Deep dive into the difference between junior and senior product designers

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For a long time I’ve wondered what the difference is between a Junior and Senior designer. Is it just years of experience? Don’t they do essentially the same job?
Since I became a senior designer, I’ve noticed it’s more than just doing the same tasks and responsibilities.
Here are a few differences - hope this helps with your design career!
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//LINKS
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//TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro
00:15 - Channel announcements
1:47 - Context setting
2:40 - Junior designer - Smaller projects
4:04 - Junior designer - Pixels vs impact
5:05 - Junior designer - Level of ownership
6:40 - Junior designer - Developing your craft
8:40 - Senior designer - Strong design craft
9:55 - Senior designer - Autonomy
10:55 - Senior designer - Influence and impact
12:18 - Senior designer - Know what to focus on and when
14:09 - Senior designer - Ownership & independence
15:00 - Wrap up
// MORE
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//GET STARTED IN UX
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[@sebluketravis2438]

One of the most under-appreciated aspects of being a Senior Product Designer is the ability to negotiate your contract at the start. I am still shocked to see many Senior Product Designers accepting 6 month probations with 1 week notice periods or worse, zero contracts! I always get a long term notice period, as it means I am secure in the traditional sense, but also to use the C.H.R.I.S. framework - CHALLENGE, Honesty, Respectful, Integrity, Support. Most companies want senior skills in Product Designers with a mid-weight 'yes person' mentality. I tend to challenge assertively, and if it isn't a correlation, it is a big payoff and no skin off my beak in a candidate market.

[@femkedesign]

Great advice!

[@sebluketravis2438]

@@femkedesign thanks x

[@paupowpow5037]

in my experience this is way more chaotic. during my “career” i have been tasked with “senior” tasks since the very beginning, and i have also been surprised by jobs where i was micromanaged/only tasked with “junior” tasks disregarding my other skills completely. anyone else?

[@femkedesign]

From my knowledge the lines can blur at differently sized or staged companies.

[@hdk173]

Would love to see a similar video on the difference between Senior vs Staff Designers.

[@femkedesign]

Oh nice! I will keep this in mind :)

[@alessandroveggies8025]

Great video, as always, Femke. I personally would like to see more content about mid-level design, to better understand my position right now, and what to expect. Btw, I always listen to you and Charlie on Design life: I love your podcast! cheers from italy!

[@femkedesign]

Thanks for letting me know!

[@lemonbuzz642]

THIS!!! I don't know why, but most of the content on KZbin is either starting out or beginner. Where is the mid level or advanced????

[@femkedesign]

Agree! My goal with this channel is to share more mid-senior level content. Thanks for the feedback!

[@user-pg2bu8pe1s]

I love this so much. This helps me understand my role a little better. I'm technically a "Product Designer" but I'd say I'm doing some things in in the Senior Product Designer role and then there are definitely some of my skills that fall in the Junior Designer role that I can work on.

[@KaushikMuraliUX]

This video is so accurate. I can relate to it a lot as a junior designer.

[@valvich]

I really love this channel. Everything you share here is incredibly helpful. Thank you for sharing your experience, you have no idea how much this helped me go through.

[@MrTubber44]

Love you and your content! Happy 2022😊

[@femkedesign]

Thank so much!

[@dilu5365]

Love your videos! Happy New Year Femke 🧋

[@femkedesign]

Thanks Di! Happy New Year!

[@aaronpaulgz]

This is amazing! Thanks for this, Femke!

[@femkedesign]

You're so welcome!

[@GreciaOmana]

I loved this video! Thank you so much for sharing your knowledge 🙏🏻💖

[@femkedesign]

You're welcome :)

[@tyriquejohnson8054]

This video is very much appreciated. I’m currently preparing for my interview for a job as a Senior Designer tomorrow 😬😬😬

[@mehulshah9138]

This is amazing Femke!! Thanks for sharing !!

[@femkedesign]

You are so welcome!

[@emiliobuono]

Hey Femke! This is AMAZING - at this point in my journey as a Junior, your guidance is absolutely godlike!

[@femkedesign]

So glat yo hear it Emilio!

[@aistips]

Now I'm totally clear. Thanks.

[@jonathanpan2708]

This is a great video. Exactly explain the differences in bullet points! I felt exact the points you described :) I can relate so much as a senior designer. Although I do feel quite lonely sometimes hahaha. And struggling to having confidence in the proposal that maps to the vision.

[@femkedesign]

Thank you Jonathan! Sorry to hear you're feeling lonely though. Are there other senior designers in your company or team you can connect with?

[@DarshanGajara]

Moving or construction noise, nothing stops Femke from creating 🙌🏼

[@greycloudfull]

Thanks Femke, very interesting! This year I asked for a senior level and I got it, but I always struggle with impostor syndrome 🙈Listening to your experience I think I could be a senior even a year ago 🙃

[@femkedesign]

Congrats on your promotion Claudia! Remember that you were given this role for a reason - you can do it!! Thanks for the kind comment :)

[@matteoperdon2413]

Super video!!! In this year i started as a Junior Designer, following the Development Manager's decisions, and after starting to analyze multiple projects and brain storming with him. I think I m not a Senior, may be a beginner Mid(I know I have a lot of things to study). I have seen myself in the first part of the video; now it's time to develop more for ux design. Wonderful and inspirational video! Thanks

[@femkedesign]

Awesome Matteo! Hope you reach your goals ✨

[@marikoma2260]

I was asking this question all the time, since I was working as a junior designer and were working on three major projects, one was creating business bank webpage and second was already created online bank where I needed to create new screens on demand and also I got task of creating design library for this product and additionally I was working on redesign of delivery platform ( in this one just slight changes were needed on existing design but my mind was already blown by above stated two projects ) and my senior designer wasn't really involved in the process. Maybe 1hour a week. And he was all remote. Thanks for the information, I'll have those details in consideration on my future positions.

[@nicoechegaray7564]

Love your content, my takeaway from this video would be maybe to start “evangelizing” about the PM-PD relationship. IMO it's crucial for the success of any product that the collaboration with our PMs goes above & beyond. The creativeness and innovation that comes from this is really limitless.

[@afnovakful]

Great video 😊I love to hear other designers thoughts on this. I personally didnt have such a linear path to becoming a senior product designer. In some ways it was backwards, at a more strategic company. I’m not saying this is good or bad, but I want to share in case others are experiencing or expecting this gradual and logical leveling up from craft to more strategic. I think it highly depends on the worksplaces you end up, and your manager, as you mentioned. Good to think of when you’re first starting out!

[@femkedesign]

Yes! This linear path is definitely not always the norm. Your company and environment definitely influences this. Thank you for sharing.

[@brianm3160]

Femke, thank you! This video really eliminated my anxiety. I thought as a junior, I should be able to 100% handle myself and whatever they throw at me, but turns out, I'll be learning as time goes... Thank you!

[@femkedesign]

You're welcome Brian!

[@jbri1]

Despite the relatively modest sub count, you've made a fantastic channels with excellent videos :)

[@femkedesign]

Thanks so much :)

[@adapixei836]

Great video Femke, thanks for sharing your experience! I find this way of progression directly from junior to senior a bit odd. To me, some key points you mentioned for seniors are expected from a standard product designer. I sometimes see people with 5 years on the field with the label senior, while I'd expect someone to have decades of experience with this title (ok maybe not decades but you catch my drift). I'd love to hear you more on this topic.

[@femkedesign]

I would agree that there's overlap with regards to the skills expected - I think the differentiating factor however is proficiency and experience in those skills. Craft of course is expected as a standard skill from all designers at any level, however the expectation of your expertise with this skill can differ depending on your level of experience.

[@muru7514]

super helpful, thank you!

[@femkedesign]

So glad!

[@pudge789789]

This video is great - my only caveat would be in the case of a junior designer working as a solo designer, often in situations like these the junior designer will gain experience very similar to what is expected of a senior (hence the situation I am in, a very young senior designer 😅😊)

[@penny2808]

Thank you so much Femke as always, Welcome to Vancouver

[@femkedesign]

I hear you! I'm planning to do a video that touches on this topic so stay tuned.

[@keishamohammed232]

Yeeeees, welcome to VIctoria! I just moved here last June, absolutely love it here!

[@femkedesign]

Thanks Keisha! Loving it so far!

[@chinochico]

Woa, what a news!! Good luck on the new location!!!... I wonder what made you want to go to BC? everything is more expensive there lol - Is what I heard

[@femkedesign]

Thank you Kin! Closer to family, access to nature and more affordable housing.

[@discoteo]

Hi Femke, thanks for the video - very informative. Here's an idea for another one - senior product designers deliverables and collaboration with developers - what is expected from the deliverables, documentation, etc. and how do you communicate and then pass the work to developers :) Thanks and have a good day!

[@femkedesign]

Thanks! This video might help what you're looking for: kzbin.info/www/bejne/hnyblX-mrLikmNk

[@meleecraft]

Femke, you are a Superpeer. Have a blessed day

[@femkedesign]

Thanks!

[@richardlu6706]

Helpful high-level overviews of the jobs. I would have liked to hear some concrete examples of project differences at each level. For example, what kinds of features or flows would a junior work on? Or what might a “zero-to-one” senior design project look like?

[@femkedesign]

Good Q! It's hard to say without context or shared understanding of a company's product, but I'd say senior level work typically differs in terms of complexity or scope - you likely own a larger surface area of the product.

[@richardlu6706]

​@@femkedesign Since posting my comment, I was lucky enough to be hired as a junior designer at a company that values design. What you say here and in the video is exactly right - I work on small-scope features, like adding buttons or search filters. I think a lot about usability and interaction-level details. The senior designers, on the other hand, think more broadly about the user's journey. They make decisions on things with wider UX implications, like navigation structure. That being said, I have to be honest (and I mean this with no ill will toward you - I say this with constructive criticism in mind), I'm kind of dissatisfied with how the video and your response *tell* me what happens, but neither *shows* concrete examples. As someone working in a design role, your explanations align with my experience, and they make sense at a high level. But if I were still looking for a job, I would have valued a lower-level look into the work at either a junior or senior level, and it's difficult to grok what's expected of a junior or senior designer without connecting to real projects or day-to-day responsibilities. For example, you say that as a junior designer, you worked on tactical projects like screens and crafting experiences. OK, but what does that look like? Might a "junior-scoped" screen be a content-heavy screen? An interaction-heavy screen? What are the "experiences" being crafted? The short Figma/Google Sheets snippets were interesting, but they also lacked context or description about what was going on. It was hard to connect them to a specific level responsibility, like "oh I see that as a junior designer, an example of a tactical project is finding the right design for this component" or "as a senior designer, my work might look like xyz". That level of specificity was something that your day of the life as a product designer at Uber video had, but felt missing here. Now I understand that 1) design work/projects differ from company to company, so there is no universal truth about what junior design work looks like, and 2) it's irresponsible to just dive into stuff protected by an NDA. But I WANT to hear the nitty-gritty details, because at least I can adapt from those expectations! After all - and this is a hot take - I feel like most UX content is great at telling aspiring designers *what* they're expected to do, but bad at explaining *how* to execute. Instead, they mostly speak in broad strokes of "what", like "junior designers do tactical work", and not "how", like "you'll be assigned a ticket for a new button, sketch ideas, bring to other designers for feedback, walk the engineer & PM through the design, ..." etc. Like I just want to hear the truth, and if the truth is different from company to company, then so be it! Again, I don't mean anything personal against you or the work you've done. And to be fair, a lot of this isn't your fault, but comes from my built up frustration about how inaccessible the entry-level product design job market is. There are so few opportunities that will accept and train people with no experience, like internships or truly entry-level roles. It feels like the onus is on us as job seekers to make deductions about what working as a designer is like, rather than on companies to provide sufficient opportunities for people to grow that experience.

[@taniasharma]

Really enjoyed this video explaining the differences between a junior/senior product designer :) You really emphasized that a junior design can take the time to hone in on their craft. If there were 3 technical skills you think every designer should have while designing in a tool like Figma for example, what do you think those would be (from your personal experiences)?

[@femkedesign]

OOh technical skills specifically related to Figma, I'd say file organization/setup, visual design skills and design documentation.

[@funmibi-ojo]

nice Femke!

[@femkedesign]

thanks :)

[@mrancsan]

Hi Femke! On the noise issue: I would try to fix it, because it not just affects your work but can affect your sleep, your mental and physical health also. You can consult with your local municipality, if the workers on the construction do not follow local noise regulations. You might want to try upgrading your noise insulation on your windows. There are some not too expensive absorber strips that you can use to seal your windows. Air gaps on old windows causes most of soundproofing problems. You might want to check if there is a way to shade your recording location in the room from noise, with a sound curtain or a sound absorber panel. Also, you could check if different a microphone with different characteristics would pick up less environmental noise. I would consult a sound insulation consultant and an audio technician to find the perfect solution that meets your budget. Thank you for your great work! Greetings from Hungary, Marton

[@femkedesign]

Thanks for the advice marton!

[@dejinotdope]

Could you do a video of some of your favorite Figma plugins to help speed up your workflow or maybe just in one of your newsletters

[@femkedesign]

Thanks for the suggestion! Will add to my list :)

[@AnaMariaMartinezVillate]

Great video! Good comparisons and explanations. :) but I have a question, for each level where and how do you think is the relationship with users? how to deal with behavioral data and user research in each role? Thanks!

[@femkedesign]

I think the where and how is the same, yet as a senior you're probably expected to have a deeper understanding and stronger partnership with your UXR peers.

[@adamseangio896]

Great Video! Random question. Where did you get those lights on your desk?

[@femkedesign]

Elgato! They are the elgato key light airs. I have two of them and LOVE them!

[@jamesnorberto2632]

Love that nail gun

[@daangqueenie]

Hey Femke!! Thanks for the great advice. I’m wondering if you can do a video talking about how to have effective 1:1s with managers, and how to set proper career goals with them? Everytime this question comes up, I always give the classic “I want to get better at presentations” but truthfully, I just want to be a better designer overall. How do you prepare for and navigate these conversations?

[@femkedesign]

Great suggestion! Adding this to my list :)

[@daangqueenie]

@@femkedesign Ahh amazing, thank you!! Can’t wait :)

[@icugab]

As always, great video and information. Question...does a UX designer need to know code? Is there a video you have on this topic OR perhaps a possible topic for a future video? :)

[@femkedesign]

I have a podcast episode all about this topic :) podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly9mZWVkcy5zaW1wbGVjYXN0LmNvbS9SMzE3MGtKQg/episode/aHR0cDovLzE5Mi4yNDEuMjA5LjE5Ni8_cD0zNDg?hl=en-CA&ved=2ahUKEwiFw8u-95_1AhXdlGoFHU8yBkoQjrkEegQIAhAF&ep=6

[@NLCwhy]

What do you mean when you "say pull people in?" Is this an email saying "Hey, I/we could use your expertise on such-n-such?" or are you pitching something in a meeting to gather ideas or people to get on board? Or are these people always available to chat with or do they have to switch things around and reschedule when you need to pull them in? Thanks!

[@perronedesouza4065]

Nice!

[@femkedesign]

Thanks!

[@NoCodeWutong]

Greeting from Victoria!🌄

[@femkedesign]

Hi neighbour!

[@misstrwbrylvr]

Thank you again for such an insightful video Femke! As a growing designer, I always love your content

[@femkedesign]

Thank you so much that's so sweet!!! I will think about this question for future content, but immediate thoughts are that perhaps you could ask more generally like "At what point are we allowed to talk about our work publicly? I'd love to celebrate the work we've been doing on my LinkedIn or document it on my website for future reference"

[@misstrwbrylvr]

@@femkedesign Thank you Femke!! This is a clever way to approach it! What if you want to ask about displaying certain success metrics in your portfolio? For example, saying things like "through this redesign, we acquired 200% more users" in my portfolio.

[@koushiknath8700]

make video on desk research

[@GoldPlatedCheese]

Question: At about 6:10 you mention a researcher, what exactly is this role?

[@StevenAkinyemi]

It is interesting how all of these apply to software development as well.

[@femkedesign]

Yeah! They're not too dissimilar in that sense.

[@Dimitraefr]

If you don't work in impactful designs as a junior then, why don't give chances to new people? (speaking for The Netherlands) I am struggling to find a place where they won't ask for 3 years of experience! I believe that being a junior designer doesn't exist anymore, nobody wants to give a chance to people who are just getting started and are eager. Any advice would be greatly appreciated 😄

[@femkedesign]

It's such a bummer when I see companies only interested in hiring senior designers, or advertising junior roles but then asking for crazy amounts of experience! For me, freelancing helped a lot. This let me build up some skills and experience that was relevant when it came time to apply for jobs.

[@amandalumley6533]

I find myself kind of stuck between mid - senior level (I’m going on 5 years experience) although it’s been mostly contract/consulting. Maybe it’s imposture syndrome, I’m not quite sure. But I feel like I’m not senior enough to interview for More Senior roles.

[@femkedesign]

Interesting! Why do you feel you're not senior enough?

[@gxramirez]

hi there do you still tutor one on one on figma? how can i sign up

[@femkedesign]

Hey George, I offer mentoring on any design topic. Feel free to book here: superpeer.com/femke

[@simuls.4812]

What is the monitor model? Please

[@femkedesign]

Samsung space monitor

[@salarx6506]

Thaaanks Cutie Pie

[@lauracastano7086]

I've been wondering, how many features did do you work on a year as junior product designer ?

[@femkedesign]

Oh gosh I don’t keep count - I also tend to work on larger scale projects than individual features. I’d say during my time at Uber I probably did 3-4 large projects a year.

[@tonys490]

still confused about what day to day tasks are for junior designers ? what do they actually do in a given day at work

[@femkedesign]

This video might give you an insight kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGaTpHx8l9Vgj6M

[@koushiknath8700]

make video about on saas

[@luluxing52]

Realized today I'm maybe not as junior as I thought...

[@josuemunguiatemahuay920]

you are junior

[@femkedesign]

I'm a senior product designer at Wealthsimple :)

[@LizHamburger_]

Imagine coming to comment on someones video to tell them they aren't senior. What are you gaining from that? What part of your comment is useful in any shape or form?

[@josuemunguiatemahuay920]

@@LizHamburger_ 👌

[@Jaybreezy]

checked his LinkedIn, he barely graduated with a UX/UI certification in July 2021. Don't think hes in a position to call anyone out as a Junior Designer if he himself barely got started within the industry