30 Most Influential People In Web Design
Here are the top 30 most influential people in web design. This list is in order starting from the most influential person at number 1, all the way down to 30. The order we have put the list in is through our eyes. If you would put someone else at number one, who would it be? Drop us a comment. Anyway, enjoy reading through the list! (Its taken a long time to perfect)
* * * 30 People Who Know Lots About Web Design * * *
#1Collis Ta’eed | ||
 | Collis’ Websites Envato – http://www.envato.com TutsPlus – http://tutsplus.com - About Collis Ta’eed Collis Ta’eed is the founder / creator of the company Envato (formally Eden). Collis first came across Photoshop at university, and realized this is what he wanted to do. Since then he has built up the Envato network to one of the biggest creative communities online to date. - Envato has many sites within its network, including tutorial sites, design blogs, web galleries and creative marketplaces such as flashden and audiojungle. | |
#2Vitaly Friedman | ||
 | Vitaly’s Websites Smashing Magazine – http://www.smashingmagazine.com - About Vitaly Friedman Vitaly is one of the founders of the popular smashingmagazine.com. Smashing magazine is an extremly popular web design blog, which has over 130,000 RSS Subscribers and is hosted on 7 servers. - The Design compilations that vitaly puts together on smashing magazine and simply amazing. Smashing Magazine is one of the most talked about blogs online to date. Well done Vitaly! | |
#3Matt Mickiewicz | ||
 | Matt’s Websites Sitepoint – http://www.sitepoint.com - About Matt Mickiewicz Matt is the founder and creator of sitepoint. Sitepoint is the largest website online for web designers and developers. It ranks under the top 1000 websites online to date. - Sitepoint has a very popular forum and marketplace, plus they also publish books and host design contests. | |
#4Nick La | ||
 | Nick’s Websites N.Design Studio – http://www.ndesign-studio.com Best Web Gallery – http://bestwebgallery.com Web Designer Wall – http://www.webdesignerwall.com Icon Dock – http://icondock.com - About Nick La Nick La is a freelancer specializing in illustration and web design. Nick is based in Toronto, Canada. His main focuses are designing stock icons, beautiful css websites and illustrations. - Nicks work has been featured all across the internet on various blogs and web galleries. | |
#5David Leggett | ||
 | David’s Websites Tutorial9 – http://www.tutorial9.net UxBooth – http://www.uxbooth.com The Leggett – http://www.theleggett.com - About David Leggett David designed his first website when he was only ten years old. Since then he has created an amazing web design blog called tutorial9, in which he teaches people about photoshop and design. - UxBoot is another one of his websites that offeres website reviews, and free web resources to all its readers. | |
#6Jacob Gube | ||
 | Jacob’s Websites Six Revisions – http://sixrevisions.com Twitter – http://twitter.com/SixRevisions - About Jacob Gube Jacob is the founder is Six Revisions, one of the most popular web design and development blogs on the internet. The content that is published on six revisions is simply amazing, and provides extremly useful information to web designers and developers worldwide. | |
#7Jakob Nielsen | ||
 | Jakob’s Websites UseIt – http://www.useit.com HappyWebbies – http://www.happywebbies.com/store/detail/jakob-nielsen/ - About Jakob Nielsen Jakob has his own websites over at useit.com. Jakob has many different names, such as “The king of usability”, and “The smartest person on the web”. | |
#8Jeffrey Zeldman | ||
 | Jeffrey’s Websites Happy Cog – http://www.happycog.com/about/zeldman/ Jeffrey Zeldman – http://www.zeldman.com Twitter – http://twitter.com/zeldman - About Jeffrey Zeldman Jeffrey Zeldman is a writer / author, and designer. His personal blog zeldman.com has been around since 1995 (14 years!), and is one of the oldest published blogs on the internet. - Jeffrey Zeldman has been involves in many projects including the Web Standards Project, and A List Apart. | |
#9David Airey | ||
 | David’s Websites David Airey – http://www.davidairey.com LogoDesignLove – http://www.logodesignlove.com - About David Airey David is a graphic designer living in northan ireland. He specializes in logo design and brand identity. His blog has around 14,000 RSS Subscribers, and his portfolio is also hosted on davidairey.com. - Another one of Davids projects includes Logodesignlove.com, which also has over 13,000 RSS Subscribers. His work is featured in many web galleries and blogs. | |
#10Fabio Sasso | ||
 | Fabio’s Websites Abduzeedo – http://abduzeedo.com Fabio Sasso – http://fabiosasso.com Zee – http://zee.com.br Twitter – http://twitter.com/abduzeedo - About Fabio Sasso Fabio has his own personal website in which he features many of his personal designs. Abduzeedo is Fabio’s design blogs in which he has some amazing content. - Fabio also ownes his own web design company called Zee, which you can find at zee.com.br. | |
#11Veerle Pieters | ||
 | Veerle’s Websites Veerle’s Blog – http://veerle.duoh.com Duoh! – http://www.duoh.com - About Veerle Pieters Veerle began her career in 1992, when she became a freelance designer under the name of Duoh! She founded the name duoh.com in 2000. - Veerles design blog has been around for many years. Her design work is very inspirational, and every piece is 10/10 for quality. | |
#12Jacob Cass | ||
 | Jacob’s Websites Just Creative Design – http://justcreativedesign.com Twitter – http://twitter.com/justcreative - About Jacob Cass Jacob has his blog and portfolio at the same domain name. He is the founder of Just Creative Design, and is currently 21 years old. - Jacob is a very talented indervidual in the design niche. You just have to look at his portfolio to see it. He does an array of different design work that includes web design, logo design, print and much more. | |
#13Adelle Charles | ||
 | Adelle’s Websites Fuel Your Creativity – http://www.fuelyourcreativity.com Fuel Brand Group – http://fuelbrandgroup.com Adelle Charles – http://adellecharles.com - About Adelle Charles Adelle is the creative director for the Fuel Brand Group. She is responsible for all the creative design around all the fuel brand sites. She is also an Art Director and a designer for a TV Station. - She also has a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in Graphic Design from Rochester Institute of Technology. | |
#14Adii Rockstar | ||
 | Adii’s Websites Adii – http://adii.co.za Radiiate – http://radiiate.com WooThemes – http://www.woothemes.com Twitter – http://twitter.com/adii - About Adii Rockstar Adii Rockstar formally knows as Adriaan Pienaa is a successfull internet entrepenur. Adii has his own personal blog, and is the founder of woothemes, and Radiiate Web Solutions. | |
#15Nick Finck | ||
 | Nick’s Websites Nick Finck – http://nickfinck.com Twitter – http://twitter.com/nickf Flickr – http://www.flickr.com/photos/digitalweb/ - About Nick Finck Nick Finck is a speaker and community cultivator. He has created web experiences for fortune 50 and 500 companies. These companies include Adobe, IBM, HP, Microsoft and many others. | |
#16Dennis Hwang | ||
 | Featured In Google Blog – http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2004/06/oodles-of-doodles.html Guardian Online – http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2008/sep/05/google.doodle - About Dennis Hwang Dennis is the official Google Doodlist. He has created over 150 doodles for Google. His name is not well known, but his work has been seen by billions of people on the Google homepage. He creates new doodles for Google when there are events happening, such as easter, Googles Birthday, Halloween, Start of summer, etc. | |
#17Derek Herman | ||
 | Derek’s Websites Valen Designs – http://valendesigns.com Twitter – http://twitter.com/valendesigns - About Derek Herman Derek is the founder of Valen Designs. Valen specializes in Web Design, Search Engine Optimization, Branding and Application Development. Derek has worked on many websites, including sites within the Envato network. | |
#18Mike Kus | ||
 | Mike’s Websites Carsonified The Things We Make – http://www.thethingswemake.co.uk - About Mike Kus Mike is the senior designer for Carsonified. He joined in May 2008, and has been in design for many years before. Mike is a very creative designer, and he works wonders for Carsonified. - He also has a personal site over at thethingswemake.co.uk, which includes his flickr photo stream, and his portfolio. | |
#19Bill Beachy | ||
 | Bill’s Websites Go Media – http://v5.gomedia.us/about/bill.php Twitter – http://twitter.com/william_beachy - About Bill Beachy Bill is the president of Go Media. It took several years before he could start to hire other people to work for his company, but now it has a vast number of employees. - Go Media was originally called Graphic Odysseys, until it merged with Next Level Multimedia in 2003. | |
#20Rob Palmer | ||
 | Rob’s Websites Branded07 – http://www.branded07.com - About Rob Palmer Rob is 25 years old and a graphic designer based in newcastle upon tyne, UK. He is skilld in almost every Adobe package, and knows many programming languages. - He uses Branded07 to post tutorials, write about his personal life and host his portfolio. | |
#21Cameron Moll | ||
 | Cameron’s Websites Cameron Moll – http://cameronmoll.com Authentic Jobs – http://authenticjobs.com - About Cameron Moll Cameron Moll is an inspirational web designer. His code is clean, and he is one of the most balanced designers. Many companies have recognizes Camerons work. - Cameron has a personal site in which he hosts a shop, his blog and his design portfolio. He also has a job board named “Authentic Jobs”. | |
#22Jason Santa Maria | ||
 | Jason’s Websites Jason Santa Maria – http://jasonsantamaria.com An Event Apart – http://aneventapart.com/speakers/jasonsantamaria/ Twitter – http://twitter.com/jasonsantamaria - About Jason Santa Maria Jason is a graphic designer that currently lives in Brooklyn. On his personal site he hosts his portfolio and also writes about Technology, Business and the Web. | |
#23Paul Boag | ||
 | Paul’s Websites BoagWorld – http://boagworld.com HeadScape - About Paul Boag Paul hosts the podcast BoagWorld, along with Marcus Lillington. Paul and Marcus had already worked together for years, creating the web design company HeadScape. - BoagWorld is the longest running, and most popular web design podcast on the internet. | |
#24Andrew Maier | ||
 | Andrew’s Websites Designer Andrew – http://www.designerandrew.com UxBooth – http://www.uxbooth.com/author/andrewmaier/ Twitter – http://twitter.com/andrewmaier - About Andrew Maier Andrew is a web / graphic design freelancer. He is currentl living in Atlanta, GA. He writes frequent articles for uxbooth.com. His intrests are in web standards, usability, and human-computer interaction. | |
#25Jeff Croft | ||
 | Jeff’s Websites Jeff Croft – http://jeffcroft.com BlueFlavor – http://blueflavor.com - About Jeff Croft Jeff has been working online for a good 12 years. He works for a design company called blueflavor, but he also does his own bit of freelancing on the side, through his personal website jeffcroft.com. - Jeff hosts all his favorite links, photos and his portfolio and blog on his personal website. | |
#26Dave Shea | ||
 | Dave’s Websites Bright Creative – http://www.brightcreative.com Zen Garden – http://www.csszengarden.com MezzoBlue – http://mezzoblue.com - About Dave Shea Dave ownes a one man design studio, named Bright Creative. He has a very uplifting portfolio and loves icon design. - He has many projects including Zen Garden, and his own personal web blog over at mezzoblue.com. | |
#27Dan Cederholm | ||
 | Dan’s Websites SimpleBits – http://simplebits.com IconShoppe – http://www.iconshoppe.com Hand Crafted CSS – http://handcraftedcss.com Own Someone A Drink? – http://foamee.com - About Dan Cederholm Dan is the founder of simplebits, a web design studio. He also has many other projects he has worked on, such as iconshoppe and foamee. Dan has wrote his own book alongside Ethan Marcotte, called “HandCrafted CSS”. | |
#28Dan Richard | ||
 | Dan’s Websites Pixel2Life – http://www.pixel2life.com Dan Richard – http://www.danrichard.com - About Dan Richard Dan is the founder of pixel2life.com, the biggest tutorial index on the planet. Pixel2life has tutorials in over 80 different categories! It allows people to submit tutorials to its large and ever growing index. - Dan also ownes his own personal blog over at danrichard.com in which he blogs about tutorials, design work and much more. | |
#29Daniel Mall | ||
 | Daniel’s Websites Daniel Mall – http://danielmall.com HappyCog - About Daniel Mall Dan is a interactive designer, living in Philadelphia. He specializes in Flash, XHTML, CSS and Typography. - Daniel also works for Happy Cog Studios. He created beautiful websites, and publishes his best ideas to a worldwide community. | |
#30Andy Clarke | ||
 | Andy’s Websites Stuff And Nonsense – http://www.stuffandnonsense.co.uk For A Beautiful Web – http://www.forabeautifulweb.com - About Andy Clarke Andy has been working online for around 10 years. He moved to Wales to escape busy London. He has his own web design business called stuff and nonsense. - Andy also has a blog that teaches people web development, and hosts training workshops. You can catch this over at forabeautifulweb.com. | |
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A u d e e (3 years ago)
Veerle Pieters has been inspriring me all the way ~ she is a genius and I’ve read her blog post updates for years!
Lots of influental talented designers on internet to mention as 30 is just short list. But I shall put really positive value for these inspirational people.
Jason (3 years ago)
Thanks for your list of inspiration. I appreciate the time you put into this list.
I have not heard of a few of them, but I’ll be sure to look into their stuff.
Myself, I have different inspirations, as do probably everyone in web design, and in life. There is no need for the abrasive discussion going on above.
My thanks again to the author and every named person on this list and every unnamed person that should have been (if I were to write my own version of this article).
Chris Wallace (3 years ago)
ZOMG David Leggett for the win. His place above Zeldman on this list is right on. In fact, he should get two spots at least.
paul (3 years ago)
what about eric meyer?
and city names take capital letters
hvdesigns (3 years ago)
nice lists, its nice to put names to faces. Hopefully il be in the next list.
MicheBel (3 years ago)
MicheBel, are you going to complain that there are no blacks either?
Web Designer (3 years ago)
Jeffrey Zeldman is the only person i recognize here.
will check the rest.
Web design tutorials (3 years ago)
Nice wall of fame – thanks for sharing.
Ben Matewe (3 years ago)
Most Influential? Names like Eric Meyer, Andy Budd are missing!
kuan (3 years ago)
I’m surprised, nay, disdained, at the lack of women on your list.
Brook (3 years ago)
It’s unfortunate that only two women made the list. I’m sure it wasn’t intentional, but it is disheartening.
Rob (3 years ago)
Wow, thanks for the recognition and placement in this list. I know this is only an opinion based thing, but it is great to be featured here among so many talented chaps/chapettes. So big thanks for that, made my day.
Jamie Perkins (3 years ago)
Looks like you are big-upping your friends. This list is missing a lot of important people, and overplaying the importance of web entrepreneurs- are they really influential, or just successful?
How about Rob Ford of the FWA, or the guys at 2Advanced Studios? WordPress even? The Designers Republic? FL2?
Noel (3 years ago)
I agree. A few more influential designers would be good too (as opposed to people influencing design by other means). How about these:
Poke (www.pokelondon.com)
We Fail (http://www.wefail.com/)
De-Construct (http://www.de-construct.com/)
Hi-Res (http://hi-res.net/)
Yugo Nakamura (http://yugop.com/)
Maeda (http://www.maedastudio.com/)
There are also a bunch of tech people who have influenced web design a lot:
John Resig, J-Query
Shaun Inmann / Mike Davidson – Sifr
Thomas Fuchs – Scriptaculous
Maria Lubenova and Rostislav Hristov – SwfAddress
They all influence me.
Jan Srutek (3 years ago)
One name is missing for sure – Andy Budd (Director at Clearleft, founder of UX London, founder of dConstruct, founder of SkillSwap, author of CSS Mastery book)
Dan (3 years ago)
I find this list extremely disappointing, and a little terrifying if this is a valid insight into the state of the industry.
If these are the most influential people in web design I think our industry will have a very short future.
I only recognise Zeldman and Cederholm as genuinely talented here.
Andy (3 years ago)
As I said, its the staff at WebDesignDev’s opinion.
Scott (3 years ago)
Just you? Or Michael as well?
jan (3 years ago)
Great list, but i do miss people like Rob Ford (FWA) and Carole Guevin (netdiver). And Lee Brimelow, too.
Oh dear, this list could go on and on. So i won’t complain. Good job!
Aaron Irizarry (3 years ago)
30 designers… really… there should only stand one… and one alone THE LEGGET…
Luis Marquez (3 years ago)
I THINK YOU MISSING THE MOST IMPORTANT DESIGNER: WORLDWIDE RENOWNED
ERIC JORDAN. http://WWW.2ADVANCED.COM
JUST SEARCH HIM IN GOOGLE….
Web designers UK (3 years ago)
I liked ! thanks for the recognition and placement in this list. I impress.
TND webdesign (3 years ago)
I understand that it’s the WebDesignDev’s opinion..well I quite like it. A lot of familiar people and just a great list with webdesign people!
Web Design Singapore (3 years ago)
Cool Andy! You manage to compile this list with some detail info, thanks for the effort.
kre8iveminds (3 years ago)
WOW, nice people.
Keith (3 years ago)
Doug Bowman and Eric Meyer should really be on any list of influential people in web design.
Jason (3 years ago)
Wow, that’s a ballsy list you guys have compiled there. Some are waaay more influential than others, but they still fall to the bottom of the list. Good job though!
Manu Sathyan (3 years ago)
This is a great question..
Jeff Finley (3 years ago)
Honored to have my business partner Bill Beachy included in this list. Although, the list definitely leaves out who some of us find much more influential I think it mostly focuses on people who run a successful design blog. Most of these people are all within the same “niche” so to speak, that’s probably why you’re not seeing John Resign, the creator Jquery, or the people behind wordpress, Firefox, Google, yada yada. Just take the list for what it’s worth and be encouraged to write YOUR top 30 on your blog and include those left out.
Ronald | Naldz Graphics (3 years ago)
i smell part 2 of this list is coming
. great compilation btw Andy 
William Beachy (3 years ago)
I must give ALL (literally) of the credit to my staff. I merely facilitate the opportunity for great things to happen – they do all the work. It should just say: “Go Media” up there.
I am humbled and honored!
Mad Props to the Go Media Staff!
Wilson, Adam, Kim, Jeff, Heather, Thomas, Oliver, Comella, Law, Romsey, Liz, Tim and Katy!
Justin (jnashdesign) Nash (3 years ago)
That’s major man. Congratulations!
Very nice gesture shouting out your staff. Classy man.
I’m sure they appreciate it.
You get major respect from me.
George Egonut (3 years ago)
Nice list. I do agree that Eric Meyer really has a place on this list, and I’d like to add that I’m surprised to not see Chris Spooner here. But, as pointed out several times, it’s all just opinion.
Justin (jnashdesign) Nash (3 years ago)
I don’t know what everyone is talking about. I recognize all these names. I’m a designer by trade so maybe that’s why…
As far as diversity goes (women, ethnic groups), it seems that the objective of the list was to display influential people, not be politically correct…
I think it’s a great list! Nicely done.
pravash chamling rai (3 years ago)
cool peoples !!!
Robert (3 years ago)
Hi. Where is Tobi from http://www.tjdesign.pl ?
He belongs to the top 20 for sure…
Santhos Webdesign (3 years ago)
Great list! Already knew a lot of them, but also some interesting new webdesigners!
Design (3 years ago)
Lebedev?
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Kent Brewster (3 years ago)
Eric Meyer? Molly Holschlag? Nate Koechley? Jeremy Keith?
Jon (3 years ago)
How did you come up with this list?
An Epic Fail!
Andrew L (3 years ago)
Sorry but this is a terrible list. Are we going by how many hits their blog gets or by the quality of the design? Anyone who owns a keyword rich URL can get hits to their site, but that doesn’t make them a good designer, and posting a bunch of tutorials on your site doesn’t make you all that influential either.
Sure, there’s a degree of subjectivity that goes into this, but the quality of some of the sites on this list are truly horrible in terms of design and typography. I’m not claiming to be the best, but it makes me a little sad that people can’t tell good from bad anymore.
Ceiling Cat (3 years ago)
What’s the point of making a list when they’re a bunch of unknown sub par web designers that are your friends?
Seriously, I don’t recognize most of the people on there? The guy on top of the list is some bald mofo who does photoshop tutorials??
johnr (3 years ago)
Would you think about including more people from Asia and Africa, please?
Urvi (3 years ago)
I m surprised not to find Chris Coyer!
jo (3 years ago)
I think some of the comments on this list are totally absurd.
This is the designers opinion as they stated at the top of the list. If you think they are wrong, make your own damne list! But don’t insult the people on the list. It is not called for. – @Jon @Andrew L – @Ceiling Cat
Robert (3 years ago)
Hope to make the list next year.
Number 31 is not a bad spot for now.
Jasmin Halki? (3 years ago)
Nice list.
saeed (3 years ago)
wow!
its my dream to add my name under these names.
Freelance Graphic Design | Tony (3 years ago)
Amazing list. It’s everyone’s dream to be among that company of people who have influenced web and graphic designing and made it what it is today.
drew (3 years ago)
more women please, this sucks…
Mork (2 years ago)
Seriously. Look beyond the club and you might find tons of talented women.
William Imhoff (3 years ago)
One day maybe I’ll be up here. Good information and lots of great website. Thanks for the post!
Roger (3 years ago)
Really great artists!
Its only missing Roger, author of jsRoger framework.
Check out his last work – the best web 2.0 site ever made in http://www.acquadream.com.br
It is W3C standard, WEB 2.0, SEO ready, ultra dinamic, code 90% by the developer.
Enjoy