Design Process

We chat with Toptal Design Lead Lubos Volkov—who’s worked remotely his whole career—about tips and strategies for balancing life, work, and the pleasure of a remote setting.

UX research provides invaluable insight into product users and what they need and value. Not only will research reduce the risk of a miscalculated guess, it will uncover new opportunities for innovation.

Prototyping, user testing, and UX deliverables are important to the design process, but there are some UX myths that can put these processes at risk of being devalued by clients.

Designers are not mere pixel pushers. If they improved communication and employed their skills more effectively through strategic design thinking, they could make a bigger impact with their work.

It wasn’t easy, but you looked uncertainty in the eye and made the biggest bet of your career. Now what? We’ve got an encouraging word for new freelancers and anyone who’s braved self-employment.

Since designers work with so much text-based content, creating an effective typographic hierarchy—one that clearly shows what information is most important—is a vital skill for designers to master.

UX research techniques and their applications will result in better designs that avoid costly mistakes such as cost overruns, guesswork, following best practices, and reliance on industry knowledge.

Rebranding requires a lot of strategy. Some companies have done it well, others have flopped. Learn what works and what doesn’t in this list of lessons gathered from those who have rebranded.

A portfolio is more than a cache of images, it’s a way to demonstrate design skills and problem solving to clients. We show how to elevate portfolios by explaining the inner workings of a case study.

Developers often think of design as less important than functionality. But time developers spend learning design principles is saved in the future when working with designers or on their own products.

A strategic mindset helps designers develop a design strategy framework which contributes to improved client relationships and better user experiences, and aligns projects with business results.

A logo redesign without controversy is like a workout with no sweat. It’s possible, but is it impactful? We scrutinize high-drama logo updates and ask why they caught fire in the public arena.

While MVP methodology has been hailed by many as the “best” way to get a product to market quickly, there’s also been pushback—which is where the concept of a Minimum Valuable Product comes in.

The design diva is a disruptive personality type and a destructive force on a design team. How do we deal with this personality trait, and more importantly, how do we avoid becoming one ourselves?

Personalization is all about communicating a message aimed directly at the individual user. Emotional design focuses on the overall emotional impact of design choices, including those that involve personalization. Combining the personal and the emotional is where the real magic happens.

When is the most appropriate time to do a website redesign? This case study walks us through a website redesign for a high-end auto company and outlines key issues along the way.