Product Designer Resume: Templates & Top Tips

get started today

ResumeGiants » Examples » Product Designer Resume

Product design is all about finding new and creative ways to make the projects you’re working on more attractive and functional for the users. Luckily, writing a resume is exactly the same thing! Except instead of a physical object, you want to make a document showcase your skills and experience more attractively and functionally for hiring managers. 

To help you start your path to becoming a great product designer, we’ve put together this handy guide to cover all the essentials of building the perfect resume:

• How to write an effective resume for a product designer.
• Writing your product designer resume summary or objective.
• Filling out your experience and education resume sections.
• Adding relevant product design skills.
• Tips, tricks, and advice to help you start a career as a product designer.

You can design an entire product from the ground up. So if you feel like you can easily design a killer resume right now, head over to ResumeGiants’ free online resume builder to get started. You’ll find tons of templates and examples that you can easily fill in your information, tweak a few details, and you’ll be ready to start applying in no time.

However, if you want to get a bit more product development advice to add the finishing touches to your resume, keep on reading! There are plenty more resume-building tips, templates, and examples in the following sections. Let’s dive in!

Every product design starts with a sketch: a baseline to follow through the rest of the design process. To give you a little inspiration to help you design your resume, here’s a quick example of what a good product designer resume might look like:

resume Example

Copy to clipboard

Copied!

[Sarah K. Etching]

[Product Designer]

[3518 Whiteboard Way, Hawi, HI | 808-555-3729 | sk.etching@email.com]

Summary

Dedicated and creative product designer with 6+ years of experience working in services engineering and interface design. Certified in Illustrator and Photoshop with extensive experience working in Rhino 3D, looking to use proven design skills and strategies to create beautiful and functional designs for end users.

Experience

We Design Great Products, Inc. | Waimea, HI

Product Designer

2016 – 2022

• Designed architectural furniture, developing digital designs for input into CNC machines.
• Extensive understanding of design software, including Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, CS6, InDesign; Microsoft Office, PowerPoint, Excel, Word; Rhino 3D.
• Worked on up to 4 projects at any given time with 100% deadline success.
• Improved workshop organization and efficiency by 25%.

Education

University of Hawaii Manoa | Honolulu, HI

BA in Visual Communication Design 

2012 – 2016

Skills

• Creativity
• Problem solving
• Time management
• Communication

• Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator 
• CAD programs
• User interface assessment
• Graphic design

Awards

• Red Dot Design Award nominee (2021)
• iF Design Award winner (2022)

Portfolio

• sarahdesigns.website

Just like there’s no one-size-fits all approach to designing a product, there’s also no “best” product designer resume format. It all depends on the information you want to showcase and your personal style preferences.

While you’re welcome to choose whichever format fits your design-centric brain, there are a few time-tested resume formatting tips you should always follow:

• Use reverse-chronological order for your experience and education sections.
• Leave plenty of space between sections for a clean appearance.
• Limit your resume to one page (two max, if you absolutely can’t help it).
• Use bold headings above each section to make your resume easy to scan.
• Choose a professional font, like Calibri, Cambria, or Arial.
• Select a readable font size around 13-15 for headings and 11-12 for body text.
• Save your resume as a PDF to prevent formatting issues.

You should also try to put the most important information at the top. That means you should put whatever information you deem most important to impressive first, including sections and bullets within the section. Your resume is no place for suspense!

Your resume summary or objective is like your first impression to the hiring manager. It gives them a general idea about who you are, what you’ve done, and the skills you bring to the table. It’s super important! 

But before we get into writing the first real section on your resume, what’s the difference between a resume summary and a resume objective?

• Resume summary – A brief explanation of your professional experience.
• Resume objective – An overview of your career goals.

Both resume summaries and resume objectives should be about two or three sentences long and contain plenty of specific details to set you apart from the competition.

Product Designer Resume Summary Example

A product designer resume summary should be two or three sentences describing your professional experience as a product designer with a few key skills thrown in. That’s all it takes!

To give you an idea of what to look for, here’s a product designer resume summary example that’ll impress any hiring manager:

See all those pretty details!? The more specific you can make your resume summary, the better. That’s what’ll set you apart from the other applicants and, hopefully, get you the job.

Entry-Level Product Designer Resume Objective Example

If you don’t have professional experience to summarize, a resume objective might be for you! An entry-level product designer resume objective is simply two or three sentences describing your overall career goals and a few of the skills that would make you a great designer.

Just like with a resume summary, you want to keep your resume objective short, concise, and with plenty of detail. 

For some inspiration, here’s what an entry-level product designer resume objective example might look like:

This applicant might not have professional experience, but they describe the skills they posses and what they want to do with them to make the world a better and more functional place. Any employer can appreciate that!

The most important part of any product design is the functionality. If a product doesn’t work for real-world applications, who would buy it!? 

Well, in the resume world, your experience section showcases your functionality to employers. It shows that you not only have the skills necessary to hold a job, but you can also put those skills to use in the real world. In other words, it’s the most important part of your resume!

To write an effective product designer resume experience section, you need to cover these three key points:

• Work history
• Key accomplishments
• Responsibilities

Since you want to keep your resume nice and concise, limit your experience section to the most impressive 3-7 examples. Just make sure your resume sticks to one page in length!

As you compile your experience section, keep these tips in mind:

• Use plenty of concrete numbers and statistics.
• Customize your experience to fit the position you’re applying to.
• Keep all information concise and to the point.
• Include keywords from the job description.

The two goals for your experience section are to prove to hiring managers that you’re the perfect fit for the position and to stand out from the other applicants. If you customize your experience to fit the position, you’ll look like a perfect fit, and the specific details will help you stand out from the pack, helping you accomplish both goals and land your dream job of being a product designer. 

Product Designer Resume Examples: Experience

Now that you know all the puzzle pieces to a great resume experience section, it’s time to put them together! Let’s take a look at what a good product designer resume experience section might look like:

Look at all those wonderful numbers and statistics! This experience section will go a long way with potential employers. 

Since many product design jobs are remote these days, it’s also a good idea to mention any remote work on your resume. That way, hiring managers know you can work independently and still be efficient, which is a major attraction in today’s digital world.

Although your experience section might be the most important part of your resume, that doesn’t mean you should skimp on your education section. However, your education section doesn’t need to be nearly as in-depth as the other sections. You only need to mention three key pieces of information:

• Where you went to school
• Dates of attendance
• Earned degree

If you cover these three points, your product design resume education section will be ready to dazzle any potential employer!

Product Designer Resume Education Section

Even though it’s pretty easy to piece together a resume education section, it never hurts to look at an example. Here’s a quick look at what a good product designer resume education section might look like:

University of Hawaii Manoa | Honolulu, HI

BA in Visual Communication Design 

2009 – 2013 

It’s not much, but that’s all it takes to create a great resume education section. You can also include your GPA or any academic achievements you’ve accomplished, but only if they’re impressive!

You need some mad skills to be a professional product designer, so it’s important to show potential employers that you have what it takes. That’s where a skills section comes in.

A resume skills section is simply a dedicated section to showcasing relevant core competencies you possess that would make you a great product designer. There are two types of skills you can put on your resume:

• Hard skills – Concrete, measurable skills.
• Soft skills – Universal, harder-to-define skills.

Hard skills are things you can get a degree or certification in, like a specific design program or technique. Soft skills are almost like personality traits, like communication or creativity.

Since you always want to seem well-rounded, it’s a good idea to include a mix of both types of skills on your resume. Here are just a few of the hard and soft skills that look great on a product design resume:

Is there still more you want to say about yourself? Of course there is; you’re awesome! Other sections, also known as “extra” sections, are simply additional sections you can add to your resume to showcase skills or background information that doesn’t fit into the “standard” sections.

You can add whatever other sections you want to your resume, just make sure they’re relevant to the position you’re applying to and that they’re impressive to hiring managers. This is a good spot for your portfolio, so hiring managers can see your awesome work!

Product Designer Resume Sample Extra Sections

Looking for a little guidance on what other sections might look good on a product designer resume? Here are a few examples to give you some inspiration:

Awards

• Red Dot Design Award nominee (2021)
• iF Design Award winner (2022)

Portfolio

• sarahdesigns.website

Now that you know how to “design” the perfect resume, you’re ready to start designing products professionally! As you’re working on your product designer resume, remember to keep these time-tested tips in mind:

• Customize your resume to fit the job description.
• Match your skills and experience to the position you’re applying to.
• Include specific details about your background and experience.
• Use plenty of concrete numbers and statistics.
• Select an easy-to-read and clean layout.
• Choose a professional font and format.
• Save your resume as a PDF.

Now put your design hat on and get to work! If you’re in need of a little inspiration to get started, check out some of the professional resume templates at ResumeGiants.com. From there, you can take some design tips to format your own resume, or simply select the template you like best, fill in your information, and download the completed file. Either way, you’ll be ready to design products to make the world a better and easier place in no time!