If you’re a graphic designer who’s looking to switch careers, you have a whole range of rewarding options to choose from. And if you’ve done your research, product design is perhaps on top. Why? Because both graphic design and product design require a visual design sense, creativity, and a problem-solving approach. Naturally, transitioning should be easy.
But unlike graphic design, product design requires you to solve the challenges of real-world digital products creatively through design. And that requires graphic designers to have a whole new range of skill sets. So, how do you successfully transition from a graphic designer role to a product designer role? Let’s take a look.
1. Learn User Research
To carve a successful career in product design, you must learn how to put your user’s needs first. And user research is crucial for this. After all, when you understand your audience’s expectations from your product, you can create a product that matches them.
So master research planning or documenting goals, and stay abreast of surveying methods to collect the most accurate feedback on user experience. Further, get the hang of auditing or reviewing products consistently for marketing. This way, you know that your product is in line with customer expectations at all times.
2. Learn how to Draw Wireframes
As a product designer, you’ll have to tweak products regularly in order to create a positive user experience. And the easiest way to do this is to try and test the usability of different prototypes.
Wireframing is a way to create overviews of interactive products and brainstorm design solutions based on them.
Learn how to create rough wireframes by hand and further learn Figma or Sketch to build the wireframes into functional prototypes.
3. Join a Course
Sure, one can learn the basics of product design online for free. But a structured product design course offers a guided learning experience. You never have to worry about missing important information. After all, the syllabus includes everything you need to know. You receive guidance from industry experts and also learn how to become independent agile thinkers and communicate your ideas and thoughts with a diverse group of people.
4. Make Mock Projects for Your Portfolio
To land a role in product design, you need a portfolio of projects that showcase your product design abilities. So, get started with building out your portfolio early on. Do mock projects, or try to better the design of an existing product. While you’re at it, remember to ask for feedback on your work from your peers and seniors. This will give you greater clarity on your strengths as well as which areas need improvement.
Over to You
Switching from a graphic design role to a product design role may not be as straightforward as it seems, given you have to learn new skills. But joining a dedicated product design course from a reputed institute like Pearl Academy can help you get acquainted with the basics of product design in no time. Click here to know about product design course.
No comments:
Post a Comment