Product Design vs UX Design – What are the Must-Know Differences?

Summary – Product designers and UX designers both have varying value in a company despite overlap in many areas. UX designers need to focus on user needs when designing products and developing wireframes, mockups, and prototypes. They have to align with business visions and objectives. Product designers focus on needs of consumers by designing products, whether embedded hardware or digital, to solve their pressing problems. Let’s learn more about product design vs UX design in this blog.

Analogy – To understand the comparison between product design vs UX design, let us take an example of smart switch and its application. The embedded hardware, i.e., smart switch is the product design whereas the application or software through which it is controlled requires UX designing.

The design industry is constantly evolving. But, as of now, these are some of the elements UX and product designs involve:

• Usability
• Accessibility
• Interaction Pleasure

Priority for Businesses Today?

The old school of thought says that designers focus only on aesthetics, i.e., color and typography. The rest of the app design is the software engineer’s role. But then, the question of who is the primary target audience, i.e., user satisfaction, is not being focused upon.

Hence, now, the new school of thought thinks that designer who mainly focuses on user experience are UX designers.

On the other hand, digital product design is holistic – it involves UI, UX, product capabilities, business perspective, etc. Hence, the one who takes care of all these is the product designer.

Statistics say that business professionals consider Customer Experience their topmost priority in the years to come. Check out the below columns in graph.

(Stat Source)

This blog will bring your confusion about product design vs UX design to an end.

What is UX Design?

UX is a user’s experience with a digital product, service, or solution. We call UX design the experience between a product and a person using it.

So, UX considers all these four aspects:

1. Value – Is the screen providing value to the user/viewer?

2. Function – Is the screen fulfilling its purpose?

3. Usability – Are all the elements easy to understand & use?

4. General Impression – Are all the screen elements complementing each other?

What is the Difference between UI and UX Designer?

Below is a table of differences between UX design vs UI design.

Types of UX Designs – Where is it Used?

The entire process of UX designing revolves around the user. Be it mobile apps, websites, web apps, or software development. A UX designer is responsible for the end user having a pleasant or satisfactory experience.

We all understand the importance of keeping a user glued to your app or website. Making them loyal to your app is one of the significant tasks too.

Here are a few types of UX design:

• Experience Strategy (ExS)

1. Experience strategizing role involves taking a holistic approach towards the business. It further involves including both – business and customer needs.
2. They are also known as UX Strategists.

• User Research (UR)

1. User research is an art. It’s like getting into the user’s mind and knowing what they want and at which moment.
2. To tackle this, they carry out in-depth research in both qualitative and quantitative terms.

• Information Architecture (IA)

1. Architecture – the word itself describes a structure.
2. There’s no perfect way to define an IA for UX. However, an effective method is arranging and placing all elements correctly.

• Interaction Design (IxD)

1. This is the smart strategy behind planning the interaction between a device and a user.
2. Also, how to optimize this experience is what the IxD focuses on.

Check out our best UX design portfolio on Dribbble.

What is Product Design?

To discover the ultimate differences between product design vs UX design, you would need to know the latter side too. Before 2010, the product word only meant tangible products like furniture, books, machines, etc. However, after software gained enough momentum in the industry, developers and designers started looking at apps the way Toyota or Hyundai looks at cars.

Types of Product Design

Product design is an integral part of hardware product engineering services. Under this comes embedded product development, smart wearable devices, building an IoT application, etc.

Although the above section might sound very tangible, in reality, the product design, apart from the hardware, has spread into the digital space like wildfire.

• Original Product Design

1. The design is innovative and new that poses solutions to new problems.
2. This is very much inspired by the latest technological advancements and scientific discoveries.

• Adaptive Product Design

1. The product designs have been combined to build an all-in-one solution to new problems.
2. The core solution is the same. However, there are considerable modifications that have problem solving attributes.

• Variant Design OR Redesign

1. When the design is changed, and the rest of the product remains the same, it is referred to as a variant design.
2. For example, this involves size ranges and modular goods designs.

As a matter of fact, mobile application development, website development, web app development, and software development and designing – these are all different products but require top-quality UX design. To leverage the end to end product development, you should consult an industry-popular companies.

Product Design vs UX Design – Duties & Roles

The role of product designer vs. user interface design confuses most people. Both roles focus on product development and use design thinking to solve problems. How do we compare product designers to designers? Which is the most appropriate career opportunity? Do all companies have both responsibilities? Let’s find out!

Product Designer vs. UX Designer – Comparative Analysis

Let’s compare the roles of product designer vs UX designer.

To answer your question, “What is the difference between product design and UX design?”, we formulated the above table of differences for you.

What are the Similarities between Product Design & UX Design?

Now, let us dig into the similarities between product design and UX design.

1. Both are based on a similar thought process. They both take into consideration the user journey and user flow.
2. A few procedure steps are common – Define, Ideate, and then Validate the work.
3. Both involve a lot of market research. Knowing the target users is necessary to design the whole product or its UX.
4. They both need thorough user testing. This is essential in both scenarios because, at the end of the day, the user’s reaction after using the product or interacting with the UI will matter the most.
5. Both utilize the same wireframing tools for planning the screens like Balsamiq, Sketch, Lucid Chart, and Overflow.

Misconceptions In Between UX Designer vs Product Designer – Let’s Clarify

After seeing difference between ux designer and product designer, let’s check how both concepts intersect on various boundaries. So, what is the difference between product designer and UX designer? Let us check out the overlapping aspects of UX design and product design.

1. They are the Same – Overlapping duties but independent missions. A product design aims to build the best digital product, whereas a UX design’s final objective is to provide a user with the best possible experience. To conclude, they both are not the same.
2. Point of View (POV) – Old school of thought believes that UX designer doesn’t consider business objectives, only user POV, whereas product designer considers both. In reality, both are carried out keeping the business and user’s point of view in mind.
3. Product Designer Works More than a UX Designer – This is not true! Both profiles are bombarded with tons of responsibilities. Hence, both designers work very hard with intense dedication.

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Product & UX Designer – What Problems does He/She Solve Exactly?

The product designer definition explains how he or she is responsible to mould and design a product according to a company’s norms and goals.

Specific Skill Set of Product and UX Designer

Product Design vs UX Design: Process Comparison

The User Experience design process might contain the steps like:

Define > Ideate > Validate > Design > Develop

The UX designing involves defining the target users first. Post that, ideating the further steps is possible. Once a skeleton is ready, one can validate the same for different user bases. Lastly, designing and technical development can take place.

Process of Product Designing is similar to UX. However, after launching the project, product owner follows these::

Adoption > Conversion > Retention > Advocacy > Growth

To answer the question, “What is the best process for product design?”…
It starts by adopting the idea of launching a product that caters to the user’s current needs. Next, the product must be convincing enough to convert the user into a customer. You must understand that converting for one sale is not enough. Maintaining and retaining the customer for a long time and gaining their loyalty is the challenge. Towards the end, you also need your customers to recommend your product to others to reach more audience. That’s how you will grow in the industry.

Product Design Cost vs UX Design Cost – How are They Decided?

The designing cost is dynamic for every product since it depends on its unique specializations, the time involved, and the number of people working on it. For more information on factors affecting cost, connect with our team by filling out the FREE inquiry form. Fill up the form!

How Much Does a UX Designer Earn?

Salaries for user experience designers vary by place in industries as well as experience level. Glassdoor estimates your average pay will probably range between $50k-60k a year for an UX designer at a startup in the USA. Design professionals who have more than 10 years experience can make nearly $3x more annually.

What is the Salary as Per Product Designer Skills?

The salary of product designers varies as per the geographic locations and expertise. If you are aspiring to become a product designer and want to build product design career with a reputed company, head to the careers page or fill out the form to receive a call from our HR team.

Conclusion of Product Designer vs. UX Designer

Understanding the similarities and differences and clearing out the misconceptions from your mind will help you refine your comprehension of the comparison between product design vs. UX design.

For proper take on commercials and services, you should get in touch with an industry-popular User Experience design agency that can help you with UI and UX designing. As a matter of fact, consult us for mobile app design services today.

In case you want to hire product designer who holds experience and expertise in managing the product; also works with full dedication like it is his or her own product – you can connect with us!

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