Web Designer or Product Designer? | MAJOR Differences You Should Know About!

I started out as a web designer but as job opportunities and positions changed, I questioned whether I had the skills to do one or the other or both. In this video, I'll go through how the work of a web designer is different from a product designer and help you decide which role is right for you.
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⏱ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - How I got started
00:10 - What am I doing?
00:21 - My biggest piece of advice
00:58 - Shorthand difference
01:08 - Website example
01:20 - Product example
02:00 - Main Differences
02:07 - Static vs Dynamic
03:50 - Responsive vs Device-based
04:41 - Revision vs Iteration
05:28 - Funnels vs Flows
06:06 - Creative thinking vs Critical thinking
06:57 - Briefs vs Problem Statements
07:44 - Copywriting vs UX Writing
08:40 - To code or not to code
09:42 - Marketing team vs Product team
10:09 - What to learn as a web designer
10:35 - What to learn as a product designer
10:45 - Who makes more?
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🙋🏽‍♀️ ABOUT ELIZABETH ALLI
⊚ Senior Product (UX/UI) Designer
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[@SilverAsakura]

I recently transitioned from a Lead Web Designer to a Product Design role. For sure they are vastly different! I feel like Web is a bit more marketing-esque. Your main goal is to sell via a website. As a Product Designer your goal is to help the users achieve their own goals. There are definitely intersections, like a login screen. So far I'm loving the Product side of things :) Nice video.

[@DesignerUp]

Yeah exactly! Perfectly summarized Omar.

[@AbdussalamPopoola]

Yes Omar, I think so too. How was the switch like and which do you prefer?

[@thomasanderson2551]

I'm trying to get into web design. I've been a bit anxious and overwhelmed because it seems like there's so much to learn. The recommendations at 10:10 were nice and concise.

[@DesignerUp]

Super glad to hear that. There is a lot to learn for sure. I feel overwhelmed myself, things just change so fast. No code tools can be a great place to start, Webflow or Framer are good tools to know (more here designerup.co/perks) especially if you want to freelance or build sites faster. I wish you the best of luck and let me know if there are any videos or concepts you’d like to see on the channel!

[@CoolIntellect]

This is the best explanation! Now, I'm clear on which path to take. I'm back here after 5 months (check my previous comment), having spent a lot of time reflecting, and web design is the way for me. I believe, as someone in front-end development, web design can be a good skill to add to my skill set! Thanks again for explaining really the essence of each! You helped me a lot with this video!

[@DesignerUp]

I’m so happy to hear that! I think you’re definetly on the right track. Front-end development and web design really are a perfect match and you can’t go wrong adding that to your skillset. I wish you the very best of luck and thanks so much for your comment! 💜

[@WWeekes-ox7uv]

I have to agree with Christine Maggi - Years ago I was doing everything and really didn't feel valuable with my knowledge set. I thought it just came with the territory and do everything. Fast forward to the future now that I know how to do all these things I can the weaker team mates for what they are. I say all of that to say thank you cause now I can take my knowledge and experience in and of code and apply it to product design and add value to what ever team I go on.

[@helgasonb]

Fantastic video, thank you!

[@alm3382]

this is a very good explanation, thanks!

[@williamsalozu4276]

most simplified video,thank you lizzy

[@vgraphics5768]

Just Thank You! I know it is not enough but this is all I can say

[@DesignerUp]

It’s enough. Your likes, comments and shares help a lot. 💜

[@CoolIntellect]

Wow really amazing! very well explained. Thanks a lot!

[@its_lilcent9916]

This is a gem 💎 ✨️

[@Aratolotl]

Preach. So very well put.

[@DesignerUp]

Hahah thanks Hector! What are you working on these day?

[@healingzen338]

Excellent.

[@hamzamehboob9184]

Very informative video

[@SerEmmie]

Thanks for clearing the air Ma'am

[@DesignerUp]

You’re very welcome! Thanks for watching and supporting :)

[@anishamalhotra6195]

Thank you for explaining in the most simplest way!!

[@DesignerUp]

You’re so welcome!

[@fuzzyfredy4010]

Thank you, Elizabeth 🙌

[@DesignerUp]

You’re welcome Fredy!

[@aimee479]

This is very helpful, thank you!

[@DesignerUp]

Happy to hear it! Thanks for watching 😀

[@njengathegeek]

So nicely explained

[@DesignerUp]

Thanks, glad it made sense 😅

[@tobimedase9312]

This is a 10/10 video. That you for this explanation - it's well outlined and understandable even to a novice; thank you again.

[@DesignerUp]

I’m so glad that it was helpful and I really appreciate your feedback!

[@disidentnongrata309]

Great video for us rookies :) Cheers

[@alexr4795]

Nice!

[@kitkat-cz1su]

thank you for this! really helped me easily see the differences clearly!

[@DesignerUp]

That’s great to hear! Which one are you leaning towards?

[@kitkat-cz1su]

@@DesignerUp I’m leaning towards product design! I enjoy thinking about flows and solutions that best help solve user concerns/tasks 😄

[@DesignerUp]

That’s awesome! Product definetly sounds like a great choice for you! I wish you great success!

[@kitkat-cz1su]

@@DesignerUp Thank you! ☺️

[@christinemaggi]

I really wish I had this video yeaarrrsss ago. Thank you for spelling out the differences so clearly! As always, great content :)

[@DesignerUp]

Thank you Christine! I really appreciate hearing from you. Your video on UX vs Visual vs Product vs Web is still one of the GOATs that is spot on and inspiring even after all this time 🙌🏾

[@callo_m]

Thank you for this clarifying video! The bad thing is that we who work in the fields can't even explain the differences well (as you said at the beginning). Often the companies can't either. Job offers reflect the misery very well: you don't even know what exactly is being looked for. I often get inquiries from companies that can't tell me exactly what they actually want and expect me to provide them with an answer to this question. But that's not how it works. 😅

[@DesignerUp]

You are so right Callo! 😒The whole process is so confusing and exhausting. The thing that helped me most is trying to steer the conversation around the ‘problem that needs solving’ rather the the skills or not the ‘proposed solution’ that’s needed, which companies and job descriptions always conflate. I’ll do another video about that next!!

[@callo_m]

@@DesignerUp That's a great idea! I'm looking forward to it. 👍

[@DesignerUp]

@@callo_m Thank you for the inspiration!

[@nidarahman2305]

Very very well explained., i have been following u since long, i started learning ux more than a year ago, i am on my 5th course of googleand i love it, but since i can only work from home anf freelancing suits me, i learned wordpress, so yes product designing is best for office jobs working with companies and long term. If u want to work freelance and remotely i thinj web designing is better. Now i dont know which. Gives more money, i but since there are less product designers so maybe more salary for them.

[@DesignerUp]

Thanks Nida! I’ve had a similar experience as well with web design being great for remote positions.

[@shivudesign9210]

Very nicely done explanation can you please share how to practice web app design? where can we get topics to for web app design? please some resources.

[@samirwahab9697]

Thanks a lot for this video. Really some good insights it has.

[@DesignerUp]

Glad to hear it. Thanks for stopping by Samir!

[@AbdussalamPopoola]

Thanks for this Elizabeth. One can do both right?

[@DesignerUp]

You can, but be mindful of how you show these in your portfolio and make sure your case studies clearly reflect the different skills and processes used.

[@AbdussalamPopoola]

@@DesignerUp Thank you

[@ikalennyy6986]

Often get confused understanding the difference between the roles of a UX designer and a Product designer. Some say that a product designer thinks more strategically than a UX designer. Does that mean a UX designer performs a more narrowly scoped and less valuable work? For example, Career Foundry talks about the differences as: ----- “A UXer might ask: “Is this product easy to use?” But a product designer would ask, “Does this product make sense in the current economy?” In UX, you’d ask, “How do I make my design user-friendly?” In product design, you’d ask, “How do I make my design cost-effective?” A UX designer will identify the problems, and a product designer will propose solutions. ----- do you see a problem with this? I do. Why not always hire product designers who can also do UX design and forget about hiring both? For the money saving and efficiency purposes. Couldn’t a smart and experienced business analyst who understands and had experience with UX principles do a product designer role? But then there’s also a role of a product manager and those are usually describing a manager but who often is or was a product designer . Is the industry going through a teen identity crisis? How many years will it take for the industry to realize that many “UX designers” are just web designers?

[@DesignerUp]

Most people are confused by this because they are trying to compare the wrong things. If you’re trying to figure out the difference between a UX/UI designer and a product designer you’ll never find a satisfying answering because there technically isn’t one conferred by title. The answer depends on the context. How do you figure out the context you ask? I do this by using what I call the context triad: 1. Product Stage 2. Product Layer 3. Product Team This will tell you what ‘type’ of designer is needed with what ‘skills’ to do what ‘type’ of work. The titles themselves are usually conflated (irrelevant at best and dangerously confusing at worst, we even have UX engineers and digital product specialists too!) and these may or may not encompass the same responsibilities and tasks. For example, in the startup world in Silicon Valley the term product designer commonly means you are working on a zero-to-one concept, you are a business and user advocate that also has strategic mindset. A UX designer employed by a larger company is usually what’s considered an ‘individual contributor’ employed on a larger team or team of teams working on existing features for product, maintaining and testing it. TL;DR Don’t worry about title. Know what your are passionate about, double down on those skills and look at the context and the job description. And to answer your question yes, you certainly can hire a single designer with the skills you described to do it all. But the burden of proof is on you to position yourself and sell your abilities within that context.

[@ikalennyy6986]

@@DesignerUp Thanks. Is there any video on your channel (or you plan to do in the future) that goes over that context triad? Yes, titles can be misleading but I have also been hearing advises like "don't take many job descriptions literally" since they could contain almost everything asked and could be written by people who don't fully understand the UX field (HR, etc...) or just copied from other descriptions without much thought, etc..etc.. "I do product design" may mean quite a few things depending on a role and on ignorance of a person who may think they do something they are not really doing. The same as "I do UX design". Coming from the software dev. world where a "wishy washy" mix of cool sounding two or three letter acronyms is not fashionable anymore, looking at UX worlds' titles and descriptions makes me laugh and go crazy at the same time. Well...I may have spoken too soon about ambiguity mostly absent in soft. world. There is a mystical religion of "DevOps" role....ooops.

[@MinisterRedPill]

I'm still confused. I don't understand why they have taken the general web designer role and split it up into so many branches. For the money I guess.

[@DesignerUp]

Well historically web design roles have been about designing the webpages we can access through the browser. It wasn’t until the late 90’s that UX/Product Design came onto the scene because companies needed designers to create more beautiful and competitive software. The more devices became available through tech advancements and the more ways we could access the internet, both roles began to splinter into specialists because it all became too much for any one designer to do. But also because different companies, different products and different users require different skills from a designer. For example designing for fin-tech requires that you are more skilled at data visualization, whereas designing for e-commerce requires that you know more about ontology. And yes, all of this allows the companies to make more money or raise more funding.

[@viajalaluz]

brilliant, thanks!

[@DesignerUp]

You’re welcome! 🌸