Validating product design is one of the important things a Product Manager needs to do to avert design risks. I usually allow my product designs to go through a usability test via either Userzoom or  C-Space. This makes sure that the hypothesis that me and my team are going ahead with in terms of design is actually market tested. The reaction of the usability testing is then used to confirm the design decisions or  pivot if necessary.

Doing so helps eliminates risks associated with Product Design.

If there is a scenario where data from usability cannot be decisive enough to proceed in a particual direction, A/B testing can be used to decide in between 2 or 3 proposed designs. It is important to let the designs experiments run long enough for the data to be statistically significant.

1. User testing: This works well for products with a user interface. Get a few users to use the product and show them the new product design. As they click around and talk about their experience, take notes of what problems they run into and what questions remain unaswered. These can they form the hypothesis of your future AB tests.
2. Keep going back to your initial problem and ensure that the design would actually solve the problem statement.
3. AB tests in general: Run AB tests against existing workarounds/ different versions of solutions to validate it.
4. Dog fooding or internal team testing: Be sure to collect feedback and refine the design.
5. Put on your product manager “empathy” hat and live the problem from the customer’s POV. If you were the end user, will your design really help solve the problem and go beyond just minimum viable to a loveable product?