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Jon Moore - How to build a career in product design

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Highlights

Jon Moore's advice on building a career in product design

⚙ How Jon pivoted into product design after getting a degree in computer science.

📢 Soliciting client feedback is a skill in and of itself. Set the stage, walk them through your design and see if it's solving a problem.

💎 Learn to copy designs that you admire. It will teach you more about design principles than you can imagine, all the while getting good at a design tool.

🦸 Everyone has a superpower that you need to discover. There are so many niches within product design that you can own and be fantastic at.

How to build a career in product design - with Jon Moore

In this episode of The Product Design Podcast, Seth interviewed Jon Moore, the Product Design Principal at Innovatemap. They discussed several topics which are valuable to anyone interested in product design.

We were able to dive in and get some great advice to share with you, including:

Tips for new and aspiring product designers
Top two areas to focus on when navigating through a career in product design
How to best support a team when you have become a leader in product design

How Jon found Product Design

From the time Jon was a child, he had an interest in building things. His early interest eventually led him to software engineering after college, where he quickly realized he was not feeling fulfilled in what he was doing. His manager offered up an opportunity on a new team called the UX team, and he immediately felt like this role was the perfect fit for him.

While on this new team, Jon met his mentor, Christian Beck, and after many years of working side by side, they still work together today. They were able to learn and grow together, and Jon attributes much of his success to having a mentor who was willing to help develop him in the different stages of his career.

In the full podcast episode, Jon shares a more detailed account of his career, but in this article, we will focus on the valuable tips and advice he has learned during his time in this industry.

Tips for new and aspiring product designers

Over the years, as Jon has established himself as a leader in product design, he has gained valuable insight into how to build and navigate a career in this industry. He shared his tips for anyone just getting started or someone who may have found an interest in learning more about product design.

I think the job of a designer is conveying ideas and conveying solutions in the right way, and we just happened to use the medium of design to do it.

💰 If you don't have access to the technology or software or do not have the money to invest in it, go to the library to use their resources or find student pricing or free software to get you started.

💻 Find inspiration on dribbble or behance and start practice copying. This practice allows you to become great at using a design tool while learning about spacing, the contrast in color, button placement, and best practices for product design.

♻️ Do not try to invent something out of thin air when you are getting started; find something you love and recreate it pixel for pixel. Then you can focus on learning the fundamentals without being distracted by creative decisions.

🛠 Practice makes perfect. Keep expanding your knowledge by finding more significant challenges to continue developing your expertise in product design.

Top two areas to focus on when navigating through a career in product design

Along a career path in product design, there are several skills to fine-tune and continue improving in. During our interview, Jon provided us with his take on the two most important areas to dial in along your career path.

🎨 Develop the ability to focus on the visual side of product design by making solid fundamental design decisions in your work.

🎯 Solidify a strong understanding of user empathy and clarity around how users interact with technology to solve problems.

How to best support a team when you have become a leader in product design

As a leader, it is essential to provide your team with the support that will make them successful as individuals, as part of the team, and benefit the company initiatives. Jon shared with us the three things that he focuses on as a leader to his design team.

👏 Supports the development of the visual side of product design through providing tactical design feedback.

💡 Works with his team on presenting work to their clients to generate productive feedback on projects.

🦸 Strives to identify each team member's superpower to help them grow and expand in their career path in a way that makes the individual happy and benefits the company.

Unearthing and uncovering each individual person's superpower or passion is something that I really love doing.

Thank you Jon!

Our conversation with Jon Moore was full of many excellent tips and approaches for anyone in product design, regardless of their role or experience level. Make sure to listen to the complete episode, which includes an in-depth discussion about Jon's career path, over at The Product Design Podcast.

Don't forget to follow Jon to watch as he continues to refine his expertise. You can find him on Twitter and LinkedIn!

Where to find Jon Moore

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