What is Product Design?

Estimated Time: 30 minutes

A product designer creates the overall look and functionality of a product. A common misconpception about designers is that they exist to make software products beautiful. While there is an aesthetic component to design, beauty is a small part of a designer's job. Good design is focused on both form and function.

Designers ask questions like:

  • For whom is this product being built and why? Does it meet a user need?
  • How will this product be used? What is the user's context?
  • What are the potential risks or challenges associated with using this product?
  • Is this product satisfying or delightful to use?

Design is not just about making something that looks good. It is about making products that are work well and look good.

UI Designer or UX Designer?

In product design, it's common to hear about User Interface (UI) design and User Experience (UX) Design. UI and UX design are related but distinct fields within the design discipline.

  • UI or User Interface design is concerned with the interface of the product which is the part with which the user interacts. For software products, this is often screens, buttons, voice interfaces or other features that let users interact with a product. UI design is the process of designing how the digital interfaces look and behave, and covers visual and interacitve elements of products such as colors, typography, buttons, scroll functions, andmianos, etc.

  • UX or user experience design is concerned with a user's experience with the product, and ensuring that the user interaction with the product is relevant, enjoyable and accessible. A UX designer might focus on

    • Value proposition and ensuring the product solves a real problem for the user
    • User journey, and understanding how the user discovers the product and the touchpoints the user has with the product
    • Onboarding and ensuring the user is sucessful from their first interaction with the product
    • User education, and ensuring that explanatory texts, messaging, and support is clear

In many product teams, one individual plays both roles. Large teams may have many UX designers and UI designers responsible for different aspects of the product.

Another important design function is User Researcher. User researchers collect and analyze data to improve the product. We'll learn more about user research in upcoming lessons. Just as with UI and UX design, there may or may not be a dedicated user researcher on a team. In teams where there is not a dedicated user research, the research function is typically played by the Product Manager, or shared between a PM and a designer.

PM and Design collaboration

Remember that good software product development is about building the right thing and building the thing right, and it's the PM's job to help identify the right thing. This is a collaborative task that involves many people. One of the PM's key collaborators in building the right thing is the designer.

In the product definition phase, product managers and designers work together on various activities including:

  • Ideating product features
  • Conducting user research and testing
  • Analyzing proposed solutions
  • Refinining product solutions, creating, testing, and refining prototpyes