Product Design and Product Road Map

Breaking product design down as a discipline including its responsibilities and the use of product road map.

In a recent article, A Guide to a Design Career Path, I wrote about the key differentiation among the key design disciplines — UX, UI, product, visual, and content. I spoke briefly about each and how you can find success based on the discipline’s core responsibilities.

For today’s story, I’ll like to look more into what exactly is product design, why it’s not the same as UX, and a quick guide on devising a successful product road map.

What is Product Design?

Product design is a more holistic design approach that looks at the product, providing longevity to its user experience, profitability, and business solutions.

To do so, product design not only includes the use of UX design, but also, the analysis of the product life cycle. It looks extensively at the market and competitive landscapes to form market predictions, in order to design for successful product strategies. Product designers are also expected to collaborate with a wide range of business stakeholders (ie. marketing, sales, developers, etc.) to gather all the necessary information to make informed decisions.

Individuals who excel in product design are those who can look at the types of projects that create the highest return on investment at a big picture perspective. They are reliant on data-backed research in order to make strategic…