Digital product design is an iterative design process used to solve a functional problem with a formal solution. A digital product designer identifies an existing problem, offers the best possible solution, and launches it to a market that demonstrates demand for the particular solution. The field is considered a subset of

product design Product design as a verb is to create a new product to be sold by a business to its customers. A very broad coefficient and effective generation and development of ideas through a process that leads to new products. Thus, it is a major aspect of ...

. Some digital products have both digital and physical components (such as

Nike+ Nike often refers to: * Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory * Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment Nike may also refer to: People * Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...

and Fitbit), but the term is mainly used for products produced through

software engineering Software engineering is a systematic engineering approach to software development. A software engineer is a person who applies the principles of software engineering to design, develop, maintain, test, and evaluate computer software. The term '' ...

. Since digital product design have become mainstream in the creative industry, a digital product designer oftentimes is simply referred to as a "product designer" in job posts.

Career Path

Digital product design is a

transdisciplinary Transdisciplinarity connotes a research strategy that crosses many disciplinary boundaries to create a holistic approach. It applies to research efforts focused on problems that cross the boundaries of two or more disciplines, such as research o ...

field because a digital product designer sees the project from end-to-end; from recognizing an opportunity and understanding the customer's need through to final delivery. A digital product designer is an integral part of the creative team at every stage of the process who leads the UI and UX design throughout, and is also involved in the product strategy with an entrepreneurial mindset to help get it to the market. Although computer programming is not a required skill for a digital product designer, digital product designers need to have a high-level understanding of how all of the technical pieces work together in order to ensure that the creative vision is fully realized. Although part of a digital product designer's job is to oversee the look and feel of the product as well as the development of the software system, digital product design is a different creative process and career path from

graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscip ...

and

web design Web design encompasses many different skills and disciplines in the production and maintenance of websites. The different areas of web design include web graphic design; user interface design (UI design); authoring, including standardised code a ...

Academic Degree

Digital product design is a broadly

interdisciplinary Interdisciplinarity or interdisciplinary studies involves the combination of multiple academic disciplines into one activity (e.g., a research project). It draws knowledge from several other fields like sociology, anthropology, psychology, ec ...

and

course of study combining fields of

Computer Technology Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, ...

Industrial Design Industrial design is a process of design applied to physical products that are to be manufactured by mass production. It is the creative act of determining and defining a product's form and features, which takes place in advance of the manufactu ...

Entrepreneurship Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value. With this definition, entrepreneurship is viewed as change, generally entailing risk beyond what is normally encountered in starting a business, which may include other values t ...

Marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

, and

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at t ...

. Established as a modern degree addressing needs for cross-disciplinary education, one of its fundamental objectives is to develop

lateral thinking Lateral thinking is a manner of solving problems using an indirect and creative approach via reasoning that is not immediately obvious. It involves ideas that may not be obtainable using only traditional step-by-step logic. The term was first u ...

skills across more rigidly defined academic areas recognized as a valuable component in expanding technological horizons. Digital Product Design is part of the Advertising & Digital Design BFA program at

Fashion Institute of Technology The Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT) is a public college in New York City. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) and focuses on art, business, design, mass communication, and technology connected to the fashion industry. ...

. Digital Product Design taught at

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase the ...

. Digital Product Design is a concentration in Communication Design MPS program at Parsons. Digital Product Design is a certificate program at

Pratt institute Pratt Institute is a private university with its main campus in Brooklyn, New York. It has a satellite campus in Manhattan and an extension campus in Utica, New York at the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute. The school was founded in 1887 ...

. Lightning fast design feedback
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References

Product design {{design-stub