From ordering food to booking a hospital appointment, we have the world at the palm of our hands. In an era of rapidly evolving technology, people need as customized an experience as possible. This is where Product Designing plays a major role.
Do you know, 80% of shoppers only shop with brands that personalize their experience.
Brands today are focusing on enhancing the user experience through efficient and personalized product designs. In developing user-friendly products, a key role is played by Product Design Managers.
A Product Design Manager does not design a product. However, communicates the needs of the user, limitations of competitor products, and the brands vision to the design team for developing a product loved by all.
In this blog, we walk you through the top 3 skills every Product Design Manager should have.
If you’re one of those people who see their future in Product Designing, then you’ve come at the right place. Here are the 3 Essential Product Design Manager Skills that you need to have:
3 Must-Have Product Design Manager Skills
Let’s get started
1. Conducting User Research
User Research is focused on behavior, needs and thoughts of a user. Largely, it refers to thoroughly studying various aspects so that Product Managers and brands can help in improving the usability of their products or services to fit user’s needs.
Product Design Managers are responsible for conducting research to understand what the user wants. This is a crucial step as, it helps in identifying the pain points of the users and communicating the same to design and development teams to design the product with smooth user interface.
2. Analysing Competitor Products
In addition to user research, a Product Design Manager has to conduct in-depth research of competitor products.
This involves gathering information about the competitor products, features, analysing their product designs, and identifying the highlights and shortcomings in the product design.
Based on these insights, a Product Design Manager interacts with the design team to address the competitor’s shortcomings in the brand’s own product and increasing user-friendliness.
3. UI/UX Design Knowledge
As said above, a Product Design Manager is not a Designer. Thus, a Product Design manager is not required to know how to design a product.
Having said that, a Product Design Manager is responsible for ensuring that a user friendly product is designed. To achieve this, one has to interact and communicate with the design and engineering teams on a daily basis.
To effectively understand and explain the needs of all stakeholders to the concerned teams, being familiar with the nitty-gritty of design becomes a pre-requisite.
Thus, to become a successful Product Design Manager, one must be thorough with the basic design principles, concepts of UI and UX design.