Product Designer

A Product Designer is a digital product design professional who connects an understanding of user needs with the creation and subsequent validation of journeys and interfaces. They turn usability problems into proposals that the team can examine, test and improve. Their work covers the product experience, from analysing a need through to making design adjustments.

They map out how information is organised, the steps in a journey and interactions with an interface. A mock-up makes a proposal visible. A prototype allows interactions to be tested. Observations gathered from users then inform revisions to the design. This job profile covers digital products and services, without extending its scope to industrial design or leading a design function.

Product Designer, UX Designer and UI Designer: who does what?

To define the role you are hiring for, use the following division of responsibilities as a starting point, then adjust it to the skills available:

• Product Designer: make them responsible for maintaining continuity between understanding how people use the product, designing journeys and interfaces, and validating those designs.
• UX Designer: specify which tasks should focus on the user experience, information organisation and user journeys.
• UI Designer: define the tasks devoted to components and detailed interface design.

These titles are not enough to establish who makes each decision. Specify who prepares the research, who designs the interfaces and who follows up on adjustments with the development team. Avoid inferring a candidate’s autonomy solely from their previous job title.

The Product Designer explains their design choices to development teams and discusses whether they are feasible. To organise this cooperation, identify the designer’s manager, their contacts in the product team and the decisions they can make independently. The design responsibility described here does not, in itself, imply managing a team.

The aim is to connect design decisions with identified needs. Gathering user data helps the team understand users’ motivations, behaviours and the difficulties they encounter. Journeys and prototypes allow the team to discuss proposals before proceeding with implementation. Testing then helps to identify problems and adjust the solution.

When recruiting, examine the type of difficulty the company wants to resolve. The visual quality of screens alone cannot address a need to understand how people use a product. Conversely, existing research needs to translate into journeys and interfaces detailed enough to discuss with developers. Choose the priority skills based on this practical work.

Fictional example: a team wants to simplify a form used by several user groups. The designer starts by clarifying the difficulties encountered, maps out a new journey, then prepares a prototype to test. If users still do not understand a step, ask for the design to be revised before considering the problem resolved.

Consistency between interfaces is another point to consider. A design system is a shared set of interface elements and their rules. Its components allow design work to start from a common foundation. The work also includes identifying the component behaviours needed and adapting components to technical constraints. Define who can propose these changes and who takes part in reviewing them.

Accessibility must also be included when defining the scope of the work: the journeys and tests documented in the UX/UI framework take people with disabilities into account. When recruiting, specify the user groups concerned and the situations in which they will use the product. Finally, avoid making the designer responsible for an experience they can neither observe nor discuss with the teams implementing it. Arrange this access when defining the role.

• Gather information about user needs and analyse user behaviour to clarify design problems.
• Structure information and map out how users navigate the product.
• Design the mock-ups and prototypes needed to examine interactions.
• Prepare and carry out user tests to identify the improvements needed.
• Adjust journeys and interfaces based on test results.
• Integrate accessibility needs into design choices.
• Use and develop design system components while taking technical constraints into account.
• Document design choices to share them with project stakeholders.
• Discuss the feasibility of proposals with developers and adjust specifications.

UX/UI training is one possible route into the profession. The certification framework published by France compétences lists Product designer among its career opportunities and combines design, understanding users and collaboration with development teams. This training pathway is not a mandatory qualification for every Product Designer role.

To assess a training course, look at the skills it has helped develop. Look for the ability to gather information about user needs, organise a journey, represent an interface and prepare tests. Also consider accessibility and the documentation of design choices. A list of software taught does not, on its own, describe someone’s ability to carry out this work.

For someone changing careers, distinguish skills already put into practice from activities still carried out with support. A training project can demonstrate a structured approach. Professional experience provides a context of responsibilities and collaboration with other participants.

The autonomy gained and the support needed depend on the individual’s background. The British framework for the related role of Interaction designer distinguishes, in particular, work carried out after initial guidance and the ability to ask for support. If an experienced designer can support the new recruit, identify the activities in which the recruit can build their skills.

The foundation of GetPro’s method

GetPro prepares the assessment using a set of criteria ranked by priority. The assessment framework distinguishes elements that can be verified in a candidate’s background from those that require a discussion or test, with an assessment method for each criterion. During interviews, essential criteria are explored through open-ended questions and concrete examples.

Reference checks complement this assessment by exploring the context in which the candidate worked with others, skills that need clarification and examples of those skills in practice.

Recommended ways to assess a Product Designer

The following steps suggest how to adapt the assessment to this role. They are recommendations for your recruitment process and do not describe a Product Designer-specific protocol used by GetPro.

1. Define the criteria for the role

Establish an assessment framework before the interviews. Set separate criteria for understanding needs, journey design, interface quality, accessibility, testing and cooperation with development teams. For each criterion, specify which tasks the person will need to perform independently.

Weight these criteria according to the work to be assigned. If you already have research available, pay particular attention to how it is translated into design proposals. If the need is still poorly defined, give more attention to the research approach.

Identify who will assess each skill. If your company does not have design expertise, involve an experienced designer in the technical assessment. Ask contacts in the product and development teams to assess the candidate’s ability to cooperate as the role requires.

2. Examine a completed project

Invite the candidate to present a project, starting with the user problem. Ask them to explain what information was available, the constraints and their personal contribution. Ask them to distinguish their own choices from decisions made collectively.

Examine the intermediate stages, then the changes made following feedback. A positive sign is an explanation that connects observations, decisions and changes to the design. Probe claims about results when no supporting evidence is presented.

When documents cannot be shared, ask for a sufficiently detailed description of the approach. Avoid confusing a lack of documents you can review with a lack of skill.

3. Use an exercise that reflects the role

Choose an exercise limited to a design decision representative of the role. Provide the necessary information and state the criteria being assessed. Assess the reasoning, the questions asked and the way uncertainties are handled.

Fictional example: present a journey in which users do not understand how to return to the previous step. Ask the candidate what information to gather, how to represent an alternative and how to test it.

Observe whether they distinguish a hypothesis from an observation. Ask how they would take people with disabilities into account. If their response consists only of a visual design, explore it further if the role also includes research and testing.

4. Discuss constraints and cooperation

Present a technical constraint for discussion, then ask what adaptations could be considered. Assess the candidate’s ability to explain a proposal and listen to objections. Look for a detailed discussion of the consequences for the user.

Ask the candidate to explain how they would document a decision for developers. If they will be supporting other designers, ask for an example of constructive feedback. Reserve line management questions for roles that actually include this responsibility.

5. Cross-check observations and references

Compare the evidence gathered with your initial assessment framework. Note the skills demonstrated, those that remain uncertain and the support the candidate would need. Do not let presentation quality alone determine your assessment.

If you check references, ask for examples of responsibilities held, cooperation and responses to feedback. Look for concrete evidence that helps you understand the context of the work described.

Decide how well the capabilities observed match the needs of the role. Uncertainty about a core skill deserves targeted further investigation before you make your decision.