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How to choose a product designer for your project
By Vini Asevedo · 5 min read
Understanding how to choose a product designer for your project starts with identifying what needs to move forward in your business. You might want to launch an app, improve registration that loses customers or organize a system that has become difficult to use.
Each situation calls for a different combination of investigation, visual craft and delivery skills. When evaluating designers, look at how they connect those needs to product decisions.
As a Lead Product Designer, I bring together people’s needs, business rules and technical possibilities. These are the criteria I recommend considering before hiring.
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Start with the problem you need to solve
Before hiring a digital product designer, describe the current situation and the change you hope to achieve.
“We need to redesign the app” leaves many questions open. “People start registration but need help to finish” provides a more concrete starting point.
You can organize the first conversation around four things:
- Quem usa ou vai usar o produto.
- Qual dificuldade foi percebida e como ela foi identificada.
- O que a empresa espera melhorar.
- What deadlines, resources and constraints already exist.
If the problem is still unclear, look for someone who can help investigate it. The engagement may begin by clarifying priorities.
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Evaluate the reasoning in the portfolio
When evaluating a product designer’s portfolio, choose a case and see whether you can understand the problem, the designer’s contribution and the reasons behind the main decisions.
Visual quality matters: hierarchy, legibility and consistency are part of the experience. Also look for evidence of how the designer reached the solution and handled constraints.
Ask: “What made you change direction in this project?” or “Which alternative did you discard, and why?”
Concrete answers help you understand how that person might work with your company’s challenges.
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Look for experience relevant to your context
Relevant experience may come from the industry, the product type or the complexity of the problem.
A B2B project, for example, may involve several decision-makers, eligibility rules and steps that depend on sales operations. An AI product needs to consider how to explain responses, communicate uncertainty and keep the person in control.
At Turn2C, I worked on redesigning the B2B partner journey. A central decision was to clarify eligibility and value before asking for a larger registration commitment.
When hiring a UX/UI designer for your company, look for examples showing familiarity with questions similar to yours.
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Understand how the work reaches implementation
Ask how the designer collaborates with Product, Engineering and other teams involved.
Understand who takes part in decisions, how solutions are discussed with the technical team and what happens when a constraint emerges during development.
Also clarify the deliverables: flows, prototypes, components, documentation and implementation follow-up may all be part of the work, depending on scope.
This conversation aligns responsibilities and helps anticipate the support needed to turn the project into a usable experience.
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Compare proposals by what they help you achieve
When comparing product design proposals, look at the activities and deliverables included, the information the designer will need and how scope changes will be handled.
Agree on how the work will be evaluated. Depending on the project, it may make sense to track task completion, support needs, execution time or user activation.
Past results help you assess experience. Ask how they were measured and what design contributed. Your own project goals must reflect your context.
Choose someone you can build with
When deciding how to choose a product designer for your project, look for three signals: relevant experience, clear explanations of decisions and the ability to collaborate through delivery.
That continuity is where I focus my work: understanding the problem, shaping a solution and following what changes when people begin using it.
If your company is creating a digital product or improving an existing experience, tell me where the project stands, what challenge it faces and what you want to achieve.
Let’s talk about your project