Why Product Designers Should Write

The output of product design reflects both user and business needs, so it’s hard to explain what I do through the output alone. Persuading colleagues of how I solved a problem also comes down to speaking and writing. That’s why I write. In this post, I share how I find topics, and the feedback, metrics, and connections I’ve gained by writing regularly.

“So what do you do?” (What even is a product designer?)

One question I always get when I meet someone new is, “What do you do?” I worry about how to answer in a way that helps people understand me and my work, and I’m always a little afraid of it. With people outside tech, I usually get away with “I’m a designer at a tech startup” or “I design app screens.” Neither of us walks away quite satisfied, but we move on to the next topic.

What I actually wanted to say was:

Introducing myself isn’t easy online either. The world is wide, and there are so many kinds of people and jobs.

You might ask, “But designers can explain themselves through their output, right?” In graphic or industrial design, the output itself can convey much of what the designer intended. But the output of product design isn’t purely a product of the designer’s own thinking. It has to reflect user and business needs, so the output alone can’t explain a product designer.

Since the output says too little about what I do and who I am, I started writing about my experience, my interests, and my work.

Why should product designers write?

As I mentioned, product designers constantly have to explain things and persuade people. You can’t persuade someone with output alone, without explaining in words what problem it solves and how.

Beyond public posts on a blog or LinkedIn, there are internal planning documents and notes written to communicate with developers. Product designers end up writing far more often than you might think.

I believe that to write well, you have to write a lot. But when I actually sit down to write, I struggle with what to write about. Apart from planning documents at work, the posts I keep on my blog get their ideas from the sources below. I started the blog to share my experience with people in similar roles and industries, so my topics are mostly things I’ve experienced at work, industry events, and notes on the tools and books I’m studying.

Notes from UX and design study

• When a task brings useful information or a meaningful experience
  • Completing a single task often involves studying many things, such as UX research or how to read metrics. I write these up and share them.
• Notes from studying industry trends and new technology
  • Even when it isn’t directly related to my work, I study design tools getting attention in the industry or ways to use AI, and sometimes write about how these trends connect to UX. (I also have plenty of drafts I haven’t published because I’m still studying.)

Writing alone isn’t easy. There are a few things that help me turn the thoughts circling in my head into words.

Two things that help me write

• Reading in order to write
  • I read books on different types of writing (in Korean) and try applying them to my own. Writing that informs and writing that introduces who you are seem like different types to me, so I try to work out which suits me and put it into practice.
• Recording everyday thoughts
  • Starting from a blank page is hard. When I have a thought or a topic that might make a good post, I drop it into a personal Notion page. When I feel like writing (?), I dig through those ideas and write a light first draft. Then, when the timing for publishing feels right, I finish it and put it out in public.

What I’ve gained from writing

• Learning what others think of my thoughts
  • When I share a post that organizes my thoughts, I hear from people who think similarly or differently. Those reactions often expand my thinking.
• Seeing reactions through metrics
  • Through Google Analytics and Google Search Console (in Korean), I’ve learned how much and in what way people respond to my writing. Page views aren’t the goal of my writing, so I use metrics to check which topics people care about and whether I’m reading those trends well.
• A wider network
  • I’ve been able to talk with people in the industry I wouldn’t easily meet otherwise, and with people in other roles. As more people with similar interests reach out after reading my posts, my network keeps growing.

For a product designer, writing is a lot like exercise.

It can be hard and tedious to get started, but you feel proud once you’ve done it, and the benefits that follow build you up over time. Even knowing all this, I still find it hard to keep up.

I’m still working at it, to explain who I am and to keep a written record of what I do.