Tips to grow as a Product Designer
Designers share learnings from a 2-year long product design career
This article is part of the series (4/5) in which I asked a bunch of designers their learnings from a 2-year long product design career. If you haven’t read the intro article, you can check it out here.
Question: Please share some resources (communities, blogs, or specific designers) that you use to keep yourself updated about product design?
Kenji Kaneko: Product designer at Duo Security
Refactoring UI, Learn UI Design, UX Design Newsletter by Kenny Chen, Behavioral Scientist newsletter.
Deepak Krishnan: UX designer at SAP San Ramon, Oakland, CA
UXdesign.cc, medium. There are so many websites I’m not going to mention more. Network with designers at other companies.
Nathan Magyar: UX Designer at the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation
I usually just find random Medium articles. I don’t have anything specific to share here, sorry.
Raymond Su: UX Designer at Telenav
N/A
Raden Tonev: UX Designer at Microsoft
Sidebar email group, Fast Company design news, Clever and Wireframe design podcasts. I actually also read a bunch of random pieces of content on twitter, google news, or watch on YouTube.
Jatin Gupta: Product Designer at Sprint (now T-mobile)
Sketch Together Youtube channel, Designer news blog, UX collective blog, Design details podcast, Mobbin.design (if you are an app designer)
Ruta Gokhale: UX Designer at Thomson Reuters
I like to read UX related articles on Medium and other blogs. I look for information as and when topics come up at work.
Olivia Patercsak: User Experience Architect at Esri
In general, UX conferences (often many share their talks on YouTube), Medium, Designernews.co
Question: Is there something (preferably related to design but anything creative) you are learning nowadays? If yes, what is it?
Kenji Kaneko: Product Designer at Duo Security
Deepak Krishnan: UX Designer at SAP
I’m learning to be a Product Manager. I’m interested in becoming the first successful Designer-PM combo human
Nathan Magyar: UX Designer at the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation
For the last two years I have spent a lot of time learning the frontend framework Vue.js in order to implement my own designs. I have also learned the web framework Django, so that I have a fuller understanding of all parts involved in a web application and can make more informed design choices.
Raymond Su: UX Designer at Telenav
Digital Illustration, Calligraphy, Reading
Raden Tonev: UX Designer at Microsoft
Drawing and making comic books
Jatin Gupta: Product Designer at Sprint (now T-mobile)
Currently I am going through material design guidelines and just in awe of the fact how detailed they are. I am also doing the 100 day Daily UI challenge and posting my designs on Dribbble.
Ruta Gokhale: UX Designer at Thomson Reuters
I’m trying to do more analog art! For now doing a 100-day art project.
Olivia Patercsak: User Experience Architect at Esri
Watercolor and gouache painting
Question: Is there a product you have come across that you thought was designed really well? Why did you think so?
Kenji Kaneko: Product Designer at Duo Security
I like the wide-open manner and usage of Miro.
Deepak Krishnan: UX Designer at SAP
Not a product, but a service. I recently looked at a YT channel called Investing with Rose. The channel helps those who are beginners to personal finance navigate the system. I found the videos and explanations really easy to understand and what was amazing was how the creator finished every video with an easy checklist of like 3 things you can start on immediately to develop better investment habits.
Nathan Magyar: UX Designer at the University of Michigan Center for Academic Innovation
Nothing comes to mind right now.
Raymond Su: UX Designer at Telenav
Recently, I have started using my iPad, Apple Pencil and the Procreate app for digital illustration. It’s quite an amazing experience and highly recommend others to try it as well.
Raden Tonev: UX Designer at Microsoft
Robinhood stocks trading app is pretty cool. I like how they let you slice the data in virtually any way you want. The interactions are quite clean and the look is sleek. I also really like how they effectively use news and notifications to supplement their core experience of trading stocks.
Jatin Gupta: Product Designer at Sprint (now T-mobile)
I really like the Pinterest mobile app. The interactions are very fresh including some hidden ones and don’t take focus away from the main purpose of the app which is to explore creative ideas.
Ruta Gokhale: UX Designer at Thomson Reuters
Lately, I’ve been listening to a few podcasts. So not a product, but I’m genuinely enjoying the audio storytelling experience. I like learning and hearing about new things as I go about my day.
Olivia Patercsak: User Experience Architect at Esri
My CamelBak water bottle. It’s insulated and keeps my water cold for hours; the bite valve makes it extremely easy to stay hydrated without even noticing.
Other articles in this series
Introduction: Meet the designers
Life as a Product Designer
- What does a typical workday look like for you (pre-quarantine)?
- What is 1 skill that you think is the most important to be a good product designer?
- What is the most challenging aspect of being a product designer?
Advice for new product designers
- What is 1 UX skill/course from the University of Michigan that translates directly into your work?
- What advice would you give to product designers starting their career?
- What is 1 thing you look for in a product design portfolio?
Tips to grow as a Product Designer (this article)
- Please share some resources (communities, blogs, or specific designers) that you use to keep yourself updated about product design?
- Is there something (preferably related to design but anything creative) you are learning nowadays? If yes, what is it?
- Is there a product you have come across that you thought was designed really well? Why did you think so?
Get help from these Professional Designers
- Is there something that you want to promote (personal website, Instagram, dribble)?
- Where can people reach out to you?
- What should people reach out to you?
Want to learn more?
If you’d like to become an expert in UX Design, Design Thinking, UI Design, or another related design topic, then consider to take an online UX course from the Interaction Design Foundation. For example, Design Thinking, Become a UX Designer from Scratch, Conducting Usability Testing or User Research — Methods and Best Practices. Good luck on your learning journey!
Hi! My name is Jatin Gupta. I am a product designer currently thinking about how to grow as a product designer.
Please comment below as to what you found useful from the article or if you have any suggestions for topics that I should write about.
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