A Letter to Future Product Designers

To every bright young mind choosing Product Design for your bachelor’s—here’s something I wish someone told me early on.

First, why not to choose design:

If you’re choosing design just to escape math, physics, or chemistry, pause. Design is not a refuge. It’s not a hideout from hard subjects—it is a confluence of many of them. You need mental models from everywhere—systems thinking from physics, logic from math, and material behavior from chemistry. Choose design because you want to include it all, not because you want to exclude the rest.

“I can sketch well. I write poetry. I’ve always been into art.” That’s beautiful—but let’s be clear: design is not art. Art is expression. Design is problem-solving.

Art takes you outside the box and keeps you there. It explores the edges. It challenges norms. But design? Design demands you return. To fit your wildest ideas inside constraints. Within timelines, budgets, technologies, and user needs. Design may borrow from the artist’s tools—but it serves a different purpose.

Design is problem-solving. Problem-solving is different from expression. It’s about finding elegant solutions that work, not just ideas that feel personal. If your soul is purely artistic, design might feel like a cage. Artists often struggle here—because design is less about self-expression and more about user obsession.

So why choose product design?

Choose it if you love creative problem-solving. If you enjoy weaving multiple messy threads into elegant, composite solutions. If you notice the tiniest details and still zoom out to see the whole. If you’re drawn to making things better—and you’re open to being wrong on the way there.

Choose it if you’re curious about people. Design needs empathy. Precision. Courage. And a constant feedback loop: signal amplification, noise reduction.

You will thrive in product design through collaboration. A great peer group will sharpen your taste. A great teacher will change your trajectory. A strong network will help you navigate rough waters. So: find your people. Build your circle. Make space to think, reflect, and be. Creativity whispers—it doesn’t shout. You need stillness to hear it.

Design is simple—but not easy. Because we’re designing for fellow human beings, there’s an inherent familiarity. That’s why I say: ABCD—Any Body Can Design.

Underline can. If you’re dedicating the next four years to exploring and expanding that can, you already have my love, respect, and support.

Welcome to the world of design. Welcome to the craft, the chaos, the clarity—and the community. Reach out anytime if you need guidance. I’m rooting for you.