Main Responsibilities and Required Skills for Product Designer

A Product Designer is a person who designs products, like apps or websites. This role often overlaps with many other areas, including industrial design, graphic design, interaction design and user experience design. In this blog post we describe the primary responsibilities and the most in-demand hard and soft skills for Product Designers.

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Main Responsibilities of Product Designer

The following list describes the typical responsibilities of a Product Designer:

Adhere to

Adhere to and help evolve the design system.
Adhere to component-based architecture.
Adhere to style standards on fonts, colors and images.

Advocate for

Advocate for design and accessibility best practices.
Advocate for good user experience across our teams and platform.
Advocate for the customer and follow user-centred design principles.
Advocate for the customer and user-centered design, and be able to articulate ideas to peers.
Advocate for the end user in requirements-gathering conversations with clients and internal teams.
Advocate strongly for users.
Advocate the needs of designers and developers building MuleSoft and Salesforce solutions.

Analyse

Analyse outcome of new products / features and learn from it.
Analyze feedback and develop a clear vision to resolve issues and obtain results.
Analyze how a new product ties in with market needs and consumer preferences (10%).

Apply

Apply user-centred design approaches to iterate on designs.

Articulate

Articulate strategy behind design decisions and participate in regular peer reviews.
Articulate your design decisions clearly, whoever your audience may be.

Balance

Balance business goals with our user experience values to inform product strategy.
Balance user and business goals to achieve desirable, viable, and feasible solutions.

Build

Build a deep understanding and care for our user group.
Build a design system that enables scalable design solutions that adhere to our technical stack.
Build aesthetically pleasing UI that breathe life into our product and delight our users.
Build CMF palettes digitally and physically.
Build detailed product flows, including error states and edge cases.
Build, disseminate, and maintain systems documentation.
Build prototypes to conduct user research and testing.

Capture

Capture all states, edge-cases, "unhappy paths”, and path logic for engineering teams to build out.

Collaborate with

Collaborate directly with designers, developers, engagement managers, and clients.
Collaborate in developing a strategy to expand the Design Team.
Collaborate iteratively to quickly work through ideas / solutions.
Collaborate effectively to get things done, building and nurturing strong relationships.
Collaborate with Design Function to craft experiences that people love, remember and recommend.
Collaborate with development teams to ensure design quality throughout the build phase.
Collaborate with fellow designers, engineers, and Product Managers.
Collaborate with our Product Managers to define high-level requirements for product development.
Collaborate with our Program Managers to make sure we build what customers want.
Collaborate with product, community, and engineering teams to uncover member and business needs.
Collaborate with your Product and Design colleagues in running workshops, user research and testing.

Combine

Combine both quantitative and qualitative data to enhance design.

Communicate

Communicate design concepts and rationale to team members and stakeholders.
Communicate design intent to internal teams, and justify design work and advocate for users' needs.
Communicate openly in a tight-knit team.
Communicate work and demonstrate how you collect, process and respond to feedback.

Complete

Complete projects on time and budget.
Complete pump design calculation worksheets in support of pump designs.

Conceptualize

Conceptualize and plan for UX features including idea conception, design, wireframes and prototyping.
Conceptualize original ideas that bring simplicity and user friendliness to complex UX roadblocks.

Conduct

Conduct and / or moderate user research and testing.
Conduct concept and usability tests and gather user feedback.
Conduct usability testing and gather feedback from our internal team and wide (and vocal!).
Conduct user research, A / B testing.
Conduct user research to test and optimise the effectiveness of design solutions.

Contribute to

Contribute and maintain the UI kit and style.
Contribute to an iterative ever-changing practice.
Contribute to building out practices, rituals and culture across Later's design team.
Contribute to defining design processes on a small design team.
Contribute to defining the product strategy and vision.
Contribute to design system and component libraries as necessary.
Contribute to developing and / or running design workshops.
Contribute to developing and / or working with design systems.
Contribute to, evolve and maintain the design system.
Contribute to expanding Design thinking at Unity.
Contribute to high-level strategic decisions alongside the product and executive teams.
Contribute to strategic decisions with the product and engineering teams.
Contribute to the roadmap, thanks to your understanding of user and business needs.

Create

Create all the assets and specifications necessary for design hand-off to development.
Create and iterate on features that drive an understanding of how to use Slack successfully.
Create and test prototypes and end-to-end flows.
Create and update equipment instruction manuals.
Create beautiful UI utilising our existing web design system where appropriate.
Create custom and limited edition products for athletes, specific initiatives and events.
Create delightful, usable products holding the user at the centre of the experience.
Create design concepts and drawings to present to relevant team members for brainstorming.
Create design specifications through wireframes and visual mockups.
Create designs that adhere to and extend the existing style guide.
Create elegant and beautiful responsive web UIs.
Create engaging assets to support marketing efforts, blog posts, and product releases.
Create inspiration / trend / color boards for future product line development.
Create inspiring and innovative solutions to briefs and business problems.
Create low and high fidelity interfaces using client-preferred design tools.
Create new UI / UX patterns and design elements.
Create or oversee creation of iconography and illustration to enhance design.
Create pixel perfect final designs for the product, ready for the tech team.
Create product engaging experiences using sketches, storyboards, blueprints and prototypes.
Create prototypes, wireframes, and research solutions depending on the stage of the process.
Create storyboards to show and display a user's story.
Create usability test plans using a range of methodology.
Create User Empathy team-wide in order to design and evolve products and solutions.
Create user flows, wireframes, visual mockups, and prototypes.
Create user research test plans and improve our features based on data.
Create wireframes and high fidelity clickable prototypes.
Create wireframes, user flows, sitemaps, user research, persona creation.

Decipher

Decipher usage pattern with the help of analytics and iterate design to be more efficient.

Define

Define and achieve holistic product objectives.
Define and standardize our design system and workflow.
Define and uphold design standards, guidelines and best practices.
Define the end to end design process and continuously iterate and improve on it.

Deliver

Deliver functional prototypes for user testing.

Design

Design amazing GUI applications ensuring easy user navigation and improved user experience.
Design and build brand materials for web, print, and digital branding.
Design and define interaction patterns through components, documentation, and prototypes.
Design and prototype multiple ideas quickly to validate product directions.
Design and prototype simple and elegant experiences.
Design conversational information architectures for various industry verticals.
Design digital product solutions that meet or exceed strategic objectives.
Design elegant, user-centric experiences that drive the growth and engagement of our user base.
Design experiences to scale across multiple scenarios, products, and customers.
Design flows and experiences that are incredibly simple and elegant.
Design flows and experiences that are simple and elegant.
Design flows, prototypes, sketches, and high fidelity visuals for web and mobile applications.
Design high-quality, modern and inclusive interfaces, user experiences and products.
Design low to high-fidelity prototypes to test new features / experiences and get user feedback.
Design new products / features.
Design simple, elegant, data-driven, user-centric experiences that delight users.
Design solutions and test them with end users.
Design user interfaces for web, software, and / or hardware products.
Design System Decisions - Directly involved with refreshing the entire platform.
Design the interface of the chat interface.
Design user interfaces for enterprise products.
Design web and mobile experiences that are simple and intuitive.

Develop

Develop and sustain long-term, positive relationships across the organization that aid.
Develop an understanding of customer pain points and create solutions through a design process.
Develop effective working relationships with internal and external departments and teams.
Develop innovative new features and profiles.
Develop personas and create user profiles based on characteristics.
Develop the user experience across multiple products for the web.
Develop UI mockups and prototypes that clearly illustrate how sites function and look.
Develop user experience across multiple platforms.
Develop user experience across multiple products.
Develop user flows through detailed site maps, wireframes, mock-ups.

Document

Document story details based on the requirements after reviewing with development teams.
Document the design process from start to finish.

Drive

Drive design problems end to end, from initial concept through shipping and beyond.
Drive the delivery process with clarity on requirements and clear acceptance criteria.

Ensure

Ensure accurate communication and efficiency in design work within agile framework.
Ensure homogeneity & success of user experience.
Ensure UI consistency throughout experiences.

Establish

Establish and measure product success metrics.
Establish workflows for prototyping and testing prototypes with users.

Evaluate

Evaluate and contribute to the design system and DayToDay's visual brand guidelines.
Evaluate and acquires imaging content.

Facilitate

Facilitate and / or receive design critique and evaluate visual designs for inclusivity.
Facilitate design-related input and feedback sessions.
Facilitate ideation sessions and collaborative work activities.

Find

Find other products that have tackled similar problems and draw inspiration from them.
Find ways to maximize the efficiency within the development methodology.

Gather

Gather and evaluate user requirements in collaboration with product managers and engineers.

Generate

Generate detailed specifications and export engineering-ready assets of final designs.
Generate detailed specs of final designs that allow devs to build accurately.
Generate suggestions for improving work.
Generate user interfaces, prototypes, mock-ups, style guides, and component guides.

Give

Give and receive design critique to help constantly refine our work.
Give guidance and suggestions to engineers on design and layout of products being considered or used.

Guide

Guide other designers on design standards and design strategy.
Guide teams to solve the most valuable user problems with the most elegant solution.

Help

Help define and drive the gateway for live events.
Help deliver and refine clear storytelling around product needs and opportunities.
Help design and maintain design pattern library and components that will used across.
Help design charts and dashboards that present data and stats in a concise and meaningful way.
Help establish and analyze metrics to validate feature success.
Help improve the way the design team works from iteration to iteration.
Help make high-level strategic decisions in conjunction with the Design and Product teams.
Help make high-level strategic decisions in conjunction with the design and product teams.
Help shape the experimentation roadmap.
Help shape the role a consumer app can play in helping us achieve our objectives.
Help test designs for prototypes before they are passed onto development teams.
Help the cross-functional team exchange feedback at all stages of the work.
Help to build a strong design culture within the company.
Help to build the brand guidelines, and be a champion of the brand.
Help to raise an awareness, understanding and appreciation of design at Vinterior.
Help us develop and deploy new design processes into our existing and evolving development cycle.

Identify

Identify customer problems through user testing and analyzing customer feedback.
Identify new product improvement opportunities.
Identify opportunities for new workstreams and solutions within current engagements.

Illustrate

Illustrate design ideas using storyboards, process flows, and sitemaps.
Illustrate design ideas with design comps, storyboards, user flows, wireframes and prototypes.

Implement

Implement accessible design practices.

Improve

Improve the data on-boarding experience within our embedded and Flatfile hosted experiences.

Incorporate

Incorporate brand guidelines where required.

Interpret

Interpret and review research findings for presentations to project teams.

Investigate

Investigate and define problem areas.

Iterate

Iterate and improve on data-driven design.
Iterate on existing interfaces to improve clarity on LaunchNotes concepts.

Lead

Lead by example as individual contributor on a number of projects with a product team.
Lead cross-functional brainstorms, discussions, and design reviews.
Lead gathering feedback from users to help validate product assumptions.
Lead product design on a cross-functional product team oriented towards our consumer offering.
Lead products through problem discovery, prioritization, and iterative delivery.
Lead the design of useful, usable, and desirable products in a team environment.
Lead the design process, from early discovery and research to testing and implementation.
Lead usability-testing alongside other Product Design and UX Researchers.
Lead user research projects.
Lead UX and visual design in the development of new products and features.
Lead UX research to uncover insights for making the product more intuitive.

Maintain

Maintain and contribute to the design system.
Maintain drawing standards as per IATF 16949 operating system.
Maintain patient confidentiality at all times.

Make

Make progress towards a solution.
Make rational design decisions as it relates to design systems.
Make your design tangible through user journeys, wireframes and visual design.

Manage

Manage Bill of Materials for production assemblies.
Manage, mentor, hire and inspire a team of product designers.
Manage multiple projects from conception through to delivery without breaking a sweat.
Manage personal time and book resources as required.
Manage team calls & support weekly scheduling.
Manage the delivery of current event and brand operations with future product planning.
Manage the end to end user experience process on engagements.
Manage the quality of design and lead design solutions throughout all phases of a project.

Mentor

Mentor a growing, passionate team of young designers.
Mentor and upskill client design pair in user centered design practices.
Mentor new designers that join the Design team.

Oversee

Oversee the user experience of features from conception to launch.

Own

Own a deep knowledge of accessibility best practices.
Own and maintain the design system to build a library of reusable UI components.
Own design problems end to end, from initial concept through shipping and beyond.
Own feature designs that create responsive experiences across multiple devices.
Own our design system, and create components for Papercraft.

Participate in

Participate in design team reviews, sharing, and brainstorms.
Participate in research, both qualitative and quantitative.
Participate in various design projects from concept to completion.
Participate in weekly design reviews with the product design team.

Perform

Perform ad hoc analysis of sales and operations to help management make key business decisions.

Plan

Plan and facilitate workshops where needed to gather insights and create actionable next steps.

Practice

Practice a process-oriented and scalable workflow.

Prepare

Prepare customer personas from interviews, business insights, and overall market trends.
Prepare user stories, product architecture, sketches, wireframes, and prototype.

Present

Present and defend designs and key milestone deliverables to peers and stakeholders.
Present and defend designs to peers and client stakeholders.
Present interaction design work to more senior stakeholders.
Present product design ideas to cross-functional teams and senior leadership.
Present product design ideas to internal stakeholders.
Present proposed solutions to external stakeholders and internal teams.
Present UI and UX designs to relevant team members clearly, soliciting actionable feedback.

Probe

Probe challenging problems to gain a deep understanding of user goals and behaviors.

Produce

Produce designs that are visually cohesive with the rest of our products.
Produce high-fidelity mockups that can be used as demos and as handoffs to engineering.
Produce low-fidelity to high-fidelity concepts (from wireframes to designs).
Produce solutions that bring simplicity and user friendliness to complex design challenges.
Produce standard operating procedures for processes / tasks where appropriate.

Propose

Propose and always lookout for new ways to improve and grow our product or processes.
Propose and participate in usability and field research.

Prototype

Prototype and test product flows for the app.

Provide

Provide detailed specifications.
Provide mentorship and work with design team on career progression and growth plans.
Provide timely and accurate shipment information to carriers.

Research

Research and develop new and innovative user experience concepts.
Research, design, and launch a product feature from start to end as the primary design owner.

Set

Set and execute a vision for the customer's digital experience.
Set hard goals, ask lots of questions and learn every day.

Shape

Shape and contribute to ongoing process improvements.

Stay current with

Stay current with industry practices and competitive products.
Stay on top of industry trends.

Support

Support and influence change to our design system, including our pattern library.
Support change management of varying scope and type.
Support Engineering throughout the implementation.
Support, guide, and inspire designers in product design.
Support the design team in achieving a high level of quality.

Synthesize

Synthesize results from user research into coherent user experience design solutions.

Take

Take a creative approach to solving problems and finding solutions.
Take an active role in quality assurance and sign off of designs developed.
Take ownership to drive the UX strategy - be an evangelist for UX practices across the company.
Take part, and sometimes lead user research sessions.
Take part in our regular design team critique sessions where we support each other to our best work.

Translate

Translate user needs and business objectives into designs that help our users.

Understand

Understand and take responsibility for your part in our success.
Understand business requirements whilst advocating for everyday users.
Understand processes related to user experience testing.
Understand project goals and meaningfully synthesize them into cohesive digital experiences.
Understand the balance between UX and beautiful UI / visual design.
Understand the importance of putting the user at the center of each design decision.

Use

Use an evidence-based approach to decision making while enhancing customer experience.
Use, build, and improve upon the inVibe design system.
Use business requirements to assist in developing use cases and high-level requirements.
Use data, professional insights, and experience to inform design decisions.
Use LaunchNotes to communicate your changes to the rest of the company.

Validate

Validate hypotheses by prototyping and testing product concepts at a range of fidelities.
Validate solutions and test hypotheses by building and analyzing experiments.

Work with

Work on the complete product design process, from research to delivery.
Work to improve current experiences and products and help build new ones.
Work with a multi-disciplinary team made of engineers and product managers.
Work with different teams to improve the design quality of documentation, our websites and tooling.
Work with Engineering and deliver functional specs that are turned into working products.
Work with engineering partners to implement and iterate designs.
Work with engineering to define requirements, not just translate them to design.
Work with engineers to deliver polished final product.
Work with engineers to ensure that features are implemented at high quality.
Work with engineers to implement UI and interactions.
Work with high-quality, rich datasets from Fortune 500s to drive insights for our customers.
Work within our visual design language, pattern library & usage guidelines.
Work within the constraints of an established brand and style-guide.
Work with leadership in design planning and goal creation.
Work with our product & engineering team to deliver world class user experiences.
Work with product management and Interaction Designers to help define product specifications.
Work with stakeholders to ensure overall goals and needs are met.
Work with the client and users to facilitate testing and analysis of experiences.
Work with the design and product team to influence the product strategy and overall vision.
Work with the engineering team to deliver those workflows the same way they were envisioned.
Work with the Marketing team to craft engaging visuals for Clyde content.
Work with user research and evaluate and implement user feedback.

Most In-demand Hard Skills

The following list describes the most required technical skills of a Product Designer:

Sketch
Figma
Design
UX
Product Design
Invision
CSS
HTML
Interaction Design
Visual Design
UI
User Research
Design Tools
Prototyping
Javascript
Prototyping Tools
Adobe Creative Suite
IOS
Photoshop
Mobile
Product
Design Systems
Android
Agile
Illustrator
Typography
Graphic Design
Ui Design
Product Managers
Agile Environment
Information Architecture
Ux Design
HCI
Wireframes
Zeplin
Design Process
Product Designer
Design Software
Abstract
Adobe XD

Most In-demand Soft Skills

The following list describes the most required soft skills of a Product Designer:

Written and oral communication skills
Attention to detail
Problem-solving attitude
Analytical ability
Collaborative
Creative
Presentation
Organizational capacity
Self-motivated
Team player
Self-starter
Curious
Interpersonal skills
Detail-oriented
Empathy
Time-management
Work independently with little direction
Leadership
Positive attitude
Adaptable to changes
Autonomous
Flexible
Proactive
Take initiative
Ambiguity
Enthusiastic
Critical thinker
Eager to learn
Empathetic
Work ethic