The Hidden Struggles of A Product Designer
FreePix
“Why is working as a designer so challenging sometimes?… It isn’t the design work itself, it’s everything else that comes with it!”
This is what a designer I’m mentoring said in our call yesterday afternoon.
She assumed she faced these challenges because she wasn’t a ‘good enough’ product designer.
This conversation reminded me of when I first faced similar challenges and felt I was the only one experiencing them.
If you’ve ever felt the same, I want to share some of these challenges with you, and offer tips to help navigate them.
#1: Always fighting for our design choices
Why doesn’t an Engineer ever need to create a slide deck explaining why they coded a feature the way they did?
Yet designers must tirelessly prepare pitches for when someone disagrees with our design suggestion.
No hate towards engineers - it can be anyone, product managers, marketing, analytics etc (this now sounds like I hate everyone).
My point is: designers have to justify their decisions far more than others.
And don’t get me wrong, there’s a time and place where this is necessary. Such as presenting to my manager or a key stakeholder. This is expected.
But not when a Product Manager tells me their mum doesn’t like the new icon I’ve used. Yes, this has happened.
Situations like this make us question our abilities and whether we’re qualified to make these decisions.
It’s exhausting to constantly prove I’m competent at my job.
To counter some of these scenarios, I now:
use a feedback method that only discourages subjective opinions
show how my decisions align with user needs and business goals
articulate the data or hypothesis that led to a decision
#2: Jack of ALL trades and master of ALL
“Must be a Figma Wizard”
“Must have a Phd in Product Designer”
“Must be able to fly:
I feel like this isn’t that far off from the expectations companies have of product designers.
I interviewed for a company where an entire hour was dedicated to discuss my product strategy and future vision thinking skills.
Once I joined the team, my work was solely around designing for immediate problems with no future thinking.
For years I felt I was falling short because of these ‘must have’ skills.
I was constantly chasing and trying to improve various skills, whilst making little progress, as I was juggling so many different things.
My mindset changed when I met a designer who, to my surprise, was fairly average. Yet, they had a great salary and worked for an impressive company.
I learned an important career lesson:
Succeeding as a product design isn’t about mastering every skill.
It’s about delivering value where it counts.
Not checking every box on an unrealistic checklist.
#3: Endless iterations and feedback requests
I’ve had projects where I iterated so much based on feedback that I went from my original concept, to a completely different one…
…Only to circle back to my first idea 3 months later.
It was almost as if I knew what I was doing with my initial design solution 🙄
But seriously, this happens because much of our design process is invisible, making it easy for others to assume we haven’t explored alternatives.
So they’ll start suggesting ideas for us to explore.
Here’s how I address this now:
Present my exploration process: Show the ideas I considered and discarded.
Explain my decision making process: Walking people through this builds trust.
Increase visibility: The more transparency, the less people will second guess me.
However, when dealing with someone who just wants things their way. I take a different approach:
Log their ideas: I add them to a ‘explore further’ section. This acknowledges their input without derailing my progress.
Ask for evidence: I politely ask if they have any supporting data or insight supporting their suggestion. Overtime this discourages people presenting opinions as facts.
Closing thoughts
Every role comes with it’s challenges, and for Product Designers, a lot of these stem from external factors.
Facing struggles with these challenges is not a reflection of your ability as a designer. It’s often due to issues tied to the company culture. ways of working and their UX maturity.
We’re also not taught how to manage these situations when they occur.
I developed how to manage these situations after years of trial and error.
However being aware of these challenges makes it easier to prepare for them and feel more confident when they occur.
The goal isn’t to find a role where these challenges don’t exist.
That role doesn’t exist.
Instead, find a role where the challenges align with your strengths and goals.
Ultimately, being a Product Designer isn’t just about designing products and features.
It’s about navigating people and processes to bring ideas to life.
