# The Special Something

> A senior and staff-level, fractional UX team for tech startups. We find where users get stuck in a live product and fix it: product design, UX writing and user research in one small team, from first audit to shipped fix.

- Based in Vilnius, Lithuania; works async-first with international clients, from fintech and web3 startups to consumer tech.
- Senior and staff-level designers only, with UX writing built into every engagement.
- Every engagement starts with a first fix: audit the product and rank every issue by what it costs, rework the most costly flow (words first, then design), test it with real users, ship it and review the results a month after release.
- Clients start with a one-off First fix (one month) or go straight to a monthly retainer (Momentum or Full speed). Retainers run month to month; either side can stop with one month's notice.
- Clients and past work include Kinetiq (Markets.xyz), Infrared, Lombard, Oasis, NordHMS, Meta, Ray-Ban, Wix, Hostinger, SEB, GNC, Koinly and HeyPolo.
- Contact: https://thespecialsomething.com/ (chat on the site), Telegram @thespecialsomething, studio@thespecialsomething.com, or book 20 minutes at https://calendly.com/thespecialsomething/kickoff

## Who we work with

- Product leaders, founders and CEOs at funded or profitable tech startups that already have a product in the market.
- Good fit: signup, onboarding or core flows that lose people, and a team that wants senior help without a full-time hire.
- Not a fit: big corporations where a button change needs several committees.

## Good to know

- Who does the work: senior and staff-level designers, writers and researchers, the same people clients meet on the first call.
- Start date: usually within two weeks of the first call, depending on capacity.
- Communication: a direct line on Telegram, WhatsApp, iMessage or Slack, with replies within one working day. Retainers include one short monthly call and a one-page report.
- Ownership: the client owns the designs, copy and specifications once the invoice is paid. NDAs are signed on request.
- Tools: designs in Figma and works in the client's own tools (Slack, Linear, Notion, Jira). AI speeds up research and first drafts; a senior person writes, checks and signs off everything delivered.

## Pages

- [Home](https://thespecialsomething.com/): what we do, results, selected work and FAQs.
- [How we work](https://thespecialsomething.com/how-we-work/): how the first fix works, the three ways to work together and their prices, add-ons and FAQs.

## Pricing

Prices exclude VAT. Retainers are paid monthly in advance, and unused retainer days roll over for one month maximum. US-dollar prices are invoiced in US dollars.

- First fix: €3,950 ($4,450), one-off, one month. Your biggest problem, found and prototyped, for teams who want to know what's wrong before committing to more: a UX audit with every issue ranked by what it costs you, your most acute problem solved as a prototype ready to build, professional UX copy for the prototype, strategic oversight, the full prioritized list of issues and possible fixes, and a direct line to us for the month.
- Momentum: €6,750 ($7,650) a month, retainer. Work down your list, one flow at a time, for teams with a list of problems and not enough hands: design work (flows, screens, prototypes), professional UX writing, testing with users, working alongside your engineers to ship, a monthly call and/or report on results, and a direct line to us.
- Full speed: custom pricing, retainer. A senior design partner inside your team: everything in Momentum, plus 2 to 3 flows moving at once, a lead designer in your team rituals, and a quarterly design roadmap workshop with your team.

Add-ons:

- Extra days: single days or day packs (at a discount).
- User research: a round of interviews or tests with real users, recruited, run and written up.
- Bigger pieces of work (a redesign, a new product area, a launch): quoted separately.

## Case studies

- [Markets.xyz case study: $3B+ traded | The Special Something](https://thespecialsomething.com/work/markets-xyz/): A brand-new perpetuals exchange on Hyperliquid HIP-3, researched and designed in two weeks. Over $3B traded in its first four months.
- [Infrared case study: −68% time to deposit | The Special Something](https://thespecialsomething.com/work/infrared/): Designing Infrared’s portfolio page as a launchpad for vaults, rewards and discovery: −68% time to deposit, +56% users in three or more vaults.
- [Lombard case study: +86% staking diversity | The Special Something](https://thespecialsomething.com/work/lombard/): Redesigning Lombard’s BTC liquid staking dashboard around earnings, recommendations and decision-grade data: +86% staking diversity, +71% staking duration.
- [Oasis case study: +129% token trust | The Special Something](https://thespecialsomething.com/work/oasis/): Redesigning token discovery on the Oasis block explorer with trust markers and progressive disclosure: +129% token trust, +23% unique tokens held.
- [NordHMS case study: HSE platform | The Special Something](https://thespecialsomething.com/work/nordhms/): Designing and shipping NordHMS, an HSE compliance platform for Nordic construction: seven modules, five languages and around 1,770 changes in six months.

## Policies

- [Privacy policy](https://thespecialsomething.com/privacy/)
- [Cookie policy](https://thespecialsomething.com/cookies/)
- [Terms of business](https://thespecialsomething.com/terms/)