Crossposting this from Quora.

As a designer, I feel like there are very subtle differences in these jobs, but ultimately they all end up with around the same results at the end of the day. That is, they design how a user interacts with a product.

Let me explain, and keep in mind that this is my own view of the design world, and others very well may have different opinions of the functions of these titles:

• A product designer oversees product vision from a high level (how does this feature make sense for where we want to be in 6 months) to a low execution level (how does styling this button this way impact how the user flows through this function). Product designer is a term that I believe was largely popularized with the rise of Facebook. They should perform all of the functions of the other listed designer types, combined.

• A UX (user experience) designer is closer to a product designer than an interaction designer. These designers often deal with diagrammatic user flows opposed to based in pixels, wireframes instead of mockups, and user research. As the opposite of an interaction designer, they focus more on high level design decisions and mostly aren't very concerned with pixel level detail. These are the analytical thinkers.

• An interaction designer is similar to a product designer, but I don't know if I would put one in charge of high-level features. They are also close to UI designers. I feel like interaction designers specialize in the actual interactions of an app — what happens when you hit a button, how a menu flies out, how to design your forms, etc.

• A UI (user interface) designer could be a interaction designer, but most UI designers I find on the internet tend to teeter onto the side of visual design. More often than not, they design the aesthetics of the UI elements, but not necessarily how the elements behave after interaction.

In the end, these people all perform slightly different functions to reach the same goal. Of course, you will find designers that say that they are one title and perform the function of another — this is, after all, my opinion, and also with job functions so close together, overlap is bound to happen.

It's also important to keep in mind that you don't need to hire one of all four functions when building a design team. Usually, based on the kind of company that you're running and the stage that you're at, one of the above (two max) will do just fine.

When friends or family back in the midwest ask I say: I get to decide what technology looks like, and acts like. Most people get the word interface so I'll say I design interfaces. For the most part I don't go much further into describing it unless they seem interested. I would let go of trying to get people to have a full understanding of what you do, they might not give a rats ass they're just trying to relate—trying talking about the Bears or something.

You translate vision, ideas, and prototypes into what people use and interact with.

Product designer == you design products. A jack of all trades that puts their skills together in order to make things people will want and people will use.

Product Designer is still a relatively new term and when I describe my job to those outside the field, I just say I help build things for the web to try to have a positive impact on our society.

If someone is really curious I explain that a Product Designer is someone that does a bit of everything – planning, business, programming, design, with emphasis on the latter – in-order to get a useful and profitable product out the door.

Think this post might be exactly what this question needs: https://blog.zipboard.co/who-really-is-a-product-designer-2f2cd1bb8db2

Outside of our industry, people often think that means physical products. I have been leaning more toward "software designer" in those situations.

If I'm explaining it to non-technical people, I use something like Facebook as an example: "The idea is 'a site to post and share with friends'. I take that idea and turn it into software that makes sense: a News Feed, a Share box, a Profile… and decide where all those things go and what they look like."

It certainly doesn't sum up everything, but it results in the fewest puzzled looks of any explanation I've tried ;)

"I used to be a graphic designer, then I became a digital/ui designer, then I became a ux designer, and now I do all of those things every day in a holistic way"?....

What if a product designer also performs the act of developing the product — software or service — he initially helped designing? Is there a more specific title for such a person? Or does the title “Lead Designer” also contain the execution of the design, without a need to emphasise it?

product designer is an utter shit title. doesn't describe what you do. doesn't describe your authority. doesn't describe your field/expertise.

To keep the pain from having to go into a long conversation about what I do with non-tech savy people. I just say, "I make web and mobile apps look pretty, and user friendly."

Maybe this. "I'm a product designer. I design and build web and mobile apps". I know that you could potentially design for other mediums such as tv's, tablets, gaming systems but I think the general consumer can relate most to the web and mobile applications.

It doesn't sound glamorous, but "I work on software/web" usually sums it up pretty well. Sure, that would fit designers and developers, but its something that anyone can understand. I've learned that being any more nuanced than that is really not helpful for 80% of people.

If they ask more questions like, "What kind of software?" then you can get into more of the details.

Along the lines of what Mark W said, even people who have digital products out and live on the web won't always know what you do.

Ever been asked to design something, but without any requirements or goals? Ever provide an engineer or founder a SOW that entails what involves research and analysis, building use cases and stories, all to have them retort with "Can you just design this widget in an eighth of the time you said you need to design it?"

Point is that design, for most people, isn't understood because the product is in itself the process. Most process-oriented professions, crafts or skills aren't understood from the top level, which is why stories are such a big part of what we do. Even we have to give it a face and name to really understand what problem it is we are trying to solve.

Just get better at your craft and tell your story through the things you envision and create. For me, that's the best way I can show and tell people what I do.

Architect for digital products.