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image of Ask a Designer: principles of good product design - Monika Ocieczek, Primer
Tuesday, December 20, 2022
37:37
minutes

Ask a Designer: principles of good product design - Monika Ocieczek, Primer

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Episode Details

Sometimes designers do things that aren’t in the customer's best interest. In fact it happens more often than some like to admit it. Monika Ocieczek, the head of product design at Primer, witnessed it many times. She shares her perspective on why designers do it, evolution of product design, what successful designers look like and more. Bonus section: Monika and Aram discuss who should be blamed for the unsuccessful product.

Show notes

About Monika Ocieczek
Monika Ocieczek is the head of product design at Primer. Monika has also served as a CPO and co-founder at Gimi AB, a youth-first neo-bank, and as a product manager and team lead at Tink. 
Monika is widely recognized for her work in Fin-tech and has been named one of the "Top 250 most promising Fin-techs in the world 2018" by CBInsights and one of the "The hottest startups in Stockholm" 2019 by Wired. Monika has a Master of Science in Marketing and Management from the Stockholm School of Economics and a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the same school.

SHOW NOTES:
0:11 | Episode intro and what’s in for you today
1:21 | Why product designers might do things that aren’t in the best interests of customers
3:43 | Evolution of product design approaches over time
5:54 | How Monika’s background in marketing and product blends into product design
8:47 | The role of product marketing in product design
11:28 | How do you become a genius in serving customer’s interest 
13:44 | Monika’s thoughts on the best practices in a startup environment
20:16 | Characteristics and qualities of a successful product designer
23:34 | The source of intuition among many product designers 
27:17 | Changing thinking patterns from time-tested principles around product design
32:08 | Who should be blamed for unsuccessful product
33:54 | If Monika was to make a 30-second social media video, what would she say, and how would it look like
35:18 | Monika’s most exciting part of her job and why
36:54 | Wrap-up

QUOTES:
“In product design, the primary focus should be on the users because that always leads to great products, and that great product leads to more business value.” [2:02]
 
“There are two schools of thought that are very popular within product design. These are Google’s Design Print and IDEO Design Thinking. What is lacking in the market is a school of thought on product design that focuses on fast-growing and high-performing startups.” [4:15]
 
“Marketing in the digital space is more interactive than in the traditional way.” [06:26]

“No matter which product methodology or framework you use in design, it may not be the best, or most successful.” [31:49] 

Follow Monika Ocieczek
Company’s Website: https://primer.io/

What is Product Innovation Series with Aram Melkoumov?

Product Innovation Series is an in-depth interview series featuring product & innovation leaders from small startups all the way to Fortune 500 behemoths. Our guests share their battle-tested perspective on what prevents teams from shipping a great product. The show is hosted by Aram Melkoumov, the CEO of Crowdlinker.

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