10 Habits of Highly Effective Product Designers

Habits That Set Top Designers Apart

Having spent seven years in design, I’ve had the opportunity to collaborate with product managers, engineers, QA specialists, and designers from diverse backgrounds and expertise. Throughout these interactions, a recurring question among my fellow designers is: How do we provide more value to our team and to the company? What skills do we improve to advance our careers?

Reflecting on this, I started compiling a comprehensive list of habits that can help a designer become more indispensable wherever they go. This article explores practical strategies and mindset shifts that can enhance a designer’s impact and allow them to be recognized as a world class designer.

1. Creates multiple studies with design decisions documented

After identifying the problem, ideating doesn't stop at wireframes. Good designers constantly challenge their design decisions and invite others to criticize their work. As designers, we put users at the center of our work, therefore we should aspire to give our users the best experience possible. That means, exploring different ideas and implementations. 

2. Fleshes out all possible user scenarios and edge cases

Good designers are intentional. They don't just work on the happy/key paths. They think through all the possible scenarios that can happen as the user goes through the end-to-end experience. They brainstorm how to tackle edge cases. They prepare all possible states. They document and design for these different scenarios so the team can implement with clarity.

3. Identifies user’s role and key customer action before designing

At Expedock, where we service freight forwarders, it's essential to recognize that people within these companies serve various roles. Some are in operations, while others handle accounting or manage cash flow. Understanding these distinct roles is crucial.

By defining the user's role and behavior, designers can tailor solutions that address specific needs and pain points. They also pinpoint the key actions the team wants users to take, ensuring the design aligns with business objectives. They delve deep into understanding the user's context, challenges, and motivations. By mapping out detailed personas and job stories, they ensure that every design decision is informed by real user data and insights.

4. Compares and contrasts user experiences of similar products before copying

They say that copying is the best form of compliment, but great designers don't just copy. They study their competitors: What makes it work for their use case? They figure out why a certain feature or flow is working for a specific product. Designers understand that copying a feature won't bring results. It has to align with their users' mental models, role, knowledge, and behavior. 

Great designers examine how different design elements contribute to usability, efficiency, and user satisfaction. This involves looking at the broader context in which features are implemented and how they integrate with the overall user journey. Moreover, they seek to understand the underlying principles that make certain features effective. They explore user feedback and reviews to gain insights into how real users interact with competing products, what they appreciate, and what challenges they face. This knowledge helps them make informed decisions about which features to adapt and how to enhance them to better serve their own users.

5. Gets user exposure on a regular basis

Great designers often take time to learn about their users. They join customer calls with account managers, study how customers are onboarded, and observe how customers browse and use the product. By immersing themselves in the user experience, designers gain valuable insights into user behavior, pain points, and preferences.

By maintaining a regular presence in the user environment, designers can anticipate user needs and proactively address them. This ongoing engagement fosters empathy, ensuring that the final product is intuitive and effective for their users’ needs.

6. Knows how to balance what to prioritize 

Products cater to different types of people. For some products, like Expedock's shipment visibility tool, we serve two distinct sets of users: the forwarders who pay for the tool and the importers/exporters who are the primary users. This dual audience presents unique challenges in the design process.

When designing, it's always a dilemma of whom to prioritize first. Do we prioritize the forwarders by delivering an experience they prefer, even if it might not be the best for their customers, the importers/exporters? Do we hide certain fields to make the forwarders look good, at the cost of providing a subpar experience for their customers?

Great designers navigate these complexities by understanding the broader ecosystem and the interdependencies between different user groups. They strive to find a balance, ensuring that the needs of all stakeholders are considered and addressed. This might involve creating customizable interfaces that allow forwarders to present the information they deem most important while ensuring that importers/exporters still receive a seamless and efficient user experience.

7. Shows their work early and often

Good designers don't dwell on their designs for too long. They share their work even if it's just the first draft. They don’t stop at one round of feedback. They understand that more eyes will help identify their blind spots and improve the overall experience. They encourage collaboration and welcome constructive feedback, recognizing that diverse perspectives can lead to innovative solutions. By embracing an iterative process, good designers remain adaptable and open to change, ensuring that their final product is not only functional but also intuitive.

8. Knows how to execute independently and when to ask for help

Good designers are master executors. You can give them a brief and they can come back with very detailed journey maps, user flows, and other design artefacts. However, they know they won't have all the answers, especially if they're new to the team, the product, or even the company. The best designers know when to ask for help and who to ask. Even further, great designers cultivate relationships with their teammates.

9. Thinks about the long term for the team

Great designers understand that their teammates will be focused on daily firefighting and building work. Thus, these designers make sure to expand their team's horizon by thinking about the product’s ideal user experience. They map out the current experience and how users interact with the product. From there, they look at what’s the best experience to deliver. Once the ideal experience vision is defined, they then work with the team to break it down and identify what key features to build today.

10. Invites the team to problem solve

World class designers are great facilitators in the workshop room. They encourage the team to brainstorm together, discuss the problem together, and work together to identify how to best solve the problem. They also initiate co-working sessions to tackle challenges with their teammates.

Conclusion

Whether you integrate these habits into performance assessments for your design team, embed them within job descriptions, or utilize them as a roadmap for personal growth, my intention is to equip designers with the tools they need to elevate their craft. I also hope that this inspires designers to strive for greater heights and deliver unparalleled value to their teams and projects.

Do you have other habits to add to this list? Let me know!

Thanks for reading! 

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Connect with me!
Email: laura.ang@expedock.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-ang/
Website: https://lauraang.design/