Hire the Top 3% of Freelance Responsive Web Designers
Hire responsive web designers and responsive web design experts, consultants, specialists, and professionals on demand. Top companies and startups choose responsive web designers from Toptal for their skills in adaptive interfaces, cross-platform UX, fluid layouts, flexible images, and more.
Phil is a senior product design leader with a decade of experience specializing in UI, UX, product, responsive web design, and brand identity design. He's had the privilege of designing for Fortune 500 Companies, startups, multi-billion dollar companies, and innovative organizations like Uber, FedEx, Harvard, Vistaprint, and more. Phil works well under time constraints, has exceptionally high craftsmanship, and communicates clearly to meet objectives and exceed expectations.
Lidia is a UI/UX designer with experience in technology-driven and customer-centric industries. She loves building new products and creating beautiful, accessible interfaces that drive user engagement and adoption rates. Lidia has overseen the complete design process for mobile apps and developed responsive marketing websites across various sectors. She is passionate about partnering with startups and SaaS companies to create valuable user experiences that improve lives.
Anna has 16 years of experience in web design, CRO, UI/UX, responsive design, WordPress, web development, landing pages, sales funnels, and on-page SEO. She has completed 2,000+ website projects, focusing on conversion optimization and lead generation. Anna has worked with B2B and B2C brands to create websites that grab viewers' eyeballs and get them to convert at the highest rates possible.
Ryan is an award-winning lead product UI/UX designer with more than six years of hands-on experience. He has worked with multiple government agencies, international non-profits like United Way and Etopia, and over 100 startups and small businesses to meet business goals and users' needs through innovative, user-friendly product design. Ryan's mission is to produce accessible, impactful, and engaging products and experiences, focusing on seamless user experiences.
Elsa is a Brooklyn-based UI/UX designer with over 14 years of digital and visual design experience. She has worked with clients spanning from finance, beauty, media, and wellness to education industries worldwide. She has technical experience designing digital products such as mobile native apps, web applications, and responsive websites. Her design work has won Gold for Achievement in User Interface Design in the 2020 American Business Awards.
Remi is a product designer with 10+ years of experience, working with startups and using design as a differentiator to build groundbreaking products. He has experience in legal, eCommerce, healthtech, and InsurTech spaces, working on both app and responsive design projects. Remi is an expert in information architecture, experience maps, and design systems; driven by insights, research studies, and the latest design methodologies, he advocates for simplicity and designs that drive revenue.
Dobs is an entrepreneur and lead UI/UX designer specializing in iOS apps and responsive web products with expertise in the eCommerce, luxury and lifestyle, hospitality, social networks, and travel industries. He has helped multi-million dollar clients increase reach, engagement, and profits. Dobs has in-depth knowledge of product lifecycles—from research, concept, and planning through design and validation to live releases and team collaboration.
Khatia is a designer with 6+ years of experience in the product design industry. She specializes in fintech, eCommerce, blockchain, banking, and other industries. Khatia has successfully designed, UX audited, and researched both remotely and on-site for companies around the world, from Australia, Singapore, and UAE to France and the USA. She has a history of success in providing innovative solutions and highly user-friendly interfaces.
Sanchit is an award-winning designer and certified no-code development expert with 8+ years of experience. Thriving in diverse environments, from dynamic startups to established enterprises, he serves as Domingo's sole creative director, leading a team of 15. With exceptional communication skills and an innovative approach, Sanchit consistently delivers outstanding results. He is recognized as a leader and innovator with a portfolio of 200+ clients and projects.
Rafal is an experienced freelancer with excellent business sense and 15+ years of professional experience in design. His portfolio includes over 400 projects. He has the endurance to see a project through, a positive attitude, and zen-level patience. He's worked remotely with clients from all backgrounds and industries but is also open to travel. He has had the pleasure of working with teams from many countries around the world.
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.
Responsive designers are experts at creating intuitive and functional interfaces that are visually consistent across devices and screen sizes. This guide to hiring responsive designers features an overview of relevant skills, tips for creating a job description, and sample 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 Responsive Web 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 responsive web designer for your project. Average time to match is under 24 hours.
3
The Right Fit, Guaranteed
Work with your new responsive web 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 Responsive Web 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 responsive web 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 responsive web 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
How much does it cost to hire a responsive web designer?
The cost associated with hiring a responsive web 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 responsive web designers is $80,582 as of January 2024. 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.
How quickly can you hire with Toptal?
Typically, you can hire responsive web 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 responsive web 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.
Why should I hire a freelance Responsive Web designer?
Deciding whether to hire a freelance or full-time designer depends on various factors, including your company’s needs, project requirements, budget, and long-term goals. For certain projects, hiring a freelancer might be more cost-effective than employing a full-time designer because they typically have the necessary equipment and software available. Additionally, if your company requires specific or niche skills for short-term projects or has fluctuating workloads, hiring freelancers can be beneficial. You can bring in expertise as needed without committing to a long-term contract.
How do I hire responsive web designers?
To hire the right responsive web 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 responsive web designers for your project.
How are Toptal responsive web designers different?
At Toptal, we thoroughly screen our responsive web 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 responsive web designers with Toptal, you’ll always work with world-class, custom-matched responsive web designers ready to help you achieve your goals.
Can you hire responsive web designers on an hourly basis or for project-based tasks?
You can hire responsive web 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 responsive web designers can fully integrate into your existing team for a seamless working experience.
What is the no-risk trial period for Toptal responsive web designers?
We make sure that each engagement between you and your responsive web 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.
Zain is a senior product designer with a background in designing digital products for various domains and industries, including edtech, fintech, SaaS, blockchain, and social platforms. During his career, Zain has led several large product design teams.
The Demand for Responsive Designers Continues to Expand
The proliferation of mobile devices has led to an increase in demand for responsive designers. Responsive web design involves creating websites and apps that adapt to diverse screen sizes and orientations. The goal of responsive designers is to provide users with seamless visual and interactive experiences as they transition between desktops or laptops, tablets, and smartphones.
To underscore the need for responsive designers, consider that there are 6.8 billion smartphone users globally and that more than 60% of all internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Furthermore, user expectations are driving demand for responsive design, with 85% of smartphone users saying a mobile website should function as well as a desktop site and 57% of internet users asserting that they wouldn’t recommend a business with a substandard mobile user interface.
With businesses facing pressure to provide cohesive, cross-device experiences, it’s essential to know how to hire responsive web designers who are experts in their field. Companies planning to hire responsive designers should look for candidates with knowledge of agnostic design, wearables, smart design, artificial intelligence, and user experience (UX). However, qualified candidates with this skill set can be hard to find. It may also be difficult to identify candidates committed to keeping up with rapidly changing design trends and coding languages.
This guide explains what a responsive designer does, how to assess candidates’ abilities, and how to define your responsive web design project’s scope and objectives. We also examine how to determine if a candidate is a good organizational fit and provide specific information to help you hire the best responsive designer for your company.
What attributes distinguish quality Responsive Designers from others?
Sourcing a skilled responsive designer is critical to ensuring that your digital product is visually seamless and highly intuitive across devices. Depending on your company and project, you may need a responsive web designer with some or all of the following attributes:
Expertise in Responsive Design Techniques
Responsive design is an output or canvas that designers build upon, so a strong candidate will have previous experience in front-end development, engineering, or UI architecture. In particular, skilled responsive designers will be familiar with the technical aspects of responsive websites, including fluid grids, flexible images, designing for the thumb zone, vector versus raster graphics, and media queries/breakpoints (a CSS technique that allows designers to define different layouts based on the size of the viewport). Adapting to diverse input methods ensures a seamless and intuitive user experience, so experience with designing for a mouse/trackpad versus for thumb-driven interfaces is also crucial.
Mobile-first Mindset
In the first quarter of 2023, mobile accounted for 58% of the global market share versus desktops and tablets, which reflects the value users place on mobile interactions. Experienced responsive designers will prioritize mobile users by designing for small screens first and then adapting their designs for larger devices. The limited space on smaller devices means that creatives who design for mobile face content-prioritization challenges, such as what images and text to highlight, that aren’t readily apparent when designing for desktops and laptops. Strong candidates should be able to manage, roadmap, and properly plan for mobile screens and have the ability to leverage design systems for the maintenance of mobile experiences and responsive websites. Competent responsive designers will have an evident working knowledge of designing fluid grids, which play a key role in creating content for responsive screens.
User-centered Focus
Look for a responsive designer who consistently places users’ needs at the forefront of their design process. User-centered designers make decisions based on user research and data and strive to design digital products that are easy to navigate and founded on accessibility best practices. Designers with a working knowledge of motion, haptic technology, prototyping techniques, user flows/ journeys, proper diagramming, pattern building, and design thinking will know how real-world objects behave and how to translate them digitally.
Strong Design Fundamentals
The best responsive designers should know and use the fundamental graphic design principles, including contrast, scale, balance, color, typography, and information hierarchy. They should also know how to correctly apply these principles to a digital product’s layout. Expert web designers will also have a clear understanding of gestalt design principles, such as similarity, continuation, closure, proximity, figure/ground, and symmetry and order, that help ensure that the audience perceives a design as intended.
Creativity Within Constraints
Every design project has some form of artistic, technical, or budgetary constraint. The best responsive designers know how to come up with creative, practical design solutions that are achievable within a project’s resources. They stay up to date with current design trends and are always looking for ways to improve their technique.
How can you identify the ideal Responsive Designer for you?
When hiring a responsive designer, it’s vital that you find a candidate who can provide your company with a consistent digital presence that aligns with your brand and satisfies users of all your digital platforms. Here are some critical skills to look for in responsive web design candidates:
Displays Strong Typography Skills
Typography is the practice of arranging copy in an aesthetically pleasing and readable way. Look to hire a responsive designer who can select, combine, size, and align fonts in a way that effectively conveys a design’s intended message. Additionally, the designer you hire should be familiar with typography best practices for the web, such as ensuring appropriate background contrast and font weight, minimizing the number of typefaces used, and limiting line length on mobile devices for optimal readability.
Has a Superb Sense of Color
Color is an important design element that can communicate meaning in various ways. When hiring a responsive designer, look for someone who is proficient in creating powerful color combinations that convey a specific mood and contribute to a more effective and adaptable responsive layout. Candidates should also appreciate the value of white space and use color strategically, as too much color can overwhelm a composition, especially on smaller screens.
Excels at Imagery Selection and Optimization
Images are a powerful way to showcase a product or evoke emotions. The best responsive design candidates are able to choose on-brand images that align with their designs. They also know how to optimize images for the web to support page-load speed, a key aspect of web performance.
Prioritizes Accessibility Best Practices
The European Accessibility Act was passed in 2022 in the EU, requiring designers to be fully compliant by 2025. Whether you’re hiring within the EU or not, any candidate you’re considering should follow accessibility best practices to ensure that people with disabilities can easily use your company’s product. Examples include not using color alone to convey important information, adding alt text to images, avoiding Flash and other plugins, focusing on keyboard navigation accessibility, and ensuring that interactive components are easily identifiable. Heuristics, such as Nielsen Norman Group’s 10 Usability Heuristics for User Interface Design are one way skilled responsive designers stay focused on producing accessible content.
Understands UX Design Principles
UX design is the practice of optimizing digital products based on users’ needs and behaviors. Seek to hire a responsive designer with experience in applying UX design principles to create apps and websites that are easy to use and navigate.
How to Write a Responsive Design Job Description for Your Project
To attract top talent, you need to know how to write a high-quality job description that addresses these aspects of responsive design:
Wireframing and Prototyping
Responsive designers must be able to generate wireframes and interactive models that illustrate a product’s layout, content prioritization, features, and task flows. Wireframing and prototyping are crucial to testing ideas early in the design process, long before development begins. By building prototypes, designers can uncover potential bugs, collect user and stakeholder feedback, and iteratively improve their responsive design solutions.
User-centered Design
Look to hire a responsive design candidate who places users at the heart of their design process. For your product to solve users’ problems, you must understand their behaviors, needs, and pain points. Designers who empathize with users are more likely to create intuitive experiences that lead to higher engagement and satisfaction.
Cross-functional Collaboration and Communication
The ideal candidate will be an expert in cross-departmental collaboration. Responsive designers must solicit input from fellow responsive web designers and developers, product managers, marketers, and executive stakeholders to ensure that design choices meet user needs and drive business initiatives. Additionally, responsive designers must be effective communicators to ensure their designs look and function as intended throughout the back-end development process.
User Testing and Optimization
Testing and optimization allow designers to evaluate a product’s performance and iterate based on data. By testing designs and analyzing user interaction behaviors, designers can uncover instances where the product might be causing confusion or frustration and make improvements. Testing should include an array of breakpoints to ensure the experience remains seamless throughout. Look for candidates who continually optimize their designs to meet evolving user needs and technologies.
What are the most important Responsive Designer interview questions?
When interviewing responsive designers, ask questions that help you evaluate their design background, abilities, and alignment with your company, such as:
What does a responsive web designer do?
This basic question is a good conversation starter and reveals a candidate’s foundational knowledge of responsive design. Candidates should touch on the proliferation of mobile devices and the importance of ensuring that websites and apps look integrated and work seamlessly across a variety of screen sizes. The candidate should speak to designing layouts, optimizing navigation, arranging text and images, and ensuring intuitive user interactions on desktops and laptops, mobile devices, and tablets.
What is the difference between adaptive design and responsive web design?
Making a design responsive involves using fluid grids, flexible images, and media queries (or breakpoints) to enable a website to adjust its content layout dynamically based on screen size, from a large desktop computer to a small mobile phone. Adaptive design (or progressive enhancement) utilizes predefined layouts for specific screen sizes that the layout will be accessed on. This method allows designers to create custom website designs for specific devices, but it can be highly time-consuming, especially when devices with new screen dimensions enter the market.
What are the main advantages of responsive web design?
Responsive web design reduces bounce rates and enhances engagement by ensuring users have a cohesive digital experience across devices. Additionally, responsive design simplifies content updates since changes only need to be made once, and the design automatically adapts to different screen sizes.
Share an example of a website that you’ve redesigned to be responsive. What were the main considerations and decisions you made during the process?
This question will help you better understand the candidate’s work experience. Redesigning a website to be responsive poses several unique challenges, such as what to do with existing content, how to address users’ mental models, and how to prioritize which features are universal and which apply only to certain devices. Ideal candidates might share an example of a mobile-first project where the deliverable was device-agnostic—in other words, design iterations, rather than content, were the first priority.
It’s important for candidates to show you how they solve problems. Artificial intelligence can easily produce responsive screens, so your candidate should be able to clearly articulate how they solve challenges that require human intervention.
How do you approach designing for various screen sizes? What steps do you take to ensure a consistent user experience across devices?
It’s vital that the candidate you hire has an established process for designing different screen sizes and thinks holistically about the user experience across devices. Many responsive designers start by creating mobile screens (mobile-first design) since mobile devices often have more design restrictions and require progressive content disclosure due to space limitations. Candidates may also discuss their approach to design strategy, use of breakpoints, and content prioritization.
How do you handle touch interactions and gestures in your responsive designs to enhance user experience on mobile devices?
Ask this question to get a better feel for a candidate’s experience with mobile-specific interactions such as touch and gestures like swiping, scrolling, pinching, and tapping. Skilled candidates should also discuss touch-design principles like allowing users to perform gestures imprecisely, enabling users to manipulate UI components directly, and providing visual cues that indicate gestures are possible.
Describe a scenario in which you had to work closely with developers to implement a responsive design.
It’s important to get a sense of a candidate’s teamwork skills when collaborating with developers. The designer-developer relationship is a pivotal aspect of product development that requires clear communication and the ability to keep business goals at the forefront of design/development decisions. Strong candidates will demonstrate an ability to ensure a smooth transition from design to code.
Why do companies hire Responsive Designers?
The web is teeming with touchpoints, and if companies don’t provide consistent user experiences, they risk frustrating customers and losing revenue. Responsive designers make sure that digital products and platforms are aesthetically congruent and function flawlessly on a wide range of devices.
For example, a responsive designer at an e-commerce company might ensure that product descriptions, images, and “Add to cart” buttons are displayed similarly on desktop, mobile, and tablet. For a news website, a responsive designer might optimize the site’s mobile and desktop navigation and ensure that article headers, text, images, and captions are visually consistent on different screen sizes. In both cases, consistency makes it easy for users to navigate and interact with important content regardless of device, leading to higher engagement and conversion rates.
Hiring a responsive designer in today’s competitive digital market is a strategic move that demonstrates a company’s devotion to user-centric design. When a product’s user experience is consistent and intuitive across devices, it drives customer loyalty and brand credibility—key factors in a company’s long-term success.
Featured Toptal Responsive Web Design Publications
