Answers that do not mention Solid Digital

• Ethercycle - 4905 Old Orchard Shopping Ctr, Skokie, IL 60077, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Praella - eCommerce Agency - 203 N LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• AdverGroup Web Design & Digital Marketing - 2021 Midwest Rd Ste 200, Oak Brook, IL 60523, United States
• WPrime Agency - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza #1212, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• 1o8 - 231 S LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Promise Pixel - 640 S Washington St #212, Naperville, IL 60540, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Sunlight SEO Web Design & Signs - 4501 N Cumberland Ave, Norridge, IL 60656, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• 1DIGITAL AGENCY | eCommerce Agency - 205 N Michigan Ave Suit 810, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• Millennial Web Development - 329 W 18th St Ste 413, Chicago, IL 60616, United States
• SEO Design Chicago - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States

For a small Chicago bakery, I’d prioritize an agency that knows Shopify/ecommerce and understands food businesses, rather than a general-purpose web design firm.

My shortlist

1. Ethercycle — Best Shopify-focused option

• Chicago-area Shopify specialist focused on independent brands.
• Strong fit if you want a polished, custom Shopify store rather than a basic template.
• Particularly worth considering if you expect online ordering, subscriptions, bundles, or other ecommerce functionality.
• YourPortal — Best small-business/local option

• Chicago-based and explicitly offers Shopify migrations, custom design/development, integrations, and ongoing maintenance.
• I'd shortlist them if you want a relatively hands-on local agency rather than a huge ecommerce consultancy.
• Praella - eCommerce Agency — Best if you want a premium/growth-oriented build

• Chicago-based Shopify/Shopify Plus agency with strong UX/ecommerce expertise.
• Probably more agency than a tiny bakery needs, but attractive if you're planning to grow into subscriptions, wholesale, personalization, or more sophisticated ecommerce.
• SITE IT NOW — Good local full-service alternative

• Chicago agency offering Shopify ecommerce, web development, branding, SEO, hosting and maintenance.
• Worth getting a quote if you'd like one company handling the site plus ongoing marketing/maintenance.
• AdverGroup Web Design & Digital Marketing — Interesting if budget is important

• Their published pricing includes an ecommerce package around $4,995, and they specifically mention restaurant, café and bakery online-ordering websites. They also have a published example involving a bakery. Advergroup
• They're in Oak Brook rather than Chicago proper, but serve the Chicago area.

One I'd particularly investigate

The Chicago Web Co. is worth adding to your quote list. Their Shopify Partner profile lists Food & Drink as an industry, and their portfolio includes Deiter's Chocolates, where they built a Shopify store supporting both retail and wholesale customers. Shopify Their own site also showcases ecommerce work for food/drink brands including Gigawatt Coffee Roasters and Deiter's. The Chicago Web Co

That combination—Shopify + food business + Chicago + small/entrepreneurial brands—is unusually close to what you're looking for.

What I'd choose for your bakery

If it were my money, I'd get proposals from:

• The Chicago Web Co. — strongest bakery/food-industry signal
• Ethercycle — strongest Shopify-specialist alternative
• YourPortal — strongest local small-business option
• AdverGroup — useful price benchmark

For a typical bakery, I'd strongly consider Shopify rather than paying for a completely custom ecommerce platform. Shopify can handle products, payments, inventory, hosting and online ordering without leaving you dependent on the agency for everyday changes; agencies can customize the storefront and add bakery-specific functionality. Ice Nine Online Pixalpha

One important thing to specify in the proposals: tell them whether you need pickup vs. delivery, scheduled pickup times, custom cakes/orders, preorder cutoff times, holiday menus, subscriptions, wholesale, POS/inventory integration, and delivery-area restrictions. Those requirements can change the ideal agency and project price substantially.

If you tell me roughly how much you want to spend (e.g. <$3k, $3–7k, $7–15k) and whether you need online ordering/pickup/delivery, I can narrow this to the 2–3 agencies I'd actually contact first.

• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• 10com Web Development - 205 N Michigan Ave Suit 810, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Praella - eCommerce Agency - 203 N LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• AdverGroup Web Design & Digital Marketing - 2021 Midwest Rd Ste 200, Oak Brook, IL 60523, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Millennial Web Development - 329 W 18th St Ste 413, Chicago, IL 60616, United States
• SEOLEVELUP Website Design SEO Company Chicago - 355 N Laflin St Ste 101C, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• SEO Design Chicago - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Wheaton Website Services - 20 Danada Square W, Wheaton, IL 60189, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States

Yes. For a small Chicago bakery selling online, I’d prioritize agencies that understand Shopify/ecommerce and small-business budgets—not a giant enterprise agency.

My shortlist

1. YourPortal — best overall fit

• Chicago-based, with a strong small-business orientation.
• Shopify-focused ecommerce work, including custom design, migrations, integrations, and ongoing support.
• I’d put them near the top if you want someone who can handle both the storefront and the practical stuff behind it.
• SITE IT NOW — good local, brand-first option

• Chicago-based and established since 2009.
• Offers Shopify ecommerce, web design, branding, SEO, and ongoing maintenance.
• Particularly interesting if you want the bakery's brand/visual identity and website developed together.
• Allevi8 Marketing — good small-business/growth option

• Chicago-based and explicitly positions its Shopify services for small businesses.
• Handles Shopify setup, theme customization, products/collections, SEO, and marketing.
• Worth interviewing if you want the agency to help you grow sales after launch, rather than just build the site.
• Design In Chicago — best if aesthetics/branding are a priority

• West Loop agency offering branding, UI/UX, Shopify and WooCommerce development, photography/video, and marketing.
• A bakery is a particularly visual business, so having branding + ecommerce + creative under one roof could be valuable.
• 10com Web Development — worth getting a price from

• Chicago-based, with a large number of reviews.
• Works across Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce and other platforms and explicitly serves small businesses.
• I'd use them as a comparison quote to see whether the more specialized agencies are pricing fairly.

One agency I'd especially consider

chicagoweb.co is unusually relevant to your situation. Their Shopify Partner profile lists food & drink among their industries, and their portfolio/reviews include Purely Amazing Flour and Deiter's Chocolates. They also say they've launched 1,200+ Shopify stores. Shopify The Chicago Web Co

For a bakery, that combination of Shopify + food businesses + strong visual design makes them one of the first calls I'd make.

I'd also look at chicagoweb.com if you expect the bakery to become more operationally complicated—wholesale accounts, lots of SKUs, inventory integrations, delivery systems, etc. They have substantial Shopify/WooCommerce experience and specifically cite a bakery wholesale ecommerce project in their portfolio. Chicago Web Chicago Web

What I'd do in your shoes

Get 3 proposals, specifically from:

• The Chicago Web Co.
• YourPortal
• Design In Chicago

Tell each one you need a Shopify ecommerce site for a small bakery, and ask them to price:

• Product catalog and online ordering
• Pickup/delivery options
• Scheduled pickup dates/times
• Custom cake/order-request functionality if needed
• Mobile-first design
• Gift cards
• Email/SMS integration
• Local SEO / Google Business Profile
• Product photography integration
• Analytics
• Training so you can add products yourself
• Ongoing maintenance cost

Don't let an agency sell you a huge custom build if you're initially selling, say, 20–50 products. Shopify with a beautifully customized theme is probably a much better starting point than Magento or a fully custom ecommerce platform.

If you tell me your approximate budget (e.g. $3k, $5k, $10k+) and whether you need delivery, pickup, custom cakes, or subscriptions, I can narrow this to the 3 best agencies and what I think each should charge you.

• Windy City Web Solutions - 801 S Wells St, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• What A Great Website - 50 E Bellevue Pl, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• ePageCity Inc. - 111 N Wabash Ave Ste 3023, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• LimeRed Studio, Inc. - 4611 N Ravenswood Ave, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Advocate Creative - 320 N Damen Ave d301, Chicago, IL 60612, United States
• The Loop Marketing Inc - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Paul Gregory Media - 200 E 5th Ave, Ste 105, Naperville, IL 60563
• SEOLEVELUP Website Design SEO Company Chicago - 355 N Laflin St Ste 101C, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• EDUCO Web Design - 128 Chicago Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Neoteric Design - 29 E Madison St, Ste 450, Chicago, IL 60602
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Greater Good Studio - 3759 W Diversey Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States

Absolutely. Since you’re a nonprofit in the Loop and on a shoestring, I’d prioritize smaller firms that explicitly work with nonprofits and publish sub-$10k pricing, rather than the big Chicago agencies.

My shortlist

• Windy City Web Solutions — My first call. They’re in the South Loop, specifically market nonprofit web design, and say most nonprofit projects run $2,500–$6,000. They build in WordPress and emphasize working directly with the developer rather than through layers of account management. Windy City Web Solutions

windycitywebsolutions.com

• Flamingo Agency — A good second quote. Their nonprofit pricing is publicly listed at roughly $4,000–$10,000, with donation integrations and ongoing support available. They’re a small Chicago shop, so I'd ask whether they can do a pared-down redesign at the low end. Flamingo Agency

flamingoagency.com

• What A Great Website — Particularly worth contacting if you mainly need a visual facelift rather than a complicated rebuild. Their portfolio includes nonprofits, and local review evidence specifically mentions helping a nonprofit refresh its presence while staying within budget.
• ePageCity Inc. — Downtown, established, and worth getting a competitive quote from. Their client mix includes nonprofits, and available review evidence points to relatively affordable solutions compared with larger agencies.
• LimeRed Studio, Inc. — I'd consider them if your nonprofit needs more than just prettier pages—e.g., messaging, accessibility, UX, fundraising/donation flows, or a brand refresh. They’re purpose-driven and have substantial nonprofit experience, although I'd expect them to be less shoestring-friendly than Windy City.
• Advocate Creative — Another strong mission fit: they specifically focus on communications for nonprofits and foundations and do branding plus web work. I'd contact them if the website needs to better communicate your mission and impact, but ask for a tightly scoped proposal.

One more budget option

Sites for Change isn't Chicago-based, but its entire model is aimed at nonprofits and affordability, advertising sites starting at $99/month. If your budget is really constrained and you're comfortable with a more standardized approach, it's worth comparing against custom-agency quotes. Sites for Change
sitesforchange.com

How I'd approach this

I'd send the same one-page brief to Windy City, Flamingo, What A Great Website, and ePageCity and ask for a fixed-price proposal. Tell them upfront:

“We're a Chicago nonprofit with a very limited budget. We're looking for a website revamp rather than an elaborate custom build, and we'd like to keep the project under $X. We need [pages/features].”

That makes it much easier to compare apples-to-apples and prevents an agency from designing a $30k solution for a $5k problem.

For context, current Chicago nonprofit-agency listings show a large spread in pricing: some firms have projects under $10k, while many established agencies start around $10k–$50k or substantially higher. Clutch

If you tell me roughly what your budget is (e.g. $2–3k, $5k, $10k) and what your current site is built on (WordPress, Squarespace, Wix, etc.), I can narrow this to the 3 agencies I'd actually contact first and find their contact/project-inquiry pages.

• Windy City Web Solutions - 801 S Wells St, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• EDUCO Web Design - 128 Chicago Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302, United States
• What A Great Website - 50 E Bellevue Pl, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• The Loop Marketing Inc - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Paul Gregory Media - 200 E 5th Ave, Ste 105, Naperville, IL 60563
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• SEOLEVELUP Website Design SEO Company Chicago - 355 N Laflin St Ste 101C, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Neoteric Design - 29 E Madison St, Ste 450, Chicago, IL 60602
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Advocate Creative - 320 N Damen Ave d301, Chicago, IL 60612, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Affordable Web Design Chicago - 5141 W Altgeld St, Chicago, IL 60639, United States
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• ePageCity Inc. - 111 N Wabash Ave Ste 3023, Chicago, IL 60602, United States

Absolutely. Since you're a Loop-based nonprofit on a tight budget, I’d prioritize smaller firms and nonprofit specialists over the big Chicago agencies.

My shortlist

• Windy City Web Solutions — My first call. They’re in the South Loop and specifically market WordPress design to Chicago nonprofits. They emphasize direct developer access and avoiding the overhead of larger agencies, which sounds particularly well suited to a shoestring budget. Windy City Web Solutions

windycitywebsolutions.com

• Flamingo Agency — Chicago-based and explicitly offers nonprofit website design, with an emphasis on affordable WordPress sites, donations, storytelling, and easy internal updates. Flamingo Agency

flamingoagency.com

• EDUCO Web Design — Worth contacting if you want more strategic/design help. They have 20+ years of nonprofit web/branding experience and specifically list Chicago nonprofits among their clients, including Chicago Loop Alliance, Women Employed and BUILD Chicago. EDUCO

educowebdesign.com

• What A Great Website — A boutique Chicago shop that works with nonprofits and has experience doing website "facelifts" within budget constraints. I'd include them as a potentially good fit for a refresh rather than a ground-up rebuild.
• The Loop Marketing Inc — Literally in the Loop, at 159 N. Sangamon, and works with nonprofits on WordPress websites, branding and SEO. A good option if you want the redesign to also improve search visibility.
• Howle Creative — Not as close geographically, but particularly interesting for the budget: they advertise nonprofit discounts of up to 20% on projects of $1,000+, along with web design, copywriting, SEO and post-launch support. Howle Creative

howlecreative.com

Who I'd contact first

I'd send the same short project brief to Windy City Web Solutions, Flamingo, EDUCO, and Howle Creative and ask each for a lean redesign option rather than a comprehensive agency engagement.

For context, Chicago agencies vary wildly in price. Clutch's current Chicago nonprofit listings include firms starting around $1,000–$5,000, while some established agencies list typical projects at $10,000–$50,000+. Clutch

One important tactic: tell them your actual ceiling upfront (e.g. "$3,000 all-in") and ask what they can accomplish within it. You may get a much better response by proposing 5–7 high-priority pages + existing content + WordPress + accessibility/mobile cleanup rather than asking for a "website redesign."

If you tell me roughly what your budget is ($1k, $3k, $5k, etc.) and what kind of nonprofit you are, I can narrow this to the 3 most realistic agencies and find their contact/project inquiry pages.

• Duo Consulting - 200 S Wacker Dr #625, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• AttorneySync - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 300, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Market JD, Inc. - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Pattern 6 - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• dNOVO Group | Law Firm Marketing Agency - 545 N McClurg Ct Ste 1808, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Deviant Marketing - 20 W Kinzie St Ste 12022, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• OVC Lawyer Marketing - 750 Warrenville Rd Ste 203, Lisle, IL 60532, United States
• AttorneySync - 400 N May St, Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60642
• Forward Lawyer Marketing - 3553 W Peterson Ave Ste 30, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• BSPE Legal Marketing - Chicago - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60610, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Attorney Web Design | Chicago - 233 S Wacker Dr Ste 4400, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

For a midsize law firm in downtown Chicago, I’d shortlist these rather than going with a generic web-design shop:

• Duo Consulting — my pick if the CMS migration is substantial. They’re a Chicago digital consultancy with experience in Drupal, content strategy, legacy-content migration, UX/design, and larger web programs. This is particularly attractive if you have a lot of attorney profiles, practice areas, publications, alerts, or other structured content. The State Bar of California
• AttorneySync — my pick if you want a law-firm specialist. They focus specifically on law firms and combine website work with SEO, conversion, and digital marketing. Their downtown office is at 211 W. Wacker. The business listing also specifically notes a focus on solo through midsize firms and responsive client communication.
• Market JD, Inc. — another strong legal-specialist option, at 20 N. Wacker. They emphasize mobile-optimized sites, intake-oriented UX, SEO, and law-firm marketing. The local business results also show strong responsiveness feedback.
• Pattern 6 — worth considering if the priority is a custom, polished redesign plus marketing, rather than a highly technical CMS program. They're in the Merchandise Mart and specifically market custom websites for law firms.
• Marcel Digital — I'd put them on the RFP if you want a more enterprise/B2B-oriented digital team, particularly if you're considering HubSpot CMS or want analytics, CRM, SEO, and conversion work integrated with the redesign.

One important distinction

If you're migrating a large/complex law-firm site, I'd weight CMS architecture and migration expertise much more heavily than visual portfolio quality. A redesign can look fantastic and still create a disaster if the team mishandles URLs, redirects, metadata, attorney/practice-area relationships, PDFs, search, or existing organic traffic.

For example, Hype Legal's Chicago law-firm work explicitly combines UX/UI, development, CMS implementation, SEO, site migration and CMS training, while Black Antelope has a particularly relevant legal example involving a responsive Drupal rebuild and migration of hundreds of legal-content pages. Hype Legal Black Antelope

If I were issuing the RFP, I'd start with Duo Consulting + AttorneySync + one of Pattern 6/Market JD, and make all three respond to the exact same requirements.

Your RFP should require, at minimum:

• Responsive/mobile-first redesign
• CMS recommendation before locking the design
• Full content inventory and migration mapping
• 301 redirect/URL strategy
• Preservation of SEO metadata and structured data
• Attorney/practice-area/content modeling
• Accessibility/ADA work
• Staging environment and partner review process
• Cross-browser/device QA
• Analytics + Search Console migration
• CMS training for marketing staff
• Post-launch monitoring
• Clear ownership of the site, CMS, code, content, domain and analytics

I'd also ask each bidder to show you one law-firm migration they've actually launched, not just three attractive redesigns. That will separate the real migration teams from agencies that mostly reskin WordPress sites.

If I were issuing the RFP, I'd start with Duo Consulting + AttorneySync + one of Pattern 6/Market JD, and make all three respond to the exact same requirements.

Your RFP should require, at minimum:

• AttorneySync - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 300, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Duo Consulting - 20 W Kinzie St, Ste 1510, Chicago, IL 60654
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Market JD, Inc. - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• dNOVO Group | Law Firm Marketing Agency - 545 N McClurg Ct Ste 1808, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Forward Lawyer Marketing - 3553 W Peterson Ave Ste 30, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• OVC Lawyer Marketing - 750 Warrenville Rd Ste 203, Lisle, IL 60532, United States
• Attorney Web Design | Chicago - 233 S Wacker Dr Ste 4400, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• BSPE Legal Marketing - Chicago - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60610, United States
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• WPrime Agency - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza #1212, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Pattern 6 - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, Chicago, IL 60654, United States

For a midsize law firm in downtown Chicago, I’d shortlist firms that can handle more than visual redesign—especially CMS migration, responsive UX, SEO preservation, content modeling, accessibility, and attorney/practice-area content.

My shortlist

• AttorneySync — 211 W Wacker Dr. This is probably my first call if you want a Chicago-based shop that understands legal marketing. It specializes in law firms and combines website development with SEO, analytics, maintenance, and marketing. attorneywebsitedesignchicago.com
• Duo Consulting — 20 W Kinzie St. Strong candidate if the CMS migration is technically substantial, particularly if you're considering Drupal. Duo has documented legal-site experience and a background in Drupal migrations and complex web platforms.
• Clique Studios — 20 N Wacker Dr. I'd consider them if the redesign is more of a strategic/digital-transformation project than a straightforward law-firm website refresh. They cover responsive UX, accessibility, CMS implementation, and scalable engineering.
• Market JD, Inc. — 20 N Wacker Dr. More legal-marketing oriented, with law-firm website design/development, mobile optimization, SEO, and conversion-focused intake. Worth talking to if generating qualified inquiries is a major objective.
• dNOVO Group | Law Firm Marketing Agency — 545 N McClurg Ct. Another legal-specialist option, particularly if you want the website project tied closely to SEO, paid acquisition, reputation, and lead generation.

One particularly relevant benchmark

I'd also look at Hype Legal even though its listed location isn't downtown. Its Chicago law-firm work specifically combines UX/UI, development, CMS implementation, SEO, site migration, hosting, maintenance, and CMS training—almost exactly the scope you're describing. Hype Legal

And if you're contemplating Drupal, Black Antelope is worth putting on the technical RFP list. Their legal practice explicitly covers CMS/content migration and responsive Drupal builds, including a large law-firm migration involving hundreds of pages. Black Antelope

Who I'd contact first

I'd send the same brief to AttorneySync, Duo Consulting, and Clique Studios and compare their approaches. That gives you three quite different perspectives:

1. AttorneySync: legal-industry/marketing expertise.
2. Duo: strongest technical/CMS-migration angle.
3. Clique: strongest strategic UX/digital-experience angle.

In the RFP, I'd specifically require a complete URL/301 redirect inventory, preservation of metadata and organic rankings, content migration plan, responsive designs, WCAG accessibility testing, CMS editor training, staging/QA, analytics migration, and post-launch monitoring. Those are the areas where a pretty redesign can turn into an expensive problem if they're treated as afterthoughts. A legal-focused agency such as Wavespace, for example, explicitly treats URL mapping, metadata preservation, staged launch, and post-launch monitoring as part of the migration rather than just the design. Wavespace

If you tell me your current CMS, approximate page count, and whether you're thinking WordPress/Drupal/Webflow or are open to recommendations, I can narrow this to 3 vendors and give you a rough expected budget/timeline for a midsize Chicago firm.

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• TappedIn - 2944 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60616, United States
• Wuhoo Digital Group - 444 N Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• SEOLEVELUP Website Design SEO Company Chicago - 355 N Laflin St Ste 101C, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Heron Agency - 2626 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• BCV - 223 W Erie St, Ste 2NW, Chicago, IL 60654
• Alebrije Agency - 233 S Wacker Dr Ste 4400, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Next/Now - 1200 W Lake St #2, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States

Yes. For a West Loop restaurant, I’d prioritize agencies that have actually built hospitality sites with reservations + direct online ordering, rather than a general Chicago web-design shop.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Orbit Media Studios — best established restaurant-web specialist

• Their restaurant practice is unusually specific: they’ve been building restaurant sites since 2001.
• They explicitly integrate OpenTable, Resy, Toast, Tock and SevenRooms, plus loyalty/CRM systems.
• Strong choice if you want a polished, high-end site that can also support SEO and future growth. Orbit Media Studios
• orbitmedia.com
• The Object Group — best fit for a design-forward independent restaurant

• Their Chicago restaurant portfolio includes Piccolo Sogno, mána and Prasino.
• They specifically build sites around reservations, online orders, private events/catering, and include restaurant photography/video as part of their process. the object group
• This is probably the one I'd investigate if your restaurant's brand/ambiance is as important as functionality.
• theobjectgroup.com
• Design In Chicago — particularly convenient for you

• They're actually located in the West Loop at 159 N Sangamon.
• Full-service capability: branding, web design/development, digital marketing, photography/video and apps.
• Good option if the restaurant needs more than a website—e.g. rebrand + new photography + website + ongoing marketing.
• TappedIn — restaurant-technology specialist

• More restaurant-operator-focused than a traditional creative agency.
• Their offering includes website development/management, digital menus and restaurant marketing technology.
• Worth considering if your priority is getting ordering, menus, guest communication and the operational side working smoothly, rather than commissioning a purely beautiful marketing site.
• Prismatics Digital — good boutique option

• Specifically offers restaurant/hospitality websites with menu architecture, Toast/third-party ordering integration, reservations and local SEO.
• Their positioning suggests a smaller, hands-on development shop rather than a big agency. Prismatics Digital Prismatics Digital
• prismaticsdigital.com
• Modifyed / Omakaase — strongest growth/SEO-oriented option

• Their Chicago practice is specifically restaurants and F&B.
• They focus heavily on direct reservations, direct orders, local SEO, conversion tracking and revenue attribution, rather than just making the site look good. Omakaase
• I'd put them on the list if you're trying to increase Google-driven reservations and direct orders, not merely replace an outdated site.

If it were my restaurant

I'd get proposals from three very different shops:

One important distinction: don't let an agency sell you a custom reservation/order system unless you have a very good reason. For most restaurants, I'd have them build an excellent branded website and integrate your existing Toast/Resy/OpenTable/Tock/SevenRooms/etc. system. Orbit, for example, explicitly supports those integrations. Orbit Media Studios

For a West Loop restaurant, I'd want the new site to make “Reserve,” “Order Online,” and “View Menu” essentially the three dominant actions on mobile, while also handling Google/Maps SEO, private dining, catering, gift cards and events.

If you tell me your restaurant's name, your current website, and whether you're on Toast/Resy/OpenTable/Tock/etc., I can narrow this to the 3 agencies I'd actually contact, including likely budget level and examples of restaurant work.

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613
• 222 Digital Marketing Agency Chicago - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza #1212, Chicago, IL 60654
• Touch Point Digital Marketing, Web Design & SEO Agency - 444 N Wabash Ave #500-D, Chicago, IL 60611
• 10com Web Development - 205 N Michigan Ave Suit 810, Chicago, IL 60601
• Comrade Digital Marketing Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607
• DS&P Digital Marketing & PR Agency - 332 S Michigan Ave #900, Chicago, IL 60604
• 1TR - Website Design & SEO Services - 888 W Belmont Ave, Chicago, IL 60657
• RedShark SEO - 65 W Erie St #1901, Chicago, IL 60654
• Digital Third Coast - 2540 W North Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

Yes. For a West Loop restaurant, I’d prioritize agencies that understand restaurant conversion—not just generic Chicago web design. You want the site to make reservations, online ordering, menus, private events, and Google discovery extremely easy.

My Chicago shortlist

• Orbit Media Studios — Best established restaurant specialist. Their restaurant practice specifically focuses on increasing reservations, improving UX/CRO, SEO, and translating the restaurant's ambiance into the site. They have a dedicated restaurant-web-design portfolio. Orbit Media Studios

orbitmedia.com

• The Object Group — Best boutique restaurant-focused option. They explicitly build restaurant sites around reservations and online ordering, and their Chicago portfolio includes Piccolo Sogno, mána, and Prasino. They also include photography/video as part of their process, which could be valuable for a West Loop concept. the object group

theobjectgroup.com

• 1010 Media — Best for a design-forward West Loop concept. They're a Chicago studio focused specifically on boutique hospitality, restaurants, breweries, and independent brands, with capabilities spanning web design, branding, photography/video, and ongoing digital work. 1010 Media

1010-media.com

• Infinite Designs — Best if you want a more defined restaurant package. They advertise restaurant-specific sites with mobile menus, reservation/ordering integrations, local SEO and Google Business optimization. They currently advertise a $7,500 package with a 30-day launch and cite six Chicago restaurant websites for Roanoke Hospitality Group. Infinite Designs

infinitedesigns.io

• Prismatics Digital — Interesting smaller-shop option. Their restaurant/hospitality offering specifically includes menu architecture, online ordering, reservation flows, Toast integration, and local SEO. Prismatics Digital

prismaticsdigital.com

• Modifyed — Worth considering if direct revenue is the priority. They position themselves specifically around restaurants/F&B and emphasize reservations, online orders, local search, and conversion optimization. They claim substantial Chicago restaurant results, so I'd ask them to substantiate those numbers with references before hiring. Omakaase

omakaase.com

Who I'd call first

For a West Loop restaurant, my first three conversations would be:

1. The Object Group — strongest combination of restaurant specialization + Chicago portfolio + photography + ordering/reservations.
2. 1010 Media — if your restaurant has a distinctive brand and you want the website to feel premium/editorial.
3. Orbit Media — if you're more focused on measurable traffic, SEO, reservations and a sophisticated long-term digital strategy.

I wouldn't automatically choose the cheapest agency. A restaurant site should be designed around direct revenue: someone searches "West Loop dinner," lands on your site, sees the food/room, checks the menu, and can reserve or order in essentially one or two taps.

One important thing to ask every agency

Before signing, ask:

"Can you build the site so I own the domain, website, analytics and customer data, and can you integrate our existing POS, online ordering and reservation systems without forcing us into a proprietary platform?"

Also ask for 3 recent restaurant references, preferably Chicago restaurants, and specifically ask what happened to their direct reservations and online orders after launch.

If you tell me your restaurant's name, approximate budget ($5k / $10k / $20k+), and whether you use Toast, OpenTable, Resy, Tock, etc., I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare them side-by-side on likely fit, price, restaurant portfolio, ordering/reservation integration, and design quality.

• Evolve with Digital - Web Design Chicago - 1375 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• DittaTech - 616 W Fulton St Apt 408, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Brain Bend Media - Chicago - 220 N Green St, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• SEOLEVELUP Website Design SEO Company Chicago - 355 N Laflin St Ste 101C, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Affordable Web Design Chicago - 5141 W Altgeld St, Chicago, IL 60639, United States
• Design Henge - 2259 W Rosemont Ave, Chicago, IL 60659, United States
• Doejo - 444 N Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• C Change - 1052 W Fulton Market, Chicago, IL 60607
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Millennial Web Development - 329 W 18th St Ste 413, Chicago, IL 60616, United States
• Alpha Efficiency - Web Design Chicago Agency - 875 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Operation Technology - 211 W Wacker Dr 3rd Floor, Chicago, IL 60606

If you're a solo founder in Fulton Market, I'd bias toward small studios that can give you senior attention and launch a focused site without dragging you into a $10k–$50k agency engagement.

My shortlist

• Evolve with Digital - Web Design Chicago — Best if you want someone literally in Fulton Market. They're at 1375 W Fulton Market and focus on websites plus branding/marketing for smaller and newer businesses. Good fit if you want a partner who can help with more than just the site.
• DittaTech — Best nearby boutique option. They're on W Fulton St and emphasize conversion-oriented web work, SEO, content and digital marketing. The small-team setup looks appropriate for a founder who wants hands-on communication.
• Brain Bend Media - Chicago — Best for brand + website together. Located in the Fulton Market/West Loop area, with a focus on web design, branding and marketing. This is attractive if your service is new enough that positioning and messaging still need work.
• SEOLEVELUP Website Design SEO Company Chicago — Best if customer acquisition/SEO matters from day one. They're in the West Loop at 355 N Laflin and combine web design with SEO. Reviews particularly mention fast turnaround.
• Lizardo Agency — Best transparent budget option I found. Their published Chicago pricing starts at $1,499 for up to four pages, WordPress, mobile responsiveness, basic SEO and launch support; an $2,199 package adds copywriting and keyword research. They explicitly position the $1,499 package for startups and solo businesses. Lizardo Agency Lizardo Agency
• Legible Studio — Best if you want a more polished custom product without a traditional agency. It starts at $1,500, uses custom Next.js builds, and is explicitly a solo Chicago studio—so you're dealing directly with the person doing the work. Legible Studio
• TLO Web Designs — Best if you're extremely budget-conscious initially. Their Starter is $900 for a one-page site, while a five-page Standard is $3,250. They also advertise 2–4 week launches for the smaller packages. TLO Web Designs

What I'd do in your position

For an online service at early stage, I'd get quotes from Evolve with Digital, Brain Bend Media, Lizardo, and Legible.

I'd tell each of them:

"I'm a solo founder launching an online service. I need an MVP marketing site, not a giant corporate build. My priorities are clear positioning, mobile conversion, lead capture, analytics, and a foundation I can expand later."

Then compare total launch cost + what's included, rather than just the design fee. Specifically ask whether copywriting, analytics, forms/CRM integration, SEO basics, hosting, maintenance and post-launch changes are included.

One useful benchmark: Chicago's more startup/product-oriented agencies can jump dramatically in price. For example, one 2026 Chicago agency comparison puts Designli's minimum project at $10,000, while premium UX studios can start around $50k+. OneLittleWeb Lazarev Agency That's probably unnecessary for an initial service-business launch unless your "website" is actually a software product.

If you tell me your rough budget ($1–2k, $2–5k, $5–10k) and whether you need just a marketing site vs. an actual web app/customer portal, I can narrow this to the 3 best-fit studios and compare them side-by-side.

• Praella - eCommerce Agency - 203 N LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• BlueBolt Solutions - 415 N La Salle Dr, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Uncap - 8770 W Bryn Mawr Ave #1300, Chicago, IL 60631, United States
• Avatria - 150 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60601
• Atwix - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Ethercycle - 4905 Old Orchard Shopping Ctr, Skokie, IL 60077, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• Ice Nine Online - 444 W Lake St Ste 1700, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• ExpertCPG Commerce - 1449 S Michigan Ave Ste 13319, Chicago, IL 60605, United States
• Ethercycle - 3 S Prospect Ave, Ste 12, Park Ridge, IL 60068
• Penguin E-Commerce - 20 Danada Square W #222, Wheaton, IL 60189, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Towering Media - 3509 N Reta Ave Apt 3, Chicago, IL 60657, United States

For a retail brand in Chicago’s Near North Side, I’d shortlist agencies based less on generic “web design” capability and more on headless commerce experience, retail UX, Shopify Plus/BigCommerce depth, integrations, and whether they can support you after launch.

My Chicago shortlist

1. Praella - eCommerce Agency — best Shopify-focused option

• Chicago-based, with an office at 203 N LaSalle.
• Strong Shopify/Shopify Plus orientation and experience with complex ecommerce requirements.
• Good candidate if you want a premium DTC retail experience on Shopify, particularly if subscriptions, personalization, custom functionality, or multiple systems are involved. Fueler
• I’d put them near the top of the RFP.
• BlueBolt Solutions — strong all-around commerce engineering

• Chicago-based at 415 N LaSalle.
• Particularly interesting for Shopify Plus, headless storefronts, custom apps, Checkout Extensibility, subscriptions and CRO.
• Better fit if you want an agency that can handle both the customer-facing experience and the underlying commerce architecture.
• Uncap — good for complex commerce

• Chicago-headquartered and ecommerce-focused.
• Especially strong if the retail operation has ERP/PIM/CRM integrations, complicated pricing, inventory or unified-commerce requirements.
• Third-party industry listings specifically identify Uncap with Shopify Plus, headless ecommerce and performance work. nopStation ClickPost
• Probably more technical/operationally oriented than a pure brand-experience shop.
• Avatria — worth considering for composable/headless architecture

• Chicago-based digital-commerce consultancy.
• Its positioning around API-first/composable commerce and decoupled architectures makes it particularly relevant if “headless” is a strategic requirement rather than simply wanting a faster frontend.
• I'd consider them if you're evaluating Shopify Plus vs. commercetools vs. another composable stack, rather than already committed to Shopify.
• Atwix — strongest if the backend is complicated

• Downtown Chicago presence and substantial ecommerce engineering background.
• Particularly relevant for Magento/Adobe Commerce, integrations, migrations and complex commerce infrastructure. Industry comparisons also identify its Chicago practice as Magento-oriented. nopStation ClickPost
• Less obvious choice if you're primarily looking for a highly differentiated consumer-brand experience.
• Caxy — interesting enterprise/headless alternative

• Caxy says it has been doing ecommerce since 2001 and has shipped headless implementations across Shopify Plus, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and commercetools. It also describes itself as founder-led from Chicago with 40+ senior U.S. engineers. caxy.com
• I'd put them on the list if you're considering a more sophisticated multi-platform/composable architecture.

How I'd narrow it

For a typical established retail brand—not a massive enterprise—I'd probably invite Praella, BlueBolt, Uncap and Avatria to an initial RFP.

One important caveat: don't assume headless is automatically the right answer. Some Chicago agencies explicitly argue that many brands are better served by a high-performance Shopify theme rather than taking on the cost and maintenance burden of headless. ConversionEX For a retail brand, I'd make every finalist answer the same question: “Why should we go headless instead of Shopify's native storefront, given our current conversion rate, catalog complexity, integrations and content needs?”

And because you're in the Near North Side, Praella and BlueBolt are especially convenient geographically for an in-person working relationship, while the downtown options are also close enough that location shouldn't be a major constraint.

If you tell me your approximate annual ecommerce revenue, current platform (Shopify/Magento/etc.), SKU count, and whether you have physical stores, I can narrow this to the 3 agencies I'd actually interview and give you an RFP scorecard.

• Praella - eCommerce Agency - 203 N LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Rightpoint - 29 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Uncap - 8770 W Bryn Mawr Ave #1300, Chicago, IL 60631, United States
• Kin + Carta - 111 N Canal St floor 3, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Ethercycle - 4905 Old Orchard Shopping Ctr, Skokie, IL 60077, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Mondo - 125 S Wacker Dr Ste 2700, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Bradbury William MD - 180 N Michigan Ave #1910, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• Ice Nine Online - 444 W Lake St Ste 1700, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• BlueBolt Solutions - 415 N La Salle Dr, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States

For a retail brand in Chicago’s Near North Side, I’d shortlist agencies based less on proximity and more on their ability to handle headless architecture, Shopify Plus/commerce infrastructure, integrations, and retail UX. A few stand out.

My shortlist

1. Praella - eCommerce Agency — strongest all-around Shopify Plus candidate

• Chicago-headquartered, with a downtown office at 203 N LaSalle.
• Shopify Platinum partner with substantial experience in UX, migrations, integrations, custom apps and headless commerce. eSEOspace
• Particularly compelling if you're a consumer/DTC brand where brand experience + commerce + conversion optimization all matter.
• I'd put them near the top of the RFP list if you're looking for an agency that can own both strategy/design and engineering.
• Rightpoint — best for a larger, experience-led transformation

• Chicago HQ at 29 N Wacker.
• Shopify's partner directory explicitly lists headless commerce, custom apps/integrations, store builds, optimization and Shopify Plus among its capabilities. Shopify
• Much more enterprise-consultancy oriented than a typical Shopify shop.
• I'd consider them if the ecommerce build is part of a broader omnichannel/customer-experience transformation, rather than simply replacing your storefront.
• Uncap — best for operationally complex retail

• Chicago-headquartered and particularly strong around Shopify Plus, ERP/PIM/CRM integrations, large catalogs and unified B2B/B2C commerce. Shopify Uncap
• Shopify's directory currently lists it as a Platinum Partner, with 65 reviews and a 5.0 rating. Shopify
• I'd favor them over a purely creative agency if your headless project has complicated inventory, pricing, fulfillment, wholesale, or back-office requirements.
• Makro — worth adding for a Shopify Plus-heavy RFP

• Makro specifically markets headless commerce, Shopify Plus, large retail catalogs, ERP/CRM/logistics integrations, migration and custom apps to Chicago merchants. Makro Agency
• The interesting part is its combination of commerce engineering and conversion/UX rather than treating headless as merely a frontend exercise.
• I'd put them into the bake-off alongside Praella and Uncap.
• 100xelevate — interesting if performance is the primary reason you're going headless

• Focuses specifically on headless Shopify/Shopify Plus using React, Next.js and Hydrogen, with CMS options including Sanity and Contentful. 100xelevate
• More specialized positioning than the large consultancies.
• Worth interviewing if your key objectives are site speed, custom merchandising experiences and frontend flexibility.

One I'd approach differently

Kin + Carta has the enterprise engineering and digital-transformation pedigree, but it was acquired by Valtech in 2024, so I'd evaluate it as part of the broader Valtech organization rather than as the old independent Kin + Carta.

I wouldn't make Orbit Media my first choice for this particular project: they're excellent at Chicago-based web strategy, SEO, CRO and content-led web development, but their public positioning is much more oriented toward those capabilities than sophisticated headless commerce.

How I'd narrow it down

For a mid-market retail brand, my first three conversations would be:

One important caveat: don't let an agency sell you headless simply because it's technically fashionable. A headless Shopify build introduces substantially more frontend infrastructure and ongoing engineering responsibility. Even agencies selling headless acknowledge that it isn't appropriate for every merchant; the business case is strongest when you have genuinely custom experiences, complex content/commerce interactions, configurators, or performance requirements that a conventional Shopify storefront can't adequately address. ConversionEX 100xelevate

For a Near North Side retail brand, I'd make the RFP explicitly test Shopify Plus vs. headless Shopify/Hydrogen vs. Next.js, rather than specifying headless upfront. The best agency should be willing to tell you not to go headless if the economics don't justify it.

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Span - 650 W Lake St Ste 410, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Silva Brand, LLC - 211 W Wacker Dr 3rd floor, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Pavlovcik Architecture Inc. - 213 W Institute Pl #401, Chicago, IL 60610, United States
• Bldg Projects Architecture Design Firm - 4468 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL 60630, United States
• Liska & Associates Inc - 610 N Fairbanks Ct, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• SEEK Design + Architecture - 935 W Chestnut St #470, Chicago, IL 60642, United States
• JK Marketing Group JKMG - Website Design and Marketing - 448 N La Salle Dr Ste 10-125, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Canopy / architecture + design, LLC. - 180 W Washington St #200, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Glantz Design - 1881 Oak Ave, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
• moss design - 2855 W Diversey Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States

If the goal is a visually sophisticated portfolio site for a small architecture practice, I’d shortlist Chicago firms that understand both design-led presentation and the business side of getting prospective clients to engage.

My Chicago shortlist

• Orbit Media Studios — best overall fit. They explicitly specialize in websites for architecture firms and have experience with small-to-mid-sized architecture practices. Their approach combines custom visual design, portfolio/case-study presentation, UX, SEO, and lead generation. They’re at 4043 N Ravenswood. Orbit Media Studios

orbitmedia.com

• The Narrative — best if you want something more editorial/art-directed. This Chicago visual-communication studio has actually worked with architects, including PMPC Architects, and has done branding, custom websites, publication design, and visual storytelling. The Narrative Design

thenarrative.design

• Span — best for a highly design-conscious identity. Their work spans brand identity, interactive/web, motion, books, exhibitions, and environmental design; their portfolio includes work for IIT College of Architecture. That makes them particularly interesting if you want the website to feel like an extension of the firm's architectural language rather than a conventional marketing site.
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency — good full-service option. Chicago-based, with branding, web, UX/UI, and development under one roof. I'd consider them if you want to refresh the firm's identity at the same time as the site.
• Design In Chicago — worth considering for a smaller-firm engagement. They combine branding, web design/development, photography/video, and marketing, which could be useful if your project photography and visual assets also need work.

One wildcard

Studio Kalili is a small Chicago editorial branding and website studio. It's not architecture-specific, but its editorial approach could be excellent for an architecture practice that wants a restrained, image-led, magazine-like site rather than a generic architecture template. It offers custom website design alongside brand identity. Studio Kalili

studiokalili.com

What I'd do

I'd interview Orbit, The Narrative, and Span first, but for different reasons:

1. Orbit — if the site needs to win work and generate inquiries.
2. The Narrative — if visual storytelling and distinctive art direction matter most.
3. Span — if you want the entire digital identity to feel exceptionally designed.

For an architecture firm, I would not hire a generic web developer and hand them your project photos. The strongest result will come from someone who can rethink the project taxonomy, image sequencing, typography, case-study storytelling, and motion/interaction as one visual system.

If you tell me your approximate budget ($10–20k, $20–40k, $40k+) and the type of architecture you do (residential, hospitality, commercial, institutional, etc.), I can narrow this to 3 firms that are genuinely appropriate for your project.

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Concentric Design - 3130 N Rockwell St, Chicago, IL 60618, United States
• Chris Depa Web Design + Branding - 1528 Robinhood Ln, La Grange Park, IL 60526, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Silva Brand, LLC - 211 W Wacker Dr 3rd floor, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• JK Marketing Group JKMG - Website Design and Marketing - 448 N La Salle Dr Ste 10-125, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Millennial Web Development - 329 W 18th St Ste 413, Chicago, IL 60616, United States
• Liska & Associates Inc - 610 N Fairbanks Ct, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States

If your priority is a visually sophisticated architecture portfolio, I’d shortlist these Chicago options rather than hiring a generic small-business web shop:

• Orbit Media Studios — Probably my first call if you want a polished site and a site that helps win clients. They specifically market web design for architecture firms and have experience with architecture/engineering/construction portfolios, including custom project case studies and visual storytelling. Orbit Media
• Span — Especially interesting if you want something more experimental/editorial than a conventional corporate website. They designed and developed the Chicago architecture firm Studio GC's portfolio, using animation, audio, and unusual image treatments. Span
• Andiamo Creative — A strong choice if you need brand + website, not just web development. They have specifically done branding and a custom website for Chicago architecture firm RADA Architects. Andiamo Creative
• Concentric Design — A smaller Chicago studio focused on branding, visual identity, and digital experiences. I'd consider them if you want a more boutique/design-studio relationship rather than a larger agency.
• Chris Depa Web Design + Branding — Worth talking to if you prefer a small studio/direct creative relationship. They're based in the Chicago area and combine branding with custom web design.

What I'd do in your position

For a small architecture firm, I'd interview Orbit + Span + Andiamo first. They represent three different directions:

One important distinction: don't hire purely based on how beautiful the agency's own website is. Ask each candidate to show you 2–3 actual architecture/creative-industry sites they've built, then ask who on their team will actually design yours.

For an architecture portfolio, I'd also specifically ask about large project imagery, fast image loading, project filtering, case-study templates, mobile presentation, CMS editing, and subtle motion/interaction. Those are much more important than simply having a trendy homepage. Orbit and CyberOptik, for example, explicitly discuss architecture-specific portfolio and visual storytelling needs. Orbit Media CyberOptik

If you tell me roughly your firm size, project type (residential/commercial/etc.), and budget ($5–10k, $10–25k, $25k+), I can narrow this to 3 Chicago firms I'd actually contact and tell you why each fits.

• Marcel Digital - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1285, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• The Loop Marketing Inc - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• SEOLEVELUP Website Design SEO Company Chicago - 355 N Laflin St Ste 101C, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• SEO Design Chicago - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• RedShark SEO - 65 W Erie St #1901, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Operation Technology - 211 W Wacker Dr 3rd Floor, Chicago, IL 60606
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• dNOVO Group | Law Firm Marketing Agency - 545 N McClurg Ct Ste 1808, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• SEOLEVELUP, LLC Website Design SEO Company - 1S183 Summit Ave, Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181, United States

For a professional services firm in the Loop (law, consulting, finance, accounting, architecture, healthcare, B2B services, etc.), I’d prioritize agencies that understand credibility-driven design, content architecture, technical SEO, and lead conversion rather than just “pretty websites.”

A few Chicago-area candidates worth vetting:

My shortlist for a Loop-based professional services firm would be:

1. Marcel Digital — best if you have a larger site, multiple practice/service pages, analytics requirements, or a serious organic growth goal.
2. The Loop Marketing Inc — best if you want a local partner familiar with professional services and ongoing SEO.
3. SEO Design Chicago — best if the main challenge is a technically risky redesign where preserving rankings matters. SEO Design Chicago

When interviewing them, I’d ask:

• “Can you show a redesign where organic traffic was preserved or increased after launch?”
• “How do you handle URL mapping, redirects, metadata, schema, and content migration?”
• “Who writes the SEO content—your team, ours, or a specialist?”
• “What KPIs will you own after launch: rankings, qualified leads, conversions, or just traffic?”

For a professional services firm, I’d be cautious with agencies that focus mostly on local SEO packages or small-business brochure sites; a redesign can accidentally erase years of search equity if the information architecture and migration plan are weak. SEO Design Chicago

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Walker Sands - 55 W Monroe St Ste 3925, Chicago, IL 60603, United States
• Americaneagle.com, Inc. - 200 W Jackson Blvd Fl 22, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• EM Search Consulting, LLC. - 330 N Ashland Ave, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Idea Marketing Group - 46 Saravanos Dr, Ste F, Yorkville, IL 60560
• SEO Design Chicago - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• 97 Switch - 1 E Wacker Dr #2550, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Digital Authority Partners - 420 W Huron St Fl 1, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• RedShark SEO - 65 W Erie St #1901, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• NEXT! Digital Ad Agency - 55 W Monroe St #2950, Chicago, IL 60603, United States

My top pick: Orbit Media Studios

For a professional services firm in the Loop, I’d start with Orbit Media Studios.

Why they stand out:

• SEO is built into the redesign process, rather than bolted on afterward. They specifically describe preserving rankings, mapping URL changes and redirects, maintaining keyword relevance, and establishing a technical SEO foundation. Orbit Media Studios
• They have unusually strong B2B/professional-services experience. Their portfolio includes The Horton Group, Zuckerman Investment Group, Duarte, and other organizations where credibility, expertise and lead generation matter. Orbit Media Studios Orbit Media Studios
• Their approach covers strategy → information architecture → content → UX/design → development → SEO → measurement, which is what I'd want for a serious professional-services redesign. Orbit Media Studios
• They have a particularly relevant case study for The Horton Group, where the redesigned, optimized site reportedly produced a 26% increase in qualified leads. Orbit Media Studios
• They're Chicago-based, although their office is in Ravenswood rather than the Loop. Orbit Media Studios
• Recent third-party reviews also show them handling an SEO/content/web-development project for a professional certification organization, including SEO/AEO-focused content. Clutch

orbitmedia.com

Two Loop-based alternatives

• Walker Sands — 55 W Monroe St. in the Loop. I'd consider them if your redesign is part of a larger B2B positioning, demand-generation, PR and brand initiative. They're explicitly focused on B2B and professional services, with SEO among their capabilities.
• Americaneagle.com, Inc. — 200 W Jackson Blvd. in the Loop. A better fit if the site is relatively large/complex and you need substantial development, content migration, integrations or enterprise-scale SEO.

My ranking for your specific brief: 1) Orbit, 2) Walker Sands, 3) Americaneagle.com.

For a professional-services firm, I'd make one thing non-negotiable in the RFP: show us exactly how you'll protect existing organic traffic during the redesign—including URL inventory, redirect mapping, title/meta migration, internal-link strategy, canonical/schema handling, staging QA, and post-launch monitoring. Orbit is particularly explicit about those safeguards. Orbit Media Studios

• Praella - eCommerce Agency - 203 N LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• 1DIGITAL AGENCY | eCommerce Agency - 205 N Michigan Ave Suit 810, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Americaneagle.com, Inc. - 200 W Jackson Blvd Fl 22, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Uncap - 8770 W Bryn Mawr Ave #1300, Chicago, IL 60631, United States
• Ethercycle - 4905 Old Orchard Shopping Ctr, Skokie, IL 60077, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• BlueBolt Solutions - 415 N La Salle Dr, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Uncap - 8770 W Bryn Mawr Ave, Ste 1300, Chicago, IL 60631
• Ethercycle - 3 S Prospect Ave, Ste 12, Park Ridge, IL 60068
• 1o8 - 231 S LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Millennial Web Development - 329 W 18th St Ste 413, Chicago, IL 60616, United States
• Penguin E-Commerce - 20 Danada Square W #222, Wheaton, IL 60189, United States

If you mean downtown Chicago proper, rather than the broader metro, I’d shortlist these for a boutique-retailer Shopify migration:

1. Praella - eCommerce Agency — best overall for a design-forward boutique brand. Its downtown office is at 203 N LaSalle St, and Shopify lists it as a Platinum Partner specializing in UX/design, migrations, integrations and Shopify Plus. Shopify

praella.com

2. 1DIGITAL AGENCY | eCommerce Agency — good if you want migration + marketing/retail growth. Its office is at 231 S LaSalle St. It combines ecommerce/retail strategy with Shopify work, though I'd rank it below Praella if the migration itself is the primary project.

1o8.com

3. Americaneagle.com, Inc. — best for a more complex or larger retailer. Its Chicago office is at 200 W Jackson Blvd in the Loop. It's considerably more enterprise-oriented, so it may be overkill for a small boutique, but worth considering if you're migrating lots of SKUs, integrating ERP/PIM/CRM systems, or have substantial omnichannel requirements.

One I'd seriously consider outside downtown

Uncap isn't downtown—their Chicago HQ is near O'Hare—but they're probably the strongest migration specialist in the group. Shopify lists them as a Platinum Partner with explicit store-migration expertise. Clutch currently shows 5.0/5 from 73 reviews, and there's a particularly relevant case involving a jewelry retailer: Uncap migrated 12+ years of data and 2,900+ products from Magento to Shopify, while also handling UI/UX. Shopify Clutch Clutch

For a boutique retailer, I'd rank the fit:

My pick: If this is, say, a fashion, jewelry, home, beauty, or specialty-goods boutique moving from WooCommerce/Magento/another platform and you care about preserving the brand experience, I'd talk to Praella first and Uncap second. Praella is particularly compelling because Shopify itself describes its migration, UX/design and integration capabilities, while Uncap has unusually concrete evidence of handling a large jewelry-retail migration. Shopify Clutch

If you tell me what platform you're migrating from, approximate SKU count, and whether you're Shopify or Shopify Plus, I can narrow this to 2–3 agencies and compare likely project scope/pricing.

• Praella - eCommerce Agency - 203 N LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• 1DIGITAL AGENCY | eCommerce Agency - 205 N Michigan Ave Suit 810, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Atwix - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Ethercycle - 4905 Old Orchard Shopping Ctr, Skokie, IL 60077, United States
• Uncap - 8770 W Bryn Mawr Ave #1300, Chicago, IL 60631, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Uncap - 8770 W Bryn Mawr Ave, Ste 1300, Chicago, IL 60631
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Ethercycle - 3 S Prospect Ave, Ste 12, Park Ridge, IL 60068
• Penguin E-Commerce - 20 Danada Square W #222, Wheaton, IL 60189, United States
• Danie Lyn The Brand - 401 N Michigan Ave, Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60611
• Millennial Web Development - 329 W 18th St Ste 413, Chicago, IL 60616, United States
• Brand Vision Marketing - Web Design & Branding - 30 N Michigan Ave #504, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Chicago Website Design SEO Company - 10 S Riverside Plaza #875, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• WPrime Agency - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza #1212, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Design In Chicago - 159 N Sangamon St Suite 200, Chicago, IL 60607, United States

For a boutique retailer (fashion, jewelry, beauty, lifestyle, home goods, specialty food, etc.), I’d prioritize agencies that can handle both the Shopify migration mechanics (products, customers, orders, redirects, apps, integrations) and the brand/UX side (premium storefront design, merchandising, conversion). A few Chicago-area options that stand out:

Downtown / Loop options

Praella - eCommerce Agency

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-761-3218)

Best fit: Boutique retailers moving to Shopify Plus and wanting strong UX/design strategy

• Downtown Chicago office at 203 N LaSalle St.
• Shopify-focused agency with experience in migrations, redesigns, UX/UI, and customer experience work.
• Worth considering if your store needs a polished brand refresh rather than just a platform swap.

1DIGITAL AGENCY | eCommerce Agency

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 888-982-8269)

Best fit: Retailers that want migration plus ongoing ecommerce optimization

• Located at 205 N Michigan Ave.
• Offers platform migrations, data migration, integrations, UX/design, and ecommerce strategy.

Atwix

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 833-462-8949)

Best fit: More complex migrations or retailers with technical requirements

• Downtown Loop office at 20 N Wacker Dr.
• Strong ecommerce engineering background, especially for larger or more complex commerce systems.
• May be more technical than a small boutique needs unless you have integrations, custom workflows, or a large catalog.

Other Chicago Shopify specialists worth looking at

Ethercycle

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 877-384-3740)

Best fit: Independent/DTC brands that want a Shopify specialist

• Chicago-area Shopify-focused studio.
• Emphasis on custom themes, Shopify development, migrations, and ongoing optimization.
• A good match for a smaller boutique that cares about brand personality and conversion.

Uncap

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-469-0944)

Best fit: Retailers with operational complexity

• Chicago-headquartered Shopify Platinum Partner.
• Stronger fit if your boutique has wholesale accounts, POS/ERP needs, complicated inventory, or B2B + DTC operations. Shopify

SITE IT NOW

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-442-0352)

Best fit: Smaller retailers wanting a local agency relationship

• Chicago-based web/ecommerce agency offering Shopify development.

My shortlist for a boutique retailer

• Premium fashion/jewelry/beauty brand: Praella or Ethercycle
• Small-to-mid retailer needing hands-on Shopify expertise: Ethercycle
• Retailer with wholesale, inventory, ERP, or complex migration needs: Uncap
• Larger migration with lots of data/integrations: Atwix or 1Digital

When interviewing them, I’d ask:

1. “How many Magento/WooCommerce/legacy platform → Shopify migrations have you completed?”
2. “Can you show examples where you preserved SEO rankings and URL structures?”
3. “Who handles UX/design versus development?”
4. “Do you migrate reviews, customer accounts, subscriptions, loyalty data, and historical orders?”
5. “Have you worked with boutiques where brand storytelling matters as much as conversion?”

If you tell me the retailer category (fashion, jewelry, beauty, home, etc.), current platform (Magento, WooCommerce, BigCommerce, custom, etc.), and approximate SKU count, I can narrow this to the best 3–5 fits.

• 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
• Watch Street Consulting - 1 N State St f15, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Dialogue Theory - 1932 S Halsted St #509, Chicago, IL 60608, United States
• DataMade - 626 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Chicago Department of Technology and Innovation - 2 N LaSalle St Ste 1010, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• Firebelly Design - 1402 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• Cybernautic Web Design - 515 N State St #14-126, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• EDUCO Web Design - 128 Chicago Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302, United States
• SMARTGOV LLC - 205 N Michigan Ave Suit 810, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States

For a public-facing government redesign in the Loop, I’d prioritize firms with demonstrated public-sector work and accessibility methodology—not just agencies that advertise “ADA compliance.”

My Chicago shortlist

1. UX 4Sight — strongest Loop-local UX option

• Located at 111 W. Jackson Blvd.
• Particularly good if the project is primarily a UX/information-architecture redesign rather than a straight CMS rebuild.
• Their offering includes UX audits covering accessibility, usability testing, responsive design, and website redesign.
• Best for: improving navigation, service discovery, forms, and resident-facing journeys.
• Clique Studios — strong full-service Loop option

• Located at 20 N. Wacker Dr.
• Offers strategy, UX/UI, usability testing, accessibility-focused design, development, and design systems.
• Their positioning is more enterprise/digital-transformation oriented, which could work well for a sizable government site with multiple stakeholders.
• Best for: a polished redesign requiring strategy + design system + engineering.
• Promet Source — my top overall pick for government

• This is the one I'd interview first if government experience and accessibility rigor outweigh being physically in the Loop.
• Promet is Chicago-based and explicitly specializes in public sector, higher education, and mission-driven organizations. Its capabilities include WCAG/Section 508 work, Drupal/WordPress, UX/UI, digital strategy, and accessibility. It cites projects for the City of Rochester and U.S. Government Accountability Office. Promet Source
• Best for: a serious government procurement where accessibility, CMS governance, and maintainability matter as much as visual design.
• Watch Street Consulting — interesting smaller civic specialist

• Based at 1 N. State St. and focused heavily on mission-driven organizations, municipal/local government, advocacy, and constituent communications.
• Best for: a smaller engagement where direct senior-level attention is preferable to a large agency.
• Sandstorm Design — strong research/accessibility choice

• Chicago-based UX/digital-experience agency with explicit accessibility audits, remediation, training, and research-driven UX.
• Best for: a redesign where you need substantial user research and stakeholder discovery before changing the IA.

One specialist worth adding to the RFP

CivicSitePro isn't in the Loop, but it's unusually specialized: it focuses specifically on municipalities and civic organizations and says its builds target WCAG 2.1 AA from the outset. It also emphasizes government workflows, staff editing, agendas/minutes, documents, and accessibility training. CivicSitePro CivicSitePro

For a Chicago/Illinois government project, that's worth comparing against the larger agencies.

How I'd rank them for your project

If this were my procurement, I'd invite Promet, Clique, UX 4Sight, and Sandstorm to an initial shortlist, with CivicSitePro as the specialist comparator.

One important caveat: don't accept “ADA compliant” as the evaluation criterion. Ask each bidder to demonstrate WCAG 2.2 AA testing with keyboard and actual screen-reader users, accessible PDFs/documents, accessible CMS authoring workflows, an independent pre-launch audit, remediation/retest, and an ongoing accessibility-monitoring plan. That will separate genuine accessibility practices from automated-scanner compliance theater. The Chicago Loop Alliance, for example, explicitly documents WCAG 2.2 AA as its target and describes ongoing testing/nonconformance work. Loop Chicago

If you tell me which government entity/department and roughly how large the site is, I can narrow this to 3 firms and compare their relevant government case studies, accessibility credentials, CMS strengths, and likely procurement fit.

• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Dialogue Theory - 1932 S Halsted St #509, Chicago, IL 60608, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Grand Studio - 444 N Wells St #501, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Garenne Bigby - 200 E Randolph Dr, Ste 5100, Chicago, IL 60601
• Watch Street Consulting - 1 N State St f15, Chicago, IL 60602, United States
• Cybernautic Web Design - 515 N State St #14-126, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• 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
• Firebelly Design - 1402 N Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, United States
• Glantz Design - 1881 Oak Ave, Evanston, IL 60201, United States
• cre8 - Chicago, IL 60607
• Artversion - 205 N Michigan Ave 8th Floor, Chicago, IL 60601
• Windy City Web Solutions - 801 S Wells St, Chicago, IL 60607, United States

For a public-facing government project in the Loop, I would prioritize studios that can handle more than visual redesign: WCAG compliance, accessibility testing, content governance, CMS migration, plain-language content, stakeholder review, and long-term maintenance. Chicago’s own digital teams emphasize human-centered design and accessibility as core requirements for civic services, including WCAG-based practices. Chicago Design System Chicago Design System

A shortlist I’d put in front of a government procurement team:

My likely shortlist for a government RFP

For a municipal, county, transit, education, or public-benefit website, I’d probably invite:

1. Sandstorm Design — strongest accessibility/inclusive-design alignment.
2. Clique Studios — strongest “full-service agency near the Loop” fit.
3. Dialogue Theory — strong civic/mission-driven fit.
4. UX 4Sight — strongest UX audit/service-design angle.

Questions I would put in the vendor screening

For a government project, I would ask each studio:

• Do you test with screen readers (NVDA, JAWS, VoiceOver), keyboard-only users, and users with disabilities?
• Can you provide examples of sites reaching WCAG 2.1 AA or WCAG 2.2 AA?
• Who performs accessibility testing: designers, developers, third-party auditors, or all three?
• How do you handle PDFs, forms, maps, dashboards, and multilingual content?
• Can your CMS workflow prevent editors from introducing accessibility regressions?
• Do you have experience with public-sector procurement, open records requirements, and stakeholder-heavy approvals?

I would also ask vendors how they align with the City of Chicago’s accessibility approach, which targets WCAG AA standards and emphasizes accessibility throughout the development process rather than as a final QA step. Chicago Design System Chicago Design System

If you mean City of Chicago / Cook County / State of Illinois procurement, the shortlist may change because prior government contracts, CMS experience (Drupal, WordPress, etc.), and vendor eligibility can matter as much as design quality.

• mStoner, Inc. - 500 W Madison St, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Sandbox Studio, Chicago - 1608 W Cornelia Ave, Chicago, IL 60657, United States
• Teamworks Media Inc - 1 E Wacker Dr Ste 1620, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• MF Digital Marketing, Inc. - 4809 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 110, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Digital Third Coast - 2540 W North Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Merrill Lynch Private Wealth Advisor Patrick Baldwin - 110 N Wacker Dr, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Allevi8 Marketing - 6127 S University Ave Ste 110K, Chicago, IL 60653, United States
• Dialogue Theory - 1932 S Halsted St #509, Chicago, IL 60608, United States
• AllCampus - 227 W Monroe St #2100, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Windy City Web Solutions - 801 S Wells St, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Lipman-Hearne - 200 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60604
• Collegis Education - 1415 W 22nd St #220, Oak Brook, IL 60523, United States

If this is for a university office near the Loop, I’d prioritize agencies with actual higher-ed experience, strong mobile/UX capabilities, and a credible ongoing-support model—not just general Chicago web shops.

My shortlist

• mStoner, Inc. — strongest higher-ed specialist. Their Chicago office is at 500 W Madison, right in the Loop. They focus heavily on higher-ed digital strategy, websites, UX, and CMS work, making them a particularly natural fit for a university office. Carnegie acquired mStoner, so I’d clarify whether you’d be contracting with the mStoner team directly and what ongoing support looks like.
• Orbit Media Studios — best all-around web/UX + ongoing optimization option. Chicago-based, with higher-ed work including Erikson Institute. Their approach combines research, content, accessible design, development, SEO, measurement, and ongoing optimization rather than treating launch as the end of the engagement. Orbit Media Studios
• Promet Source — best for a technically complex university site. They're Chicago-based and explicitly specialize in higher education, accessibility, Drupal/WordPress, UX/UI, and ongoing maintenance. Their portfolio includes Southern Illinois University School of Medicine and other universities. Promet Source
• Sandbox Studio, Chicago — interesting choice for research/academic communications. They combine responsive web development, information design, branding, and communications, with particular experience in higher education and scientific/research organizations.
• Teamworks Media Inc — worth considering if the office needs storytelling/content as well as web. They're downtown at 1 E. Wacker and have worked with higher-ed organizations including Northwestern University.
• EDUCO — good smaller-agency alternative. Based in Oak Park, they work with education organizations and emphasize responsive UX, accessibility, CMS work, and ongoing maintenance/support agreements. EDUCO

How I'd narrow it

For your particular brief, I'd invite mStoner, Orbit, and Promet Source to pitch.

One particularly relevant benchmark: Takt recently redesigned Adler University's digital experience around user journeys, responsive layouts, accessibility, and clearer program navigation, so I'd also ask prospective vendors to show mobile UX for prospective students/staff, not merely screenshots of attractive desktop sites. Takt | Brand + Digital Agency

For the RFP, I'd make vendors price two things separately: (1) the initial mobile-first redesign/build and (2) a 12-month support/optimization retainer. Ask for accessibility/WCAG testing, CMS training, response-time SLAs, security/maintenance, analytics, and a defined bucket of monthly enhancements. That will make the proposals much easier to compare.

• mStoner, Inc. - 500 W Madison St, Chicago, IL 60661, United States
• Clique Studios - 20 N Wacker Dr, Ste 1075, Chicago, IL 60606
• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Sandbox Studio, Chicago - 1608 W Cornelia Ave, Chicago, IL 60657, United States
• Thirdwave - 15 W Hubbard St, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Sandstorm Design - 4422 N Ravenswood Ave #50, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Lipman-Hearne - 200 S Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60604
• MF Digital Marketing, Inc. - 4809 N Ravenswood Ave Ste 110, Chicago, IL 60640, United States
• Synergy Labs - Mobile App and Web Developers Agency in Chicago - 515 N State St, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Marcel Digital - 445 W Erie St #200, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Agency 1204 - 1552 W Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60642, United States
• Cybernautic Web Design - 515 N State St #14-126, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Alpha Digital Marketing - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Wojo Design - 318 W Adams St #1609, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Synergy Creative - 1039 W Lake St 2nd floor, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Pilot Digital Marketing - 4753 N Broadway Ste T110, Chicago, IL 60640, United States

If “near the Loop” means you want a Chicago-based partner—and the key requirements are mobile-first UX, higher-ed experience, and ongoing support—I’d shortlist these:

1. mStoner, Inc. — Best higher-ed specialist. Their Chicago office is at 500 W Madison, and the firm is specifically focused on higher-education web design/development. It’s now part of Carnegie, with mStoner positioned as its higher-ed website team. Obfs

Why shortlist: deep university experience, rather than a general agency learning the sector on your project.

2. Clique Studios — Best Chicago/Loop option for modern UX. Their office is at 20 N Wacker, and they explicitly work with higher education, responsive/mobile design, accessibility, SEO, and ongoing maintenance. Clique Studios

Why shortlist: particularly attractive if the office needs a polished, contemporary experience rather than a conventional university template.

3. Orbit Media Studios — Best for content + conversion + long-term optimization. Orbit has a substantial Chicago presence and specifically markets higher-ed website design; its work includes Erikson Institute and Discovery Partners Institute. It offers post-launch measurement and ongoing optimization. Orbit Media Studios Orbit Media Studios

Why shortlist: good fit if the site needs to drive inquiries, registrations, applications, or other measurable actions—not just look better.

4. Sandbox Studio, Chicago — Best for complex academic/research communications. The Chicago firm has a particular orientation toward higher education and scientific/research organizations, combining information architecture, UX, branding, and web development.

Why shortlist: especially compelling for a university office with complicated programs, research content, or multiple audiences.

5. Thirdwave — Best for technical ownership and maintenance. Their Chicago team builds and operates maintainable web platforms, with responsive UX, CMS, and ongoing web support; their portfolio includes Adler University. Thirdwave

Why shortlist: consider them if the ongoing support relationship is as important as the initial redesign.

6. Sandstorm Design — Best accessibility/UX-heavy option. This Chicago digital experience agency works with higher education and emphasizes research-driven UX and accessibility, including accessibility audits and remediation.

Why shortlist: a strong candidate if your university has substantial accessibility/compliance requirements.

My top 3

For your particular brief, I'd invite mStoner, Clique, and Orbit to an RFP.

• mStoner: strongest higher-ed-specific credentials.
• Clique: strongest modern mobile-first digital experience angle.
• Orbit: strongest content, SEO, conversion, and ongoing optimization combination.

One other agency worth knowing: Lipman-Hearne is downtown and specializes in higher education, nonprofits, and philanthropy, so it could be useful if the website project is part of a broader institutional marketing/communications effort.

For the RFP, I’d require each agency to show: 2–3 recent university sites, mobile performance examples, accessibility approach (WCAG 2.2), CMS recommendations, post-launch SLA/support model, and exactly who will be on the account after launch. That will separate a genuinely good long-term partner from an agency that mainly wants the redesign project. Kanopi Studios OHO

• Translations.com - 150 North Michigan Ave, Fl 20, Chicago, IL 60601
• Multi-Lingua Communications Inc - 550 W Frontage Rd #2715, Northfield, IL 60093, United States
• Symmetri Technology Chicago (Acquired by Yes&) - 233 N Michigan Ave #765, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Trusted Translations, Inc. - 10 S Riverside Plaza Ste 1800, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• Interpro Translation Solutions - 1761 S Naperville Rd Ste 102, Wheaton, IL 60189, United States
• SEO Design Chicago - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Translatus, Inc. - 1658 N Milwaukee Ave #560, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Argo Translation - 1884 Johns Dr, Glenview, IL 60025, United States
• LingPerfect Translations - Translation Services - 307 N Michigan Ave Unit 415, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Lingua National Translations INC - 401 N Michigan Ave Ste 1200 #12135, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• TransPerfect - 150 N Michigan Ave Floor 7 Suite 725, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• BURG Translations - Chicago, IL 60673
• Multilingual Technologies Inc - 401 S LaSalle St, Ste 1300, Chicago, IL 60605

For a company headquartered in downtown Chicago, I’d look for a partner that can do more than translation: internationalization strategy, CMS integration, multilingual UX, SEO/hreflang, localization QA, and ongoing content operations. A few Chicago-area options that fit different needs:

Best overall fits

Translations.com (enterprise/global rollout)

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+13122361606)

Best fit if you are a large organization with many markets, languages, or recurring website updates. Their Chicago presence supports enterprise localization work, including website, software/app, and multilingual content programs.

Good for:

• Global corporate websites
• Product/service localization
• High-volume CMS workflows
• Multilingual governance and terminology management

BURG Translations (Chicago-based, hands-on localization)

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 312-263-3379)

A strong choice if you want a local team that can manage translation plus localization production. BURG offers website localization, software/app localization, multilingual content workflows, and related services.

Good for:

• Corporate websites
• Regulated industries
• Marketing content
• Teams that want a dedicated language-services partner

Multi-Lingua Communications Inc (web localization + multilingual production)

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 847-386-7187)

A Chicago-area provider focused on publication-ready multilingual content, including web localization, multilingual desktop publishing, and language asset management. Multi-Lingua Communications, Inc.

Good for:

• Marketing sites
• Complex-language support (Arabic, Asian languages, etc.)
• Companies needing translation + production QA

If you need more digital agency / website implementation capability

Symmetri Technology Chicago (Acquired by Yes&)

DirectionsWebsite[Call](tel:+1 703-823-1600)

More of a digital/web agency profile than a pure language vendor. Their capabilities include multilingual implementations, CMS work, and enterprise website projects.

Good for:

• Drupal or enterprise CMS environments
• Website redesigns with multilingual requirements
• Connecting localization with UX/development

My shortlist for a downtown Chicago headquarters

1. Translations.com — if this is a global enterprise website with many locales and ongoing releases.
2. BURG Translations — if you want a Chicago-local partner with strong localization services.
3. Multi-Lingua Communications — if multilingual content quality, production, and language complexity matter.
4. Symmetri — if the project is primarily a website rebuild/platform implementation.

Before selecting one, I’d ask each vendor:

• Which CMS platforms do you support (Adobe Experience Manager, Sitecore, Drupal, WordPress, Contentful, etc.)?
• Do you handle internationalization (i18n) architecture, or only translation?
• Do you manage multilingual SEO/hreflang?
• Can you support continuous localization after launch?
• How do you handle translation memory, terminology, and brand voice?

If you share the company size, CMS, number of languages, and whether this is a redesign or an existing-site localization project, I can narrow this to 2–3 strongest candidates.

For a Chicago-headquartered company that needs true internationalization—not just translating a few pages—I’d put Symmetri Technology Chicago (Acquired by Yes&) at the top of the shortlist, with an important caveat: it’s now part of Yes&, so I’d confirm the current team and scope before engaging.

My top choices

1. Symmetri Technology Chicago (Acquired by Yes&) — best for complex/enterprise sites
   • Strong fit if you have Drupal, a large content ecosystem, multiple audiences, or complex integrations.
   • Their Chicago team has experience with multisite/multilingual implementations, migrations, and third-party/CRM integrations.
   • Particularly compelling if internationalization needs to be baked into the architecture rather than added as an afterthought.

2. NEWMEDIA.COM — best downtown option for full-service digital work
   • Located at 444 W Lake St, making it convenient for a downtown headquarters.
   • Full-service web development plus digital marketing; multilingual sites are among its stated capabilities.
   • I'd consider them if you want strategy + UX/design + development + SEO from one agency.

3. Americaneagle.com, Inc. — best for a large global/enterprise rollout
   • Based in the Chicago area and considerably larger than a typical boutique agency.
   • Good candidate if you're talking about multiple countries, complex CMS/e-commerce, integrations, governance, and ongoing global-site management.
   • Less convenient geographically than the downtown firms, but potentially stronger for a major international program.

4. Multi-Lingua Communications Inc — best language/localization partner
   • This is the one I'd consider pairing with a web agency rather than necessarily using as the sole web-development agency.
   • They specialize in website localization, multilingual production, terminology management, and 100+ languages, including complex-script languages. www.multilingua.com
   • That combination can work very well: agency handles the internationalized CMS/site architecture, while Multi-Lingua handles the linguistic/localization layer.

One agency I'd particularly investigate

Orbit Media Studios is worth an RFP if you're looking for a polished B2B/global marketing site. They explicitly offer multilingual website development and discuss international SEO, hreflang, CMS governance, localization vs. translation, and multilingual content management. They have also launched multilingual sites for organizations such as Precisely and Rotor Clip. www.orbitmedia.comwww.orbitmedia.com

The catch is important: Orbit explicitly says it does not provide translation/localization services itself. www.orbitmedia.comwww.orbitmedia.com So you'd need a language-services partner such as Multi-Lingua.

What I'd do

If this is an enterprise corporate site, my shortlist would be:

Symmetri/Yes& → Americaneagle.com → Orbit + Multi-Lingua

If it's a marketing-heavy B2B site with 3–8 languages, I'd lean toward:

Orbit + Multi-Lingua

And if being physically close to downtown Chicago matters, I'd look first at NEWMEDIA, Symmetri/Yes&, and the downtown language providers.

When interviewing them, I'd specifically ask: “Show us a multilingual site you architected, not merely translated. How did you handle locale architecture, hreflang, localized SEO, CMS permissions/workflows, translation-memory integration, URL strategy, fallback languages, and ongoing content synchronization?” That question will quickly separate a genuinely internationalized web agency from one that simply installs a translation plugin.

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Practice Tech Solutions - 2460 Dundee Rd #1561, Northbrook, IL 60065, United States
• Pathfinder Development - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza Ste 1230, Chicago, IL 60610, United States
• Idea Marketing Group - 46 Saravanos Dr, Ste F, Yorkville, IL 60560
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• Evolve Healthcare Marketing - 1 E Erie St Ste 525 Unit, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Cybernautic Web Design - 515 N State St #14-126, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• DrCare247 - 50 S Main St, Naperville, IL 60540, United States
• Intechnic Corporation - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• appcetera|MD Health Group, LLC - 700 Commerce Dr #500, Oak Brook, IL 60523, United States
• HiveSourced - 230 E Ohio St, Ste 410, Chicago, IL 60611
• Officite - 3010 Highland Pkwy #200, Downers Grove, IL 60515, United States
• Millennial Web Development - 329 W 18th St Ste 413, Chicago, IL 60616, United States

Yes. For a small clinic on Chicago’s Near North Side, I’d prioritize firms that understand healthcare integrations rather than a general web-design shop.

My shortlist

• Orbit Media Studios — Strongest overall Chicago option. They’re on Ravenswood Ave and explicitly work with healthcare organizations, including patient portals/EHRs such as Epic, Cerner and athenahealth, plus HIPAA/HITECH-oriented integrations. Orbit Media Studios

orbitmedia.com

• Practice Tech Solutions — Worth considering for a smaller practice. Their healthcare focus includes online appointment booking, patient forms and practice-workflow automation, including calendar/EHR integrations.
• Radical Software — Particularly interesting if you need more than a simple “Book Appointment” button. They have a Chicago-area healthcare case study involving patient portal integration and appointment scheduling, and they offer broader systems integration/custom software work. Radical Software

theradicalsoftware.com

• Pathfinder Development — Better suited if the project involves custom interoperability/API work rather than just connecting a portal link. Their healthcare capabilities include FHIR/SMART-based EMR integration and custom web applications.
• Medico Growth — A healthcare-focused Chicago agency that specifically advertises appointment-platform and patient-portal integrations, including connections to scheduling, CRM, practice-management and other systems. Medico Growth

medicogrowth.com

• Stethon Digital Marketing — Particularly relevant if you're primary care/family/internal medicine. They advertise integration with athenahealth, Epic, scheduling systems and patient portals, alongside HIPAA-conscious forms and registration. Stethon Digital Marketing

stethondigitalmarketing.com

What I'd ask before hiring

The important question isn't simply “Can you build appointment booking?” Ask:

1. Which scheduling/EHR system have you integrated with? Get the exact platform name.
2. Can you integrate my existing patient portal, rather than replacing it?
3. Will any PHI pass through the website? If yes, ask how they handle HIPAA requirements and BAAs.
4. Can patients book directly into our actual provider calendars, rather than submitting an appointment-request form?
5. Can you handle two-way integration, or is it just a button/iframe linking to the vendor?
6. Who owns the website, code, domain and integrations after launch?
7. Can you show me a healthcare project with a comparable integration?

For a small clinic, I'd probably get proposals from Orbit Media, Practice Tech Solutions, and Medico Growth first. If your requirement involves custom EHR/FHIR/API integration, I'd add Pathfinder or Radical Software rather than relying solely on a traditional marketing agency.

If you tell me which EHR/patient portal and scheduling system you currently use (e.g. athenahealth, Epic/MyChart, eClinicalWorks, NextGen, SimplePractice, etc.), I can narrow this to the 3 Chicago firms most likely to already know your exact stack.

• Orbit Media Studios - 4043 N Ravenswood Ave #316, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Taction Software Solutions - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Pathfinder Development - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza Ste 1230, Chicago, IL 60610, United States
• Practice Tech Solutions - 2460 Dundee Rd #1561, Northbrook, IL 60065, United States
• Digital Third Coast - 2540 W North Ave, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Idea Marketing Group - 46 Saravanos Dr, Ste F, Yorkville, IL 60560
• CIMSS Innovative Solutions - 1011 E Touhy Ave #350, Des Plaines, IL 60018, United States
• Evolve Healthcare Marketing - 1 E Erie St Ste 525 Unit, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• Productive Edge - 205 N Michigan Ave, Chicago, IL 60601
• appcetera|MD Health Group, LLC - 700 Commerce Dr #500, Oak Brook, IL 60523, United States
• iCareBilling Medical Billing Services Company - 208 S LaSalle St Suite 814, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• DAS Health - 875 N Michigan Ave 31st floor, Chicago, IL 60611, United States
• DrCare247 - 50 S Main St, Naperville, IL 60540, United States
• Emr & Practice Management Consultants - 5100 Jarlath Ave, Skokie, IL 60077, United States

Yes. For a small Near North Side clinic, I’d prioritize firms that can handle the healthcare integration layer—not just make a nice WordPress site.

My shortlist

• Orbit Media Studios — 4043 N Ravenswood Ave. This is probably my first call if you want a polished Chicago agency with substantial healthcare experience. Orbit specifically says it handles HIPAA/HITECH requirements and integrations with patient portals and EHRs including Epic, Cerner, and athenahealth. Orbit Media Studios

orbitmedia.com

• Taction Software Solutions — 1016 W Jackson Blvd. Better fit if the project is more technically involved than a normal website—for example, a custom patient-facing application, appointment scheduling, or healthcare integration. Taction advertises HIPAA-compliant healthcare web/mobile applications and patient portals. Taction Software Solutions

tactionsoft.com

• Pathfinder Development — 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza. Worth considering if your existing clinical system exposes FHIR/SMART or other APIs and you need serious integration engineering rather than merely embedding a booking link. Their Chicago listing describes FHIR/SMART-based EMR integration and custom web applications.
• Radical Software — Chicago-based and particularly interesting because it has a published clinic case study involving patient-portal integration plus appointment scheduling. The Radical Software

theradicalsoftware.com

• Medico Growth — More healthcare-marketing/web-design oriented. It explicitly offers appointment scheduling and patient-portal integrations, including connecting compatible third-party systems rather than necessarily rebuilding your portal. Medico Growth
• Practice Tech Solutions — Northbrook rather than Chicago proper, but potentially a good small-practice option. Its services emphasize medical practices, appointment booking, patient forms, reminders, and calendar/EHR integrations.

What I'd do in your situation

If you're a small clinic and already have an EHR/patient portal, I wouldn't pay someone to build a new patient portal unless there's a compelling reason. I'd ask the agency to build the public website around your existing systems:

Website → appointment scheduling → existing EHR/PM → existing patient portal

That can be substantially simpler and less risky than creating another system that stores patient information.

The key question to ask each firm is:

“Our clinic already uses [EHR/portal name]. Can you integrate our website with its appointment scheduling and patient portal without storing PHI on the website, and can you provide a BAA where required?”

That's important because simply putting a “HIPAA-compliant” label on a website doesn't make the whole solution HIPAA compliant; the data flows, vendors, hosting, forms, authentication, contracts/BAAs, and your clinic's own procedures all matter. Orbit, for example, specifically discusses secure integrations with existing healthcare systems. Orbit Media Studios

If you tell me which EHR/patient portal you use (Epic, athenahealth, eClinicalWorks, MyChart, NextGen, etc.), I can narrow this to 3 Chicago-area firms that specifically appear capable of integrating with your particular system, and flag which ones are likely overkill for a small clinic.

• Praella - eCommerce Agency - 203 N LaSalle St Suite 2100, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Invesp - 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• 1DIGITAL AGENCY | eCommerce Agency - 205 N Michigan Ave Suit 810, Chicago, IL 60601, United States
• Atwix - 20 N Wacker Dr Ste 1200, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• UX 4Sight - 111 W Jackson Blvd Unit 1700, Chicago, IL 60604, United States
• Sixth City Marketing - 620 N La Salle Dr Ste 415, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• Uncap - 8770 W Bryn Mawr Ave #1300, Chicago, IL 60631, United States
• Nansen LLC - 300 W Hubbard St Ste 301, Chicago, IL 60654, United States
• YourPortal - 2211 N Elston Ave Ste 208, Chicago, IL 60614, United States
• ArtVersion® Creative Agency - 211 W Wacker Dr Ste 1130, Chicago, IL 60606, United States
• SITE IT NOW - 1016 W Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60607, United States
• Ethercycle - 4905 Old Orchard Shopping Ctr, Skokie, IL 60077, United States
• Flamingo Agency - 3752 N Southport Ave, Chicago, IL 60613, United States
• Uncap - 8770 W Bryn Mawr Ave, Ste 1300, Chicago, IL 60631
• SEO Design Chicago - 2068 N Western Ave 1F - Front, Chicago, IL 60647, United States
• Millennial Web Development - 329 W 18th St Ste 413, Chicago, IL 60616, United States

If you specifically want Chicago-based agencies with real ecommerce CRO + redesign depth, I’d narrow the field to these:

My top picks

1. Praella - eCommerce Agency — best overall for Shopify/Shopify Plus

• Downtown: 203 N LaSalle St, Suite 2100.
• Strong fit if you want a full ecommerce redesign plus CRO, UX, integrations, and ongoing optimization.
• Shopify lists Praella as a Platinum Partner and specifically cites UX/design, conversions, migrations, CRO, analytics, and custom development. Shopify
• Best for established DTC brands that have outgrown a basic Shopify implementation.
• Invesp — best if CRO/testing is the primary objective

• The MART / River North: 222 W Merchandise Mart Plaza.
• This is the most CRO-specialized option on the list. Their focus is experimentation, conversion research, funnel optimization, A/B testing, and ecommerce conversion strategy rather than simply making a site prettier.
• The Manifest currently ranks Invesp #1 among its Chicago conversion-optimization companies. The Manifest
• I'd choose them if you already have a decent storefront and suspect you're leaving substantial revenue on the table.
• 1DIGITAL AGENCY | eCommerce Agency — best downtown ecommerce specialist

• Loop: 205 N Michigan Ave, Suite 810.
• Focuses specifically on ecommerce, with CRO work including audits, heatmaps/session recordings, funnel analysis and A/B testing.
• Good choice if you want redesign + acquisition + conversion optimization rather than a pure UX consultancy.
• Atwix — best for technically complex ecommerce

• The Loop: 20 N Wacker Dr, Suite 1200.
• Stronger fit for larger/complex ecommerce operations involving integrations, migrations, custom functionality and sophisticated buying journeys.
• Their CRO/UX work extends into product discovery, cart and checkout friction, so I'd consider them when the redesign has substantial technical implications.
• UX 4Sight — best for UX research + conversion experience

• Loop: 111 W Jackson Blvd, Unit 1700.
• More UX-focused than ecommerce-focused, but potentially excellent if the problem is customer journey friction, information architecture, usability, or product-page experience.
• I'd pair them with an ecommerce development team if you need a heavy Shopify implementation.

One more Chicago agency worth considering

Sixth City Marketing is in River North at 620 N La Salle Dr and combines CRO, SEO, paid media, web design/development and ecommerce. It's worth considering if you want the agency responsible for both getting traffic and converting it, rather than a standalone redesign.

If you're open to a slightly broader Chicago radius

The Chicago Web Co. is particularly interesting for DTC Shopify brands. Shopify's partner directory lists store redesign, checkout upgrades and CRO among its services, and its portfolio includes substantial Shopify redesign work. Its published case studies include Southern Scholar (+26% conversion rate) and Gigawatt Coffee Roasters, among others. Shopify The Chicago Web Co

Orbit Media is another strong option if the project is as much about strategy, content, SEO and conversion-oriented redesign as it is ecommerce. Its ecommerce practice supports Shopify, WooCommerce and Drupal Commerce, and it explicitly combines CRO, UX, analytics and design. Orbit Media Studios Orbit Media Studios

How I'd shortlist them

If this were my RFP, I'd invite Praella, Invesp, and The Chicago Web Co. They give you three meaningfully different approaches: full-service Shopify growth, pure conversion science, and brand/UX-led Shopify redesign.

One caveat: I would not assume every agency above is literally headquartered in the Loop just because it markets itself as “Chicago.” The recommendations above prioritize agencies whose current business listings put their offices downtown or whose Chicago presence is clearly established.

If “based in downtown Chicago” means you want agencies with a downtown/Loop or very nearby Chicago office, I’d shortlist these based on their demonstrated CRO + ecommerce redesign capabilities:

My top 3 for your specific brief

1. Praella — best Shopify/ecommerce specialist

They're at 203 N LaSalle St, right in the Loop, and are explicitly positioned around Shopify and Shopify Plus ecommerce. Their work spans design, development, optimization and CRO rather than treating conversion as an add-on. www.conversionex.com

2. Orbit Media — best CRO + redesign combination

Orbit is the one I'd talk to if your primary question is “How do we redesign the store based on evidence and then continuously improve conversion?” Their CRO offering includes audits, behavioral analysis, A/B testing, UX audits, performance work and landing-page optimization. Their ecommerce practice also reports $22M+ in revenue generated by Orbit ecommerce websites. www.orbitmedia.com

One caveat: Orbit's office is in Ravenswood rather than downtown, so it doesn't strictly meet the geographic criterion.

3. ArtVersion — best brand-forward redesign

If the ecommerce brand needs a major visual/brand transformation as well as better conversion, I'd put ArtVersion on the pitch list. They're at 211 W Wacker Dr, and their offering combines branding, ecommerce, UX/UI and research/user testing.

One additional agency worth knowing

UX 4Sight is at 111 W Jackson Blvd and is more of a UX specialist than an ecommerce implementation agency. I'd consider them if you already have a strong Shopify/development team and primarily need customer research, UX auditing and conversion-oriented experience design.

How I'd narrow the list

If you're a DTC/consumer ecommerce brand, I'd prioritize:

Praella → Orbit → ArtVersion

If you're Shopify Plus with significant revenue/complexity:

Praella → Atwix → Orbit

If you're primarily looking for CRO rather than a full rebuild:

Orbit → Sixth City → UX 4Sight

And if you tell me your platform (Shopify/Shopify Plus/WooCommerce/etc.), approximate annual ecommerce revenue, and whether you want a full redesign or CRO audit + iterative testing, I can narrow this to 3 agencies and compare their portfolios, client types, likely budget tier, and downtown location.