UX design vs. product design: what is the difference?

John Carter
UX Collective
Published in
4 min readAug 30, 2018

I hear this question being asked a lot, “What's the difference between UI/UX Design, and Product Design?” In my mind, a lot of the skills that are used for both these disciplines overlap a great deal, with a few small differences. These difference I will cover in this article.

We are starting to see an upward trend of UX Designers evolving and transitioning to the title of Product Designer.

Spoiler Alert!

There is not one MAJOR outstanding difference between the two! There are a few [small] things that make these two disciplines different. The skills are very similar, but it's the questions that each person asks along the way that make the distinction. FIRST, I'm going to go over some of the similarities.

Similarities between Product Design and UX Design.

Let's be clear, BOTH skill sets require the Design Thinking Process — At its core, Design Thinking is discovering and defining a usability problem, and then empathetically designing a solution based on that issue, taking a human-centered approach to not only the problem but factoring in the users needs with each and every step along the solution highway. One important thing to keep in mind, this IS NOT [ nor will it ever be ] a linear process. Its always changing and always evolving.

  • Both UX Design and Product Design require the designer to be focused on creating a better overall product for the end-user.
  • Both UX Design and Product Design require the designer to be able to quantify and analyze data.
  • Both UX Design and Product Design require the designer to use similar tools during their process.

Differences between Product Design and UX Design.

Ok now that we have gone over some of the similarities between the two, let's go over some of the key differences.

A Product Designer may focus more on business requirements during their process, more in regards to a product offering. For example, some of the questions a Product Designer may ask during their process would be, “Does this experience align with where our product and our business wants to be in 6 months?” Verses a UX Designer asking, “How will this experience strictly benefit our usability problems and our users?”

In essence, while the Product Designer definitely has the users' needs at the forefront of his solutions, The Product Designer always has the business requirements in mind while designing as well. For example, “where does this product need to be in 2 years? Where does the business want to be in 5 years? What will be our monthly ROI if we bring the cost down on our products?”

I think of it this way, a UX Designer is a strong advocate for the user. Whereas the Product designer is not only advocating for the users but is also an advocate for the company and the organization. Their business mind is sharp, and their knowledge of the domain in which they work is very deep.

In conclusion, we can draw many parallels between a UX Designer and a Product Designer. For me, the difference comes when the design process starts and the types of questions I’m asking. Unlike the ’90s and early 2000s, the internet is not confined to our desktops, or laptops anymore. The world is filled with so many different devices which makes design dynamic in every sense of the word, constantly changing and constantly evolving, just like the users. Depending on the products you’re working on, and the problems you’re solving, one day you might be a UX designer, and the next day you might be a Product Designer. Not only does this depend on the needs of your organization and your users, but it also depends on the problems you’re working to solve and the questions you ask along the way.

In the end, I’m a Product Designer, I have to toe the line carefully between business requirements and user needs because at the end of the day, Product Designer, or UX Designer, we’re all trying to solve problems for the end-users and ship high quality, user-friendly, beautiful products.

If you have any questions or want to know more about me, connect with me on LinkedIn, or follow me on Dribbble

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Responses (6)

What are your thoughts?

This I can agree with. I’ve been a UX Designer for the past 3 roles and now I am working as a Product Designer. UX Designers still care about business needs but Product Designer take that into consideration MORE.

at the end of the day, Product Designer, or UX Designer, we’re all trying to solve problems for the end-users

Thinking of it this way — after all, the business/organisation is also an end-user right?

Thanks, John for a very clear explanation I’m looking for. As a UX design student, this is really helpful for me to set my career goal.