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I've been in the process of gathering up my clients, my portfolio, and my wits as I consider a move from consulting back to an agency type environment. As a result, for the first time in half a decade, I'm looking at job boards. The UX stuff is... god... it's really confused.

I've found that fully 80% of the time, people hiring a "UX Pro" are actually looking for a product designer with about 4 years of experience and not a true UX practitioner. What's the difference?

  • A product designer is a light-duty front end engineer and graphic designer, for web & mobile, who has a secondary understanding of UX principles as they apply to his or her craft. S/he generally comes from an entrepreneurial background. S/he excels at coming up with the presentation of the big idea and executing on it. The role is most analogous to advertising's creative director.
  • A UX designer is someone who comes from a research position, who has a secondary understanding of how front end code works, and often has prior agency training. S/he is rightly considered the project team's conscience and ensures that all work remains accountable to the needs of the end user. S/he excels at coming up with the big idea in the first place, then articulating it to creatives and engineers. The role is most analogous to advertising's account planner.
  • Both typically have some formal training in visual design, although the product designer is more likely to have an actual bachelors in graphic design.

In reality though, what's going on is that people are getting hired into UX roles, having never learned the UX process, as articulated by Garrett and others. Instead, they're getting paid 15%+ less than the title should warrant, and treated as glorified wireframe monkeys. This is blurring the public understanding of what user experience seeks to accomplish, while promoting people who haven't been fully trained into a role they may not be fully qualified to hold at the senior level when they go to apply for their next job.

True, there are those who can write PHP, CSS3, JS, and also understand the difference between a card sort and a conjoint analysis, but that's something above and beyond the early-career stuff that makes up the bulk of HR requests. You'll see postings from this type of creature in here from time to time, but they're generally considered unicorns, especially if they have Agile experience to top it off.

I would pose the question to this group - what can we do about it? Should we do anything about it? Is it ok that UX and product design are so often viewed under the same umbrella, when there is actually a fairly large difference between the two?

Eventually, the issues will resolve themsleves. They certainly did in advertising's field of account planning, which is a very close allegory to the role of a modern UX designer.

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If you look at UX Design as an agnostic discipline (the way most of us were taught), the definition becomes clear. I think it is the 'U' that makes it confusing. Saying the word 'user' makes people think of digital product (something rendered on a screen), whereas if you say 'customer' you are actually closer to the truth. We are even considering the removal of the term 'user' from our marketing to address this confusion - we would then be called 'experience designers.'

My agency works in BOTH physical AND digital product - and for now, we call ourselves UX'ers.

For example, we just completed a headphone review where we looked at style, beauty, form factor, feature set, functionality, build quality, connectivity, etc. There is no digital interface for these headphones, yet we changed almost everything about the product through classic UX research to the delight of our client (competitive analysis, lab testing, field testing, marketing language, packaging, distribution, etc.). After our review, several tweaks were made to the product and it is leading its category in sales. It probably wouldn't have done nearly as well if it hadn't been tested by trained UX'ers.

Most of our partners come from a UI background, but what's interesting is that the protocols Garrett and others talk about are completely applicable to ALL PRODUCT and ALL SERVICES. People have an emotional reaction to everything they come into contact with, and this emotion is measurable and actionable. Behavior, too, is nearly a constant across all product, and is also measurable and actionable at the user/customer level. Do you have an 'experience' with headphones? Yes. Is going to a concert an 'experience?' Yes. Do you have an 'experience with an app?' Yes.

True UX is the study of PEOPLE. Its value is universal as every company sells to people. And you're correct, it will only get more valuable as time goes on and we get clear on the definition. Wouldn't you like to know what your customer wants before you start building… anything? That is what UX offers across all products. I don't really care if people want to call me a product designer or a product planner or a UX Pro - I study people, and that study is directly applicable to design.

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  • Thanks for the reply Brian. I think you're right that "experience" is the root of the trade. It seems to me that "User Experience" denotes a digital experience, "Customer Experience" denotes a service experience, and product experience is often indicated by the umbrella title of "Experience Design". Ultimately, I think you do a good job of illustrating the key point - that designing experiences is at the root of UX. Thus, if the average UX Design job is asking for a front end engineer / graphic designer we have a real problem.
    – Imperative
    Jun 25, 2014 at 21:17
  • Maybe "Human Design" would be a better term?
    – Mike Chamberlain
    Jul 3, 2014 at 9:43
  • Ha, my tagline is "Designed for Humans"
    – Imperative
    Jul 4, 2014 at 1:02
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I like to think of a great product in terms of a layered cake, and the roles as individual layers this includes Researcher, Information Architect, Content Strategist, Ui Designer, and engineer, to name a few.

User experience on the other hand is the actual satisfaction derived by devouring that cake.

With that said the success of each product is derived from the combination of all those layers.

The real issue of confusion stems from clients who lack the understanding or budget to find the individuals to fill those layers. They either fail to clarify the role they are searching for, or look for someone who can do a bit of everything in which case they are risk delivering a cake to the market that tastes flat.

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    Ok, now I'm hungry. I'll go cook something while I think about my response :)
    – Imperative
    Jun 30, 2014 at 4:58
  • There was actually a lot of really diverse discussion on a near clone of this post that I put up in my UX group on LinkedIn. What you are describing was identified as an agency process, where the developer can afford to have a large team on multiple projects. In a lot of cases though, the UX person is working with a smaller team and, as such, needs to practice a broader skill set. S/he also needs to rely on non-UX team members to be more familiar with UX design philosophy, whereas in an agency environment, the JS engineer doesn't necessarily need to know UX to do his or her job well.
    – Imperative
    Jul 4, 2014 at 1:05
  • So does that mean you believe a UX person should handle the Research, Wireframing, Visual Design, And the development. And while we're at it lets throw in content strategy, and business strategy for good measure. They should also be able to entertain clients by performing circus tricks, juggling is a good one.
    – Stan Grinapol
    Jul 13, 2014 at 16:49
  • As a result of several of these threads, I’ve come to two simple conclusions. First, no two companies define UX the same way. Second, no matter how good you are at design, code, writing, or research; you’ll always be asked to do whichever task you feel least proficient in. As Morpheus once explained, fate is not without a sense of irony. I think this was the point of the entire conversation though - that UX is a process, but the interpretation depends on the job. If, as professionals, we want a core set of principles that guide our craft, we're going to have to impose them ourselves.
    – Imperative
    Jul 14, 2014 at 23:03
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Maybe not the direct answer of your question but i would like to share my thoughts on does it matter part?

Everyone is a designer.

This was said way before the invention of Internet or PC. The difference of between Product and UX designer is very subjective at this age. There won't be an exact answer.

Design always shaped by the needs of the time. Cathedrals designed by people for a purpose with different tools. War elephants were designed by people for a purpose. Gillette posters are designed for a purpose with markers. Braun products are designed for a purpose with physical models. Websites are design for a purpose with pen, paper and prototyping tools...

A designer should focus on purpose whether he is a product designer/ UX designer or hair designer. Tell them how you will fix their problem and add a purpose.

Before all from that, live with a purpose.

In future, there may be MX Designers- Machine Experience Designers. MI Designers- Machine Interface Designers, SX - Society Experience designers. Nobody knows and yes it is very subjective but still there will be a purpose.

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  • Thank you for the thought provoking answer. I believe you are right that design is increasingly at the center of good engineering, meaning everyone needs to be a part of design culture. I've also come to align myself with those who feel there are three jobs under the aegis of user experience: visual design, interaction design, and research. In a startup environment, you'll often get overlap between those three disciplines and either the engineering or graphic design teams, which is why you'll often see ads for a UX designer who can code.
    – Imperative
    Feb 25, 2015 at 2:18
  • @Imperative sorry for my late response. I agree that start-up needs more generalist designers. This is not a bad thing. I think that this diversion and expertise approach is not the way of future. If you really believe T-shape people, product design or Ux design is not going to matter but how they see the world might be different.
    – Abektes
    Mar 4, 2015 at 20:27
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It matters, as UX designer has more broad responsibilities, researching and testing, while product designer just takes into account visual perception of users, focuses on visual perception of a website or application.

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    Having studied industrial design / product design (focus on digital media) I must say that I do disagree. UX was actually one (important) part of the program people could focus on – but the perspective what matters and what field is 'broader' may of course vary from school to school.
    – tillinberlin
    Feb 24, 2015 at 9:58
  • Completely wrong, sorry for downvoting...
    – Abektes
    Feb 24, 2015 at 10:56
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1. Different Definition

The product designer handles the overall function and working process of the product. They are the guardians of user needs.

UX designers are responsible for the function of the user interface and user-friendly experience.

2. The Different Responsibilities & Skills Product Designer Responsibilities & Skills

  1. Study the user demand through the market research. Generate the market requirements document.

  2. Be responsible for overall design of new product and draw up a design plan.

  3. Take part in or supervise the prototype design of new products.

  4. Organize the team for product development and follow up product development to ensure process.

  5. Analyze product operation data, optimize product and put forward reasonable operation suggestion.

  6. Improve the product or design the new product centers on user experience.

UX Designer Responsibilities

  1. Make an analysis of competitive products from several aspects. Interview users after collecting the relevant data and then issue the requirement document.

  2. Draw a use flow chart, make low-fidelity prototypes and modify it.

  3. Define interactive design solutions for product prototypes and create high fidelity prototypes.

  4. Grasp the interface style and layout of the product. Design the text of the key page.

  5. Test the feasibility of the product after finishing the interaction design. Find out the existing problems.

  6. Optimize the design to improve the usability of the product.

Above all, it is not difficult to find that product designers and UX designers job duties are similar. Product designers have a wider range of work. They not only need to know the user experience design process but also take part in the most UX designer work.

Product Designers Pay Attention To The Following Questions.

Who will buy the product and how to use it?

How to make the product convenient and safe to use?

How to make the appearance of products more attractive?

How to make the product cost less?

UX Designer Focus on Two Aspects.

Is the product easy to use?

How to make a user-friendly design?

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