22 comments

  • Thompson GeorgeThompson George, almost 7 years ago

    I am an affiliate advertiser and these are my links.

    16 points
    • Bryan Maniotakis, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

      edit: 2 of the 12 links were to amazon to purchase the field notes and the pen. I've since removed the links to put focus back on the article.

      Thanks for the feedback, I'll keep it in mind for the future.

      3 points
      • Philip WeberPhilip Weber, almost 7 years ago

        I think his point is fair. The Purchase button was a shock to me when I started reading the article. Product designers have to consider emotional responses to the things they create.

        More generally, I think it is interesting to look at the comments on Designer News compared to those on Hacker News. On DN, we are pretty softball. We empathize with and defend authors. Those skills are great for creating a product, but make for boring, shallow discussion. On HN, I enjoy going back to the comment section after reading an article to see an in depth analysis of the content. I guess I'd just like to see the bar raised over here.

        0 points
      • Thompson GeorgeThompson George, almost 7 years ago

        I was just messing around. Put the links back in. Make that cash!

        0 points
  • Erik ShawErik Shaw, almost 7 years ago

    I wish web and app designers would stop hijacking the Product Designer title as it's often confused with real product (industrial) designers. At least say "Digital Product Designer" when referencing a title.

    9 points
    • John PJohn P, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

      Find the whole trend completely ridiculous to be honest. I totally get it, you want your role to sound more influential in the actual money making part of the company. But really co-opting the term for an entirely different field is just making this industry look immature.

      There is a whole bunch of titles you could easily clal yourself that make perfect sense: Application Designer, Interface Designer, Interactive Designer, etc far more suitable terms for your actual job entails.

      But nah, nah you gotta take a different job title because you think it sounds more important. It's developers co-opting the term "Engineer" all over again when they don't actually take the extra years of training to become certified as an actual engineer.

      Not to mention most of you design services not "products"

      3 points
      • Bryan Maniotakis, almost 7 years ago

        That's the thing about this industry, titles and roles are changing so fast that half the time they mean nothing. I'm pretty sure my titles scattered around various sites still have interaction designer, app designer, product designer, interactive designer, and none of them are going to be more succinct than the other because I'm a generalist. Maybe that's why I like product designer, because it encompasses all of these things. Hell, at google and facebook there are even prototype designers, which is yet another one that falls under this category.

        1 point
      • Ethan BondEthan Bond, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

        The word "engineer" doesn't refer to a certification. That is, engineers have been around for a lot longer than the NSPE. I don't get the point of this rant.

        Industrial designers have a term for themselves: industrial designers. I'm a product designer (by your own definition) by education, but I work as a digital product designer. I'm a computer scientist by education, but sometimes kind of work as a software engineer (but not really).

        The fact is, these things are changing rapidly and the lines are blurry. They probably always will be.

        Who cares?

        0 points
    • jj moijj moi, almost 7 years ago

      I'm a 'real' product designer - furniture, toy, and stuff, and also apps. What would you want to call me then? Digital and Physical Product Designer? I don't have a problem with digital product designers using the same title.

      Also, product designer and industrial designer aren't quite the same. The majority i know use the latter one.

      2 points
    • Zach McKimminsZach McKimmins, almost 7 years ago

      I was confused half way through the article when I realized he wasn't a product designer but was a "Digital Product Designer"

      0 points
  • Rick KhannaRick Khanna, almost 7 years ago

    I am a web designer and these are the trendy tools you already knew about.

    4 points
  • John MenardJohn Menard, almost 7 years ago

    The wireframe sketch templates you used in the Design section look familiar :P - https://dribbble.com/shots/1379808-Sketch-wireframe-template-V1?list=users

    Thanks for using them!

    2 points
  • pjotr .pjotr ., almost 7 years ago

    Actually it seems you're an interaction/visual designer. Product Designers in a digital sense are those who define an entire products user flow. From the API design to the UX. A product designer is most likely a senior designer. What you've listed are tools and projects that a typical UI/Visual/interaction designer would use.

    A product designer is mostly writing documentation.

    2 points
    • Bryan Maniotakis, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

      For myself, it all boils down to the project I'm helping on. I'm one of two product designers on the current project I'm on, and we've had to do user flows, personas, and map out the API from square one for a web, iOS and Android platform. You're right though, I didn't really showcase any of those other processes. Maybe I'll draft something together for that portion of the project.

      There is actually a product design survey that Invision just put out, should be interesting to see the results - http://www.invisionapp.com/product-design-survey/

      2 points
    • Ethan BondEthan Bond, almost 7 years ago (edited almost 7 years ago )

      Maybe in your organization or mental model that's what a product designer is. In other organizations and other mental models that's not what a product designer is.

      I've never seen someone who would include API design within their standard day-to-day tasks as a designer. Sounds like you're talking about a micromanager.

      0 points
  • Robin RaszkaRobin Raszka, almost 7 years ago

    No Medium? Such disappointment.

    1 point
  • Abdulrahman JarallahAbdulrahman Jarallah, almost 7 years ago

    Thumbs up for using Skala Preview over Sketch Mirror. I use Sketch as my main design tool for iOS and I gave Mirror a chance, it wasnt reliable over wifi and requires Tethering for USB. I switched to Skala Preview and it's been great over wifi, and with the last update you can just use USB and you're good to go. I wish Sketch would somehow integrate Skala so that you can move between artboards on your phone.

    0 points
  • Zach McKimminsZach McKimmins, almost 7 years ago

    Thanks for sharing your tools. No matter what the medium is all designers should consider using field notes to develop ideas and jot down quick sketches.

    0 points