In October, we enhanced the login and onboarding experience, improved the lesson player, developed a smarter course recommendation system, and more!

Smarter Course Recommendations & Refined Lesson Experience

Our new recommendation system provides personalized course and module suggestions tailored to your unique learning journey, keeping you on the right path to advancing your skills. Plus, we’ve refined the lesson player for smoother navigation, separating theory content for on-demand access. Now you can focus on practical learning at your own pace and revisit theory when you need it.

🎓 New Course: Product Discovery

Product discovery is crucial for building successful products that align with user needs and business goals. In this course, you’ll learn to prioritize opportunities, validate solutions, and make smarter decisions faster. Say goodbye to guesswork and discover how to design products with purpose. Enroll now.

Community Events: In Case You Missed It 

• Webinar: Elevating Design Through Outdoor Experiences — Explore how Gloria Ciceri draws inspiration from nature and how it shapes her work. Watch recording.

• Roast My Portfolio — For a limited time, catch this Pro-only event where Elene Chekurishvili critiques portfolios from our community members. Watch recording.

• Webinar: Design & Product — Learn strategies for effective cross-functional team collaboration with insights from Fouad Jallouli. Watch recording.

Celebrating Community Achievements

A huge thank you to all our Mentors, especially our top contributors, for your commitment to the community’s growth. Your efforts are invaluable!

• Kristina Vilyams — 36 reviews

• Yuliia Povstiana — 77 reviews

• Cristian Georgescu — 78 reviews

• Elene Chekurishvili — reached an impressive milestone with 100 reviews! 🙌

Design Contest 

Our October Design Contest has wrapped up, and we received incredible submissions! We’re currently reviewing entries with input from community voting, mentor feedback, and our internal team to select the winners. Stay tuned for the announcement in a few weeks. In the meantime, take a look at the amazing entries we received! View submissions

What’s New & Upcoming for Uxcel Teams

This November and December, expect significant updates for Uxcel Teams, starting with a revamped billing structure. Watch this short video from Lazar for details on the new setup.

Recent enhancements for Uxcel Teams include:

• Revamped Billing Structure — Learn more

• Improved Team Member Invites with Google Workspace integration — Learn more

• Enhanced Privacy Options for Uxcel Teams — Learn more

• New Subscription Center for Uxcel Teams — Learn more

This month’s updates are designed to make Uxcel more intuitive, impactful, and ready to support your learning journey. Dive in and explore! 🙌

As the leaves start to turn and designers everywhere sharpen their pencils (or styluses), Uxcel is here with a fresh batch of updates to inspire your creativity!

New Release: Introducing Pulse

This September, we launched Pulse, our innovative skill assessment feature designed to help you measure your growth and identify areas for improvement. Think of it as a personal design coach that adapts to your skill level and role.

Ready to see where you stand? Take the Pulse assessment now

P.S. Curious about what makes Pulse stand out? Dive into our in-depth blog article on the science behind Pulse and how it can propel your career to new heights.

In Case You Missed It

Webinar: Elevating Design Through Outdoor Experiences with Gloria Ciceri

Gloria Ciceri, Senior Brand & Motion Designer at Blinkist, led us on an inspiring journey through her nature-inspired design process. Catch the replay here.

AMA: Building Great UX Teams with Joana Teixeira

Joana Teixeira, UX Lead at Via Verde, shared her wisdom on creating and managing successful UX teams. Read the key insights here.

Roast My Portfolio with Jonas Bröms (Pro Members Only)

Expert designer Jonas Bröms provided lucky Pro members with actionable feedback on their portfolios. Want in on the next session? Upgrade to Pro now!

Community Awards

Every month, we celebrate the creativity and innovation of our Uxcel community. Our editors select a standout project, while the community votes for their favorites. Here are September's shining stars:

Editor's Choice: New Interactive Empty State Version with Rive!

Javier Oliver’s playful and interactive empty state design brings life to a typically overlooked UI element. The clever use of Rive animation adds a delightful touch that's sure to engage users.

Community Choice: Media Portal for a Bank

Anna Tikhonova’s sleek dark mode design for a media portal showcases a perfect blend of accessibility and style. The community praised her thoughtful approach to color and typography in a complex interface.

Community Choice: Crypto App Onboarding

Yana Ivchak's vibrant and intuitive onboarding flow for a crypto app caught the community's eye with its bold visuals and clear user journey. Her design proves that complex topics can be presented in an engaging, user-friendly manner.

Check out more top projects from the community in Showcase.

Top Mentors

A round of applause for our most active mentors this month:

1. Dankwah Desmond Ankomah

2. Yuliia Povstiana

3. Elene Chekurishvili

Thank you for being superstars for our community!

Bug Fixes and Improvements

We've been busy polishing our platform to make your Uxcel experience even smoother:

• You can retake assessments right away, including Pulse! Pro members get two attempts per assessment per month, while free users get two attempts per assessment per month.

• For teams: New screening assessment for UX Writer role.

• Pro users can now review their assessment answers.

• You asked, we listened! You can now view user profiles from Leaderboards.

• Fixed issues with rating showcase projects.

• Introduced the option to skip questions in assessments (with extra points as a reward).

As summer winds down, we're ramping up with fresh new features and course content to take your design skills to new heights. Here's your roundup of the latest releases and updates from Uxcel.

Tutorials: Learn from the Best in the Business

We're excited to unveil Tutorials, your new go-to resource for design wisdom. Written by industry experts, these articles offer practical insights across various design disciplines. Here's a taste of what you can explore:

• Master the art of scalable typography

• Bridge the gap between design and development

• Add depth to your designs with expert shadow techniques

Explore all Tutorials and level up your design game today!

New Course: Gamification in Design Context

Our new Gamification in Design Context course is your ticket to creating irresistible user experiences. Learn to harness game mechanics ethically and effectively, boosting user engagement and motivation.

Enroll now and start designing experiences users can't resist!

Community Events Recap

August brought two stellar events to our community:

1. Webinar: Designing UX for Large-Scale Systems with Vitaly Friedman

Vitaly shared strategies for managing complex UX projects and ensuring design consistency in large systems.

Watch the recording

1. AMA: Boosting Your Freelance Design Career with Salvatore Barras

Salvatore offered valuable insights on thriving in the freelance design world and leading remote design teams.

Review the discussion

Keep exploring, keep learning, and stay tuned for more exciting updates!

Gamification has become a powerful tool in creating engaging user experiences. Every challenge, reward, and progress bar can significantly impact user motivation and behavior. The best UX designers understand how to leverage game mechanics to create products that users love to interact with.

We're thrilled to introduce our latest course, Gamification in Design Context, tailored for designers looking to harness the power of game-inspired elements in their work. You'll explore the psychology behind gamification, learn about key game mechanics, and discover how to apply these concepts ethically and effectively in various design contexts.

This course is perfect for designers who want to enhance user engagement, motivation, and loyalty in their products. If you've ever wondered how to make your designs more compelling and interactive, this course is for you!

Enroll today to start building your expertise in creating gamified experiences that delight and motivate users.

As designers, we're on a never-ending journey of growth and improvement. With each project completed and skill mastered, there's always more to learn. That's why we're thrilled to introduce Tutorials - your new source of inspiration and knowledge, right here on Uxcel.

Learn from the Best in the Business

Tutorials are articles and guides written by top designers exclusively for the Uxcel community. You’ll find invaluable insights and practical knowledge across various design disciplines, from UI/UX and visual design to interaction design and beyond.

A Better Way to Stay Ahead of the Curve

How do you keep up with the latest trends and best practices in design? If you've ever struggled to find reliable, actionable advice, you're not alone. Tutorials simplify this process by bringing together expert knowledge and real-world applications in one place.

Follow Your Favorite Writers

See a Tutorial you like? Want to stay connected to a top contributor? Follow the leading voices in the community and build your own network of design professionals. You'll also have the opportunity to engage with thought leaders through comments and discussions.

Put Your New Knowledge to Work

Whether you're tackling a challenging project or preparing for your next big career move, the knowledge you gain from Tutorials will be invaluable. Apply what you've learned to your designs, share insights with your team, and elevate your next project or design task.

Get Started with Tutorials Today

Dive into our collection of Tutorials to start building your knowledge and expertise. With new content added regularly, there's always something new to discover and learn.

Summer is in full swing, and we're excited to share our latest updates! Highlights from July include a brand new course, a packed schedule of community events, and plenty of product improvements to enhance your Uxcel experience.

New Course: Information Architecture

Our latest course, Information Architecture, is designed for UX professionals looking to master the art and science of organizing and structuring content. The course explores key components of IA, dives into user psychology, and teaches practical skills for creating user-friendly information structures.

Enroll today to enhance your skills in content organization, navigation design, and user research techniques like tree testing.

A summer of live learning

Uxcel events are in full swing! We welcomed several expert designers to share their insights with the community in July.

Webinar: The Self-taught Designer's Guide to Success

Self-taught UX designer Joelle Phua, shared her tips, tricks, and strategies for navigating the challenging but rewarding path of self-education in the UX field.

Catch up with the webinar recording to see how you can apply Joelle’s insights and experiences to your own career journey.

AMA: Design Agency Journey with Jodie Loi

Jodie Loi, Founder at Zoco Collective, hosted a lively Ask Me Anything session with community members on the Uxcel Discord. Review the discussion to learn from Jodie's experience in building and growing a successful design agency.

Webinar: Building High-Performing Design Teams with VailSys

Great design teams are built through thoughtful selection and continuous growth. Josh, UX Manager at Vail Systems, shared actionable tactics for confidently building a high-performing design team.

Watch the recording to gain insights on UX leadership and management from Josh's battle-tested strategies and best practices.

Product Updates

We've rolled out several features to improve your Uxcel experience:

• Enhanced Showcase Cards: View creator information directly from showcase cards, with the option to follow users from the card or showcase page.

• Glossary Tag Following: Easily follow glossary tags from lesson pages. Hover over a tag to see a popover with a follow button and bookmark topics of interest and stay updated on related content.

• Custom Profile Links: Add custom links to your profile to showcase your work, personal websites and professional presence.

Understanding how users interact with and navigate digital products is crucial for creating intuitive experiences. Every click, scroll, and search is influenced by how information is structured and presented. The best UX designers know how to organize content in a way that feels natural and effortless to users.

We're excited to introduce our latest course, Information Architecture, designed for UX professionals looking to master the art and science of organizing and structuring content. You'll explore the key components of IA, dive into user psychology, and learn practical skills for creating user-friendly information structures. By the end of the course, you'll be equipped to design intuitive and efficient user experiences that align with how people naturally seek and navigate information.

This course is perfect for designers who want to enhance their skills in content organization, navigation design, and user research techniques like tree testing. If you've ever wondered how to make your designs more intuitive and easier to navigate, this course is for you!

Enroll today to start building your expertise in creating user-centered, well-structured digital experiences.

Summer is here and so are plenty of sizzling updates from the past month on Uxcel. Here’s the highlights from a busy June, including new releases, fresh courses and much more.

Build your professional design profile (on autopilot!)

We’ve revamped Uxcel profiles to make it easier for Designers to create the ultimate professional profile. Combine your professional experience, education and portfolio with everything you do on Uxcel to create a holistic picture of your career development. Every course you complete and certificate you earn will automatically appear in your profile. As you grow, your profile will reflect your progress and achievements.

Learn more with the full release notes for Profile here.

Deepen your understanding of psychology in UX Design

Our latest course, UX Design Psychology, is perfect for designers looking to better understand user behavior. Explore human perception, trust, cognitive laws, memory mechanisms, and mental models. By the end of the course, you’ll be equipped to create user-centered designs that align with common user behaviors.

Enroll in the course today to deepen your understanding of key psychological concepts and their implications for your own design work.

That’s a wrap! Our June Design Contest is now closed

The Inclusive Landing Page contest has now closed. A huge thank you to everyone who participated - we’ve been well and truly blown away by the quality of entries.

While submissions and voting have closed, you can still view and leave feedback on all submissions in Showcase.

What Happens Next?

Our team and mentors are scoring entries and pre-qualifying the top 30. Final results will combine these scores with community votes. Winners will be announced and prizes distributed from July 14th.

Improvements and bug fixes

• Introducing a new top rank for Uxcel - Diamond. Reach the #1 spot to earn a badge for your profile.

• We’ve added an additional confirmation message when you submit your salary.

• We’ve improved the positioning of the Home page widget for mobile resolutions.

In case you missed it - Watch the webinar with Sage and Fujistu

If you missed our webinar with Lee Jefferey from Sage and Reece Flaherty from Fujitsu on building high-performance design teams, watch the full recording here. Lee and Reece also hosted a live AMA with our community with plenty of great questions and insightful answers. Catch up on the full discussion here.