Every great product has its beginning in ‘why’ and product designers are responsible answering these ‘whys’ and identifying opportunities for new products. They analyze how a new product address the needs of the market and meet the preferences of the consumers. However, to become a product designer, you need a blend of technical knowledge, creativity, and a passion for improving the usability of everyday items. If you wish to kickstart a career in product design, here are a few skills that you need: Technical knowledge: Product designers need visual design skills that helps them to express what the product will look like. Students who wish to become product designers need to acquaint themselves with various tools that help them sketch, illustrate and visualise. Figma, Illustrator, Invision, and Sketch are some of the many software that students need to learn. Research skills: Product designers create products for the users. To gain a deep perspective about what the user needs, product designers need good research skills. They run research experiments like surveys to gain the right information to build a product that will be useful for its target audience. Prototyping and user testing: Product designers create prototypes and conduct user tests before the final product is launched. This helps them understand whether their product would perform well or not. Prototyping gives them more insights on how to further improve their product. 3D Printing, CNC milling, injection moulding, laser cutting and CAD are some of the hard skills that students need to possess before they take a plunge into the field of product design. Empathetic perspective: When it comes to product design, empathy is a key element. When product designers are coming up with design solutions for others, they understand the ideas, thoughts, and needs of others. IDEO, the a global design and innovation company, explains empathy as “a deep understanding of the problems and realities of the people you are designing for”. In today’s digital world, empathy is critical to the success of a business. Communication skills: While technical skills are important, soft skills are equally important. The ability to articulate and collaborate with other team members are important skills that companies look for in budding product designers. The more open an individual is to collaborate, the more he or she can contribute to business strategy. Study product design course at Unitedworld Institute of Design (UID) Product design courses like the one we offer will you gain a deeper understanding of concept development, applied creativity, prototyping, and experimentation. Our B.Design Product Design helps students not just explore production techniques and aesthetics but also the emerging fields of Human Computer Interaction and Artificial Intelligence. Our state-of-the-art infrastructure supports model making and prototype building for different kinds of design briefs. After doing our course, you can go on to explore job opportunities in the field of interaction design, UX design or retail experience. Besides core subjects, our course also includes modules on communications skills.