How to be a product designer
The process of finding your way.
Update
After publishing the first version of this article and receiving some responses, I wanted to take the time to refine what I wrote and address the feedback. I also want to call out that this is by no means a step by step guide to becoming a product designer. Instead, it’s based off of my personal career journey and an insight into how it’s evolved over the years to become what it is today. Everyone’s journey is different and I hope that this helps tell the story that no job experience should be written off as worthless or irrelevant to your overall goal.
Where it began
I might be a Product Designer now, but I didn’t always know that’s what I would be when I started my career. Let me start at the beginning of my journey. I went to college for Fine Arts and had found my way to where I am through a lot of trial and error. So, I wanted to talk about the process and how each and every single thing you do, will ultimately lead you on the right path.
I started out as a Fine Arts major and in my mind I was going to be a College Professor teaching drawing or painting. I had taken every studio class my school had to offer and was pretty good at all of them. I took drawing, painting, etching, sculpture, screen printing, photography, and so on. But I never truly loved any of them. I was on track to graduate early when I decided I would try the ‘dark side’ of art school, aka graphic design. At that point, I had never even touched a MacBook, let alone heard of Adobe or sketch, all of which would be my best friends later in my career. I showed up to my first class way in over my head and super intimidated by the programs and computer that I didn’t know how to use. We started to learn the fundamentals of design, the importance of concepts, and the history of graphic design. As more projects came in, I discovered that not only did I really enjoy what I was doing, but I excelled at it. The graphic design program at my college was very much so a traditional program. We focused primarily on branding and print design and hardly did any digital based projects. I ended up working at a small boutique design studio in the area for two years. There I worked on publication and magazine design. Once I graduated college, I had my mind set on New York City and the digital world.
Getting into the digital space
I started applying to different agencies around New York and landed a few interviews. Oh, man was interviewing back then rough. I had no experience and I was trying to get myself into the digital space with no real digital portfolio pieces. I had my mind set on digital because I felt like that’s where my future needed to be. I was hired at my first job, not based on my digital work, but based on my strong knowledge of the fundamentals of design. The first agency I worked for exposed me to many different types of digital design projects. I was able to work on websites, branding campaigns, apps, and even social media campaigns. It opened my eyes to what digital design had to offer as a visual designer. It also taught me what I did and didn’t like to work on. One of my favorite projects there had been working on an app where we were tasked with creating a new look and feel without altering the structure, aka strictly a UI re-design. I loved it.
Exposure
From there I knew that I wanted my next job to only be about app design. Again, I worked at another full service agency. This time however, I was allocated to one client and tasked with overhauling their app. I was on a team that consisted of UX Designers, Visual Designers, Project Managers, Business Analysts, and Copywriters. It was a key point in my career where I was able to understand each piece of the puzzle and really grasp what a product was. I was in brainstorming sessions, user story grooming sessions, meetings about business requirements and helped with the initial mapping out of the app. Even though I primarily took care of the UI of the app as a visual designer, I collaborated very closely with my UX partner to create personas, user flows, wireframes, etc. It was the first time I was exposed to UX design and the logical thinking that comes with it. I knew this was a space I needed to be in.
Transitioning
I then took a Senior Designer position where again, I was allocated to one client and had a UX partner. This time, the line between my partner and my roles was very blurred. We both thought through the product from start to finish and were responsible for all of the decisions made on the platform. I was involved in every aspect of the project from road mapping sessions to launch. Little by little my knowledge of UX and UI design grew.
Now
In my current position I’ve transitioned into an in-house role. Here, I’m responsible for the design thinking behind all of the digital platforms my company has to offer. I’m working directly with Developers daily, strategizing with Product Owners, and thinking long term about where design can take the product. Unlike my previous positions where I’ve had a dedicated UX partner, I’m the primary person thinking through all aspects of the product. That includes UX, UI, interactions, etc. My journey has come full circle and I’m able to apply what I’ve learned in my previous positions to what I currently do.
Take aways
- You don’t have to know what you want to do with your career early on.
- Don’t be intimidated by the unknown.
- Take the risk of trying new things and transitioning into different roles.
- Learn as much as you can from others.
- Apply what you’ve learned at your previous jobs to your next jobs.
- Use your experiences to determine what you do and don’t like about where you are to get to where you want to be.
Conclusion
I went from not having ever touched a Macbook to being a Product Designer who would be lost without one. The journey might take a while, but harness what you’ve learned at each point in your career and use it to your advantage to get to where you want to be.
