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Showing posts from March, 2020

Sophisticated Prototypes – Why Use Axure

In a world of abundant choice, choosing a prototyping tool isn’t easy, and new isn’t always better. When designers want to create feature-rich prototypes, there are many good reasons why to use Axure.

Mastering Disruption - The Art of Agile Complexity

Incremental improvement is no longer enough to deal with the complex problems facing the world today. Companies that master Agile complexity will unleash a new wave of disruptive innovation.

Sound Logic and Monotonic AI Models

For those working with AI, the future is certainly exciting. At the same time, there is a general sense that AI suffers from one pesky flaw: AI in its current state can be unpredictably unreliable.

A Guide to Effective User Onboarding Best Practices

User onboarding best practices help designers create an onboarding experience that works well from the start. Knowing which onboarding pattern works best for each type of app puts designers ahead.

Taking Firebase Serverless – Mobile and Web Applications Made Easy

Mobile and web applications typically need a back-end server, which requires maintenance, updates, backups, and more. So why not dispense with them? In this article, Toptal Java Developer Phillip Edwards outlines how you can use Google Firebase to develop serverless applications without incurring a lot of costs.

30 Toptal Designer Tips on Working Remotely and Design

While presenting unique opportunities, working as a remote freelance designer also poses special challenges. Some of Toptal’s top designers share their expertise on the remote working designer lifestyle and managing the design process.

Why Tesla? Evaluating the Electric Craze

Tesla shares are up 60% over the past 12 months—performing relatively well even with the impacts of the coronavirus on the broader stock market (S&P 500 down ~11% over the same period). We dissect the drivers and unpack what the market is building into TSLA’s valuation.

Brands Still Matter – Brandless Boom to Bust

The future of branding was no brand at all, and Brandless represented the best the movement had to offer. Until it didn’t. What happened? We share takeaways that no designer or business should ignore.

Well-structured Logic: A Golang OOP Tutorial

Can Golang be object-oriented? Go is post-OOP but can still leverage concepts like binding functions to types (aka classes), constructors, subtyping, polymorphism, dependency injection, and testing with mocks.

The Commercial Real Estate Market in 2020

Where are we now in the commercial real estate cycle? We analyze current market dynamics, risks, yield expectations, and trends to determine potential well-positioned commercial real estate investments in 2020.

Beyond “Faster, Better, Cheaper”: Vertical Integration Strategy for Startups

Startups need to think about vertical integration and identify the areas to focus on in-house versus partnering or outsourcing.

Pixels of Influence – Breaking Down Persuasive Design Principles

There’s a lot for people to consider when making decisions. Used properly, persuasive design principles are a powerful tool for building meaningful products that help people make better decisions.

Fitter, Happier, More Productive – An Artificial Intelligence Case Study

There's a wealth of practical applications for powerful technology like AI, like creating health and wellbeing resources for a new generation of college students. Here, we offer an inside glimpse into how the University of Southern California accomplished just that with the help of on-demand talent.

The Price Is Right – A Pricing Strategy Overview for Consumer Companies

Pricing your products appropriately is one of the keys to the success of your company. So why do entrepreneurs often treat it as an afterthought? What are some of the available pricing strategies and how should they be applied by startup entrepreneurs?

The Price Is Right – A Pricing Strategy Overview for Consumer Companies

Pricing your products appropriately is one of the keys to the success of your company. So why do entrepreneurs often treat it as an afterthought? What are some of the available pricing strategies and how should they be applied by startup entrepreneurs?

Unlocking the Power of a Multigenerational Workforce, Part 1: Does Age Matter?

For the first time in our modern economy, five generations of employees are working shoulder to shoulder. This four-part series explores the issues and challenges around the multigenerational workforce to help global organizations uncover strategies and insights. Part 1 explains why skills are becoming more important than age, and how today’s global skills gap is driving employers to look beyond age and geography for talent.

Flexible A/B Testing with AWS Lambda@Edge

One of the new possibilities offered by Lambda@Edge is the ability to implement server-side A/B testing using Lambdas on CloudFront’s edge servers. In this article, Toptal Full-stack Developer Georgios Boutsioukis guides you through the process and outlines the pros and cons of A/B testing with Lambda@Edge.

Solutions, Not Art – The True Business Value of Design

Designers who focus on the business value of design will make themselves more indispensable to companies because businesses aren’t buying design; they are buying outcomes.

Stars Realigned: Improving the IMDb Rating System

IMDb ratings have genre bias: For example, dramas tend to score higher. Removing common feature bias and keeping unique characteristics, it's possible to create a new, refined score based on IMDb information.

Fatigued by the Subscription Business Model

The subscription business model has existed for generations but has recently surged in popularity. In efforts to replicate the success of the SaaS sector, consumer products startups are increasingly trying to stimulate recurring revenue by offering subscriptions.

Who's at the Helm? – Dissecting the Qualities of Design Leadership

Should designers lead? Can design leadership be defined? What leadership style gets the best results? We present six design leadership profiles and examine the pros and cons of each.