Product Designer Job Description, Skills, and Salary
Are you searching for a product designer job description? Get to know about the duties, responsibilities, qualifications, and skills requirements of a product designer. Feel free to use our product designer job description template to produce your own product designer job description. We also provide you with information about the salary you can earn as a product designer.
Who is a Product Designer?
Product designers develop daily goods like lampshades, tables, chairs, mattresses, and flatware. Product designers work closely with an industrial team, and may also develop specialized items like medical and technological equipment. They assess markets, create new goods, enhance old ones, or produce them at cheaper prices.
A product designer is responsible for the user experience of a product, generally getting guidance on the business goals and objectives from product management. Although often linked with the visual/tactile components of a product, product designers may occasionally also play a part in the information architecture and system design of a product as well.
Depending on the type of business, the size and diversity of the design department, and the specific person’s area of expertise, a product designer may also be referred to as a User Experience Designer, Customer Experience Architect, User Interface Designer, and Interaction Designer, or Information Architect.
While firms may always benefit from a product designer, they play a particularly crucial role throughout critical phases of product development. During the early design and proof-of-concept phase, they may transform the purpose of the product into a functioning user experience and offer requirements input outlining what must be in place for users to fulfill their goals.
As a product evolves and adds additional features and capabilities, it can ensure the user experience is straightforward and decrease areas of friction. And after a product is mature it may help polish the user experience and make the product more efficient to increase page load times, etc.
Product designers are considered a luxury for certain organizations that could defer adding someone in that capacity till later in their lifecycle, while others might employ a product designer before they even add a product manager. Product design may also be outsourced very readily, therefore many organizations depend on outside consultants and agencies for this role.
Product designers may be requested to work at both extremely high-level design (such as creating the overall system or information architecture) and very granular details (pixel-specific mockups or CSS templates) (pixel-specific mockups or CSS templates). Regardless of what they’re working on, the user experience is front-and-center for their job.
Product designers have a variety of artifacts they may provide as part of their employment, including not limited to:
- Prototypes
- Wireframes
- Mockups
- User Journey Maps
While the “traditional” paradigm was to pass off a product to product designers once the requirements were determined, many product designers now work hand-in-hand with the product team throughout the product development process. By being engaged throughout, users may influence what the product does as well as how it does it, keeping the user experience front of mind.
Product designers often take the reins for prototyping and user testing, since their purpose is to provide an exceptional product experience. They may also actually perform some coding (usually more with front-end presentation languages like HTML and CSS) and develop digital assets such as logos, icons, and buttons, along with assisting write the content used in the product.
For solutions that incorporate real objects or hardware, a product designer has extra tasks, such as assisting pick materials, colors, and textures, potentially even employing 3-D printers for prototypes or advising manufacturing techniques. Product designers will also manage the design library of the product suite for future reference.
Product Designer Job Description
What is a product designer job description? A product designer job description is simply a list of duties and responsibilities of a product designer in an organization. Below are the product designer job description examples you can use to develop your resume or write a product designer job description for your employee. Employers can also use it to sieve out job seekers when choosing candidates for interviews.
The duties and responsibilities of a product designer include the following:
- Set design needs to be based on information from internal teams and user research.
- Identify new product improvement possibilities.
- Analyze how a new product fulfills market demands and customer preferences.
- Stay up to speed on current industry developments and market circumstances.
- Cooperate with other members of the design team to ensure accurate and consistent communication.
- Modify and update current designs to fit changing client preferences.
- Work closely with product engineers to offer improvements for goods and procedures.
- Present cross-functional teams and senior leadership with product design proposals.
- Partner with other members of the product team to set essential goals and quantifiable results
- Lead or contribute to the process of transforming creative ideas into well-designed items
- Help collect and turn user demands and functional requirements into drawings, ideas, wireframes, and prototypes
- Task or work with UX experts on exploratory studies (e.g., user interviews, ethnography, surveys) and iterative testing (e.g., usability testing) (e.g., usability testing)
- Flex a combination of visual and interactive design talents, utilizing conventional tools of the profession, to construct attractive and easy-to-use experiences
- Led numerous UX and design projects from end-to-end
- Work with branding, style guidelines, and design systems to guarantee smart and consistent applications across user journeys
- Participate in design input and criticism sessions
- Develop product design ideas from client needs
- Confirm product design parameters with clients
- Prepare design specs through drawings
- Budget for product concepts with clients
- Set timetables for project completion with customers and keep to budgets and schedules
- Troubleshoot any design difficulties that may develop throughout the design process needs
- Meet with customers to define the design brief, covering idea, performance, and production requirements
- Work on ideas as part of a team or create design concepts utilizing computer-aided design (CAD) (CAD), being cognizant of the client’s budget
- Take part in specialized or interdisciplinary team meetings
- Sketch early design ideas\identify the appropriateness and availability of materials\generate comprehensive, final hand drawings and specifications or, more commonly, use specialized computer software (CAD) to develop design specifications, including component lists and costings
- Produce prototypes or functioning models by hand or by utilizing automated prototyping equipment
- Test the design idea through computerized modeling or practical hands-on testing of model research trials, methods, or market needs.
- Schedule meetings and engage with engineers and other departments, including marketing, to discuss and negotiate acceptable manufacturing techniques, costs, and commercial difficulties
- Periodic visits to customers’ industrial sites to examine the viability of production
- Deliver presentations to top design management or customers, either when bidding for a contract or to offer design concepts
- Carry out administrative chores, if you work as a freelance designer.
- Design and test prototypes of new items based on consumer input or market research to ensure the product is attractive to customers
- Create visual prototypes of designs utilizing computer tools such as AutoCAD, Photoshop, or Illustrator
- Review consumer input and change designs appropriately to guarantee that a product satisfies customer demands
- Collaborate with product engineers and other designers to build new goods
- Develop 3D models utilizing computer-aided designing tools to build prototypes of new items
- Communicate design parameters to other members of the design team, including engineers, fabricators, and production personnel
- Perform market research to discover prospective consumers and rivals, and generate product ideas based on this information
- Conduct workshops with clients to determine their requirements and desires
Qualifications
- The ability to operate a computer and computer applications including CAD software.
- Spatial and visual awareness.
- Knowledge of engineering science and technology if you are working as a product designer for a computer firm.
- Knowledge of the industrial processes and standards, as well as developing new technologies for the industry where you work
- Commercial knowledge of the market for your goods and how to position your product as marketable versus your rivals.
Essential Skills
- Creativity: Creativity is the capacity to produce fresh ideas and solutions. As a product designer, you may be responsible for coming up with innovative concepts for a product. This might entail thinking about new features, functionalities, and designs for a product. Your capacity to be creative may help you produce fresh ideas and solutions for your product.
- Technical skills: Technical skills may assist product designers to comprehend the technology underlying the items they build. This might involve learning how to utilize software, how to make prototypes, and how to create a digital model of a product. Technical abilities may also involve learning how to utilize different forms of technology, such as virtual reality or augmented reality.
- Communication: As a product designer, you interact with many different individuals, including engineers, marketing teams, sales reps, and consumers. Effective communication is important to your success in this profession. You should be able to explain your thoughts and proposals clearly and simply. You should also be able to listen to and comprehend input from others.
- Problem-solving: Problem-solving abilities help you to recognize and handle difficulties that may develop throughout the design process. As a product designer, you may be responsible for identifying solutions to difficulties that develop during the creation of a new product. Your ability to detect and fix concerns may help you build a successful product that people like.
- Time management: Time management skills may help you prioritize activities and manage deadlines. As a product designer, you may be responsible for producing the visual components of a product, including the packaging, marketing materials, and the actual product itself. This might entail collaborating with other team members to ensure all components of the product are developed coherently.
- Computer coding: Product design specialists may employ computer coding to produce product software or user experience designs. Coding abilities enable a product designer to develop code to direct devices or programs to accomplish specific activities or functions. Coding skills entail knowing a range of coding languages, including:
- C++
- CSS
- JavaScript
- Visual design: Product designers employ numerous components of visual design to produce an aesthetically pleasing product for users. Visual design helps product designers develop prototypes of goods to demonstrate to stakeholders and customers. Elements of visual design include:
- Layout: This relates to coordinating the visual aspects of a product.
- Color theory: This helps product designers understand how colors impact human perceptions.
- Typography: This entails employing distinct styles of text to improve user experiences.
- UI design: User interface (UI) design covers any parts of a product with which a customer may interact. Product designers may employ UI design abilities to produce product interfaces that are aesthetically attractive and simple for customers to use. Elements of UI design include:
- Copywriting: This entails employing language appropriate to the product’s brand to maximize user experiences.
- Interactions: This relates to producing graphics, such as animations, for interactive goods.
- Front-end development: This requires utilizing coding language to guarantee the UI is functioning.
- UX design: User experience (UX) design may assist a product designer to produce a product that gives a favorable user experience. UX design largely entails studying customer habits to build products that are simple to navigate and convenient for the user. Some components of UX design include:
- Prototyping: This refers to merging the UI design with the UX design to test a product.
- Information architecture: This involves designing a product to guarantee it’s simple for the user to utilize.
- Wireframing: This entails designing the structure and functioning of a product.
- User research: Product designers employ user research to determine the demands of customers. This helps them build a product that delivers a solution for people or appeals to market desires. Elements of user research include:
- Research planning: This relates to outlining objectives for a product design.
- Surveying methods: This includes surveying customers to get input regarding user experiences.
- Auditing: This entails assessing a product to verify its brand consistency for marketing objectives.
How to Become a Product Designer
- Earn a high school diploma: For many businesses, a higher education degree isn’t a prerequisite as long as you can prove your expertise in the sector, have references and complete the basic criteria for the job you’re seeking for. However, most companies prefer to see at least a high school diploma or equivalent, like your GED, since education gives basic information and abilities that you may utilize in nearly any field. If you’ve elected to not pursue a bachelor’s degree, try taking optional courses that pertain to product design, such as graphic design, and manufacturing.
- Earn a bachelor’s degree: You may not have to get a bachelor’s degree to find work in the area of product design, but having one may set you apart from the competitors. Consider courses that concentrate on marketing, engineering, graphic design, manufacturing, business, and user testing. The information you obtain in these subjects will help you expand your portfolio and be able to talk comfortably with a hiring manager about product design concerns.
- Build your skill set: Many hiring managers may want to check your skill set more than most other portions of your resume since here is where you can explain more about the tools, applications, and software you are acquainted with. Rather than having to teach you about a tool they use in the business, they may simply have to offer training on how they uniquely utilize the product to create for customers. It’s crucial to master the many tools of the business, so you’re fully equipped to explain them during an interview and develop your portfolio for a hiring manager to assess.
- Gain experience: As with many design roles, having expertise in product design or similar subjects might help you gain a career in the sector. While you’re in school or post-graduation, seek options in marketing, business, customer service, or a career that focuses on problem-solving or communication. The abilities you develop from these professions may help you become a product designer who may need to communicate with clients about their wants and expectations, solve customers’ design difficulties, establish your process and assist organizations to accomplish sales targets.
You may also get experience via giving your design skills to small companies with a limited budget or NGOs you feel passionate about or try providing your work on a freelance basis. Not only will this help you increase your portfolio, but you may grow your network too.
- Make a portfolio: A portfolio is a vital aspect of establishing a career in a design role, so think about developing your portfolio starting with projects you finish in school or those you’ve made on your own to test your talents. Be sure that you’re able to describe your design process to someone else.
Because the product design area is so large, concentrate on the sorts of design tasks you want to focus on in your career. For example, if you wish to design websites, you may obtain expertise in this medium and publish the projects you’ve worked on in your portfolio. However, if you develop expertise in several product design applications, incorporate this diversity in your portfolio so a manager knows more about your talents.
- Keep current on developments in the sector: Product design is a profession that’s continually changing depending on design trends, best practices, new tools, and more. You must remain current on these changes to the business so you’re able to apply them to your work and answer inquiries regarding trends during a job interview. A hiring manager may ask you so they can know if you’re engaged in the industry and able to change properly.
To remain current, consider signing up for podcasts, blogs, newsletters, and other information from industry professionals and firms that specialize in product design. Read new journals and books that promote your chosen job and immerse yourself in relevant subjects.
- Create a resume: To become a product designer, you’ll likely need a thorough CV that’ll assist a hiring manager to recognize you. Be sure that your CV and corresponding cover letter are full of your skills, competencies, and any employment experience you have. A strong summary aim can help you illustrate why you’re applying to a certain firm and the distinctive traits you offer to the corporation.
Where to Work as a Product Designer
- Industrial design firms
- Advertising agencies
- Manufacturing companies
- Retail stores
Product Designer Salary Scale
The average product designer income in the USA is $119,962 per year or $61.52 per hour. Entry-level occupations start at $94,840 per year while most experienced professionals earn up to $160,000 per year.
The average product designer income in the United Kingdom is £70,000 per year or £35.90 per hour. Entry-level occupations start at £65,000 per year while most experienced professionals earn up to £85,000 per year.