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Design, Media, and Writing - Careers

Design, Media, and Writing

Design, Media, and Writing | Product Designer

Product Designer

What Does a Professional in this Career Do?

A Product Designer is responsible for the design of a new product, or redesign of an existing product. Responsible for the aesthetics of the product but also designing how it will work, defining the problem and solving it. May be responsible for producing low-fidelity mock ups, prototypes for validation through user testing and crafting the final product accordingly.

Job Outlook

There were 246 Product Designer job postings in North Carolina in the past year and 8031 in the United States.

In combination with other careers in the Industrial Designer industry, which includes the Product Designer career, the following graph shows the number of people employed for each year since 2015:

Salary

Many new Product Designer jobs have salaries estimated to be in the following ranges, based on the requirements and responsibilities listed in job postings from the past year.

National

The average estimated salary in the United States for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $98,228.

State

The average estimated salary in North Carolina for this career, based on job postings in the past year, is $106,405.

Percentiles represent the percentage that is lower than the value. For example, 25% of estimated salaries for Product Designer postings in the United States in the past year were lower than $75,411.

Education and Experience

Posted Product Designer jobs typically require the following level of education. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list education requirements.

Education LevelPercentage
Associate's Degree3.57%
Bachelor's Degree38.58%
Master's Degree11.07%
Doctoral Degree1.94%
Other2.43%

Posted Product Designer jobs typically require the following number of years of experience. The numbers below are based on job postings in the United States from the past year. Not all job postings list experience requirements.

Years of ExperiencePercentage
0 to 2 years14.99%
3 to 5 years57.39%
6 to 8 years21.29%
9+ years6.32%

Skills

Below are listings of the most common general and specialized skills Product Designer positions expect applicants to have as well as the most common skills that distinguish individuals from their peers. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is also listed.

Baseline Skills

A skill that is required across a broad range of occupations, including this one.

  • Research (47.12%)
  • Communication (43.88%)
  • Innovation (20.07%)
  • Leadership (19.64%)
  • Advocacy (17.82%)
  • Presentations (15.95%)
  • Detail Oriented (14.42%)
  • Ideation (13.85%)
  • Problem Solving (13.77%)
  • Mentorship (12.07%)

Defining Skills

A core skill for this occupation, it occurs frequently in job postings.

  • Figma (Design Software) (46.21%)
  • Prototyping (53.83%)
  • Visual Design (31.4%)
  • Product Design (87.51%)
  • User Research (32.65%)
  • User Interface (UI) (22.28%)
  • User Flows (14.77%)
  • User Experience (UX) (51.2%)
  • Wireframing (30.28%)
  • Interaction Design (24.47%)

Necessary Skills

A skill that is requested frequently in this occupation but isn’t specific to it.

  • Graphic Design (12.79%)
  • Typography (13.78%)
  • Workflow Management (13.03%)
  • Usability (17.61%)
  • UI/UX Research (5.56%)
  • Marketing (17.72%)
  • Adobe Creative Suite (10.58%)
  • Adobe Photoshop (9.34%)
  • Product Strategy (9.52%)
  • Product Management (21.42%)
  • New Product Development (21.99%)
  • Software As A Service (SaaS) (6.35%)
  • Design Strategies (6.79%)
  • Usability Testing (19.36%)
  • User-Centered Design (15.04%)
  • HyperText Markup Language (HTML) (9.84%)
  • Adobe Illustrator (10.31%)
  • User Experience (UX) Design (22.21%)
  • Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) (9.64%)
  • Scalability (5.21%)
  • Agile Methodology (18.9%)
  • User Feedback (5.95%)
  • Information Architecture (10.37%)
  • Design Thinking (13.64%)
  • Design Elements And Principles (6.58%)
  • User Interface (UI) Design (12.92%)

Distinguishing Skills

A skill that may distinguish a subset of the occupation.

  • Invision (Design Software) (6.79%)
  • Pixel Perfect (4.27%)
  • Iconography (4.19%)
  • UI/UX Writing (1.63%)

Salary Boosting Skills

A professional who wishes to excel in this career path may consider developing the following highly valued skills. The percentage of job postings that specifically mention each skill is listed.

  • Figma (Design Software) (59.31%)
  • UI/UX Writing (2.09%)
  • Iconography (5.38%)
  • Visual Design (40.31%)
  • Prototyping (69.09%)
  • User Experience (UX) (65.72%)
  • User Flows (18.95%)
  • Pixel Perfect (5.48%)

Alternative Job Titles

Sometimes employers post jobs with Product Designer skills but a different job title. Some common alternative job titles include:

  • Lead Product Designer
  • Designer
  • Digital Product Designer
  • Principal Product Manager
  • Experience Designer
  • Graphic Design Intern
  • Sustainability Coordinator
  • Visual Designer
  • Director of Product Design

Similar Occupations

If you are interested in exploring occupations with similar skills, you may want to research the following job titles. Note that we only list occupations that have at least one corresponding NC State Online and Distance Education program.

Common Employers

Here are the employers that have posted the most Product Designer jobs in the past year along with how many they have posted.

United States

  • Meta (209)
  • Ford (187)
  • Pearson Education (179)
  • Motion Recruitment (154)
  • Navient (154)
  • Nelnet (103)
  • Aquent (87)
  • Kforce (75)
  • Cornerstone Ondemand (62)
  • General Motors (57)

North Carolina

  • Lowe's (15)
  • Red Ventures (13)
  • Wells Fargo (12)
  • Allegis Group (7)
  • Pearson Education (5)
  • Eliassen Group (5)
  • Epic Games (5)
  • Spectraforce Technologies (4)
  • Childhood Cancer Society (4)
  • Recruiting From Scratch (3)

NC State Programs Relevant to this Career

If you are interested in preparing for a career in this field, the following NC State Online and Distance Education programs offer a great place to start!