UI UX Design vs Product Design: What is the Difference?

You would have encountered this situation where in titles - UI UX Designer and Product Designer are used interchangeably. But in fact, they are not exactly the same.

Generally, product designers tend to be more involved with the entirety of the design process of a product, while UX designers generally focus specifically on refining the user experience of a product.

Being a leading product design agency, we took this opportunity to explain the difference in a very short, crisp, and clear manner.

But, before diving into the differences, let us first understand what a product means.

Meaning of Product

In layman’s language, a product is nothing but a solution that helps people overcome a problem.

However, with the changing human perceptions, products have now started offering values and experiences along with solutions.

With technology evolving and cloud tech gaining dominance, now every software company that used to provide downloadable software or on CD drives have now permanently adopted the SaaS and PaaS model.

These digital products are built to solve problems faced by diverse sets of users, making product design and user experience a deciding factor. Regular updates are shipped out, wherein new features are added and adapts to the user feedback and market sentiments.

Google, hires product designers to test new features and improve the overall experience, even though its users do not pay for the service.

Consider one of the most widely used team collaboration platforms - Slack. Have you ever wondered why it gained such massive popularity and an amazing user adoption rate?

There are three key reasons behind the same.

Firstly, it is a perfect solution that resolves the core problem of communication.

Unlike traditional emailing methods, Slack offers itself as a natural, real-time conversation tool.

Lastly, it is the perfect example of an inward product that brings all other tools together and makes it easy for the users to navigate.

Role of UI UX Designer vs Product Designer

Now let’s explore the difference in the roles of UI UX designer and product designer.

Many people get confused about the difference between the roles of a UI/UX designer and a product designer. To a certain extent, they share the same role, but the difference lies on their focus. So let’s first understand what UI/UX designer does.

UI/UX designers concentrate on user satisfaction and ensure that the product meets users’ needs. Their central focus will be on user interaction while improving usability and accessibility.

UI/UX designer will work on the entire design thinking process, from research to ideation, and always keep the user in mind. They would work around the following aspects:

• Understanding user needs
• Personas, empathy maps, user flows
• Wireframes, Information Architecture
• UI design
• User testing / Usability testing
• Prototyping

In other words, they’re in charge of making sure the product is as user-friendly as possible.

Now, let’s understand what a product designer does.

They are involved in the same activities as UI/UX designers, but they’re more focused on:

• Building solutions
• Product Adoption
• Product usability & experience
• Product’s commercial aspects

Through competition, market and user research, your product designers collaborate closely with your following teams to identify business value opportunities:

• Technology
• Customer Service
• Sales
• Marketing

They ensure that your digital product remains relevant and competitive as market trends & client needs change.

Conclusion

In the end, we can witness that there is no apparent difference between UX design and product design. The only difference is the mindset. UX design is more about applying psychological principles to make the interface more user-friendly, while product design takes care of functionality, business goals, and UX design.

UX design can be applied to digital products, websites and mobile apps. In contrast, product design is more specialised and is used for designing digital products like SaaS applications and ERP software.

If you are looking to create a digital product and need the help of professionals for its design, contact Octet Design Studio at +91 85111 88998 or drop your requirements at [email protected]