Hire the Top 3% of Freelance Interactive Designers
Toptal is a marketplace for top Interactive designers. Top companies and startups choose Toptal interactive design freelancers for their mission critical design projects.
Pushkar is a senior product designer with a rich background in design, spanning game studios, design studios, and ad agencies. His expertise is crafting standout products, seamlessly blending robust UX principles with visually captivating UI designs, finely tuned through user research insights. Pushkar leverages his skills in product design, drawing from experiences in games, product development, teaching, and advertising, to create compelling and user-centric experiences.
Nathan is a senior product designer specializing in workflow optimization, service design, and research-driven UX for healthcare SaaS. At NASCEND, he designed AssessPro (iOS), streamlining provider workflows and reducing hospital stays by 37%. At Provide, Nathan launched a LOS side drawer feature, saving 62.5 hours/day and over $3.1 million in efficiency gains over four years.
Matt has over a decade of design experience. Since 2012, he has worked with different agencies in creating award-winning digital, print, and interactive work for brands like Southwest Airlines, Salesforce, IBM, Patrón Tequila, Samsung Mobile, and Phillips 66.
David is a product designer with over a decade of experience conceptualizing and crafting end-to-end UX/UI design for software products, helping brands expand their capacity for impact across industries like banking, finance, advertising, marketing, manufacturing, and telecommunications. He likes to track the work from idea to design, and he especially enjoys it when it appears in the user's hands. David's philosophy is that user-centered solutions will be the most valuable in the future.
Daniela is a product designer with several years of experience creating products and interactive environments. Working closely with clients, she creates innovative, responsive solutions with the user always in mind. She also builds visually stunning solutions on a solid foundation of research and UX. Daniela loves a good challenge and learning anything that could potentially have a significant impact on people's lives.
Jaroslav is an experienced senior UI/UX and brand designer with over 10 years of experience creating award-winning websites, mobile apps, and visual identities. He's passionate about creating functional and interactive user experiences using the design thinking process and industry best practices. By aligning user needs and business goals, Jaroslav delivers visually appealing products.
Talented and passionate, Adams brings over five years of experience in product design with the proven know-how to combine creative and usability viewpoints, resulting in world-class web, mobile, wearable, and AI applications. His proficiencies include optimizing user experience for both large and small organizations, planning projects from initial concept to completion, and providing compelling user experience to improve brand loyalty, customer retention, and successful visit-to-order ratios.
Rick is a highly experienced consultant and designer with over 15 years of expertise across various industries. His impressive portfolio includes working with esteemed brands such as Santander, VISA, Property Finder, Raizen, and Volkswagen. His design strategy and service design skills have enabled him to deliver exceptional products and services at scale. Rick excels in optimizing the connection between human behavior and technology, ensuring that his clients receive top-notch results.
For over 22 years, Harjeet has helped startups, small businesses, and Fortune 100 companies bring mobile, SaaS, and enterprise solutions to life. As an information architect, UX and interaction designer, and product leader, Harjeet has worked for clients like BCG, McKinsey, Facebook, Google, McGraw-Hill, Danone/Nutricia, Travelocity, Ask.Com, and more.
Passionate about enhancing user experience and maximizing user interface, Junaid is a designer and storyteller currently working as a product designer and web team lead at Mathspace. He uses design thinking to generate innovative ideas that bring brands to life and develop successful products through user-focused problem solving and research. Junaid understands users' pain points to seamlessly carry value through the end-to-end journey and bring a vision together through a holistic approach.
Interactive designers are experts at creating aesthetically pleasing interfaces that engage customers and are easy to use. This guide to hiring interactive designers features an overview of relevant skills, job description tips, and interview questions and answers that will help you identify the best candidates for your company.
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Testimonials
Michael is an incredible designer, and has been a great fit for our project. He just gets it in a way that can’t be taught. My goal was to pay Toptal to find me a high quality designer for my project, and that is exactly what happened. It was easy. Being able to see the portfolio work on Toptal’s platform is what gave me the infomation I needed to choose Michael. I have nothing but good things to say about Toptal and am looking forward to using Toptal for other projects in the future.
Edward Daniel
Co-Founder
I've worked very closely with Martina for over a year and have to say she is one of the best people I have ever worked with. Instead of simply following instructions blindly, she thinks through the task at hand, becoming a thought partner to help with whatever the project may be. Besides being super talented at design, she possesses specific qualities that make her exceptional to work with given the fast paced nature of being a startup. I would definitely recommend her to anyone looking for a talented, professional designer who doesn't need much direction to hit the ground running.
Sahil Khanna
Sr. Manager, Marketing
Darko did a great job figuring out the user architecture for our concept, which led him to produce terrific wireframes. His knowledge of usability and design was a perfect match for the outside voice we needed to help jumpstart our project. We would certainly recommend him and work with him again in the future.
Rich Danker
Founder
Carlos has the unique talent of blending both quantitative and qualitative research to keenly identify UX challenges and opportunities. He thinks methodically, emphatically, and holistically to produce data-driven strategies and well-executed designs. Over the past 8 years of working with fully or partially distributed teams, Carlos manages working remotely far better than anyone I've encountered because of his strong communication and presentation skills. He is the first on my list the next time I need a UX designer.
Michelle Krogmeier
Project Manager
Rafael is an amazing designer. His aesthetic sense is spot on, and he seems to be able to anticipate our needs before we even know what they are. He's taken the time to understand both our company and our clientele, and his solutions are consistently in-line with our values, interests, and our customers' needs. He delivers on time (if not earlier), works quickly, is well organized, and very effective. He's a pleasure to work with, and we're very happy to have found him through Toptal.
Ethan Brooks
CTO
How to Hire Interactive Designers Through Toptal
1
Talk to One of Our Client Advisors
A Toptal client advisor will work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics.
2
Work With Hand-selected Talent
Within days, we'll introduce you to the right interactive designer for your project. Average time to match is under 24 hours.
3
The Right Fit, Guaranteed
Work with your new interactive designer for a trial period (pay only if satisfied), ensuring they're the right fit before starting the engagement.
EXCEPTIONAL TALENT
How We Source the Top 3% of Interactive Designers
Our name “Toptal” comes from Top Talent—meaning we constantly strive to find and work with the best from around the world. Our rigorous screening process identifies experts in their domains who have passion and drive.
Of the thousands of applications Toptal sees each month, typically fewer than 3% are accepted.
The first step of the screening process is a comprehensive English language and communication evaluation. We also assess personality traits, seeking only those who are passionate and fully engaged in their work.
STEP 2
In-depth Skill Review
7.4% of applications pass
We test each applicant’s technical knowledge and problem-solving ability through various assessments. Every member of the Toptal network is an expert in their domain, and we typically only advance candidates with exceptional results in this phase.
STEP 3
Live Screening
3.6% of applications pass
Toptal screeners, who are experts in their functional domain, interview each interactive designer. Our screeners provide specific live exercises, looking for problem-solving ability, depth of experience, communication ability, and creativity.
STEP 4
Test Project
3.2% of applications pass
Each candidate is assigned a test project to evaluate whether they can “walk the walk.” Test projects take 1-3 weeks and are comprehensive and provide real-world scenarios for candidates to demonstrate their competence, thoroughness, professionalism, and integrity.
STEP 5
Continued Excellence
Top 3.0% of interactive designers
As a quality-first company, we demand the best from our talent, so they can deliver the best to our clients. This principle permeates every Toptal engagement and delivered project. Only the top 3% of designers can consistently perform at this level.
FAQs
Who uses interactive design?
Interactive design spans multiple sectors and applies to any business seeking to provide exceptional user experiences. Retail and e-commerce lead the way in leveraging interactive design to engage their users. For instance, Nike has created interactive shoe displays in brick-and-mortar stores that provide product information and customization options. Nike’s mobile app offers interactive AR features for trying on shoes virtually.
The entertainment industry relies heavily on interactive design to enhance users’ viewing experience. For example, ESPN features interactive scoreboards, live statistics, and real-time data visualizations during sports events. Other industries, such as advertising, hospitality, education, and technology, hire interactive designers to create digital experiences that improve the lives of their customers.
How quickly can you hire with Toptal?
Typically, you can hire interactive designers with Toptal in about 48 hours. For larger teams of talent or Managed Delivery, timelines may vary. Our talent matchers are highly skilled in the same fields they’re matching in—they’re not recruiters or HR reps. They’ll work with you to understand your goals, technical needs, and team dynamics, and match you with ideal candidates from our vetted global talent network.
Once you select your interactive designer, you’ll have a no-risk trial period to ensure they’re the perfect fit. Our matching process has a 98% trial-to-hire rate, so you can rest assured that you’re getting the best fit every time.
How much does it cost to hire an interactive designer?
The cost associated with hiring an interactive designer depends on various factors, including preferred talent location, complexity and size of the project you’re hiring for, seniority, engagement commitment (hourly, part-time, or full-time), and more. In the US, for example, Glassdoor’s reported average total annual pay for interactive designers is $93,678 as of September 21, 2023. With Toptal, you can speak with an expert talent matcher who will help you understand the cost of talent with the right skills and seniority level for your needs. To get started, schedule a call with us — it’s free, and there’s no obligation to hire with Toptal.
What is the job of an Interactive designer?
An Interactive designer aims to create engaging and intuitive experiences by designing and producing UIs and their interactions. They collaborate with cross-functional teams to understand business and user needs, conceptualize messages through visual communication, and translate insights into meaningful design solutions.
Interactive designers apply their expertise in organizing information, mapping user flows, using design principles, and conceptualizing the UI to create visually appealing, engaging, and user-friendly products. Their work contributes to the success of digital products by creating designs that facilitate user behaviors and engagement, and help companies achieve their business goals.
What is the difference between an Interactive designer and a UX designer?
An Interactive designer focuses on designing a digital product’s visual and interactive aspects, and oversees creating engaging and aesthetically pleasing UIs by considering typography, color schemes, iconography, animations, and other interactive components.
A UX designer, on the other hand, designs the overall experience of a product, focusing mainly on the functionality of a product’s features. They consider the entire user journey, from initial interactions to task completion, and aim to create a seamless, efficient, and enjoyable user experience. UX designers also conduct user research, gather requirements, create wireframes and prototypes, and collaborate with stakeholders to ensure the product meets user needs and business goals.
How do I hire interactive designers?
To hire the right interactive designer, it’s important to evaluate a candidate’s experience, technical skills, and communication skills. You’ll also want to consider the fit with your particular industry, company, and project. Toptal’s rigorous screening process ensures that every member of our network has excellent experience and skills, and our team will match you with the perfect interactive designers for your project.
How are Toptal interactive designers different?
At Toptal, we thoroughly screen our interactive designers to ensure we only match you with the highest caliber of talent. Of the more than 200,000 people who apply to join the Toptal network each year, fewer than 3% make the cut.
In addition to screening for industry-leading expertise, we also assess candidates’ language and interpersonal skills to ensure that you have a smooth working relationship.
When you hire interactive designers with Toptal, you’ll always work with world-class, custom-matched interactive designers ready to help you achieve your goals.
Can you hire interactive designers on an hourly basis or for project-based tasks?
You can hire interactive designers on an hourly, part-time, or full-time basis. Toptal can also manage the entire project from end-to-end with our Managed Delivery offering. Whether you hire an expert for a full- or part-time position, you’ll have the control and flexibility to scale your team up or down as your needs evolve. Our interactive designers can fully integrate into your existing team for a seamless working experience.
What is the no-risk trial period for Toptal interactive designers?
We make sure that each engagement between you and your interactive designer begins with a trial period of up to two weeks. This means that you have time to confirm the engagement will be successful. If you’re completely satisfied with the results, we’ll bill you for the time and continue the engagement for as long as you’d like. If you’re not completely satisfied, you won’t be billed. From there, we can either part ways, or we can provide you with another expert who may be a better fit and with whom we will begin a second, no-risk trial.
Fernando is a UX and product designer who specializes in interactive design, SaaS, fintech, AI, and data visualization. He holds degrees in graphic design, marketing, and product management, and has partnered with companies such as IBM, Oracle, and AOL.
The Demand for Interactive Design Continues to Expand
Interactive designers fuse graphic, experiential, and interface design skills to help marketing and advertising teams craft key user touch points, such as websites, kiosks, interactive exhibits, multimedia installations, retail displays, and immersive experiences. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, this rare combination of skills is in high demand: Designers focusing on digital communication, layout, usability, and navigation are expected to enjoy a 16 percent employment increase from 2022 to 2032. With technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and augmented reality (AR) on the rise, interactive designers will play a prominent role in shaping the digital and immersive experiences of the future.
However, hiring a skilled freelance interactive designer can be challenging, especially considering the confusion between interactive and interaction design—the latter prioritizes reducing friction in human-computer interactions. Despite their similarities, the two disciplines differ in execution and focus. As the prominent design leader and writer Jesse James Garrett proposes in his book The Elements of User Experience, UX design has five levels, with interactive design as a critical link between visual and information design.
This guide clarifies what an interactive designer does, how to evaluate candidates’ qualifications, and how to determine your project’s objectives. We also address how to assess the fit of the designers you interview and provide tips for hiring the best interactive designer for your organization.
What attributes distinguish quality Interactive Designers from others?
Are you hoping to create a compelling interactive experience that engages customers and drives value for your business? For your project to succeed, you need to determine what skills your organization needs. Depending on your project, you may require an interactive designer with some or all of the following abilities:
User-centric Approach
A skilled interactive designer prioritizes the needs and preferences of users. User-centricity should be evident in a candidate’s portfolio, and they should be able to explain how their design decisions led to experiences that are intuitive, user-friendly, and accessible.
Technical Proficiency
Expert interactive designers effortlessly use digital design tools to bring their ideas to life. They are adept at software such as Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop, Figma, and Sketch. Additionally, the candidate you hire should have in-depth experience designing devices such as laptops, smartphones, and tablets.
Aesthetic Sensibility
Interactive designers do a fair amount of graphic design work, including type formatting, color selection, and photo manipulation. The best interactive designers have an eye for what makes a visually appealing and emotionally engaging composition, and they know how to use aesthetic elements to communicate clearly.
Understanding of User Experience (UX) Principles
In addition to creating visually impressive designs, accomplished interactive designers have a firm grasp of UX principles. They have strong problem-solving abilities and can optimize design considerations, such as navigation, hierarchy, and consistency, to help users meet their objectives.
Continuous Learning
The digital design world is one of constant technological evolution. Skilled interactive designers stay abreast of the latest design trends, tools, processes, and methods. To benefit customers and clients, they actively seek ways to incorporate learnings into their projects.
In addition to the aforementioned attributes, accomplished interactive designers have portfolios demonstrating how their work creates effective interactions between users and devices. Their previous projects are aesthetically intriguing and display a high degree of functionality.
Accomplished interactive designers are also expert collaborators and communicators. They are comfortable working closely with other product team members, and they form strong relationships with diverse stakeholders such as brand managers, developers, and product managers.
How can you identify the ideal Interactive Designer for you?
Before you can assess a designer’s skills and fit for your organization, you need to clearly understand your project’s needs and understand the types of projects for which interactive designers are best suited.
Ground-up Project
A ground-up project involves creating a new digital product from conception to delivery. Ground-up projects can be quite complex because they typically involve cross-functional team dynamics, sometimes with competing objectives. The interactive designer you hire should be comfortable collaborating with stakeholders from departments like Engineering, Sales, and Marketing.
Improvement Project
Improvement projects aim to enhance existing digital products and experiences by introducing features, optimizing task flows, improving aesthetics, and addressing user-identified pain points. This type of project often has a tight timeline and requires an interactive designer who excels in a fast-paced environment.
Visionary Project
A visionary project explores futuristic ideas and isn’t always tied to a pressing business need. For instance, you might hire a forward-thinking interactive designer to imagine an immersive retail experience that blends augmented reality and architectural elements. Such a project might not be immediately feasible, but exploring novel concepts can help inform future design directions and inspire your company to embrace new ways of thinking about its products.
Culmination Project
Culmination projects examine a digital product’s interactions from a user perspective. For instance, during a culmination project, a product manager might perform usability testing and discover that users are confused by visual clutter when asked to locate your site’s search bar. In such a scenario, you’d need an interactive designer who understands why the clutter causes confusion and knows how to make actionable recommendations for stakeholders and other designers—such as adding more padding or whitespace around the search bar.
Once you define your project, you’ll need to decide whether to hire a seasoned interactive designer or someone newer to the field. Here’s what you can expect at the junior, mid-level, senior, and lead levels:
Junior Interactive Designer
Junior designers primarily assist senior designers with production tasks while ensuring that visual design principles and interaction concepts are upheld. Typically, a junior designer’s work is carried out under the guidance of a more experienced designer who provides constructive feedback and skills training.
Mid-level Interactive Designer
Mid-level designers can make conceptual decisions and routinely collaborate with cross-functional teams to produce design assets. They are highly proficient in using digital design tools and know how to make design decisions that support business objectives.
Senior Interactive Designer
Senior designers can oversee multiple projects, gather and prioritize business requirements, and iterate on designs to incorporate user feedback and align with marketing goals. At this level, the designer has a robust design process, collaborates with internal employees and external stakeholders, and makes critical design decisions that drive business value.
Lead Interactive Designer
Lead designers have all the capabilities of senior interactive designers, as well as the expertise to define the organization’s design strategy, manage design teams, lead design workshops with stakeholders, present design outcomes and performance to executives, and conduct user research to drive innovation.
How to Write an Interactive Design Job Description for Your Project
Writing a clear and compelling job description is crucial to attracting talented candidates to apply for your interactive designer position. Depending on your needs, your job description may prioritize some skills over others. For example, if your project involves an interactive retail display, you’ll want to attract candidates with industrial and environmental design experience. While every project has different needs, your job description should touch on these core interactive design skills:
UX / UI Design Awareness
Interactive designers need a firm grasp of UX and UI design principles to create user-friendly products and experiences that help people achieve their goals. For example, an interactive designer working on a project that aims to convert distracted users in a time-sensitive situation would benefit from knowing Hick’s Law, a prominent UX principle: “The time it takes to make a decision increases with the number and complexity of choices.”
Web Design Proficiency
The bulk of interactive design work centers around websites, and web design proficiency enables designers to create accessible, responsive, and intuitive web experiences that operate seamlessly across devices.
Freelance Design Experience
A freelance interactive designer could be a good fit if your project has a definite end date or you don’t have enough work to hire a full-time employee. Freelancers are used to working on a project for a set duration and then moving on, and they often possess excellent time-management and communication skills. Additionally, many freelancers have skills in specialty areas (such as AI and AR / VR) that can help your product stand out from your competitors.
Visual Design Mastery
Mastery of visual design empowers an interactive designer to craft engaging interfaces through color, typography, photo manipulation, and grid-based layouts. Any designer you decide to interview should have a compelling portfolio exhibiting their command of visual design principles such as emphasis, balance, and rhythm.
Digital Experience Design Knowledge
The interactive designer you hire should have in-depth knowledge of digital platforms and web applications, and their design constraints. For instance, a heads-up display poses different design challenges than a mobile device. Such knowledge enables the designer to communicate with users in ways relevant to the medium they use.
Mobile App Design Expertise
With the increase in mobile devices, interactive designers must know how to tailor experiences that are effective on smaller screens and easily navigated via touch and gestures.
What are the most important Interactive Designer interview questions?
When interviewing interactive designers, it’s crucial to ask questions that will help you assess their skills, experience, and fit with your organization:
Can you walk me through your design decision-making process for a project in your portfolio?
This question allows the designer to showcase their best work and explain the thinking that goes into their design choices. It also helps you get a feel for their problem-solving abilities when faced with real-world design issues. Top candidates will be able to articulate how their design solution met client and user needs.
Can you tell me about a situation where you had to compromise with stakeholders on an interactive design decision?
This is an opportunity to assess the designer’s communication and collaboration skills. This question often reveals how the designer handles feedback and navigates stakeholder relationships. Skilled interactive designers can achieve a balance between advocating for the best design solution and incorporating stakeholder feedback linked to business objectives.
How do you prioritize accessibility in your interactive design work?
Accessible design is essential to ensure that digital products can be enjoyed by as many people as possible, including people with visual, auditory, and fine-motor disabilities. On many occasions, the accessible choice is also the best design choice. For instance, ensuring that text is legible or implementing a high-contrast color scheme (accessibility basics) benefits all users.
How do you hand off an interactive design project to developers?
Successful collaboration between designer and developer is crucial in interactive design projects. Quality candidates will likely discuss how they pass along user data, provide interactive prototypes, hold designer/developer standups, and track bugs and design issues that arise during development.
What’s your approach to time management and meeting deadlines in a fast-paced environment?
Answers to this question will help you assess the designer’s effectiveness when working on time-sensitive projects. Look for candidates who are process-oriented and able to meet tight deadlines without sacrificing design quality.
Why do companies hire Interactive Designers?
Interactive design is where disciplines and experiences intersect. It incorporates aspects of UX, UI, and graphic design to enhance human-computer interactions in physical and digital environments.
Hiring the right interactive designer might seem daunting, but it doesn’t have to be. The main things to remember as you embark on the hiring process are to:
Clarify your project’s scope and goals.
Write a compelling job description.
Identify candidates who align with your company’s needs.
Ask thoughtful interview questions.
Companies hire interactive designers to increase conversion rates, improve user engagement, and give their products a competitive edge. A talented interactive designer can help increase the value of your company’s digital product by optimizing its efficiency, usability, and aesthetic appeal.
