What is so “creative” about product designers?

In this first Friday Rant or Fact, I challenge the overused label of “creativity” in product design. Product designers aren’t artists chasing inspiration — we’re builders navigating complexity, logic, business constraints, and real-world user needs.

Every time I see that word thrown around in our field, it feels like we’re being mistaken for painters or sculptors - and it’s frustrating. At least to me. We’re not here to draw pretty pictures, change a button color, or “explore our imagination.” We’re here to solve real-world, complex, often messy problems. Period.

A real product designer:

👉 Works alongside Product Owners and Business Analysts — or better yet, has BA/UX/UI capabilities baked in. We’re right there, just a few centimeters away from the business, the founders, and real people with real problems that need solving.

👉 Understands the business just as much as the user. It’s not just about empathy — it’s about economics, logic, and feasibility. It’s marketing, industry dynamics — the whole ecosystem.

👉 Can hold their own in technical discussions, not just smile and nod when someone says “API.” I’ve seen too many so-called technical consultants who couldn’t even explain what a boolean is or how to use it.

👉 Builds information architectures, business flows, and user flows - and knows the difference. And yes, this takes time. But if you skip this, three months into the project you’ll be coding blindly.

👉 Writes epics, user stories, and technical tasks that make sense in a product backlog. I’ve seen product designers essentially shape the software logic months before a business analyst even enters the picture.

👉 Can conduct a proper accessibility audit - not just throw in some contrast and call it a day.

👉 Designs and documents a scalable design system — not just a Figma frame with three pretty buttons.

👉 Syncs regularly with frontend devs, understanding components, tokens, constraints, and limitations.

And yes — after all that — comes the “UI,” the high-fidelity layer. Which, let’s be honest, is the most replaceable part of the entire job. AI is already halfway there.

So I ask again:
What is so creative about this?

It’s not a creative job. It’s a technical, analytical, cross-functional discipline with a visual layer. Stop romanticizing it. Stop calling us creatives like we sit around waiting for inspiration to strike.

We're not artists — we're builders with empathy, logic, and domain expertise.

No disrespect to real artists - I admire what you do. But product design isn’t about expression. It’s about precision, structure, and problem-solving.