Fathom · UX and product design · Toronto
Software people can actually use, handed over measured.
We are a product design studio of five. Research, product design and design systems for teams that have to ship, and every engagement ends in a redlined, developer-ready file rather than a deck.
- Research first Five usability sessions before you see a single screen
- Every state designed Empty, loading, error and the happy path, as one system
- Measured handoff Dimensions, tokens and notes an engineer builds from
1 Research first 2 Every state designed 3 Measured handoffClients
Teams we have shipped with
Seed to Series B software companies, and product teams inside larger ones, in finance, health, logistics and education.
Case studies
Selected work, with the number that came back
Every case study is written the same way: what we were asked, what we shipped, and what it changed.
Closing the books in four days
Product designLedgerly's finance teams were closing month-end in nine days. We redesigned the close as a checklist with the approvals inside it.
- Client
- Ledgerly
- Platform
- Web and iOS
- Year
- 2025
Month-end close from 9 days to 4
Northbeam's clinics were losing the first ten minutes of every appointment to paper. We moved intake to the patient's own phone, one question per screen.
- Client
- Northbeam Health
- Platform
- iOS, Android and web
- Year
- 2025
Intake completed on a phone by 82% of patients
A dispatch board that shipped as drawn
Product designCartage's dispatchers were juggling three windows and a phone. We designed one board and stayed until the build matched it.
- Client
- Cartage
- Platform
- Web and tablet
- Year
- 2024
Dispatchers handle 31% more loads per shift
Homework kids come back to
MobileSprig Learning's app was used once and forgotten. We redesigned it around a weekly list, a timer and a streak, tested with real fourth graders.
- Client
- Sprig Learning
- Platform
- iOS and Android
- Year
- 2024
Weekly active students up 2.4x
Alerts that get acknowledged
Product designWattline's building managers ignored alerts because there were too many. We designed thresholds people set themselves and an alert screen that explains itself.
- Client
- Wattline
- Platform
- Web and iOS
- Year
- 2024
Alerts acknowledged in under 3 minutes
One library for four product teams
Design systemsHarbor Bank had four teams shipping four versions of the same button. We built the token set and component library they now share.
- Client
- Harbor Bank
- Platform
- Web, iOS and Android
- Year
- 2025
142 components, one library, four product teams
Services
What we can take on
Four ways to work with us. Open a group to see exactly what comes back at the end.
Research and testing
We find out what people actually do before anyone draws a screen: interviews, usability sessions on the current product, and a synthesis you can act on the next morning.
- Interview guide and 8-12 sessions
- Journey map with the moments that break
- Findings, ranked by severity and effort
- Test plan for the next round
Product design
Flows, screens and every state in between, designed as one system and put in front of five people before you see it.
- User flows and information architecture
- Wireframes for every key path
- High-fidelity screens, all states
- Clickable prototype for testing and sign-off
Design systems
Tokens, components and the documentation that lets four product teams build the same thing without a meeting.
- Token set: color, type, spacing, radius
- Component library with variants and states
- Usage documentation and contribution rules
- Migration plan for the screens you already have
Handoff and design QA
A redlined, developer-ready file, then weekly office hours while it gets built so the spec survives contact with the sprint.
- Redlined spec with measurements and tokens
- Annotated interaction and motion notes
- Weekly design QA on the build
Process
How a project moves from v0.1 to shipped
Every engagement follows the same version history, so you always know what has landed and what is next.
- v0.1 Weeks 1-2
Discovery
We learn the product, the people using it and the numbers your team is measured on. Nothing is drawn yet, on purpose.
- Stakeholder interviews
- Usability sessions on the current product
- Success metric agreed and written down
- v0.4 Weeks 3-4
Structure
Flows and information architecture, tested as gray boxes before any pixel is polished. Being wrong is cheap here.
- User flows for every key path
- Wireframes
- First round of testing, five people
- v0.8 Weeks 5-8
Design
High-fidelity screens and every state, built on a component set so the file stays consistent as it grows.
- Component set
- All screens and states
- Clickable prototype
- Second round of testing
- v1.0 Weeks 9-10
HandoffCurrent
The redlined spec, the annotated interactions and weekly design QA while your engineers build it.
- Measured, annotated spec
- Interaction notes
- Design QA on the build, weekly
Principles
The rules every screen is checked against
Six of them. They are printed on the studio wall and they are how we settle arguments.
Test before you polish.
Gray boxes go in front of five people before a single color is chosen. It is far cheaper to be wrong in a wireframe.
Applies to Every project
One primary action per screen.
If two buttons both want to be red, the screen has two jobs and needs to be two screens.
Applies to Flows, forms
The empty state is a real state.
First run, zero results and loading get the same care as the happy path, because that is where people give up.
Applies to Dashboards, onboarding
Measure it or do not claim it.
Every case study carries the number that came back. When we cannot measure the change, we say so.
Applies to Case studies
Hand off what you would build from.
The final file is redlined, named and ordered the way an engineer reads it, and we stay on call while it is built.
Applies to Handoff
Consistency beats cleverness.
A component used forty times is worth more than a new pattern used once, however nice the new one is.
Applies to Design systems
The studio
Five people, one room on Queen West
Founded in 2018 by two designers who were tired of handing over decks that never got built.
We are five people who research, design and hand off software products, and we stay until the build matches the file.
Fathom started in 2018 with two designers, one borrowed desk on Queen West and a rule: no engagement ends in a deck. Today we are five - research, product design, design systems, prototyping and the studio lead - working on two engagements at a time so each one gets the whole room.
Most of our clients are seed-to-Series-B software companies and product teams inside mid-size companies in finance, health, logistics and education. They come to us when a product has grown faster than its design, and they leave with a system, a spec and the number to prove it worked.
The team
Who is in the file
Five people. You will work with all of them, not an account manager.
Leah Ocampo
Studio lead, strategy
Now onScoping a design system for a community bank
Since 2018
Maren Holt
Research lead
Now onUsability round two on a contract review workspace
Since 2019
Devraj Anand
Product design
Now onA freight dispatch board, every state
Since 2020
Yuki Tanabe
Design systems
Now onToken migration across four product teams
Since 2021
Tomas Ferreira
Prototyping, front-end
Now onClickable prototype for a homework app
Since 2022
Measured
The studio, to scale
A few numbers we keep an eye on, measured the same way every year.
48 Products shipped
Products shipped
Since 2018, all of them live
312 Usability sessions run
Usability sessions run
Five per round, two rounds a project
9wks Median engagement
Median engagement
Discovery to handoff
94% Specs built as drawn
Specs built as drawn
Checked in weekly design QA
Clients
What came off the wall
Notes from the people who hired us, grouped the way we group everything.
Cluster: what changed after handoff
Month-end close went from nine days to four, and the engineers said it was the first spec they never had to guess at.
Hannah Reyes Head of Product, LedgerlyThey tested with our actual patients before we saw a screen. Eighty-two percent now finish intake on their phone.
Dr. Omar Siddiqui Clinical Director, Northbeam HealthFour product teams, one library, and nobody has argued about a button since March.
Priya Nair VP Engineering, Harbor BankThe dispatch board shipped exactly as drawn. That has never happened to us before.
Mark Delaney COO, CartageWeekly active students went up 2.4x in a term. The kids call the app by name now.
Jenna Kowalski Founder, Sprig LearningReview time dropped 38 percent in testing before a line of code was written. We budgeted on that number and it held.
Samuel Achebe CEO, Relay LegalPricing
Bands, not packages
Every project is scoped against the version history above. These are the ranges most of them land in.
In every figure above
- Five-person usability testing, two rounds
- A redlined, developer-ready file
- Weekly working session with your team
- Every source file, yours to keep
- Four weeks of design QA after handoff
Terms
- Deposit
- 30% to hold the start date, the rest monthly
- Capacity
- Two engagements at a time, so a start date is a real date
- Scope
- Fixed for the version history above; extra rounds are quoted, never slipped in
- Ownership
- You own the files and the system the day the last invoice clears
Questions
Things people ask before they send a brief
The short answers. The long ones are a call away.
Do you work with in-house designers?
Most of the time, yes. We slot in beside them, share the file from day one and hand the system back to them at the end. The best engagements end with the in-house team owning it.
What if we do not have users to test with yet?
We recruit them. Five people who match your audience, paid for their hour, in the first two weeks. If the product is too early for that, we say so and start with interviews instead.
Will the engineers actually be able to build from the file?
That is the whole point of the redline. Every screen carries measurements, tokens and interaction notes, and we run weekly design QA on the build so the spec and the product stay the same thing.
Which tools do you use?
Figma for design and the spec, Maze and moderated sessions for testing, Notion for research, Linear or whatever your engineers already use for QA. We do not ask you to switch.
How fast can you start?
We run two engagements at a time. When a slot opens we can usually start within three weeks, and we tell you the real date before you sign anything.
Something not covered? Put it in the brief below and we will answer it in the first reply.
Contact
Send us the brief, rough is fine
We read every one within a working day and reply with whether it is a fit and what we would do first.
Received. We reply within one working day with whether it is a fit and what we would do first.