The jobs of a product designer
Product designers play a crucial role throughout product development process. Here's what they actually do.
Around ten years ago, if you would ask what the product designer does, you'd hear that it's someone who makes physical things because, essentially, that's what they did.
Product designers nowadays are digital problem solvers (most often). They do research to identify user problems and utilize design skills and available tools to create websites and apps that address them.
Many people think that product designers are UX designers, but there's a slight difference in the roles and responsibilities of the two. Most product designers are UX designers, but very few UX designers are product designers.
UX designers create something from scratch or re-design an existing product. They solve new problems through a user-centered design approach.
On the other hand, product designers improve existing designs and continuously evolve them to create the best user experience. They also make it easy for users to learn about new features and test their designs to create an experience tailored for the users.
The role of product designer in product development process
Product designers play an especially crucial role throughout critical stages of product development.
Product designers integrate the product's goal into a practical user experience and provide required feedback about what needs to be in place for users to achieve their goals throughout the initial design and proof-of-concept stages.
Product designers ensure that the user experience is intuitive as a product grows and adds more features and capabilities by reducing areas of friction.
The most significant differentiator of product designers is their ability to work on both high-level and low-level stages of the design process: from designing an overall system of informational hierarchy to creating pixel-perfect mockups and other granular details. User experience is at the forefront of their work, no matter what they're working on.
The designers' jobs started after the requirements were fully established in the traditional product development process. Right now, however, many designers collaborate with product management and development teams throughout the entire product development process. They can directly impact vital decisions of what a product does and how it does it while keeping the user experience in mind.
Mastery of design tools is a prerequisite for the role, as product designers rely on them for designing mockups, prototyping, and delivering finished assets to the developers. Visual design tools such as Figma and Sketch are the go-to for many product designers.
Designers are famous for using drawings, diagrams, and mockups to tackle problems visually. However, visual problem solving makes it too simple to chase dead ends on more complex problems. Instead, I believe that starting projects with writing and using writing as a tool for thinking is very beneficial.
Staying at a high level, focusing on strategy, identifying and understanding challenges, communicating and discussing with collaborators, and prioritizing attention are all benefits of thinking via writing. See, An essential skill for designers is writing.
Because the core goal for product designers is to make an exceptional user experience, they are also typically in charge of prototyping and testing processes. Product designers need to design and conduct the tests, analyze the results, and even recruit the participants.
Great product designers are also skilled in coding (usually a high-level knowledge of some primary front-end languages, such as HTML, CSS, React, etc.) and creating simple digital assets (such as logos, icons, etc.)
Finally, a product designer must be aware of the business goals and context. When it comes to user experience, they can say "no" when the decision might negatively impact the user experience.
How Do You Start a Product Design Career?
When it comes to breaking into product design, people tend to split into two categories: engineering and graphic design. Technical people who want to unleash their inner designer must grasp a few new concepts and tools. However, the main goal is to show off their artistry and attention to detail in a product design context.
The challenge for graphic designers, on the other side, is to broaden their scope beyond having something look great to making something work great.
Building a product design skillset immerses oneself in the tools that will be used once one acquires a job, but it also exposes one to the tools used once they obtain a job. It also provides them with several opportunities to practice and become proficient in its use.
And once you've mastered a skill, there's no shortage of ways to put it to use in the real world to get paid, whether it's working with businesses or offering your abilities to a nonprofit.
These experiences will be beneficial in more ways than one. They'll also improve their portfolio, which is essential for finding a job in the sector. This demonstrates that a candidate has the necessary skills and abilities to perform the job. It also gives employers an idea of their personal preferences and style, which are significantly more crucial in this role than in others.
Fortunately, a portfolio may be built without a product design job initially. The portfolio should include projects relevant to the job and allow you to tell a story about how you analyzed the problem and devised the solution, not just the final product.
Unlike other professions, a college diploma or resume isn't enough to get a job in product design. Examples of past work are required for getting the job, just as they are for authors and architects.
A day in the life of a product designer (aka, the jobs of a product designer)
Each role is unique, but product designers do these things almost daily, in general.
A lot of research
You can't solve a problem unless you know what your users want, and that is why product designers must be specialists in this area.
They comprehend the user's needs, objectives, goals, and pain points. Product designers frequently use psychological approaches to better understand users' thought processes as they explore the website or application.
As a result, product designers frequently collaborate with user experience researchers, stakeholders, and product managers.
Design solutions
At their core, product designers are problem solvers. They begin exploring solutions once they have a good understanding of the problem.
Then they start working on first-draft designs, such as wireframes, sketches, mockups, and prototypes.
To deliver high-end outputs, product designers must have a strong understanding of fundamental design principles, such as color palettes, typography, and layout, as well we common design patterns.
Run tests over and over
Testing is a significant phase in the product development process. It's the stage where your designs are tested to see if they work as they should. Examples of tests are A/B testing, tree testing, user testing, surveys, interviews, focus groups, live betas, and other internal trials.
In many circumstances, it's a multi-stage procedure that entails all of the mentioned steps.
When you send your product to the customer, the more you test it, the more functional it will be. Because time and money are obviously limited, the product designer will frequently collaborate with UX researchers to find the most practical combination of experiments (and feasible).
Product designers collaborate closely with the development team in sprints to get the product ready for launch. During this stage, more tests are performed to ensure that the product is totally bug-free.
Look for ways to improve the product
When a product goes live, the testing doesn't stop - not for the product designers. The designers create KPIs that serve as success standards in collaboration with the UX researcher. The team then gathers performance data, feedback, and reviews to see whether any additional improvements should be made in the following iteration, and so on.
Even when a product is a huge success, product designers are always looking for ways to improve it.
Conclusion
Product designers wear many hats and have many names. They’re usually specialized generalists, who always put the user at the center of their job. In the end, when the user is happy with the product – everyone benefits from it.
Hopefully said above gives you a bit more clear understanding of what a product designer does.
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