UpTop

In short

UpTop is a Seattle UX firm whose stated specialty is modernising old systems: the internal tools, client portals and sprawling corporate sites that service businesses run on. Research, strategy, design and development all sit in-house, and the clients it names come from healthcare, HR, financial services, logistics and enterprise software. Clutch has rated it a top UX agency in Seattle eight years running, and it is #4 on our Seattle list.

JAMS, the dispute-resolution provider handling more than 14,000 cases a year, had staff and clients juggling JAMSware, PanelNet, NetSuite and OnBase; UpTop ran technical discovery and designed one portal for case creation, documents, scheduling, timecards and billing. At F5 it audited accessibility, redesigned NGINX.com, folded Volterra into F5.com and tested navigation live at the AppWorld conference. SAP Concur used it for multi-year buyer-persona and content research across regions.

Operations-heavy organisations with a legacy portal, many user roles and integration knots to untangle are where UpTop earns its fee, and enterprise marketing teams that need research behind a navigation overhaul also do well. Expect clickable prototypes, annotated wireframes and developer handoff rather than a new identity; a company that needs a logo, brand voice or launch campaign should hire a branding studio.