Toptal Design Blog

The Toptal Design Blog is a hub for advanced design studies by professional designers in the Toptal network on all facets of digital design, ranging from detailed design tutorials to in-depth coverage of new design trends, techniques, and technologies.

authors are vetted experts in their fields and write on topics in which they have demonstrated experience. All of our content is peer reviewed and validated by Toptal experts in the same field.

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authors are vetted experts in their fields and write on topics in which they have demonstrated experience. All of our content is peer reviewed and validated by Toptal experts in the same field.

Figma vs. Adobe XD vs. Sketch: Choosing the Right UI Design Tool

Which tool should you choose? From reusable components and real-time collaboration to voice prototyping and developer handoff, a UI/UX expert weighs the features of the leading UI design platforms to help you select the best tool for your project.

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Sérgio Estrella

Sérgio is a UI/UX designer who crafts intuitive interfaces across diverse industries, including AI, enterprise, finance, education, e-commerce, and automotive. He has a background in graphic design, front-end development, and team leadership that informs his approach to user-centered solutions.

Navigating the Product Design Process: A 6-step Guide to Superior Digital Products

Product design is complex, and new apps and tools fail all too often. Incorporate these six key activities into your workflow to create digital products that thrive in the marketplace.

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Christian Adolphus

Christian is a product designer, product owner, user researcher, and Webflow developer. He led the design team at Chaka, a leading online investment platform in Nigeria, and worked as the founding product designer at SquadPal. His product experience spans B2B, B2C, and SaaS enterprise solutions.

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How AI Reshapes UX: A Design Expert Sheds Light on Benefits and Success Strategies

AI impacts user experiences by making digital products more responsive to individual user needs. A seasoned product designer specializing in AI explains how to avoid pitfalls and maximize the potential of the latest technology.

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Akis Apostoliadis

Akis is a lead product designer with more than 20 years of experience in AI, fintech, healthtech, SaaS, and e-commerce. He has an extensive background in creating design systems for enterprise companies, and has worked with Sony Pictures, WeWork, Pfizer, Cigna, and Unilever.

Are users scrolling past your brand’s social media images? Try these graphic design techniques to create expert visuals that grab attention on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and beyond.

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Micah Bowers

Micah is a digital designer who has worked with clients such as Google, Deloitte, and Autodesk. He is also the Managing Editor of Toptal’s Design and Technical Content. His design expertise has been featured in Fast Company, TNW, and other notable publications.

Boosting Satisfaction and Sales: An E-commerce Checkout Design Case Study

Improving your checkout flow can dramatically increase conversions and user satisfaction. A veteran UI/UX designer explains how she reimagined the checkout process of the seventh most visited e-commerce site in the US.

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Beatriz Garcia de Prado

Beatriz is an art director and a UI/UX design leader with extensive experience in e-commerce and digital product design for clients like the large American retailer Belk. She specializes in leveraging user personas, customer journeys, and user story mapping to create products that resonate emotionally.

How to Increase Website Conversions With Effective UX Design Techniques

Reciprocity, commitment, social proof, and scarcity are powerful tools for increasing user engagement and sales. Explore the ways that Amazon, Airbnb, and YouTube leverage these factors for conversion optimization.

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Shoaib Mahmud

Shoaib is a product designer who specializes in creating designs that drive conversions across various industries, such as freight, transportation, HR solutions, edtech, and logistics. He has worked with numerous startups in the US, Bangladesh, and Singapore, overseeing project life cycles, including user research, wireframes, prototypes, and UI.

Create Engaging UI Components: A Figma Animation Tutorial

Figma’s intuitive animation features enhance usability by adding subtle motion effects to UI components like icons, buttons, and product cards.

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Anna Muratova

Anna is a UI/UX designer experienced in creating UI animations and improving the usability of digital products. She has collaborated with a range of clients, from small startups to larger companies, to create intuitive mobile apps, redesign websites with improved visual aesthetics, and establish branding that represents company values.

Toptal Design Expert

Paula Barcante

Paula is an award-winning UX/UI designer, advisor, and illustrator with more than six years of hands-on experience in making complex interfaces delightful and user friendly. She has made a significant impact in large corporations, such as Amazon, Zillow, Google, as well as startups. Her mission is to create efficient, beautiful, innovative, and high-quality experiences for the greater good of society.