Have you ever caught a glimpse of a product, got your mind blown, and said to yourself, “what a brilliant idea.” “How come you have never thought of that?”
You get so allured by the product design that you decide to buy it. But finds out that the product is cheaply made and barely delivers the features that it’s advertised to do (the egg packaging corrugated cards).
Well, this is what we say is an excellent example of product design but with poor UX design.
And the opposite of it is also true. Some products that make you wonder how come a person has this much free time that he/she thought of making this not-so-useful product or how the product got approved. Here, I am speaking of the anti-spicy onion cutting goggles.
But, when you order the product, it becomes your go-to-device. This is an example of bad product design but great UX design.
So, what’s a UX designer? What is the role of a product designer? And what’s the difference between a product designer and a UX designer? Is product design the same as UX design? Product design vs UX design.
Understanding their difference is the most crucial thing that you should know. But trying to decipher it by yourself can be very frustrating.
Trust me, I tried doing this. I will also share with you my pre-data collection answer and my post-data collection answer.
Let’s get deep into it and know the difference between product design and UX design.
My Pre-Data Collection Answer
Even if I don’t know the precise definition-based difference between “product design” and “UX design,” the term “product design” implies something that can become increasingly important for tech design professionals.
Since the need for optimal UX infiltrates beyond consumer software and into the software space, the designer will have to understand the complex business challenges.
The Post-Data Collection Answer
Even though I had some answers in my mind, being a content writer, I wanted to double-check my assumptions with some data.
So here we go.
Designing a new application can be a time-consuming and intricate process. However, according to the report by Startup Grind, 9,999 out of 10,000 apps will not be able to see market success.
And it’s not at all surprising if we take into account that 25% of apps are only ever launched once. Jeez!
Let’s get into defining the roles of product design and UX design and find out why the difference between them is so important to your business.
Product Design Definition
Product design is defined as the process where the designer tries to blend the user’s needs with business goals to help brands become consistently successful.
Product designers work to enhance the user experience of solutions. They help brands to make sustainable products for longer-term business requirements.
The Work of Product Designers
Product designers make products that are uncomplicated and alluring. Their work is finely tuned to consistently perform well in the market. They assist in explaining product goals and creating a timeline or roadmap.
The product summary or 5-6 months timeline of product offerings and their features will be delivered by the product designers. This helps brands release successful products.
The Role of Product Designers
Product designers can prevent or reduce the alarming repercussions of executing designs and help increase and sustain gains. Throughout the journey of the product, they will advise the design team and shareholders on return on investment (ROI) and some minor details, such as the placement of interface elements.
Product designers also discuss and plan out the product roadmap in close relationship with the development and marketing teams to confirm the achievability of the implementing designs.
So, product design is the process of making a digital or a physical product.
UX Design Definition
First of all, UX stands for User Experience, and there is no general definition for UX designs. User experience design is a notion with many layers. It involves a group of different rules, such as interactivity design, visual design, usability, and human-tech interaction.
The Role of UX Design
The UX design role in businesses is to fine-tune end-user satisfaction through utility, ease of use, and pleasure offered in relation to the product. It’s all about improving the user’s experience while communicating with the product and making sure they get the value of what you are providing.
In simpler words, UX design is the process of creating digital or physical designs.
The Work of UX Design
UX design is used very often, whether it is intentional or unintentional. A good UX design is created when we make design decisions that understand and fulfil the needs of both the users and the business.
When we talk about product design vs UX design, we generally forget that they do have some similarities.
But we don’t, so let’s have a look at some of the common traits that make product design and UX design look alike.
Both product design and UX design require the design thinking technique. It includes the ability to recognize human needs and problems and thus generate creative solutions and design a parallel prototype.
Their second similarity is the goal of designing more practical and easy-to-use products for consumers. Both product design and UX design endeavor to find meaning in all forms and functions.
Both the designers need to possess a high level of meticulous skill. Even though there is a difference between product design and UX design, they both use the same toolkit to accomplish their goals.
And these are the only similarities between product design and UX design. Now let’s see the major difference between product design and UX design.
These are some key differences between product design and UX design.
Product designers focus on business demands and on designing something that is sturdy and scalable.
For example, a product designer will inquire- “Does this product experience align with the idea of where the business wants to be in 1 year?”
Whereas a UX designer will ask,
“How will this experience benefit our users?”
Did you get the difference?
This doesn’t imply that a product designer does not keep the user requirements in mind or that they can ignore the UX. Rather than this, they look out more for the business and for the long-term sustainability of the business and the product.
In contrast, a UX designer strongly takes the side of the user and focuses only on designing a product that users love and that solves the problem they want to tackle. They have a deep knowledge of their domain, and they use this to create a product experience that end-users like.
The UX designer’s main worry is how the product will feel during its use. And thus, the entire development process revolves around that idea. The UX designers will write up several user scenarios and build common patterns and journeys. All of this is done while ensuring that every step of the journey is simple and gives value to the user.
Product designers are much more committed to the overall theme of the product. Their process revolves around managing and offering insights on how a component works and how they discern themselves in the market.
Product designers should have decision-making skills and business foresight to achieve their goals. Because product designers are in charge of more general decisions throughout the process involving UI design, research, and visual design.
However, UX designers have a way more specific skill set as compared to product designers. They comprise skills that are necessary to create flows, sitemaps, workflow diagrams, and expertise in collecting and analyzing data. It is way more secluded than product design.
Product designers have to perform the following tasks:
UX designers are generally responsible for the following mentioned functions:
If we are talking about product design vs UX design, it’s obvious to talk about the salary of both the designers. As per Glassdoor, the standard salary for a product designer in the US is USD 104,000. The peak salary was $171,000, while the lower salary was $64,000.
As per Glassdoor, the standard salary for a UX designer in the US is USD 103,000. Of the total number of UX designers that were surveyed, the highest average salary was USD 140,000, while the lowest was USD 75,000.
The salaries for product and UX designers will differ depending on their skills, experience, and location. The salary range for designers will never be the same. Considering their high demand, their salaries will keep increasing daily.
It’s always better to understand something through an example. So, let’s look at an example to understand the difference between product design and UX design.
Consider two people, El and Mike. El is an employee at a UX design firm, while Mike is a UX product designer at a big company.
You must be thinking, their jobs look similar right!
But, no, they are very different if you look at the responsibilities.
El designs user flows and wireframes and makes decisions like where the “buy” button will be placed for the user’s convenience.
Mike, on the other hand, supervises the app development his company is creating. His responsibilities comprise monitoring the market and challengers and making app comparisons.
Based on these findings, Mike will decide whether to add a particular feature needed for the app, like a registration page, or not. And Mike will decide the average cost and approximate revenue by implementing the new function.
Product design is all about product fine-tuning to assist you in achieving your business objective, However, UX design implements the business goals into end-user journeys.
Clearing this confusion and understanding the differences and similarities in product design and UX design will help you enhance your business and develop it better.
Moreover, product design and UX design are way more than just making users happy.
To initiate the best product and UX design for your web and mobile applications, hiring an expert UI/UX and product designer is a must.
A superior UX and product design will make the user happy and satisfied, and thus the designer should have knowledge of the best and latest UI/UX design trends and how to implement these trends to the best effect and deliver an impressive design solution.
A good UX and product design can transform an entire business, design, and in order to achieve a good design, you must hire industry experts who are well versed in the mobile app designing process.
If you still haven’t found the best UX and product designers to work on your project, then we can help you. We have the right talent for you. We offer excellent web designing services.
Schedule a meeting with our team of skilled designers to discuss your project today. We will help you with our out-of-the-box design solutions and make sure that your product stands out from the crowd.
Lastly, we truly hope that this blog was a little helpful to you.
Thanks for reading till the end!
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