In the Spotlight: The Principles of Dark UI Design (Publication)
Dark themes can be dramatic and elegant, but crafting them comes with many hurdles and potential pitfalls. Following the principles of dark UI design will help designers achieve successful results.
Showcase Your Skills: How to Make a Portfolio (Publication)
Many designers grapple with how to create the perfect portfolio. By following best practices and the advice of industry professionals, they can craft portfolios that make their skills shine.
Evolving UX: Experimental Product Design with a CXO (Publication)
Chris Gibbins, chief experience officer (CXO) at Creative CX, explains how design experimentation can help businesses deliver better products, boost conversion, and increase revenue.
Living His Best Life: David Nuff's Inspiring Freelance Success Story (Publication)
If we could design our best life, what would it entail? What would our freelance success story look like? Hear firsthand and get advice from someone who has designed their career and thrived.
COVID-19: The Ultimate Design Thinking Use Case (Publication)
We are living in extraordinary times as COVID-19 continues to cause crises across the world. Could designers make use of design thinking to solve urgent problems and come up with innovative solutions?
Prominent Design Conferences 2020 (Publication)
Even the sharpest designers need to explore new ideas, learn about new techniques, and draw inspiration from other creatives to stay on top. We present a list of the most prominent design conferences to consider attending in 2020.
UX Design Trends Retrospective 2019 (Publication)
Every year, popular UX design trends emerge and become popular because they provide better user experiences. This retrospective explores some of the most interesting and effective ones from 2019.
The Complete Guide to UX Research Methods (Publication)
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.
Design Talks: Better Designer and Developer Collaboration with Aarron Walter of InVision (Publication)
Designers often struggle to work with developers and vice versa. In this Design Talk, we explore how designers and developers can collaborate better in order to make them stronger and more capable.
Design Principles: An Introduction to Visual Hierarchy (Publication)
The theory of visual hierarchy is different from its practical application. More advanced concepts of visual perception are worth exploring because their mastery is key for great visual design.
Mobile E-commerce Best Practices for UX (with Infographic) (Publication)
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).
E-commerce UX: An Overview of Best Practices (with Infographic) (Publication)
74% of businesses believe that UX is important for improving sales, yet billions are lost due to shopping cart and checkout abandonment—when it comes to e-commerce UX, shoppers still tend to be considered last.
Design Talks: The Pursuit of Value-based Design with Nick Disabato (Publication)
This week’s guest on Toptal Design Talks is Nick Disabato who discusses value-based design, an expansion of the design process that focuses on specific business needs.
The Best UX Designer Portfolios – Inspiring Case Studies and Examples (Publication)
What makes a winning UX portfolio? More than a showcase of skills, a UX designer’s portfolio is an opportunity for them to create an enjoyable user experience as well as demonstrate their UX mastery.
Design Talks: Research in Action with UX Researcher Caitria O'Neill (Publication)
On this week’s Design Talks we discuss research in action with Caitria O'Neill, a UX researcher at Airbnb. She studies people’s relationships with technology and how they behave with digital products.
The Importance of Human-centered Design in Product Design (Publication)
Human-centered design is about solving problems, not implementing solutions. This guide provides an overview of HCD, a process that ensures optimum user experiences, effortless interaction, and ultimately, business benefits.
Know Your User – UX Statistics and Insights (with Infographic) (Publication)
Billions are lost by businesses due to poor UX. This article outlines key UX statistics and insights that stress the importance of “knowing your user” (with infographic).
Prominent E-commerce Trends and Their Influence on Design (with Infographic) (Publication)
Many exciting trends in e-commerce are on the horizon, from AI and AR to chatbots and voice ordering. The future of e-commerce will be shaped by trailblazing tech and savvy UX design (with infographic).
The Best UX Tools (with Infographic) (Publication)
When having the right UX tools is the crucial difference between having an effective design workflow and one that’s slow and unproductive, it’s important to stay up to date with the latest tools (with infographic).
The Tried and True Laws of UX (with Infographic) (Publication)
Just as there are cause and effect relationships, there are the laws of UX: predictable outcomes and human behaviors in UX a designer can use to design superior products. This infographic explains it all.
How to Use Powerful Gestalt Principles in Design (with Infographic) (Publication)
Gestalt’s guiding principle, that our minds tend to perceive objects as part of a greater whole, is a very useful and powerful design technique [includes infographic].
The Present and Future of AI in Design (with Infographic) (Publication)
AI has become an over-hyped buzzword and the design world is no exception. Instead of resisting it, designers will soon be co-creating with AI. It will make them smarter. (Includes infographic)
The True ROI of UX: B2B Redesign Case Studies (Publication)
UX designers often need to convince company executives on the ROI of a UX redesign initiative. Here are some real-life B2B redesign case studies a UX team identified in order to make a compelling case.
The True ROI of UX: Convincing the Executive Suite (Publication)
UX designers often need to persuade executives on the ROI of a UX initiative. In this example scenario, the UX team presented the projected ROI of a UX redesign to make a convincing case.
Art vs Design – A Timeless Debate (Publication)
Two Toptal designers engage in a lively debate about aesthetics, objectivity, and the definition of art and design.
Master Hot Design Trends with These Photoshop Tutorials (Publication)
Visual design experiments often become popular design trends and suddenly they are seen everywhere. Here are a number of hot graphic design trends and some of the top tutorials on how to create them.
Design Psychology and the Neuroscience of Awesome UX (Publication)
Human cognition is complex, and many factors play into instant impressions. Design psychology is coming to the forefront as more and more companies are using neuroscience to design better user experiences. 🔊
The Ultimate UX Hook : Anticipatory, Persuasive, and Emotional Design in UX (Publication)
Some products prove irresistible because they combine psychological design techniques that create an ultimate UX hook: anticipatory, persuasive, and emotional design.
Dark UIs. The Good and the Bad. Dos and Don’ts. (Publication)
Dark-themed UIs can be dramatic, stylish, and elegant. But despite the many benefits, they come with a slew of challenges and potential pitfalls that every designer would be wise to keep in mind.
The 10 UX Deliverables Top Designers Use (Publication)
Regardless of the environment, UX professionals need a set of deliverables to help facilitate communication, document work and provide artifacts. Here are 10 of the most common UX deliverables.
Heuristic Analysis for UX: How to Run a Usability Evaluation (Publication)
What is a heuristic analysis? How do you run one effectively by employing a group of usability experts to dramatically improve a product’s UX?
Boost Your UX with These Successful Interaction Design Principles (Publication)
Interaction design principles form the bedrock of awesome UX. Truly great interaction design relies on a set of conventions, standards, best practices and rules-of-thumb.
The End of Web Forms (Publication)
Reflections on the disappearance of web forms. How mobile biometrics could unlock a personal data vault that provides what’s necessary, killing forms entirely.
A Rant Against Pretty App Designs (Publication)
Some designers make the mistake of designing products for their own vanity, focusing on the veneer instead of designing great UX. But designing for usability and delight brings greater benefits.
Design for Emotion to Increase User Engagement (Publication)
When done well, emotional design increases engagement and can elicit an emotion that will deliver a positive response in users.
Anticipatory Design: How to Create Magical User Experiences (Publication)
Anticipatory design is the UX technique of simplifying processes and responding to user needs one step before they actually express those needs, simplifying user decisions and leading to magical experiences.