“Mark” (not a real name, but the story is) asked me to write this. Said I’d know the model – I’m from Ukraine.

Here’s what happens: Agency sells you “a full-stack designer with 8 years experience in UI/UX design and development services.” You get a junior designer in Portland who’s never written code + an outsourced developer in Ukraine who’s never opened Figma. Both pretending to be one person on Zoom.

Mark paid $35K for this. Took him 2 months to figure it out.

He asked the “designer” to explain a CSS grid issue. Got back: “Let me check with our development team.”

Wait. You ARE the development team.

Week 10 of an 8-week project. Designs looked fine. Code worked. But the details kept missing:

Figma: 8px grid. Code: 4px.
Designer specified Inter. Code shipped Roboto.
Mockups: 24px radius. Live site: 16px.

Two people copying each other’s homework. Never spoke once.

How the Scam Works (It’s Not Really a Scam, Just Economics)

Here’s how agencies package junior talent as senior UI/UX design and development services:

They pitch “a full-stack designer. Handles both design and development. Seamless handoff. No communication gaps.”

Sounds great. Costs less than hiring two people.

Then they assign: Junior designer (2 years, never touched code) gets design. Bootcamp grad (6 months coding) gets development.

Agency tells them: “You’re the same person now. Make it work.”

They don’t. But they try.

Designer creates mockups. Sends to developer with zero technical context. Developer builds what they think the designs mean. Designer has no idea if implementation is correct.

Neither can explain the other’s decisions. Because they didn’t make them.

Mark paid $35K for 3 months of what agencies call UI/UX design and development services. Got 2 people playing telephone through the agency PM.

Every revision took 3 times longer than it should:

• Designer couldn’t answer technical questions
• Developer couldn’t answer design questions
• Agency PM translated between them

The PM’s job was human middleware.

The Red Flags Mark Missed (And You Probably Will Too)

When you’re evaluating UI/UX design and development services, these are the signs you’re hiring two people:

Red Flag 1: Designs came back fast, code came back slow

Week 2: Full dashboard designs delivered. Beautiful. Polished. Done.

Week 4-10: Code still in progress. “Technical complexity.” “Edge cases.” “Integration challenges.”

Designer knocked out Figma files fast because they didn’t understand implementation cost. Developer spent 6 weeks reverse-engineering what the designer meant.

Designer: “Just add a dropdown.”

Developer: “Just add a dropdown to a component that wasn’t built for dropdowns in a system without dynamic content support.”

(Different perspectives on “just.”)

Red Flag 2: Questions had 24-hour turnaround

Mark: “Can we add real-time collaboration here?”

24 hours later: “Yes, we can do that. Will add 2 weeks to timeline.”

Designer said yes without asking developer. Developer saw the spec, said “4 weeks minimum.” Agency split the difference, told Mark 2 weeks.

Actual time: 3.5 weeks.

This is the same problem as hidden features nobody finds – claiming something exists when the implementation reality is different.

Red Flag 3: Design revisions were easy, development revisions were painful

Mark: “Can we try the sidebar on the left instead of right?”

Designer: “Sure! Updated Figma in 20 minutes.”

Mark: “Can we swap the button colors?”

Developer: “That requires updating the theme system. 3 days.”

In Figma: drag, drop, done.

In code: refactor theme system, update props, test breakpoints, check contrast, update docs, pray nothing breaks.

Red Flag 4: No one could explain both sides

Mark to the “designer”: “How will this animation perform on slower devices?”

Answer: “Our development team handles performance optimization.”

Mark about code: “Why did you implement the dropdown this way?”

Answer: “Based on the design specifications provided.”

They weren’t a team. They were strangers with the same agency email.

Same energy as designers who can’t explain their work because they’re covering for someone else’s decisions.

What Agencies Don’t Tell You About UI/UX Design and Development Services

Most agencies bundle UI/UX design and development services for three reasons, and none are about quality:

Reason 1: Higher contract value

Design alone: $15-25K for 3 months.

“Integrated UI/UX design and development services”: $35-50K for the same project.

Development costs them $10-15K (outsourced). They pocket the difference.

Reason 2: Lock-in

Once you hire them for design, switching developers means understanding someone else’s Figma files. Friction keeps you paying.

Reason 3: It sounds better

“Full-stack designer” sounds like expertise.

“Junior designer plus outsourced dev” sounds like what it is.

This is how design services that claim to do everything operate – hiding who’s doing what.

The $35K Breakdown (What Mark Actually Paid For)

Mark paid $35K for UI/UX design and development services. Here’s where it went:

Designer (Portland, 2 years experience): $18K

• 120 hours at $150/hour
• Created Figma mockups
• Attended client calls
• Revised designs 3 times because didn’t grasp implementation complexity

Developer (Ukraine, bootcamp grad): $10K

• 200 hours at $50/hour
• Built the actual product
• Never spoke to Mark
• Rebuilt components twice because specs were unclear

(Median JS developer salary in Lviv: $1,700/month. Agencies charge $40-60/hour. Math works out nicely for agencies.)

Agency overhead: $7K

• PM coordinating between two people who should’ve been one
• Slack translating design to development
• Meetings explaining why timelines kept slipping

What Mark thought he was paying for: One senior person who designs in Figma and codes in React, thinks holistically, makes decisions that work in both contexts.

What Mark got: Two people, neither senior, playing telephone through a project manager.

The PM’s full-time job was explaining why things the designer promised couldn’t actually be built.

How to Spot the Two-Person Scam

Here’s how to tell if you’re hiring actual UI/UX design and development services or two people in a trench coat:

Ask technical design questions:

“How do you handle state management for complex forms?”

Real designer: Specific answer about Redux/Context/form libraries and UX impact.

Two people: “We’ll coordinate with our development team.”

Check their actual work:

Look at portfolio code, not just designs. If designs are gorgeous but code is inconsistent, that’s two people.

Request to meet the actual person:

Mark: “Can Alex join to discuss component architecture?”

Agency: “Alex is heads-down on implementation, but I can relay questions.”
Mark: “Just for 10 minutes?”
Agency: “Let me check Alex’s calendar.”

They never got back. Alex was two people.

Ask about design system implementation:

“How do you keep Figma and code in sync?”

Real answer: “I build components in both. Figma for design tokens, React for behavior.”

Two people: “Design team manages Figma, development team implements, PM ensures consistency.”

That last part means it’s not consistent.

Like hiring a designer but not letting them design, hiring “full-stack” without verification sets you up for coordination overhead.

What Actually-Good UI/UX Design and Development Services Look Like

After Mark’s $35K lesson, he hired a senior designer who actually codes.

Cost: $28K (20% less). Timeline: 9 weeks instead of 16 (44% faster). Process: One person making decisions instead of two coordinating.

No PM required.

What “actually codes” means: Opens VS Code. Writes components. Commits to Git. Reviews PRs.

This is what good UX design with product design expertise delivers – one person who thinks in both languages.

The Questions That Reveal the Truth

When evaluating agencies offering UI/UX design and development services, ask:

“Show me a commit you made this month.”

Real designer: Pulls up GitHub, shows code.

Two people: “Let me get back to you” or “Our workflow doesn’t use public repos.”

“Walk me through component architecture decisions.”

Listen for: Trade-offs between design flexibility and code maintainability.

Watch for: Design rationale OR technical rationale, never both. The phrase “then we handed it to development.”

“What’s the last technical constraint that changed a design decision?”

Good: “Wanted smooth carousel, but bundle size wasn’t worth it. Changed to click-based navigation.”

Bad: “We work within technical limitations” or “We coordinate with our development team.”

“How do you handle design tokens?”

Real: Explains JSON, CSS variables, or Tailwind config. How changes propagate from Figma to code.

Fake: “Design team manages Figma, development team implements tokens.”

This is why writing a proper RFP matters – technical questions filter out two-person scams.

Why Agencies Do This (And Why It’s Hard to Blame Them)

Finding actual full-stack designers – people who design well AND code well – is hard.

Finding junior designers: Easy. Finding bootcamp developers: Easy. Training them to act as one offering UI/UX design and development services: Easier than you’d think.

The business model works:

• Clients want “seamless” design and development
• One senior person costs $120-180/hour
• Two junior people cost $90-110/hour combined
• Sell them as one at $140/hour = profit

Most clients can’t tell until month 2. By then, you’ve paid half. By month 3, switching costs more than finishing.

Like design outsourcing that hides costs, bundled UI/UX design and development services hide coordination overhead until you’ve committed.

What Mark Learned (The Hard Way)

After 16 weeks and $35K, Mark’s dashboard worked. Looked good. Shipped.

But he’d paid for “seamless integration” and got telephone coordination. Paid for “one person who understands both” and got two people who’d never met.

One senior designer who actually codes cost less, took less time, resulted in better work.

Not because junior people can’t do good work. Because pretending two people are one person creates coordination overhead.

When someone offers UI/UX design and development services, ask: Is this one person? Or two people with one email?

That determines whether you’re hiring expertise or buying a coordination problem.

The Uncomfortable Questions for Agencies

If you’re an agency offering UI/UX design and development services:

Can your “full-stack designer” actually commit code? Or are they a designer who “understands development”?

When clients ask technical questions, does the designer answer? Or do they say “let me check with our development team”?

If it’s the latter, you’re selling coordination as integration.

Like the difference between designers who prioritize users and designers who prioritize stakeholders – the distinction determines whether you’re solving the problem or managing it.

What Good Looks Like

Mark’s second attempt worked because the designer actually coded.

Opened terminal. Wrote components. Pushed to GitHub. Reviewed PRs. Fixed bugs.

Designs considered technical constraints. Code matched design intent. Questions got answered in real-time. Timelines were accurate.

That’s what integrated UI/UX design and development services means. Not two people through Slack. One person who thinks in both languages.

If you can’t find that person, hire separately. Designer + developer who work together honestly beats designer + developer pretending to be one.

At least then you know what you’re paying for.