Product Design Questions for Product Managers in 2023

Product design questions are the most common questions during product manager interviews. They’re meant to evaluate a candidate’s problem-solving skills, creativity, and innovativeness in creating a product that’s going to be useful and helpful.

There are two major keys that will allow you to get through this portion of the PM interview with flying colors:

First is your ability to empathize and understand the feelings of others. Empathy is a PM skill that many overlook. If you naturally see where the problem exists and you are able to put yourself in the shoes of others, you have the makings of becoming a great product manager. 

The other key that you need is preparation. You have to go into every interview armed with confidence and knowledge. Because empathy will only bring you so far, you would need to be prepared to answer product design questions fluently.

Before the Product Design Questions

Before we go into the questions, here are a few important reminders every aspiring product manager needs to know when asked product design questions in an interview:

1. Unrelated Industry

PM applicants are almost always asked about industries that are not familiar to them. The interviewer wants to find out if you’re still able to break a problem down even if you’re out of your element. For example, you could have healthcare technology experience, but the interviewer might ask you about building a product to buy and sell antiques.

2. Clear Response

Your response should be comprehensible. There are a million and one ways to solve a problem but you have to hone in on a single method and clearly lay out your solution. If you can’t put a structure to your thought process, it’s going to make the wrong impression.

3. Use Your Creativity

Don’t be afraid to use a bit of creativity as you come up with your solutions. Creativity allows you to create solutions and ideas that are fresh and original.

10 Product Design Questions Asked in 2023

On Product Management Exercises, we’ve compiled 628 product design questions as well as possible solutions, analyzed and evaluated by our product management community. The forum should help you get started with understanding and preparing for possible product design questions. We listed the most trending product design questions in 2023 below:

1. Design a Phone for Deaf People

Most of the smartphones of today already have some features for those who have a hearing impairment. Features like mono audio, instant transcription, and hearing aid compatibility already exist so how will you build a better phone for the deaf community?

Ask yourself the following:

• Who will use the product?
• What will be their use cases?
• What are the gaps in the current products?
• Etc.

If you would like to see how the PM community answered this question, you can check here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

2. Design a Google product for the Olympics

To solve this problem, you would need to ask clarificatory questions first. Are you designing for the audience or for the organizers? How are you going to leverage Google’s existing competency?

Product Management Exercises had a group practice regarding this topic. In that session, topics like designing for a particular user group, leveraging Google’s expertise, Google’s mission relevance to the Olympics, and so on were discussed. You can check the full video here.

3. How do you Design a Futuristic Shoe?

When it comes to shoes, what would be the user’s persona? Is the user a tech person who wears sneakers on a daily basis? Is the user an athlete who might benefit from performance tracking software on the shoes? 

It’s questions like these that will enable you to make a unique shoe tailor-made for the modern-day person.

If you would like to see how the PM community answered this question, you can check here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

4. How would you design a wedding registry?

Weddings are joyous occasions but, in most cases, the bride and the groom receive gifts that are unnecessary. One of the major pain points for this problem is the bride and the groom not being able to clearly communicate what they would like to receive as they tie the knot. What other pain points can you identify?

If you would like to see how the PM community answered this question, you can check here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

5. How would you design a VR product for hospitals?

There are two kinds of users that will find a VR product for hospitals useful. First are the medical practitioners working in the hospital – doctors and nurses. The second is the patient. How would you create a product that addresses their healthcare needs?

Doctors can use the VR product to simulate the procedure that they’re going to do for their patients. As a result, patients feel more at ease which improves the doctor-patient trust.

If you would like to see how the PM community answered this question, you can check here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

6. How would you go about launching a ‘no rush’ delivery for Instamart at Swiggy?

It’s helpful if you understand the product first. Instamart was launched in 2020 in the middle of the pandemic. It was created to make grocery shopping more convenient. 

Since the ‘no rush’ delivery is somewhat of a contradiction to Instamart’s promise of delivering groceries in minutes, you could ask clarificatory questions about the business goal behind the launching. Is there a change in consumer behavior now that the new normal is setting in? Or, is it an experiment that tests the market for a new product?

If you would like to see how the PM community answered this question, you can check here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

7. Design an education product for Instagram.

This question is interesting because Instagram is such a huge platform that there are all kinds of content on it. What are we educating users about? Would it be a certain education in a certain field of study? Or would it be education to use Instagram itself? 

There are so many possibilities. Identify what the pain points are then you can go from there. 

If you would like to see how the PM community answered this question, you can check here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

8. Build a product to buy and sell antiques.

The key to giving a great solution to this problem is to identify the use case of the users. For example, the buyer may want a product that displays the certificate of authenticity of a certain antique. The seller may want this as well to give more value to their antique listings. Try to prioritize the major problem of each user group.

If you would like to see how the PM community answered this question, you can check here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

9. Given that there are fewer employees in the offices, how would you manage the “Corner Cafes” where coffee and snacks are kept?

This problem was asked at a Google Product Manager Interview about a year ago. The solution could be in the form of a survey done weekly to gauge the capacity of the office. Then presenting the food items a week before could ensure that the stocks are sufficient for everyone.

If you would like to see how the PM community answered this question, you can check here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

10. Design a meditation app for kids.

A meditation app for kids can really be a big help to parents. It’s challenging to get your kids to mellow down most of the time. However, there will be challenges especially if the app is targeting a younger age group. What other challenges can you identify as you make this meditation app?

If you would like to see how the PM community answered this question, you can check here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

The answers to the trending product design questions above are just samples. There are other ways to solve these problems. You can come up with your own solution or use the answers of our PM community as your guide. Review the full set of PM Interview Questions here.
You can also check out our Product Manager Interview Course to gain the knowledge you need to master your product manager interview skills. You can check the section about How to Answer Product Design Questions here or you can check the full course out here.