I had a great time learning from four great designers sharing their insights on designing B2B and B2C products, thanks to the event organizer UXRen.
The audience of B2B (Business-to-Business) products is usually highly trained, professional people from business customers; while the audience of B2C (Business-to-Customer) is for everyday users of certain areas, like Uber riders, Yelp users. The sources of user needs, the metrics on measuring how a design can be successful and the design process can vary a lot from company to company.
Being in startups in most of my careers so far, it was also fascinating to learn about designers’ lives in bigger companies. In a small company, a designer usually wears more than one hat (research, design, etc), and it’s easier to keep the whole knowledge about a product (or more) in mind; in bigger companies, there are definitely more than one products and many designers working on them. Even though a designer may just design one piece of a product, she needs to take the entire ecosystem in mind, and fit the design into overall product strategy.
Regardless what product you design, be an advocate for your users. When there’s a product requirement that you are not sure about, push back and ask why. Remember, you are working in a team to figure out the best possible ways that a product, or a feature can help both your users and your company growth. Collaboration is essential, and knowing when to push and when to compromise is critical to make your team and product a success.
