What Is a Product Designer? Salaries, Skills, and More

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A product designer is somebody who oversees the design process of a product from start to finish or the improvement of an existing product. A product designer might brainstorm solutions to current pain points, take input from stakeholders, act as a liaison between designers, engineers, and researchers, and help compose mock-ups through wireframes and prototypes. They have an understanding of the bigger goals of the product while being mindful of the details needed to achieve them.

Learn more about what a product designer is, what they do, and the steps you can take to start your career as one. If you’re ready to begin your career journey now, consider pursuing the Google UX Design Professional Certificate to learn how to empathize with users, define pain points, ideate solutions, create wireframes and prototypes, test and iterate on designs, and more. 

What is product design?

Product design is the process of creating a digital or physical good. The process is generally grounded in research and involves keeping the user’s experience in mind.

Product design has, in recent years, become associated with digital products like software or apps. Product design can also refer to the design of physical products, like furniture, electronics, and other manufactured goods. This latter type of design is also called industrial design.

What does a product designer do?

A product designer’s job typically includes a few key tasks. These can include: 

• Designing: As a product designer, you might wear many hats, but your principal task is still to design. You would use your knowledge of color, typography, detail, and other design elements to create a product.

• Thinking of the user: Product designers typically fold user experience (UX) principles into their designs. This doesn’t mean just making a product user-friendly. Employers may expect you to conduct A/B testing, email surveys, and other UX research, or know how to build wireframes, prototypes, and journey maps.

• Collaborating across teams: As a person who takes a holistic view of designing a product, you might collaborate with designers, researchers, and business teams. This helps to ensure the finished product aligns with a company’s goals and folds in all the processes necessary to make the product user-friendly and well-designed.

Product designer vs. UX designer: The differences explained

A UX designer usually focuses on a portion of the design process, making sure a product is optimally designed for user experience. A product designer might focus on the entirety of the process, including ensuring a product fits a company’s business needs. UX designers might also work more heavily in the initial design stage of the product, while product designers often work to improve existing products.

A product designer often works with UX designers and is generally expected to have a good understanding of UX principles. 

How much do product designers make?

A product designer in the US makes an average base salary between $69,000 and $116,000, according to Glassdoor [1]. Average additional pay, such as bonuses, commission, and profit sharing, ranges from $18,000 to $34,000, bringing the median total pay for a product designer in the US to $114,000 per year [1]. Compare this with the median total pay for UX designers, who earn $109,000, and product managers, who make $147,000, respectively [2, 3].

How to become a product designer

You may become a product designer in many ways. Discover some of your options, ranging from gaining skills to starting in entry-level roles. 

Gain relevant skills.

• UX/UI: Understanding what a user wants to accomplish, what their pain points are, and how a product makes them feel is a core component of design. Technical skills to learn can include wireframing and prototyping, conducting research, and testing product features. Prototyping tools can include Miro, Principle, or Figma.

• Visual design tools: A product that’s pleasing to the eye can delight customers and make for a pleasant user experience. Job descriptions often request that you have a sense of aesthetics and some knowledge of the tools used in visual design. These can include Figma, Sketch, or Adobe Creative Suite.

• Project management or leadership experience: Having some practice seeing the bigger picture of a process, being able to strategize, and knowing how to execute a vision can come in handy as a product designer. You don’t have to have worked as a project manager, but some experience in creating, overseeing, or implementing a project can be useful.

Build a portfolio. 

A portfolio can show employers your past projects, your aesthetic, and how you incorporate business needs into design. A portfolio as a product designer can have an “About me” section to describe your background and strengths. You can build a portfolio through website builders like WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, or Webflow. 

If you don’t have enough projects to fill out a website, don’t worry. You can start by uploading your projects onto your LinkedIn profile and constructing a full portfolio somewhere down the line. These may include past work projects, personal projects you’ve created, or work from courses you’ve taken.

Start in related product design roles. 

You may gain related experience by working in roles that expose you to different aspects of product design.

Depending on your skill set, you might try starting out in UX design, graphic design, copywriting, or information architecture roles.

Take courses.

Regardless of whether you’ve worked in a related role before or are starting from scratch, courses can polish the skills that you have yet to master. See where the gaps in your arsenal of skills are. Discover resources below to find one that suits your needs.

Gain deeper insight into the product design process with our free learning resources

Explore helpful tool tutorials, revisit essential UX concepts, and stay on top of the latest product design trends with Coursera’s free digital resources. 

• View tool tutorial: How to Create Google A/B Testing

• Bookmark for quick access: Glossary of UX Terms and Definitions

• Watch on YouTube: AI-Driven Product Design with Jeff Hollan or How to Create Low-Fidelity Wireframes in Miro and Sketch

Subscribe to Coursera Plus When you enroll in either the monthly or annual option, you’ll get access to over 10,000 expert-led courses. 

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