Coding for Digital Product Design
š Hey, Iām Ryan and Iām a Digital Product Designerāāāwhich basically means I solve problems and help design the experience users have when using mobile/web apps, websites, and products. Similar to how an architect designs homes and buildings, a digital product designer helps design software.
Currently, I help simplify the home remodeling experience and am working on building a smart-home app around the doors in your home. Prior to this, I helped build an app for banks dealing with fraudulent credit card transactions.
Before shifting to product design, I worked in the business-end of healthcareāāāwhere I helped investigate key business problems for pharmaceutical companies. I actually majored in Healthcare Informatics and Biostatistics in college but would learn about design in my free time through my elective college courses, design books, and experimentations with design tools/code.
What exactly does a product designer do?
Every company will have a different definition of what it means to be a product designer, but for most, itās a role that balances psychology, art, computer science, and business strategy. Being in a product design role means youāre most likely going to take on a wide array of responsibilities:
- Helping define aspects of the end-userās interaction with an app or website
- Creating patterns and visual design in an app
- Thinking about product/business strategy for a product or app
- Validating market research and user feedback
Product designers typically work and collaborate between software engineering and business/marketing teamsāāāhelping build software and understanding in relation to the business.
How does coding fit into this role?
As a Product Designer, knowing the building blocks of how apps are built helps me move faster and collaborate better with software engineers. In my experience, understanding code gives me and the software engineers I work with a shared understanding of what weāre really working towards and what technological constraints weāre going to have when building an app. Itās helpful for us to understand the limitations we have with code for the web (HTML, CSS, Javascript).
āKnowing how to code gives me and the software engineers I work with a shared understanding of what weāre buildingā
Even when Iām not using code to help build software, I use code made for statistical computing (SQL, R) to look at mass amounts of data. After collecting user feedback and market research, I can use code to search for answers in the data much more quicklyāāāhelping us target which design solutions will make for a better experience for the people using the application.
Code is one of many tools in my ātoolboxā, but itās one that helps me build the things I want to design and collaborate more meaningfully with the people on my team.
Should you pursue digital product design?
Product design is fundamentally about solving problems for peopleāāāunderstanding the problem, seeing how people are affected by that problem, and identifying a solution. If you enjoy continually learning about things and like using a mix of logic, visuals, science, and technology to help solve problems, product design may be a great fit.
Phones, computers, and the internet have become integral parts of our lives, and as designers, code helps us understand how the digital things we interact with everyday are built.
Anyone can learn how to code and design, and everyone will have a different way of learning. If you feel this type of career may be a fit for you, Iād encourage you to start tinkering with how you could make an experience on a website or app better. Find a simple problem and sketch out a way to solve it! Test your solution with different people and learn how to implement your design using code. Most of all, have fun through the process!
What tools/programming languages do I use & what for?
- Pen & Paper: I start my ideas with these, my desk is littered with rough sketches of app screens
- Design Software: Figma, Sketch, Framer, Principle, Visual Studio Code, Git
- Languages to help build/design digital products: HTML, CSS, Javascript, SwiftUI, Dart
- Languages to help view, search, and transform data: SQL, R, Python
If you have any questions or want to learn more about how I use code to design digital products, you can always contact me using the info in my portfolio.
Outside of designing for work or side projects, Iām cycling around town š“āāļø, learning how to race cars š, fumbling around with playing guitar/piano šø, or trying to make the perfect cup of coffee āļø.
