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.
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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?
Andi has 20 years of UX and IA expertise leading enterprise clients through complex system overhauls in various industries.
Aspiring designers have more educational opportunities than any time in history. Do the available options provide worthwhile design training, or are they simply clever money-making schemes?
Micah helps businesses craft meaningful engagement through branding, illustration, and design.
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Designers only have a few seconds to catch the attention of mobile users before they abandon an app or site. Following established mobile UX design principles creates a better overall user experience.
Cameron comes from a design background and is the author of two web design books: Color for Web Design and The Smashing Idea Book.
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.
Chris is a senior UX/UI designer whose expertise is recognized by various exclusive networks including the InVision Design Leadership Forum.
User testing, often confused with usability testing, is an overarching term to describe testing which helps validate the need for a product. When used with prototypes and the right testing tools, it can help save a product from failure.
Gabriel is a UX/UI designer who creates data-driven solutions for web and mobile platforms. He has worked with companies such as Stripe and Goodleap, and his book UX Bites was named “Best New Release” in the design category on Amazon.
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.
Goran is a visual and interaction designer with several years of experience working at some of the best marketing agencies in Europe.
What does a UX consultant do? More importantly, what does it take for a UX designer to become a consultant and thrive?
Micah helps businesses craft meaningful engagement through branding, illustration, and design.
Understanding and implementing visual hierarchy principles gives designers an advantage in creating persuasive designs that convey necessary information while creating a delightful user experience.
Miklos is a senior UI/UX and product designer with more than 20 years of experience in the design field. His past work includes complex data UIs, data visualization, dashboards and reporting, transactional interfaces, design system creation, and product design consulting services for companies like Autodesk and the Financial Times.
Being empathetic is not a selective practice. Designers know how to use empathy to uncover the behaviors and needs of a user. Those same methods and techniques can be used in client relationships.
Jay is a UX and product designer for venture-backed startups and Fortune 500s, with work featured in books and publications across the web.
Since its introduction in 2017, Adobe XD has matured when compared to its rival, Sketch. Looking at Adobe XD vs Sketch, is it time for a change?
With over a decade of experience, Sérgio has been working with teams in several areas such as education, enterprise, sports, and more.
Users shouldn’t need insider knowledge to find what they’re looking for on the web. Card sorting lets designers create intuitive UX by organizing content the way customers do in their minds.
Micah helps businesses craft meaningful engagement through branding, illustration, and design.
Design thinking has become both a buzzword and a useful business tool. It has been hailed as revolutionary while also called a failed experiment as evidenced by increasing criticism.
Shane comes from a background in architecture and design, information technology, and content marketing, and practices UX research.
E-commerce sites and apps that are not mindful of mobile e-ommerce best practices will be left in the dust and stand to lose billions. But successful mobile e-commerce experiences can be achieved by following these mobile e-commerce UX design best practices (with infographic).
Miklos is a UX designer, product design strategist, author, and speaker with more than 18 years of experience in the design field.
Designers do not simply decorate, they create an experience of moving through content. There are various strategies available that align the client and team in creating content that will result in better designs.
Rob is a digital designer with more than 15 years of experience in designing UX and UI that prioritizes both business goals and end-user needs.
Join us on a journey through the annals of design history and test your knowledge of famous logos along the way.
Micah helps businesses craft meaningful engagement through branding, illustration, and design.
When dealing with data sets that include hundreds of thousands or millions of data points, automating the process of data visualization makes a designer’s job significantly easier.
Cameron is the former Head of Content at Uxcel, where she was an instructional designer of UX design courses, skill assessments, and other educational design content. She has more than 20 years experience in the design education space, contributing to Toptal’s Design blog, Smashing Magazine, Web Designer News, CodeVisually, and Webdesigner Depot.
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