What Does a Product Designer Do?

Did you know that there are more than 17,000 product designers in the United States alone? This number is only expected to increase in the coming years since, after all, there always needs to be someone to professionally design products. But what does a product designer do exactly?

Does this job only focus on designing products, or is there more to the role? How can you know whether or not you should hire a product designer for your product or whether you should do the designing yourself? Keep reading and learn more about the details with this product designer guide.

What Does a Product Designer Do Exactly?

The first thing you should know about product designers is that they are in charge of producing a good user experience for a certain product. User experience, also known as UX, is all about how a user can interact with a certain product. The UX may be good or bad depending on the quality of the product, the expectations of the user, what the product claims to do, and so on. 

The user experience, of course, is of utmost importance when it comes to the success of your product. You might put a lot of effort into the creation of your product, but if your users don't like the result of the product, that effort isn't going to matter. The thing about user experience is that it can be hard to predict. 

You might think that your product is very good and well put together, but your users might not think so. They might prefer a product that is slightly different or has a few different features. It can be stressful and overwhelming to try and think ahead like this which is why having a professional product designer on hand is so important. 

Optimizing Customer Experience With Professional Product Design

A product designer is skilled at going over a product to make sure that it is the best it can be before it is released to the public. You might wonder why you can't do the product designing all on your own. After all, you could save yourself money if you don't bother to hire a product designer. 

However, you will find that you simply don't have the skills that a professional product designer has. A product designer is educated in all the ways a product could succeed or fail. For that reason, hiring a professional product designer will give your product a much better chance of success.

But a product designer's job goes far beyond user experience. A product designer will also be responsible for making sure that your product reaches all the goals you set for it. In some cases, some of your goals for a product may be more realistic than others. 

A product designer will try to make sure that these goals are as realistic as possible so that it won't be too much of a challenge to reach them. But the responsibilities of a product designer don't stop there.

The Responsibilities of a Product Designer

A product designer, of course, will need to design a product at some point. This is more complicated than it sounds because most products require many facets and many stages of development before they are complete. For example, suppose that you need to create a particular type of software. 

A product designer will need to go into all the tiny aspects of this software to make sure that it is not only functional but also visually appealing. This means that the designer needs to think of what colors to use, what fonts to utilize, where the fonts should appear, how the user should interact with the product, and so on. Of course, you may already have a particular idea of how your product should look. 

If so, you can advise your product designer on certain things such as what color scheme to use, what patterns or designs to use, and so on. This will make the product designer's job much easier and it will likely produce faster results as well. The more information you can give your product designer about your product, the more efficient the product design process will be. 

Many product designers also need to tackle the issue of the user interface and interaction. This involves the way the user interacts with your product as a whole. Most users, regardless of the product, prefer that the interaction with the product be as simple as possible. 

Simplicity and Efficiency for Your Product

For example, if you are creating software that is very efficient but confusing to use, your users won't want to use that product no matter how helpful it might be. It would take too much time and effort to learn how to use such a convoluted product. As a result, users would rather use a product that is less helpful but easier to use. 

To prevent this problem from happening, it will be the product designer's job to ensure that your product is easy to use. That way, when your users interact with your product, there should be no worry of them getting confused or irritated with your product. Keep in mind that it may take some streamlining and some tweaks in the product's design before the product is finally ready to be available for purchase. 

This is not out of the ordinary since many products need a lot of redesigns and streamlining before they are rendered simple enough yet helpful enough for your target audience. Again, all of these responsibilities would be difficult to tackle all on your own which is why it's so important to have a professional product designer on your side at every stage of your product's lifecycle. 

That way, a product designer can help shape the product from the beginning of its lifecycle to the end. This will not only take a large weight off your shoulders but it will also help your product be more of a success when it's time to release it. 

How a Product Designer Can Make Your Product a Success

Another thing that a product designer can do is make sure that your goals coincide with the success of your product. For example, suppose that you want to sell a certain number of products within a certain period of time. It will be hard to predict how many products you will end up selling in reality, but a product designer can optimize your product as much as possible so that it will be much more likely for your product to achieve your product goals. 

It is important to tell your product designer the goals you have in store for your product. That way, the product designer will have a better idea of how to design and refine that product. Without defined goals, it will be much more difficult to steer your product in the right direction. 

A good product designer might even be able to help you better define some of your goals if you are having trouble compiling them. After all, product designers know what makes a good design and what doesn't. Your designer might even give you some advice on how to adjust your product so that it will be more successful upon release. 

The Time It Takes to Release a Product

Keep in mind that a product designer can't work miracles overnight. The process of product design is a long one and it is important to be patient throughout its duration. The last thing you want is to rush a product only for that product to be low quality. 

If you end up releasing a low-quality product, your customers will be disappointed and they won't be interested in purchasing any more products from your brand. Usually, it will take several weeks and even months to produce a good product. 

If your product is going to be particularly large, it might take even longer. On the other hand, if your product is small, it might only take a few weeks to complete. Whatever the case, your product designer will take all the time necessary to craft an impressive and successful product.

Everything You Need to Know About Product Designers

What does a product designer do, you might ask? A product designer is essential when it comes to optimizing user experience, meeting your product goals, and streamlining your product. Without a professional product designer, you will find that designing a product on your own would be a very stressful and overwhelming task. 

Even though it will cost you a bit of extra money to hire a product designer, the results will be worth it. To learn more about product design and development, contact us here.