If you've been looking for a job in user-centered design over the last couple of years you surely have seen an uptick in 'Product Designer' roles on sites like LinkedIn and Glassdoor. At the same time, roles with 'UX' in their title are also displayed loud and proud. The job responsibilities, salary and details are basically all the same. Which one is correct? While new job titles are not inherently bad, I think the effect of adding another user-centered design job title with very similar responsibilities is confusing for both internal jobseekers, external employers and can reflect poorly on the industry. However, fear not as there is absolutely value in learning about and recognizing value in both UX paths!
The term 'Product Design' is rooted in the field of 'Industrial Design' -- here is a nice historical overview of how it intersects with UX. To put it succinctly, products used to be physical but now they are digital. Over the last few years large companies like Meta, Microsoft and Netflix have slowly transitioned to title their user-centered roles as 'Product Designers' rather than 'UX Designers'. This change is not inherently bad but it flies in the face of simplicity and clarity in storytelling for jobseekers and employers.
People often ask me to articulate the difference between a Product Designer and a UX Designer. From my lens, the biggest difference is that Product Designers seem to often forgo user research and instead focus on making designs higher fidelity with a focus on look and feel. While this is not always the case, the trend seems to be Product Designers rely less on traditional usability testing or research to inform their designs. UX Designers on the orher hand seem to have a greater appreciation for the rigor and strategy involved in design and how that feedback informs their designs. As with all things UX, there is no right answer.
For an industry of people who pride themselves on simplifying processes, interfaces and methods of doing business - we have a truly confounding amount of 'Designer' job titles. User Experience Designer, UX, IxD, Product, CX, Service, et al. Yes, there are nuances to each one but it is exhausting to pin them down or keep up. Putting yourself in others shoes (especially those outside of the industry) and you can begin to see the issue with our naming indulgences.
The user-centered design industry is already complex and murky; our job titles should not be! Yes, there are small differences in each and every role. However, the effect of this on jobseekers is they need to update their resume to read 'Product Designer' for some companies whereas others state it as 'UX Designer'. This can be especially exhausting within the current job-hunting landscape and add extra steps to an already grueling process. If this extra step is not taken, ATS resume readers will not pick up on specific keywords, which makes visibility even tougher to achieve.
Ultimately, as we know UX job titles are relatively meaningless if you're aware of the nuances. However, from the outside it makes the user centered design industry look fractured and at all odds. It pushes designers toward different ends of the UX spectrum in terms of skill set and value. Interpersonally, it also has the tendency to silo people into separate buckets for 'Design' and 'Research' which can further erode value to the other party.
While the separation between Product Designers and UX Designers will continue, there are some strategies to unify the two paths. First, Understand that UX is evolving and is no longer simply reciting usability heuristics and designing low fidelity wireframes. Designers should learn and apply research methodologies and researchers should learn to design or at least how to apply user feedback to refine designs. Respecting each path in user-centered design will help both parties to see the benefits of their opposite. Second, focus on rounding out your umbrella of UX skills, includes aspects of research and Product Design and learn how to make decisions without always relying on research. Employers these days like when UX practitioners can design without exhaustively testing. Third, understand that there is not much difference between the two sides of the coin. Don't feel separate as both UX and Producct are both champions for user-centered design. Use the skills of both UX paths to research, design, refine and deliver excellent experiences that both work well and look great.
