UI/UX Designers

Differentiating UI/UX Designers

Until recently, the term product was only used in relation to something physical and often found in a retail store, but nowadays it has come to mean digital products as well. Apps are the new products. When it comes to building great products, the design is the most crucial feature. Therefore, we’ve moved into the stage where product design dominates. With that in mind, these features are what sets companies apart and gives them a real edge over their competitors. 

The design industry has evolved quite a lot in the last few years, and today there are several different responsibilities distributed by the umbrella term designer, they are:

• UX Designers 
• UI Designers
• Product Designers.

The difference between these job roles is a fairly common question in the design industry.

Let’s attempt to distill what each of these titles really mean, and look at why the evolution of UI/UX Designers into Product Designers is a logical development in this era of modern technology. 

The designers are defined by what they do, and therefore setting the boundaries.

Who Does What?

All of these roles have one thing in common  –  they all design how a user interacts with a product. But these people all perform slightly different functions to reach the same goal. Putting that into perspective,

UX Designers are primarily concerned with how the product feels.

The goal is to make the user’s interaction as efficient and straightforward as possible, writing various product user scenarios and building patterns of interaction. Prototyping an interface and creating the product’s logic via wireframes.

UI designers, on the other hand, are the people who are primarily concerned about how the product looks. They are responsible for how we see the product in its final version. They are in charge of designing each screen or page with which a user interacts and ensuring that the user interface visually communicates the logic that a UX designer has offered (for example, a UI designer creating a data dashboard can front-load the most relevant content at the top). UI designers are also responsible for creating a style guide and unified visual language that is applied across the product.

Product Designer is a sum-up term used to describe a designer who is generally involved in the creation of the look and feel of a full product. Many product designers consider themselves to be designers who design experiences. This means that a product designer is the one who gives real insight to UX and UI designers when it comes to how certain features should work, or how a specific UI control should look.