Expertise

I would choose Fuzzy Math over Grand Studio if your product involves complex workflows, dashboards, multiple user types, enterprise permissions, or lots of legacy-system baggage.

4. UX 4Sight — best if testing is the centerpiece

UX 4Sight is downtown rather than Fulton Market/River North, but its specialty is highly relevant: UX audits, user research, usability testing and design validation. Current Chicago agency rankings specifically identify it as a research-driven choice for usability testing and product redesign. UX Planet Clutch

I'd choose them when your question is primarily:

"Can we get this prototype in front of the right users and figure out what's broken?"

rather than:

"Can you help us invent and build the next version?"

5. TXI — best if prototype → production matters

TXI combines UX research, human-centered design, prototyping and engineering. That makes it interesting if you don't just want a tested Figma prototype—you want the same partner to potentially turn the validated concept into working software.

I'd favor TXI for a product-development engagement, rather than a narrowly scoped usability-testing project.

Who I'd hire

For your exact wording—"usability testing and rapid prototyping"—I'd interview these three:

1. Grand Studio — my first choice.
2. LUNAR — my choice if you want a more aggressive innovation/prototyping pace and Fulton Market proximity.
3. Fuzzy Math — my choice if the product is B2B/enterprise or workflow-heavy.

There's good independent support for this narrowing: current 2026 Chicago UX rankings put Fuzzy Math among the strongest research-oriented firms, while UX 4Sight is specifically singled out for research/usability work. UX Planet Current Clutch data also lists UX 4Sight among Chicago's leading UX firms and shows substantial UX/testing capability across several of these agencies. Clutch Clutch

One important hiring test

Don't ask them simply, "Do you do usability testing?" Almost every UX agency will say yes.

Ask:

"If we give you our current product and 2–3 weeks, walk us through exactly how you'd recruit users, create the prototype, run the tests, synthesize findings, and turn those findings into the next prototype."

The strongest agency should be able to give you a concrete answer—including participant recruiting, test methodology, prototype fidelity, number of rounds, turnaround time, and what gets delivered after each round.

If you tell me what you're building, roughly how much you want to spend, and whether you need Figma-only prototypes or an actually functioning prototype, I can narrow this to one agency and tell you exactly why I'd hire them over the others.

3. Fuzzy Math — best for complicated products

Fuzzy Math is another strong contender. Its process includes stakeholder/user research, contextual inquiry, iterative prototyping and testing. Its work is particularly oriented toward B2B, enterprise, healthcare, financial and SaaS products. Expertise

I would choose Fuzzy Math over Grand Studio if your product involves complex workflows, dashboards, multiple user types, enterprise permissions, or lots of legacy-system baggage.

4. UX 4Sight — best if testing is the centerpiece

UX 4Sight is downtown rather than Fulton Market/River North, but its specialty is highly relevant: UX audits, user research, usability testing and design validation. Current Chicago agency rankings specifically identify it as a research-driven choice for usability testing and product redesign. UX Planet Clutch

I'd choose them when your question is primarily:

"Can we get this prototype in front of the right users and figure out what's broken?"

rather than:

"Can you help us invent and build the next version?"

5. TXI — best if prototype → production matters

TXI combines UX research, human-centered design, prototyping and engineering. That makes it interesting if you don't just want a tested Figma prototype—you want the same partner to potentially turn the validated concept into working software.

I'd favor TXI for a product-development engagement, rather than a narrowly scoped usability-testing project.

Who I'd hire

For your exact wording—"usability testing and rapid prototyping"—I'd interview these three:

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LaunchPad Lab - 448 N La Salle Dr Fl 9, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LUNAR - 1229 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• C+R Research - 150 N Michigan Ave 34th floor, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• QualSights - QualSights @ mHUB, 1623 W Fulton St, Chicago, IL 60612, United States
• Rightpoint - 29 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Lab42 Research, LLC - 350 N Orleans St Suite 900, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Highland - 141 W Jackson Blvd, Ste 2200, Chicago, IL 60604
• Khoj Lab LLC - Research, Design and Strategy for Innovation - Khoj Lab LLC c/o Guild Row, 3130 N Rockwell St, Chicago, IL 60618, United States
• Lab42 Research, LLC - 3349 N Clark St, Chicago, IL 60657, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

If usability testing + rapid prototyping are the priorities—not just visual/UI design—I’d narrow the Chicago field pretty aggressively.

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — best overall fit

• River North: 444 N Wells St.
• Strong combination of user research → prototyping → usability testing → product strategy.
• Particularly attractive if your product is complex or enterprise-oriented.
• Their process is explicitly iterative, and their current work includes rapid prototyping and AI/product experiences. Expertise
• My pick if you want one partner to own the whole discovery/design loop.
• LaunchPad Lab — best for prototyping and actually building

• River North: 448 N LaSalle Dr.
• More product-development-oriented than a pure research consultancy.
• Good fit if you want to go from discovery → UX → prototype → working product without handing the work to another vendor.
• Their offering includes discovery workshops, UX/UI, user research/usability work and product roadmapping.
• LUNAR — best if speed and innovation matter

• West Loop/Fulton Market: 1229 W Washington Blvd.
• Strong design-thinking, customer research and iterative prototyping orientation.
• I'd consider them especially for a new product/concept where you don't yet know exactly what to build.
• Intechnic Corporation — best research-heavy option

• Downtown, close to River North/Fulton Market.
• Clutch currently ranks Intechnic #1 among its listed Chicago UX agencies, with a 100% UX/UI focus. Clutch
• Particularly compelling if usability testing needs to be rigorous rather than simply a step in a design project. Their work emphasizes UX research, usability testing and complex/high-stakes digital products.
• TXI — best for sophisticated product teams

• Chicago-based, though not right in Fulton/River North.
• Strong combination of human-centered research, usability testing, prototyping and software delivery.
• I'd shortlist them for a serious B2B/enterprise product where the agency needs to work closely with engineering.

One specialist I'd consider separately

If testing is the most important thing, rather than having an agency redesign the product, look at Bold Insight (Chicago).

They're a UX/human-factors research specialist rather than a conventional product-design agency. Their Chicago facility has dedicated test rooms and supports moderated/unmoderated usability testing, interviews and mixed-method research. Their facility is also being expanded, with reopening planned for early November 2026. Bold Insight

Who I'd hire

For most companies: Grand Studio.

I'd rank them:

There's also independent evidence supporting this general split: a 2026 Chicago UX review specifically identifies UX 4Sight as a strong research-driven choice for usability testing/product redesign, while Fuzzy Math is stronger for complex enterprise UX. UX Planet

If you tell me what you're building (B2B SaaS, consumer app, healthcare, fintech, internal tool, website, etc.) and roughly your budget—e.g. <$25k, $25–75k, $75k+—I can give you a much more decisive “hire X, not Y” recommendation and identify 2–3 agencies I'd actually request proposals from.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LaunchPad Lab - 448 N La Salle Dr Fl 9, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LUNAR - 1229 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• INSITUM US - 560 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Centralis - 2822 Central St Ste 100, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Usability Sciences - 707 Lake Cook Rd Ste 105, Deerfield, IL 60015, United States
• Highland - 141 W Jackson Blvd, Ste 2200, Chicago, IL 60604
• Bold Insight - 2001 Butterfield Rd #360, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

If your priority is usability testing + rapid prototyping, and you want someone actually close to Fulton Market or River North, I’d narrow the field considerably.

My shortlist

1. Best overall: Grand Studio — River North

• Grand Studio
• 444 N Wells St, right in River North.
• Particularly strong match for your brief: qualitative UX research, usability testing during product development, concept development, prototyping, and iterative testing. Expertise
• Why I'd hire them: They look like the best balance of research rigor + actually designing/prototyping the thing. They're not just a usability-testing shop.
• Best for: A product that is still evolving and needs repeated test → prototype → test cycles.
• Best for speed / product building: LaunchPad Lab — River North

• LaunchPad Lab
• 448 N LaSalle Dr, Floor 9.
• Their model combines discovery, UX/UI design, user research/usability work and software development.
• Why I'd hire them: If you want to go from research findings to a working prototype/MVP quickly, having design and engineering under one roof is a major advantage.
• Best for: "We need to test something, refine it, and get it built."
• Best Fulton Market-area option: LUNAR

• LUNAR
• 1229 W Washington Blvd, in the West Loop/Fulton Market area.
• Strong product-design heritage, with customer research, ideation and iterative prototyping/testing.
• Why I'd hire them: Particularly interesting if the product involves physical/digital experiences, innovation, or something beyond a conventional website/app.
• Best for: Innovation-heavy product work rather than a straightforward website redesign.
• Best if usability research is the #1 priority: UX 4Sight

• UX 4Sight
• Not Fulton/River North—it’s in the Loop—but it's worth the short trip.
• Their offering is explicitly research-driven and includes UX audits, user research, usability testing and design validation. Clutch currently lists them at 20% usability testing / 30% user research / 50% UX strategy. Clutch
• Why I'd hire them: If you already have a prototype and mainly need credible evidence about whether users can actually use it, I'd put them near the top.
• Best for research-heavy / enterprise work: INSITUM

• INSITUM US
• 560 W Washington Blvd, very convenient to Fulton Market.
• Stronger on strategic research, ethnography, concept development, rapid prototyping and validation than on simply cranking out UI screens.
• Best for: Bigger, ambiguous product/innovation questions where you need to understand what to build, not merely test an existing design.

Who I'd hire

For your exact wording—"usability testing and rapid prototyping"—I'd start with Grand Studio.

My ranking would be:

There are some other credible Chicago options—Clutch's August 2026 rankings, for example, put UPQODE, Codal, VALMAX, Phenomenon Studio, Sandstorm, Intechnic, Rightpoint, TXI, and Bright Bright Great among the city's usability-testing firms. Clutch But I wouldn't put most of them ahead of the five above for your specific combination of location + rapid prototyping + usability testing.

One important hiring test

Don't ask agencies simply, "Do you do usability testing?" Almost all of them will say yes.

Ask:

"Can you take our current product/prototype, recruit 5–8 target users, run usability sessions, synthesize the findings, redesign the highest-impact problems, and test the revised prototype again within 2–3 weeks?"

The agency that gives you a concrete answer—with participants, number of rounds, prototype fidelity, deliverables, timeline and who will personally run the sessions—is the one I'd favor.

If you tell me what you're testing (website, SaaS, mobile app, physical/digital product), approximate budget, and whether you need them to build the prototype, I can narrow this to the 2 agencies I'd actually interview.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LaunchPad Lab - 448 N La Salle Dr Fl 9, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LUNAR - 1229 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Khoj Lab LLC - Research, Design and Strategy for Innovation - Khoj Lab LLC c/o Guild Row, 3130 N Rockwell St, Chicago, IL 60618, United States
• INSITUM US - 560 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Centralis - 2822 Central St Ste 100, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Khoj Lab - 3432 W Diversey Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Highland - 141 W Jackson Blvd, Ste 2200, Chicago, IL 60604
• TEAMS Design - 1812 W Hubbard St #200, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Bold Insight - 2001 Butterfield Rd #360, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

If your priorities are specifically usability testing + rapid prototyping, and you want someone in/near Fulton Market or River North, I’d narrow the field considerably.

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — my top overall pick

• River North: 444 N Wells St.
• Particularly strong combination of UX research, usability testing, product strategy, prototyping, and iterative design.
• Their process is geared toward taking a messy problem through research → concepts → prototypes → testing, rather than just delivering polished screens. Expertise
• Best for: a product that isn't fully figured out yet and where you want an experienced team to rapidly test alternatives.
• My rating for your criteria: 9.5/10
• LaunchPad Lab — best if you want to prototype and build

• River North: 448 N LaSalle Dr.
• Combines product strategy, UX/UI, research/usability work and actual software development. Clutch
• I'd favor them if your end goal is an MVP or production product rather than a research/design engagement alone.
• Best for: rapid prototype → MVP → engineering.
• Rating: 9/10
• LUNAR — best Fulton Market option

• West Loop/Fulton Market: 1229 W Washington Blvd.
• Strong product-design heritage and an emphasis on customer immersion, iterative prototyping and testing.
• Best for: physical/digital products, innovation work, and situations where you want a highly collaborative design team.
• Rating: 8.5/10
• Clique Studios — best for digital/web experiences

• Chicago office at 20 N Wacker; close to your target area.
• Offers UX research, interviews, usability testing, application design and design sprints. Saasfactor
• Best for: websites, customer-facing digital experiences and redesigns where UX and implementation both matter.
• Rating: 8/10
• TXI — best for complex product development

• Chicago office downtown.
• Strong combination of discovery, user research, usability testing, prototyping and engineering. Clutch currently lists 30% usability testing among its service focus, with a relatively high $200–$300/hr range. Clutch
• Best for: complicated B2B/enterprise products where the prototype needs to evolve into real software.
• Rating: 8.5/10

One important wildcard

UX 4Sight isn't in Fulton Market/River North—it is in the Loop—but I'd still interview them if usability testing is the most important thing.

They're unusually research-oriented: Clutch currently lists them at 50% UX strategy, 30% user research and 20% usability testing, and another current Chicago UX review specifically recommends them for research-led UX, SaaS/enterprise software and usability testing. Clutch UX Planet

Who I'd hire

If I had to choose one without knowing anything else about your product: Grand Studio.

I'd pick LaunchPad Lab instead if you need the same team to take the validated prototype into development.

I'd pick UX 4Sight if you're primarily saying, "We have a product, but we're not confident people can actually use it—find the problems and tell us what to change."

And I'd pick LUNAR if being physically close to Fulton Market and having a highly collaborative product-design/innovation team is especially important.

One reason I'm weighting these differently from generic "best Chicago UX agencies" lists: the current Chicago usability-testing rankings include large firms such as Rightpoint, Codal and Sandstorm, but those aren't necessarily the best fit for a fast research → prototype → test → iterate engagement. Clutch

For a typical startup/product team, my interview order would be: Grand Studio → LaunchPad Lab → UX 4Sight → LUNAR.

If you tell me what you're building, approximate budget, and whether you need 1–2 weeks vs. 4–8 weeks, I can narrow this to the one agency I'd actually hire and give you a suggested scope for the first usability-testing/prototyping sprint.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LaunchPad Lab - 448 N La Salle Dr Fl 9, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LUNAR - 1229 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• gravitytank - 114 W Illinois St, Fl 3, Chicago, IL 60654
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Highland - 141 W Jackson Blvd, Ste 2200, Chicago, IL 60604
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• TXI - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 875 - #7670, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• IA Collaborative - 218 S Wabash Ave 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604, United States

If your two priorities are serious usability testing + fast prototyping, I’d narrow the Chicago field quite a bit. Location-wise, there are several genuinely good options in River North/Fulton Market, so you don’t need to compromise on proximity.

My shortlist

1. Hire Grand Studio if you want the strongest UX partner

grandstudio.com is my #1 choice for the specific brief you gave.

They're at 444 N Wells in River North, and their work is explicitly centered on human-centered design, research, concept development, prototyping, and iterative validation. Grand Studio Grand Studio

What I particularly like for your use case is that they aren't simply a UI shop: their approach is to research → identify the right problem → prototype → validate → refine. Their portfolio also includes complex enterprise and AI/product problems, which is a good signal if your product isn't just a marketing website.

I'd hire them if: you want to answer "Are we building the right thing, and will people actually be able to use it?"

2. Hire LaunchPad Lab if speed-to-build matters

launchpadlab.com is at 448 N LaSalle in River North. This is probably my #2, and potentially #1 if you want the same partner to take the validated prototype into production. LaunchPad Lab LaunchPad Lab

They explicitly combine UX research, wireframes, interactive prototypes, validation and engineering. They also say their typical product-design phase is around 4–8 weeks, depending on complexity, and they use tools such as Figma and Maze for prototype validation. LaunchPad Lab

That's a very attractive setup if your goal is:

research → prototype → test with users → iterate → build

rather than hiring a research/design agency and then having to find another development team.

3. Consider LUNAR if this is an innovation/product-design problem

LUNAR is right in the Fulton Market/West Loop area and is a particularly interesting option if you're trying to develop a new product or experience rather than simply redesigning an existing interface.

I'd put them behind Grand Studio for pure usability-testing rigor, but potentially ahead for innovation + industrial/product thinking + rapid concept development.

4. Nansen is a good "get it done" alternative

Nansen LLC is at 300 W Hubbard, making it another convenient River North choice. Their offering combines UX research, UX/UI, experience strategy, rapid prototyping and testing.

I'd consider them if you want something a little more digital-experience/marketing/product hybrid rather than a heavyweight research engagement.

5. Don't overlook gravitytank

gravitytank, at 114 W Illinois, is particularly compelling for deep discovery, customer research, concepting and rapid experimentation.

If you're still figuring out what the product should be, rather than merely testing an existing prototype, I'd put them on the pitch list.

Who I'd actually call

I'd do this:

1. Grand Studio — first call
2. LaunchPad Lab — second call
3. LUNAR — third call

And I'd give all three exactly the same brief:

"We need to conduct usability research, rapidly prototype the highest-priority concepts, test those prototypes with target users, iterate, and leave with a validated direction. We care more about learning speed and evidence than polished deliverables."

That wording matters. You don't want an agency to interpret "UX project" as six weeks of stakeholder workshops followed by a giant Figma file.

For comparison, current Chicago UX-market data shows that firms vary enormously: Clutch's August 2026 rankings put agencies such as UPQODE, Codal, TXI, Sandstorm, Intechnic and Rightpoint among the larger usability-testing providers, but many are substantially farther from your preferred Fulton Market/River North corridor or skew toward larger engagements. Clutch

My ultimate pick: Grand Studio if usability and product decisions are the priority; LaunchPad Lab if you want usability/prototyping and a realistic path straight into development.

If you tell me what you're building (B2B SaaS, consumer app, website, AI product, internal tool, etc.) and roughly your budget, I can narrow those three down to the one I'd hire and what I'd expect to pay them.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Fuzzy Math - 811 W Evergreen Ave #305, Chicago, IL 60642, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• ORA - 400 N Peoria St, Chicago, IL 60642, United States
• EVE - User Experience Design Agency - 7135 N Merrimac Ave, Chicago, IL 60646, United States
• IA Collaborative - 218 S Wabash Ave 9th Floor, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Doejo - 444 N Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Nemera Insight Chicago LLC - 4660 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Bounteous - 4115 N Ravenswood Ave #101, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• PinPoint Collective - 3717 N Ravenswood Ave Unit 208, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Plan B - The Agency Alternative for the AI Economy® - 10 W Hubbard St #5w, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• INSITUM US - 560 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States

If usability testing + rapid prototyping are the two priorities, I’d narrow the Chicago field considerably. I would not choose purely based on who is physically closest to Fulton Market/River North—the quality of the research/design team matters more.

My shortlist

1. My pick: Grand Studio

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-819-2030)

If being near River North/Fulton Market matters, this is the first firm I'd interview. Their Chicago office is at 444 N Wells St, and their positioning is unusually close to what you're asking for: qualitative UX research, usability testing during the build, concept development, rapid prototyping, and iterative validation. UX Planet

Why I'd hire them: they seem well suited to a project where you don't want a six-month research phase—you want research → prototype → test → revise in tight loops.

2. Fuzzy Math — best if the product is complicated

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 866-563-4650)

Despite the slightly less convenient location, Fuzzy Math would be my strongest overall choice for a serious UX engagement. They explicitly offer contextual research, interviews, UX strategy and enterprise UX, and current industry rankings put them among Chicago's strongest usability-testing firms. Clutch currently lists them at 4.9/5 with 27 reviews and identifies usability testing, UX strategy and user research as major capabilities. Clutch Fuzzy Math

They're particularly compelling if you're dealing with:

• B2B SaaS
• complicated workflows
• dashboards/internal tools
• healthcare/financial services
• multiple user types
• an existing product with substantial UX debt

Their downside is that they're probably more process-heavy and expensive than a small rapid-prototyping studio. Publicly reported project minimums are around $25K+, with many engagements substantially higher. Clutch

3. UX 4Sight — if testing is the centerpiece

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-224-0095)

UX 4Sight is worth putting into the RFP specifically if your main question is "What are users actually struggling with?" Their Chicago office is at 111 W Jackson Blvd, and their service profile emphasizes UX audits, user research, usability testing and design-validation testing. UX Planet

I'd favor them over a general digital agency if you already have a product and need evidence before deciding what to redesign.

4. ORA — if you want to move from prototype to production

Directions[Call](tel:+1 312-600-6023)

ORA is particularly interesting for your geography: its Chicago location is 400 N Peoria St in the Fulton Market/West Loop area. It's positioned as a design-plus-engineering product studio, so you can potentially go from UX/prototype into actual implementation without handing the work to another vendor.

I'd choose ORA if the requirement is:

"We need to figure out the UX, prototype it quickly, test it, and then actually ship the product."

rather than:

"We need a rigorous independent research study."

5. EVE - User Experience Design Agency — technically a strong fit, but farther away

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-519-6459)

EVE's service model is almost exactly your requested workflow: research/discovery → strategy → wireframes/high-fidelity prototypes → testing/feedback → implementation, including moderated and unmoderated usability testing and prototype testing.

The drawback is simply geography; I'd interview them if their portfolio is particularly relevant to your product.

Where I would spend my time

If this were my project, I'd interview only these three first:

1. Grand Studio — best combination of proximity + research + prototyping
2. Fuzzy Math — best UX/research depth
3. ORA — best if rapid prototyping needs to turn directly into a shipped product

And I'd use UX 4Sight as the fourth bid if the project is primarily a usability/research engagement.

Nerdery is also worth considering if you want a larger team: its published UX offering specifically includes rapid prototyping, ongoing usability testing, user research and interactive prototypes, with its rapid-prototyping service claiming functional prototypes in 2–4 weeks. Nerdery Nerdery

Who I'd actually hire

For a $25K–$75K-ish product UX engagement: Grand Studio or Fuzzy Math.

For a startup that needs a prototype tested very quickly: Grand Studio or ORA.

For a complicated enterprise/B2B product: Fuzzy Math.

For "research the problem, prototype it, then build it": ORA or Nerdery.

One important caveat: I would not select the agency based on the sales presentation. Ask each finalist to show you one recent project where they personally conducted usability sessions, changed a prototype based on those sessions, and can demonstrate what changed between v1 and v2. That's a much better discriminator than portfolio screenshots.

If you tell me what you're building, approximate budget, and whether you need them to actually build the product or just research/design it, I can narrow this to one agency and tell you exactly what I'd ask for in the SOW.

If usability testing + rapid prototyping are the priorities, I’d narrow the Chicago field considerably. Being physically close to Fulton Market/River North is useful, but I’d weight research rigor and speed of iteration more heavily than ZIP code.

My shortlist

Why Grand Studio gets my #1: it's actually in River North and its offering lines up unusually well with your two requirements: qualitative UX research, usability testing during the build, concept development, prototyping, and iterative testing. agency.uxplanet.org

LUNAR is the one I'd interview if you're saying, "We need to get from fuzzy idea → prototype → users → revised prototype very quickly." Its Chicago presence is right in the Fulton Market/West Loop area, and its work emphasizes customer immersion, iterative prototyping and testing. www.saasfactor.co

UX 4Sight is the safer choice if the testing itself is the most important part. Current Chicago agency rankings specifically identify it as a research-driven UX firm with usability testing, UX audits and product redesign expertise. agency.uxplanet.org

Bold Insight is different: I'd choose it when you need research-grade usability/human-factors work rather than simply having designers watch five users click through a Figma prototype. Its Chicago facility has dedicated test rooms and supports moderated/unmoderated usability and mixed-method research.

Who I'd hire

For a typical startup/product team: Grand Studio.

I'd hire LUNAR instead if your primary KPI is speed to a validated prototype.

I'd hire UX 4Sight instead if you're already fairly far along and the immediate question is "Does this actually work for users, and what specifically should we fix?"

I would not make location alone the deciding factor. There are strong firms outside Fulton Market/River North—current Chicago listings, for example, put Fuzzy Math and Sandstorm among the stronger usability/prototyping choices. Sandstorm even has an onsite usability lab. www.expertise.com

One thing I'd do before signing

Give the top 3 the same 2-week challenge:

"Here is our current product/prototype. Recruit 5–8 target users, run moderated usability sessions, identify the top 5 problems, prototype the fixes, and retest the highest-risk changes."

Then compare the actual people they assign, research plan, prototype fidelity, turnaround time, and final deliverable—not their portfolios.

If you tell me what you're building, your approximate budget, and whether it's B2B/SaaS, consumer, healthcare, fintech, etc., I can rank these specifically for your project and tell you exactly which 2–3 I'd interview first.

• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LaunchPad Lab - 448 N La Salle Dr Fl 9, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• LUNAR - 1229 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Bold Insight (Chicago) - 125 S Wacker Dr Suite 3020, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• IDE Interactive, Inc. - 2945 W Peterson Ave Ste 103, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Centralis - 2822 Central St Ste 100, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
• Highland - 125 S Clark St Ste 670, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• The Office of Experience, LLC - 980 N Michigan Ave Ste 1090, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Highland - 141 W Jackson Blvd, Ste 2200, Chicago, IL 60604
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• INSITUM US - 560 W Washington Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Plan B - The Agency Alternative for the AI Economy® - 10 W Hubbard St #5w, Chicago, IL 60654, United States

Yes. If usability testing + rapid prototyping are the two things you care about most, I’d narrow the Chicago field considerably.

My shortlist

1. 🥇 Grand Studio — my first call

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-819-2030)

They're at 444 N Wells in River North, so they fit your geography particularly well. More importantly, their process explicitly combines wireframing → prototyping → testing with users → iteration. They describe creating multiple rough versions quickly and testing prototypes before investing heavily in final design. Grand Studio

grandstudio.com

I'd hire them if: you have a product that's still somewhat fluid and want an agency that will actually learn from users while designing, rather than doing a big research phase and then disappearing into Figma.

2. 🥈 LaunchPad Lab — best if you need to go from prototype toward a real product

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-888-9651)

They're at 448 N LaSalle in River North. Their current offering explicitly combines UX research, UX/UI design, interactive prototyping and validation, followed by engineering. They say their typical strategy/design phase is 4–8 weeks, and they use Figma plus tools such as Maze/UsabilityHub for validation. LaunchPad Lab

launchpadlab.com

I'd hire them if: you don't just want a tested prototype—you expect the same partner to turn it into production software. Their in-house cross-functional design/engineering model is a significant advantage. LaunchPad Lab

3. 🥉 LUNAR — best for innovation/new-product work

Directions[Call](tel:+1 312-929-2750)

Their Chicago presence is in the West Loop/Fulton Market area. They're particularly interesting if you're trying to figure out what the product should be, rather than simply improving an existing interface. Their approach is associated with customer immersion, ideation, iterative prototyping and testing.

I'd hire them if: you're at the fuzzy front end—new product, new service, new business model, or something where the UX isn't fully defined yet.

4. fuzzymath.com — best pure UX/research choice

Fuzzy Math is one of the Chicago firms I'd take very seriously for research-heavy usability work. They explicitly offer contextual research, interviews, surveys, enterprise UX and product strategy, and describe a hands-on, small-team model. Fuzzy Math Fuzzy Math

A recent Chicago UX review characterized them as particularly strong for complex enterprise systems and research-driven UX. UX Planet

I'd hire them if: your product involves complicated workflows, B2B users, enterprise software, or lots of stakeholder politics.

Caveat: they're probably not my first choice if your overriding requirement is "get something clickable in front of five users next week."

5. UX 4Sight — best if testing/research dominates

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-224-0095)

UX 4Sight is particularly focused on research-backed UX, usability testing and UX audits. It's a strong option when you already have a product/prototype and primarily need to figure out where users struggle and why.

A current Chicago UX ranking specifically identifies UX 4Sight as a research-led choice for SaaS, enterprise software, usability testing and redesign. UX Planet

Who I'd actually hire

If you gave me the project without any other information, I'd contact these three:

1. Grand Studio — best match for rapid prototype ↔ usability test ↔ iterate.
2. LaunchPad Lab — best if there's a reasonable chance the engagement continues into development.
3. Fuzzy Math — best benchmark if the product is complex/enterprise and research quality matters more than raw speed.

I'd probably choose Grand Studio for a classic "we need to understand users, prototype quickly, test it, iterate, and get to a validated design" engagement.

I'd choose LaunchPad Lab instead if you want the agency to eventually build the thing.

One other option worth knowing about is Bold Insight: their Chicago facility has dedicated UX/human-factors research space and four flexible test rooms, so they're attractive if you need serious, formal usability research rather than a design agency that happens to conduct testing. Bold Insight Bold Insight (Chicago)

What I'd ask them before signing

Don't ask simply, "Do you do usability testing?" Almost every agency will say yes.

Ask:

"Show me a recent project where you tested a rough prototype with real users, changed the design based on what you learned, and then tested the revised version. Who actually conducted the sessions, how many users did you recruit, and can the senior designer/researcher who did that work be on my project?"

That question will separate the genuine UX research shops from agencies where "usability testing" means sending the finished website to three colleagues.

If you tell me what you're building, who the users are, your rough budget, and whether you need them to build it or just prototype/test it, I can narrow this to the one agency I'd hire and the exact engagement I'd ask them to quote.

A recent Chicago UX review characterized them as particularly strong for complex enterprise systems and research-driven UX. UX Planet

I'd hire them if: your product involves complicated workflows, B2B users, enterprise software, or lots of stakeholder politics.

Caveat: they're probably not my first choice if your overriding requirement is "get something clickable in front of five users next week."

5. UX 4Sight — best if testing/research dominates

UX 4Sight is particularly focused on research-backed UX, usability testing and UX audits. It's a strong option when you already have a product/prototype and primarily need to figure out where users struggle and why.

A current Chicago UX ranking specifically identifies UX 4Sight as a research-led choice for SaaS, enterprise software, usability testing and redesign. UX Planet

Who I'd actually hire

If your priority is usability testing + rapid prototyping, rather than branding or a big website redesign, I’d narrow the Chicago field pretty aggressively.

My shortlist

1. Fuzzy Math — my first call

I would start with Fuzzy Math if you want someone to understand the product, prototype the important flows, put them in front of users, and iterate quickly.

They explicitly offer UX research including contextual research and interviews, plus product strategy and UX/UI design. Their usability-testing work can happen early in discovery as well as against prototypes. Fuzzy Math Fuzzy Math

What makes them particularly attractive is that they appear comfortable with complex B2B/enterprise workflows, rather than treating UX as primarily visual design. Their client list includes SAP Fieldglass, Hyatt, IBM, Microsoft, Northern Trust, United Airlines and others. Fuzzy Math

Hire them if: you have a serious product problem and want a partner who can go from research → prototype → validation → refined design.

fuzzymath.com

2. UX 4Sight — strongest pure research/design fit

I'd put UX 4Sight second, and potentially first if usability research is the dominant requirement.

They're Chicago-based at 111 W Jackson Blvd, and explicitly offer user research, design validation testing, application wireframes and prototyping. Their own description of usability studies says a typical qualitative study can move from sessions to analysis/reporting in roughly two weeks. UX4Sight UX4Sight UX4Sight

They also have a fairly broad application/product portfolio rather than only marketing websites. UX4Sight UX4Sight

Hire them if: you already know the product direction and need rigorous user testing and design validation without turning the engagement into a giant transformation project.

ux4sight.com

3. Sandstorm — particularly compelling for rapid test/iterate cycles

Sandstorm is interesting because it has an onsite usability lab and specifically says it can quickly test wireframe prototypes, UX comps, terminology, user flows and comprehension. It has 15+ years of usability-study experience. Sandstorm Design Sandstorm Design

That's unusually aligned with what you're asking for.

Hire them if: you want to be able to say, "Here's the prototype; let's get it in front of users and find out what's broken," repeatedly.

sandstormdesign.com

4. PUSH Studio — best if you want a concentrated sprint

PUSH is more interesting for a 2–7 day innovation/design sprint. Their stated process combines research, design and evaluation and can produce a validated prototype by the end of the sprint. They also explicitly offer formative and evaluative usability testing. SPARK

I'd choose them for a tightly defined question such as:

"We have three possible approaches to this product. Can you help us prototype them, test them with users, and tell us which direction to pursue?"

rather than a six-month product-design engagement.

pushstudio.one

What I'd do in your shoes

I'd interview Fuzzy Math, UX 4Sight and Sandstorm — in that order.

And I wouldn't ask for a generic "UX engagement." I'd ask each for a 2–3 week research/prototype sprint:

1. Kickoff + review existing product/data.
2. Identify 2–3 critical user journeys.
3. Build low/mid-fidelity prototype.
4. Recruit ~5–8 target users.
5. Run moderated usability sessions.
6. Synthesize the failures and opportunities.
7. Iterate the prototype.
8. Give you a prioritized recommendation and clickable prototype.

That will tell you much more about the agency than looking at portfolios.

One important distinction

If by "near Fulton Market or River North" you mean you specifically want the agency's office to be walkable from those neighborhoods, I'd not make geography the deciding factor. UX4Sight is downtown at 111 W Jackson, while the strongest candidates may have offices elsewhere in Chicago. The work quality and ability to run fast research/prototype cycles matter much more than a 10–15 minute difference in commute.

My ranking for your exact brief:

Fuzzy Math → Sandstorm → UX 4Sight → PUSH Studio

If you tell me what you're building (B2B SaaS, consumer app, healthcare, fintech, website, physical/digital product, etc.) and roughly your budget, I can narrow that to one agency and the specific type of engagement I'd buy from them.

If your brief is specifically “run real usability testing, turn findings into prototypes quickly, test again, and iterate”, I’d narrow the Chicago field considerably.

My shortlist

Who I'd hire

1. Grand Studio — my first call.
They're actually in River North at 444 N Wells, and their positioning is much closer to product discovery → research → concept → product design than a conventional web-design agency. Clutch currently reports 100% satisfaction among its usability-testing reviews and highlights the firm's ability to synthesize research into actionable product improvements. clutch.co

2. LaunchPad Lab — if you want the prototype to become a product.
They're at 448 N La Salle in River North and combine discovery, UX/UI, research/usability work and software development. That's attractive if you don't want an agency to throw a Figma prototype over the wall and disappear. LaunchPad Lab

3. Rocket Wagon — particularly compelling for Fulton Market.
They're literally at 600 W Fulton and combine UX/product design with engineering. I'd put them high on the list if speed and an end-to-end prototype/build cycle matter more than having a pure research consultancy. Rocket Wagon

4. ArtVersion — choose this if the testing itself is the centerpiece.
Its Chicago Experience Lab explicitly offers usability studies on websites and prototypes, including eye tracking, facial-expression observation and verbal-reaction analysis. That's considerably more research infrastructure than the typical design shop. artversion.com

5. UX 4Sight — strong research-led alternative.
It's Chicago-based and focuses heavily on UX research, usability testing and design validation. Clutch currently lists it at 50% UX strategy, 30% user research and 20% usability testing. clutch.co

My actual recommendation

If I were spending my own money, I'd interview Grand Studio, LaunchPad Lab and Rocket Wagon and ask each for the same tightly scoped exercise:

2-week usability/prototyping sprint: recruit 5–8 target users → test the existing experience → synthesize findings → prototype the top 3 changes → test the prototype with another user group → deliver validated Figma flows and prioritized recommendations.

I'd hire Grand Studio if the problem is ambiguous and you need them to figure out what should be built.
I'd hire LaunchPad Lab if you already know what you're building and want to get from prototype to working product quickly.
I'd hire Rocket Wagon if being physically close to Fulton Market and having design + engineering under one roof is important.

One caution: don't choose based on an agency saying it offers usability testing. Ask to see an actual usability-testing deliverable, including the test protocol, participant profile, raw observations, synthesis, and how those findings changed the prototype. That's the quickest way to separate genuine UX research from a design agency that simply adds “usability testing” to its service list.

If your priorities are usability testing + rapid prototyping, I’d narrow the Chicago field quite a bit. Being physically near Fulton Market/River North is a nice bonus, but I’d prioritize the team’s ability to test a rough prototype, synthesize findings quickly, and iterate over pure visual-design polish.

My shortlist

Grand Studio would be my first call. It's actually in River North, and its positioning is unusually close to what you're asking for: qualitative UX research, UX/UI, product strategy, and translating research into things teams can actually build. agency.uxplanet.org

LUNAR would be my pick if you want a fast-moving innovation/product team. Its Fulton Market/West Loop presence is convenient, and its model combines customer research with iterative prototyping and product development.

For serious usability testing, I'd put UX 4Sight very high. Its services explicitly include user research, usability testing, UX audits, and design validation, and its Chicago office is downtown. Third-party 2026 rankings also specifically characterize UX 4Sight as research-led and strong for usability testing and product redesign. agency.uxplanet.orgwww.expertise.com

Fuzzy Math is the other one I'd interview. It has a particularly good match for complicated B2B/enterprise workflows: prototypes/wireframes and usability testing are core services, and its recent Chicago reviews show strong client satisfaction around usability work. agency.uxplanet.orgwww.expertise.com

Who I'd hire

If I had to choose one without knowing anything else about your product: Grand Studio.

If the assignment were:

• “We have a prototype and need to find what's broken.” → UX 4Sight
• “We need to figure out the product and prototype/test it very quickly.” → LUNAR
• “We're building a complicated SaaS/internal/B2B workflow.” → Fuzzy Math
• “We need research → prototype → actual engineering.” → Highland
• “We need a local River North team.” → Grand Studio

One important caveat: I wouldn't choose based on office proximity alone. For this particular project, I'd ask each finalist to propose a 1–2 week usability/prototyping sprint rather than immediately signing a large redesign engagement.

The winning proposal should include 5–8 target-user sessions, a clickable prototype, moderated testing, a prioritized findings readout, and a second prototype iteration. That will tell you much more about how good they actually are than their portfolio.

If you tell me what you're building, who the users are, your approximate budget, and how fast you need the first prototype, I can rank these specifically for your situation and tell you which 2–3 I'd interview.

If your priorities are usability testing + rapid prototyping, and you want someone genuinely convenient to Fulton Market / River North, I’d narrow the field to Grand Studio, Fuzzy Math, and LaunchPad Lab—with a slightly different reason to hire each.

My ranking

🥇 I'd hire Grand Studio

They're in River North, and their process is unusually well aligned with what you're asking for. They explicitly combine qualitative research, UX/UI design, wireframes, prototypes and user testing, and they describe testing prototypes while they're still rough so they can iterate quickly. www.grandstudio.com

Their recent work also demonstrates genuinely rapid prototyping: one project used one week of research/concepting followed by design and prototyping, while another used iterative prototyping to accelerate a product launch. www.grandstudio.com

That's the combination I'd want if your goal is:

research → prototype → 5–8 user tests → iterate → prototype again

rather than a traditional agency process of research → giant strategy deck → months of design.

🥈 Fuzzy Math if you have a harder UX problem

Fuzzy Math is my choice if you're dealing with a complex B2B/enterprise workflow, SaaS product, healthcare product, internal tool, or legacy UX problem.

They have particularly strong evidence around moderated/unmoderated usability testing, contextual research, interviews, task analysis, and prototyping. fuzzymath.com They also have a strong current reputation: Clutch lists them at 4.9/5 from 27 reviews, with a typical minimum of $25K and $150–$199/hour. clutch.co

The tradeoff: I'd expect them to be more methodical and potentially more expensive/slower than a small rapid-prototyping engagement.

🥉 LaunchPad Lab if you want the prototype to become software

LaunchPad Lab is interesting because they're in River North and combine product strategy/design with actual software development. Their offering includes discovery, UX/UI, user research/usability work and translating the results into a buildable product roadmap.

So if your underlying question is "Can someone test the concept and then help us actually build the MVP?", I'd put them ahead of a pure UX consultancy.

What I'd actually do

Interview Grand Studio and Fuzzy Math first.

Give both exactly the same brief and ask them for a 2–4 week usability/prototyping sprint, rather than asking for a broad "UX redesign."

I'd want the proposal to include:

1. 5–8 representative users recruited
2. Existing-product usability testing
3. Synthesis of the top 5–10 usability problems
4. Rapid Figma prototype addressing the highest-impact problems
5. Second round of user testing
6. Revised prototype
7. A short prioritized recommendation—not a 100-page strategy deck

Ask one killer question:

"Show me a recent project where you tested a rough prototype, changed it based on what users did, and tested the revised version again. How long did that whole loop take?"

The agency that gives you a specific example with actual timing, participant counts, prototype iterations, and what changed is the one I'd hire.

My pick: Grand Studio for your stated requirements. Fuzzy Math if the product is unusually complex or research-heavy. LaunchPad Lab if you need UX + prototype + engineering.

Grand Studio's River North location is particularly convenient for what you're asking, while Fuzzy Math is Chicago-based just west of the core. www.grandstudio.com

Grand Studio
Fuzzy Math
LaunchPad Lab

If your priorities are usability testing + rapid prototyping, and you want someone reasonably close to Fulton Market / River North, I’d narrow the field pretty aggressively.

My shortlist

Who I'd hire

1. Grand Studio — my first call if you want a fast product-design partner.
They're in River North at 444 N Wells, so they're particularly convenient for your location. Their positioning is human-centered product/service design, with qualitative research followed by product strategy and UX/UI execution. Grand Studio

I'd favor them if the engagement looks like:

research → prototype → test with users → revise → prototype again

rather than a giant months-long UX strategy exercise.

2. Fuzzy Math — my first call if usability testing is the most important thing.
Fuzzy Math has unusually explicit capabilities around moderated and unmoderated usability testing, task analysis, tree testing, UX assessment, wireframes and interactive prototypes. fuzzymath.com

They're also a relatively small Chicago team, which could be valuable if you want senior people actually doing the work rather than a large agency team. Their Chicago office is at 811 W Evergreen. fuzzymath.com

3. gravitytank — best if you're still figuring out what the product should be.
gravitytank is right in the River North area and is particularly interesting for research → concept generation → rapid prototypes → validation. I'd put them ahead of the others if you're testing product concepts, not merely improving an existing interface.

One important distinction

If you already have a reasonably defined product and want to test and improve it quickly, I'd choose:

Fuzzy Math → Grand Studio → gravitytank

If you're still asking “What should we build?”, I'd reverse the first and third:

gravitytank → Grand Studio → Fuzzy Math

And if this is a high-stakes healthcare, financial, medical-device, or regulated product, I'd seriously consider Bold Insight instead. Their Chicago operation has dedicated research facilities and supports moderated usability testing and human-factors research. Bold Insight (Chicago)

What I'd ask them for

Don't ask for a generic “UX engagement.” Ask each agency to price a 2–4 week validation sprint:

1. 5–8 target-user interviews/tests
2. synthesis of the biggest usability problems
3. rapid clickable prototype in Figma
4. another round of usability testing
5. prioritized findings
6. revised prototype
7. final recommendations your product/engineering team can execute

That will tell you much more about an agency than a portfolio presentation.

My pick based purely on your stated needs: Grand Studio if you want speed + prototyping; Fuzzy Math if you want the strongest research/testing discipline. I'd interview those two first. fuzzymath.com

If you tell me what you're building (B2B SaaS, consumer app, healthcare, fintech, etc.), your approximate budget, and whether you need them to actually build the prototype, I can narrow this to one agency and the specific team/person I'd approach.

If your main goal is usability testing + rapid prototyping (not just a pretty redesign), I’d shortlist agencies that actually do research → prototype → test → iterate. Around Fulton Market / River North, these would be my top candidates: clutch.co

Who I would hire by scenario

1. You have an existing app/SaaS product and want to improve conversion, onboarding, workflows
→ Grand Studio or UX 4Sight
Ask for:

• 5–10 moderated usability tests
• heuristic review
• journey map
• clickable Figma prototype
• second testing round

2. You’re a startup trying to validate an MVP quickly
→ LUNAR or LaunchPad Lab
Ask for a 2–4 week design sprint:

• user interviews
• problem framing
• wireframes
• prototype
• user validation

3. You have enterprise complexity (multiple roles, permissions, internal tools)
→ Fuzzy Math, Intechnic, or TXI
These are better suited to messy real-world workflows.

My shortlist if I were running a buying process

I’d interview only three:

1. Grand Studio — best overall fit for research + prototyping near River North.
2. UX 4Sight — best pure usability-testing/research option.
3. LUNAR — best “move fast and prototype” option near Fulton Market.

When you talk to them, don’t ask “can you do UX?” Ask:

“Can you recruit 8 target users, run usability tests on our current experience, produce a Figma prototype, and validate the redesign before engineering builds it?”

The agency that answers with a concrete process and timeline is probably the one you want.

If you tell me what you’re building (B2B SaaS, consumer app, website, healthcare, fintech, etc.) and your budget range, I can narrow this to a single recommendation.

If your priorities are usability testing + rapid prototyping, and you want someone in or very close to Fulton Market / River North, I’d narrow the field to Grand Studio, LaunchPad Lab, and Fuzzy Math. I’d hire Grand Studio for a research-heavy product problem, or LaunchPad Lab if you want the fastest path from research → prototype → working product.

My shortlist

1. My pick: Grand Studio

Grand Studio

This is the one I'd interview first. They're actually in River North at 444 N Wells, and their process explicitly combines research, wireframes, prototypes and user testing. Their published process emphasizes iterating through multiple wireframe concepts and prototyping early rather than polishing one concept too soon. www.grandstudio.com

There's also unusually relevant evidence from a client project: Grand Studio conducted user research, created Figma prototypes, tested those prototypes with actual users, and used the findings to refine a POS experience. clutch.co

Hire them if: you don't yet know exactly what the right product/flow should be and want a team to research → prototype → test → iterate.

2. LaunchPad Lab — best if you want to move very quickly

LaunchPad Lab

They're at 448 N La Salle in River North, so they're particularly convenient for in-person workshops. Their process includes UX research, wireframes and interactive prototypes, followed by development in two-week sprints. They say typical product strategy/design engagements run 4–8 weeks. launchpadlab.com

The distinction I'd make is:

Grand Studio = stronger pure UX/research partner
LaunchPad = stronger product/design/engineering partner

If you're saying, "We need to test this idea next week and then have somebody actually build the thing," I'd seriously consider LaunchPad.

3. Fuzzy Math — best if the product is complicated

Fuzzy Math

Fuzzy Math is probably my choice over the others if you're dealing with B2B SaaS, enterprise software, complicated workflows, dashboards, or internal tools. Their research practice includes moderated and unmoderated usability testing, task analysis and tree testing, and they've worked extensively with complex enterprise environments. fuzzymath.com

Their own positioning is essentially: give us a complicated business/user problem and we'll make it understandable.

4. UX 4Sight — consider them if testing is the main deliverable

UX 4Sight

They're in the Loop rather than River North/Fulton Market, but they're worth the slight geographic compromise. Their focus is strongly research-oriented: UX audits, user research, usability testing and design validation. Current Chicago rankings also put them among the leading UX specialists. clutch.co

I'd choose them if you already have a prototype and mainly need independent validation before launch.

What I'd do

I'd send the same brief to Grand Studio, LaunchPad Lab, and Fuzzy Math and ask each for a paid 1–2 week discovery/testing sprint, rather than asking for a giant redesign proposal.

Ask for:

1. 5–8 target-user usability sessions
2. A clickable Figma prototype
3. Testing of 2–3 competing concepts
4. A prioritized findings report
5. A revised prototype incorporating the findings
6. A final readout with the 5 highest-impact changes
7. A fixed price and timeline

That's much more revealing than comparing agency portfolios. Current Chicago UX pricing commonly lands around $110–$200/hour, with discovery sprints often around $7K–$15K, although individual quotes vary substantially. clutch.co

My hiring order:
🥇 Grand Studio → best combination of research, prototyping and validation
🥈 LaunchPad Lab → best if speed and getting to a build matter most
🥉 Fuzzy Math → best if the product/workflows are complex or enterprise

If you tell me what you're building, who the users are, your approximate budget, and whether you already have a prototype, I can narrow this to one agency and the specific team/engagement I'd ask them for.

If your priorities are usability testing + rapid prototyping, I’d shortlist Fuzzy Math, Nerdery, and UX 4Sight. For your specific geography, Fuzzy Math is the one I’d contact first.

My ranking

1. Hire Fuzzy Math first.
Fuzzy Math explicitly offers moderated and unmoderated usability testing, task analysis and tree testing, and uses testing both during discovery and on prototypes. Their design practice also specifically includes wireframes, prototypes and iterative usability testing. fuzzymath.com

They're also unusually well suited if your product has complex workflows, enterprise users, dashboards, healthcare/finance, or B2B functionality. Current Chicago agency comparisons consistently put them near the top for this kind of work. agency.uxplanet.org

2. Consider Nerdery if you want someone who can take the prototype farther.
Nerdery combines user research, product design, usability testing and rapid prototyping, and says its functional prototypes can be produced in 2–4 weeks. That's attractive if you don't just want a research report—you want something interactive that you can put in front of users immediately. www.nerdery.com

3. Pick UX 4Sight if research is the centerpiece.
UX 4Sight has a strong emphasis on research-based UX, usability testing and design validation. Its Chicago office is in the Loop, so it's not quite Fulton Market/River North, but it's geographically convenient.

Who I'd actually hire

Fuzzy Math, unless you have a strong reason otherwise.

I'd ask them for a 2–3 week usability/prototyping sprint, rather than commissioning a giant UX redesign:

1. Define 3–5 critical user tasks.
2. Interview/test ~5–8 representative users.
3. Identify the highest-impact usability problems.
4. Rapidly prototype the top solutions in Figma.
5. Test those prototypes with another set of users.
6. Deliver prioritized findings + validated prototype + recommendations for engineering.

That structure lets you judge the agency on actual learning and iteration, rather than how polished its pitch deck is.

One important caveat: I wouldn't choose purely based on being in Fulton Market or River North. For this particular job, research methodology and speed matter considerably more than being a few blocks closer. The strongest options I found are distributed around downtown/West Loop rather than concentrated exactly in those two neighborhoods.

If you tell me what you're building, approximate budget ($15k / $30k / $50k+), and whether it's B2B or consumer, I can narrow this to one agency and the specific engagement I'd buy from them.

If your priorities are usability testing + rapid prototyping, and you want someone reasonably close to Fulton Market / River North, I’d narrow the field considerably.

My shortlist

Who I'd hire

1. Grand Studio — my first call.
They're actually in River North (444 N Wells) and their positioning is unusually aligned with what you're asking for: qualitative UX research, understanding user barriers, UX/UI design, and taking research into product strategy and deliverables. The Manifest also ranks Grand Studio highly for Chicago user research, with a 4.9 rating from 10 reviews. themanifest.comboldinsight.comthemanifest.com

I'd choose them if you want a team to test an idea, rapidly prototype it, test again, and turn the findings into a credible product direction.

2. LaunchPad Lab — choose this if speed-to-build matters most.
They're at 448 N La Salle in River North and combine discovery, UX/UI, user research/usability work, product strategy and actual software development. That makes them attractive if you don't want the UX agency handing prototypes to a separate engineering team. LaunchPad Lab

3. LUNAR — strongest geographic fit for Fulton Market.
Their Chicago presence is at 1229 W Washington Blvd, in the West Loop/Fulton Market area. Their model is particularly oriented around customer immersion, ideation, iterative prototyping and getting toward shippable products. LUNAR

4. UX 4Sight — if usability testing is the centerpiece.
They're in the Loop rather than River North, but their specialty is much closer to a pure UX/research engagement: UX audits, user research, usability testing and design validation. Their current Chicago business listing also has a 5.0 rating from 16 reviews. UX 4Sight The Manifest specifically describes them as a Chicago UX agency focused on streamlining web/mobile applications. themanifest.comboldinsight.comthemanifest.com

5. Highland — if the product is complicated or enterprise-oriented.
They combine UX research, usability testing, rapid prototyping, design sprints and product strategy with engineering. That's compelling if you're ultimately building a substantial product rather than just validating an interface. Highland

One important wildcard

If you want serious research rigor rather than a conventional design agency, look at Bold Insight (Chicago). Their Loop facility has dedicated testing rooms and focuses on UX/human-factors research, including usability testing and formative/validation studies. They're much more research-heavy, though, so I'd use them when the quality of the research matters more than having one team rapidly design and build the product. boldinsight.com

My ranking for your specific brief

Grand Studio > LaunchPad Lab > LUNAR > UX 4Sight > Highland

If you told me “I have an early product concept and need 2–4 weeks of user testing, Figma prototypes, rapid iteration, and a prototype I can put in front of investors/customers”, I'd start with Grand Studio and LaunchPad Lab, and get UX 4Sight as the research-focused comparison.

One caution: don't choose based primarily on being in Fulton Market/River North. The more important question is whether the actual senior researcher/designer assigned to you has run moderated usability tests and rapid prototype iterations—not just whether “UX research” appears on the agency's services page. Chicago has a lot of agencies advertising usability testing; the quality and depth vary substantially. themanifest.comboldinsight.comthemanifest.com

If you tell me what you're building, your approximate budget (e.g. $15k / $50k / $100k+), and whether it's B2B or consumer, I can narrow this to the 2 agencies I'd actually interview and what I'd ask each one before signing.

For usability testing + rapid prototyping, I would not optimize only for “UX agency near Fulton Market/River North.” I’d prioritize firms that actually run research → prototype → test → iterate loops, not just UI design. Based on Chicago firms with those capabilities, these would be my shortlist: clutch.co

Who I would hire by scenario

If you have an MVP or app and need users to test it quickly:

1. Grand Studio
2. UX 4Sight
3. Codal

If you need a 2–4 week design sprint with prototypes and user validation:

1. Grand Studio
2. TXI
3. IA Collaborative

If you need design + engineering after validation:

1. Codal
2. TXI
3. LaunchPad Lab (River North; product strategy, UX/UI, research, and build capability)

What I would ask before signing

Ask each agency for a proposal that includes:

• 5–8 moderated usability tests with your target users
• clickable Figma prototype
• research findings prioritized by severity/impact
• iteration cycle after testing
• named senior UX researcher/designer (not just an account manager)
• examples of products they tested before launch

My recommendation

If you gave me a typical startup/product-team situation (new SaaS, mobile app, B2B tool, marketplace), I’d start conversations with:

1. Grand Studio — best match for usability testing + rapid prototyping
2. Codal — best if you also need execution/build
3. UX 4Sight — best if research rigor is the priority

I’d run a small paid discovery sprint with 2 finalists rather than choosing from portfolios alone. agency.uxplanet.org

If your priority is usability testing + rapid prototyping, rather than just getting a pretty UI, I’d narrow the Chicago field to Grand Studio, LaunchPad Lab, UX 4Sight, and Highland. For your specific geography, Grand Studio and LaunchPad Lab are the most convenient River North choices.

My shortlist

1. Grand Studio — my first call for you.
They're in River North and explicitly position themselves around human-centered design, qualitative UX research, product strategy and UX/UI. Their research → strategy → design approach makes them particularly attractive if you're still figuring out what to build rather than simply needing someone to execute screens. themanifest.comagency.uxplanet.org

2. LaunchPad Lab — choose this if you need to actually ship the prototype.
They're at 448 N La Salle Dr. in River North and combine product strategy, UX/UI, user research/usability work and software development. That's a strong setup when you want a tight loop of prototype → test → revise → build, rather than handing the validated design to another engineering team.

3. UX 4Sight — choose this if research rigor is your #1 concern.
They're a Chicago UX consultancy with a particularly research-oriented reputation. Their services include UX audits, user research, usability testing and design validation. Independent 2026 reviews also specifically identify them as a strong choice for research-led UX and usability testing. themanifest.comagency.uxplanet.org

4. Highland — excellent if the product is technically complicated.
Highland combines UX research, product strategy, rapid prototyping, design sprints and engineering. I'd favor them over a pure UX research shop if you're building something with substantial backend, workflow, SaaS or enterprise complexity.

One important wildcard: ArtVersion

Artversion has an actual Experience Lab with usability-testing technology, including eye tracking and prototype testing. If you want a more formal testing environment and sophisticated observational research, they're worth interviewing. artversion.com

Who I'd hire

If I were spending my own money:

🥇 Grand Studio — best balance of research, rapid iteration and product thinking.
🥈 LaunchPad Lab — best if you want the same partner to turn the prototype into a functioning product.
🥉 UX 4Sight — best if you already have a product direction and want particularly strong usability research/validation.

I wouldn't choose purely based on proximity to Fulton Market/River North. The more important question is whether the team will put real users in front of prototypes before polishing the final product. Chicago has plenty of agencies advertising "UX"; fewer have a convincing research → prototype → test → iterate workflow. For comparison, Clutch's current Chicago usability-testing rankings show firms vary considerably in how much of their work is actually user research/testing versus general UI/web design. clutch.co

If you tell me what you're building (B2B SaaS, consumer app, healthcare, fintech, website, internal tool, etc.), your approximate budget, and whether you need them to build the final product too, I can rank these 3–5 agencies specifically for your project and tell you exactly who I'd contact first.

If your priority is usability testing + rapid prototyping, I’d narrow Chicago down to three serious contenders, rather than picking a generic web/branding agency.

My ranking

1. Fuzzy Math — who I'd hire

Fuzzy Math is the strongest match if the core question is “Can we quickly test our assumptions with real users and turn what we learn into a better product?”

They explicitly offer moderated and unmoderated usability testing, task analysis, tree testing, contextual research, interviews, and prototype testing. Their UI practice also emphasizes getting interactive prototypes in front of real users and iterating from the results. fuzzymath.com

They're also genuinely Chicago-based and have experience with complex enterprise workflows, including SAP Fieldglass, Hyatt and HCSC. fuzzymath.com

Hire them if: research quality matters more than having the cheapest/faster development shop.

Fuzzy Math

2. LaunchPad Lab — best if you want to go from test to production

LaunchPad is in River North at 448 N La Salle, so it fits your geographic preference particularly well. launchpadlab.com

Their process explicitly combines UX research, wireframes, interactive prototypes and validation, followed by development in two-week sprints. They say their typical strategy/design engagements run about 4–8 weeks. launchpadlab.com

Hire them instead of Fuzzy Math if: you want one team to research the problem, prototype the solution, and actually build the product.

LaunchPad Lab

3. UX 4Sight — excellent research-focused backup

UX 4Sight is another strong choice for usability testing and research-led redesigns. It's Chicago-based and positions itself specifically around UX/UI design and research, with a track record spanning complex digital experiences. ux4sight.com

The catch is location: their listed office is in the Loop rather than Fulton Market/River North. UX 4Sight

UX 4Sight

What about Fulton Market specifically?

Designkitchen is right in Fulton Market, and Envoy Group, LLC (formerly Leviathan) is also in the West Loop/Fulton Market area. But based on the evidence I found, I'd choose Fuzzy Math or LaunchPad over them for a usability-testing/prototyping engagement. Proximity alone isn't enough for this particular job.

My recommendation

If I were spending my own money:

Fuzzy Math → if you're trying to discover what users actually need and rapidly validate a new UX.

LaunchPad Lab → if you already know roughly what you're building and want research → prototype → engineering with minimal handoff.

I'd actually ask both for a small paid 2–3 week discovery/prototyping sprint, rather than requesting a giant redesign proposal. Chicago UX pricing commonly falls around $110–$200/hr, with discovery sprints often around $7K–$15K, although actual quotes vary considerably. clutch.co

For the proposal, give them one concrete challenge and ask them to deliver 5–8 user interviews/usability sessions, a prioritized findings report, a clickable Figma prototype, and a second round of validation. The agency that can show you the clearest learning loop—not the prettiest portfolio—is the one I'd hire.