Crux Collaborative is a user experience consulting firm based in Minneapolis, MN, that builds custom demos for sales, marketing, training, and other business needs. Rather than treating a demo as an afterthought, the firm frames it as a tool that can up-level sales materials by simulating digital products, software, and services before they exist in finished form.
Work spans four demo types: digital prototypes that articulate an idea, sales and marketing demos built to close deals, video demos that tell a product story, and website or software simulations designed to feel real to the people using them. This work draws on prototyping, UX research, and usability testing, giving each demo a foundation in how real users interact with a product rather than just how it looks.
Crux Collaborative describes itself as a pioneer in user experience design, with more than 20 years in the field and hundreds of prototypes and demos built over that time. That history informs how the team approaches new projects, applying an understanding of what it takes to efficiently simulate a robust site or app without building the entire thing from scratch. The result is a practice built specifically around demo creation, distinct from firms that treat prototypes as a single step in a broader design process.