Product Designer
What's it like to be a Product Designer?
Product Designers design products that improve the quality of life or ease usage for many people. This may be a new design or an improvement of existing products. They are responsible for coming up with ideas to certain functional challenges and pose solutions through their designs. Aside from being appealing, these products need to be feasible and functional. A Product Designer’s role involves problem-solving and creativity to understand people’s wants and needs, and how the product can address these. This involves gathering information about users' preferences and behaviours to design something that will meet their requirements. Product Designers may also analyse market trends and competitors' products to stand out from the competition.
Tasks and duties
- Researching and understanding user needs, preferences, and behaviours.
- Studying the competition and analysing market trends to fine-tune their designs.
- Using creativity and problem solving to come up with new ideas for new products or improvements of existing products.
- Creating sketches, drawings, or computer models to visualise design ideas.
- Building physical prototypes or using software programs to test and refine designs.
- Collaborating with Engineers and other professionals to ensure the feasibility and functionality of the design.
- Incorporating feedback and making necessary design modifications.
- Considering factors such as functionality, ergonomics, aesthetics, and materials during the design process.
- Conducting user testing and gathering feedback to further enhance the product design.
- Keeping up with industry trends, new technologies, and design techniques.
Product Designers must also ensure that their design can feasibly be created and marketed well. This means they must work closely with other professionals, such as Engineers and Marketers. They collaborate and communicate their ideas and design specifications to these team members to ensure everyone is on the same page.
How to become a Product Designer
Many companies may prefer hiring a Product Designer with a specific design degree. Meanwhile, others may overlook a design degree in favour of previous design training and experience.
Obtain a bachelor degree related to design such as industrial design, information design, graphic design, or other similar fields.
Look for internships with a design company that allows you to gain hands-on experience. Some employers may overlook related academic degrees in favour of previous experience.
Be on the constant lookout for seminars and upskilling workshops that allow you to improve your skills in UX design or adapt to new design platforms.
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