The software design world is always evolving.
It legitimately changes weekly now with the emergence of AI. I definitely feel bad for recruiters who try to keep up with it from the sidelines.
As the industry has matured, there is some confusion and misunderstanding of the design roles, expectations, and titles. (I’m sure the same could be said for development roles, those seem to appear out of thin air).
Here’s how I understand the difference between the two roles, UX Designer and Product Designer. They’re very close but are seen in different environments and usually have different scopes of work. Hopefully it helps designers, managers, and recruiters understand the difference.
UX Designer (UXD)
For software products, a UX designer is in charge of designing experiences of that product. They are in charge of zooming into a user journey or flow, identifying issues, and improving them. Sometimes, that flow lives on 1 screen or a a couple screens.
They don’t need to worry about macro, business needs and laser focused on understanding and accommodating the user. Usually, there is another role dedicated to that.
Example projects a UX Designer works on:
- The sign up form needs to be clearer
- Adding a feature to increase revenue
- Reworking a design, making small improvements
Note: This position is sometimes called UI/UX Designer, which I don’t recommend using. When other designers see that on a job posting, its a sure fire sign that the organization’s UX maturity level is low. It’s really saying “we dont really know what you do here”.
Product Designer (PD)
A product designer is in charge of designing software products. Simple, right? Unlike the UX designer, the product designer’s responsibility is to think about the software from a “product point of view”.
So in other words, the designer should be taking into account some macro-level things such as product-market fit, feature costs, and user feedback as well as understanding who they’re building for and being an advocate for the user. User Experience is another hat they wear in their day to day.
Customer Experience or CUX, the design of the user journey from the first touch with the product to all the way to seasoned user, should naturally fit under the PD’s purview. After all, that is all part of the product experience.
Example projects a Product Designer works on:
- Designing a lead acquisition funnel including sign up, automated emails, sign in, forgot password, etc.
- Designing a way to increase revenue
- Reworking an existing design, possibly completely changing the flow
They both care about the user experience
Yes, both roles are expected to conduct the standard UX activities. User research, journey mapping, flow mapping, prototyping, and designing fall under both roles. The time and money to do those activities is different.
UX Designers and Product Designers and team size
The Product Designer role is for small teams. The increased scope of work and macro-level thinking allow them to have a great impact in the overall experience which is well suited for small teams. Conversely, it makes it hard on the designer to get in the weeds of designing pixel perfect stuff, or going the extra mile.
The UX Designer role is for big teams. The designer can focus on one area of the product, allowing them to get laser focused and design some great stuff. But, they will have a hard time solving macro level problems.
That being said, you will see the opposite of the above. Big teams who want to act like they’re small or small teams who don’t haven’t figured out how design fits into the work.
Bigger teams allow for focused activities, which is where you’ll find dedicated UX Researchers. Researchers shepherd user research and discover insights, giving the designer more time to focus on making great stuff that fits the user’s needs based on research. This is where the makeup of a bigger team is really leveraged in design.
On smaller teams, research duties are either done by the designers or shared between designers and product managers/business analysts. It can be an uphill battle fighting for time and money to do the research activities. So product designers are on a balancing act of getting research done, building empathy for the users, building buy-in for design, and oh, designing.
This is where life as a designer on a small team varies significantly from life on a big team.
Roles could be dependent on the week
Depending on the week, a PD could be doing more UXD type, laser-focused work.
A UX designer could take a step back and research the whole flow of their product and build improvements. For everyone, this fact is probably the hardest thing.
The needs of a software business change so fast that no matter what your title, you may be asked to do something completely different one week to the next.
Is a product designer better than a UX designer?
A product designer might have a broader scope of work which is cool, but they trade that for time to get in the weeds of projects.
A UX designer can really get focused on a problem come up with an ultra intuitive solution but they trade that for working on a broad approach and possibly solving the solution at a higher level. The thinking required for these roles are similar but different.
The amount of skill needed is high for both. So I would say no one isn’t better than the other and the roles aren’t really apples to apples to compare.
What position is right for you?
It all depends. If you’re a designer who just wants to identify problems of a feature, figure stuff out and design something awesome, you’re probably built for UX design on a large team.
If you’re a designer who cares about the business experience, who wants to make a big impact, or who might be a little entrepreneurial, product design will be right up your alley.
Either way, it’s always a good idea to experience different environments and roles. Especially if you’re just starting out. Maybe you start your career as a UX Designer on a big team and get the hang of a large production and then move to a smaller team as a product designer to bring some of the skills you’ve learned and make a big impact.