Application of mixture design in analytical chemistry

•Application of mixture designs in the optimization of analytical methods;.•Examples of application of mixture designs are given and didactically discussed;.•Use of pseudo-components as an artifice to simplify the mathematical modeling;.•Combination of mixture with process variables are discussed. This manuscript approaches the use of mixture design in the optimization of any stage of an analytical method. In addition to addressing the basic principles of this type of design, examples of applications showing the potential of these chemometric tools are presented and discussed. The establishment of constraints and the use of pseudo-components as an artifice to simplify their mathematical modeling are also approached. Finally, a combination of mixture variables with process variables is presented as an alternative for the simultaneous optimization of these types of variables.