Dear Future Product Designer
An open letter, crated with AI
UX contains UI, but they are not one and the same.
If you’re considering a move into product design, I want to offer some context, a few lessons I’ve learned, and some guidance as you find your footing in this field. This isn’t a step-by-step how-to. It’s a letter, from someone who’s been doing this a while, to someone who’s just starting out.
Quick Background
I started as a graphic designer in print. First for a newspaper, then a magazine, and eventually a book publisher in the education space. As the internet started becoming more mainstream, I knew I wanted to make the shift to web design. But back then, print experience didn’t carry much weight in digital, and everyone said I needed web design experience.
I would eventually learn that they were wrong, but I needed a way in, so I learned HTML and CSS. You won’t need to learn code to be a UX designer, but knowing what’s possible (and what isn’t) can make you a stronger one.
Eventually, I landed a web design job working on sites with 1px lines, Flash animations, and lots of ‘mystery meat’ navigation (hover effects that revealed hidden actions). Fancy stuff that caught the attention of other designers. It was fun, creative, and unlike anything print could offer.
But then something changed.
The User's Experience
We hired an Information Architect who introduced us to a usability lab, complete with 2-way glass and a seating area for observation. We watched real users interact with our designs. And I watched, horrified, as people struggled to do even basic tasks. They blamed themselves. “I must be stupid,” one person muttered. But they weren’t. I was the problem. My design did that to them.
That moment stayed with me. It made me realize that design isn’t just about the aesthetics. It’s deeper than that. In order to help people use software, you needed to design the structure, the pathway for them so that they could be successful.
“Information Architect” felt like a better fit than “Web Designer” for the direction I was heading. It was a more accurate description of what I actually wanted to do. Think of it like being the architect for a home. You’re not the builder or the decorator, but the person drawing up the blueprint for how people will live in that space.
That’s my interpretation of UX design. Unfortunately, with a title as subjective as “UX,” you’ll find many interpretations. But this one is mine.
Blueprints of a home, created with AI
User Interface Is Crucial
Let’s stay with the home-building analogy.
Once the blueprint is finished and the structure is sound, you still need to make the space feel like home. That’s where interior and exterior designers come in. They choose colors, materials, textures, lighting, and all the details that make a house feel inviting and personal.
It’s just as important. Good UI design makes someone want to live in the space. It’s what they see and interact with first. But it comes after the foundational thinking, after you’ve figured out what someone needs and where things belong.
One Can’t Work Without the Other
Here’s where the conversation around UX and UI tends to break down. People act like these are interchangeable roles, or worse, that one is the other. But in practice, they’re deeply connected and entirely different.
Back to the home analogy. The homeowner’s experience doesn’t stop at the blueprint or the paint color. It’s the whole thing. How the house looks and how it functions. Whether it feels intuitive, comfortable, usable. That’s the experience.
I feel like I cannot stress this enough. The experience a person has relies on all aspects of the business. UX and UI are part of a shared goal. Along with product, engineering, marketing, and leadership, the goal is making something people use without thought, that helps them, that gets out of their way. UX and UI, however, require different skills, different tools, and different forms of empathy. Lumping them together into a single title doesn’t make the work easier or better. It just means you get less of those skills when you force people to straddle the lines.
Suggestions
If you’re just getting started, it’s tempting to focus entirely on tools like Figma, which you should learn. But here’s something that might surprise you, Figma is built on web technology. You don’t need to be a developer, but knowing a little about how software works will help you understand what’s possible when you design.
You are not your user. Never forget that most basic rule. You have knowledge and biases they don’t. You know how to look for buttons and interpret icons. But many users don’t, and they shouldn’t have to. Your job as a designer is to build something for them, not for yourself.
Ask questions. Can someone with color blindness see your button? Would a person using a screen reader understand your layout? Are your choices helping people, or just satisfying your own sense of visual style?
Final Thoughts
If you’re thinking about moving into product design, that’s great. We need more people who care. The user experience isn’t about perfection, it’s about empathy. It’s about being curious enough to understand how something breaks, and then thoughtful enough to make it better.
You don’t have to have a coding background. You don’t have to be the best visual designer. What you need is the willingness to keep asking, “Is this working for someone who’s not me?” And then care enough to fix it when the answer is no.
UX is a career for people who are okay with being wrong, as long as it leads to something better.
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