Boolean search strings for UX designers: product, research, design systems and portfolio X-ray
On this page
- Titles, tools and evidence that change what a UX search finds
- Ten Boolean strings by kind of UX work
- What LinkedIn, Indeed and Google actually support
- Narrowing by seniority and shipped work
- False positives worth excluding with NOT
- A worked example: three passes on a fintech product designer search
- What a search cannot verify
- Questions people ask
UX titles have drifted for a decade. The same job is called UX designer, product designer, UI/UX designer, UX/UI designer, interaction designer and experience designer, and some companies split it into UX researcher, UI designer and content designer. Meanwhile "designer" alone pulls in graphic, interior, fashion, instructional and game designers, and "UX" sits next to "CX" on customer service profiles.
The work and the portfolio are what sort it out. Below are ten strings by kind of UX work, including portfolio X-rays, and what LinkedIn, Indeed and Google support as of October 2026. For general operator rules, see Boolean search strings for recruiters.
Titles, tools and evidence that change what a UX search finds
| Focus | Terms candidates write | Common titles |
|---|---|---|
| End-to-end product design | Figma, prototyping, user flows, wireframes, shipped, SaaS | Product designer, UX designer, UI/UX designer |
| Research | Usability testing, user interviews, diary study, Maze, UserTesting, Dovetail | UX researcher, user researcher, design researcher |
| Interaction and complex tools | Enterprise, workflows, dashboards, Axure, ProtoPie | Interaction designer, senior UX designer |
| Design systems | Component library, tokens, accessibility, WCAG | Design systems designer, product designer |
- The portfolio is the evidence. UX candidates usually link a portfolio site, a Behance or Dribbble profile, or written case studies. A string finds the person; the case studies show whether they did research, made decisions and shipped.
- Certifications are optional. Nielsen Norman Group's UX Certification requires passing the exams for five courses, offers specialties such as Interaction Design and Research, and lets you verify certified people, as of October 2026. Google's UX Design Certificate is an entry-level online program offered on Coursera with no prerequisites. Treat both as signals of study, not of shipped work.
- Industry vocabulary narrows fast. Fintech, healthcare, B2B SaaS and ecommerce designers each write about their domain. If the client's domain is complex, a domain block finds people who will ramp faster.
Ten Boolean strings by kind of UX work
Swap in the domain, tools and metro from your own intake; these are examples.
Product and interaction design
1. Product designer, B2B SaaS — LinkedIn general search
("product designer" OR "ux designer" OR "ui/ux designer" OR "ux/ui designer") AND figma AND ("design system" OR prototyping) AND (saas OR b2b) NOT ("graphic designer" OR "interior designer" OR recruiter)
2. Interaction designer for complex tools — LinkedIn Recruiter, Job titles + Keywords filters
("interaction designer" OR "senior ux designer" OR "product designer") AND (enterprise OR "complex workflows" OR dashboards) AND (axure OR protopie OR figma)
3. Mobile product designer — LinkedIn general search
("product designer" OR "ux designer" OR "mobile designer") AND (ios OR android OR "mobile app") AND ("human interface guidelines" OR "material design")
4. Design systems specialist — LinkedIn general search
("design systems designer" OR "product designer" OR "ui designer") AND ("design system" OR "component library") AND (tokens OR accessibility OR wcag)Research and resume databases
5. UX researcher — LinkedIn Recruiter, Job titles + Keywords filters
("ux researcher" OR "user researcher" OR "design researcher") AND ("usability testing" OR "user interviews" OR "diary study") NOT ("market research" OR "clinical research")
6. Designer who does their own research — LinkedIn general search
("ux designer" OR "product designer") AND ("usability testing" OR "user interviews") AND (maze OR usertesting OR dovetail)
7. UX designer with a certification — LinkedIn Recruiter, Keywords filter
("ux designer" OR "product designer") AND ("ux certification" OR "ux certified" OR "nielsen norman" OR "google ux design certificate")
8. UX designer by skills and degree — Indeed Smart Sourcing
("ux designer" OR "user experience designer" OR "product designer") AND skill: (figma OR wireframing OR prototyping) AND fieldofstudy: ("human-computer interaction" OR "interaction design")Portfolio and profile X-ray
9. Portfolio case studies on personal sites — Google X-ray
"product designer" "case study" "figma" "usability testing" portfolio -jobs -course -template -dribbble -behance
10. Public profiles by domain and metro — Google X-ray
site:linkedin.com/in ("product designer" OR "ux designer") "figma" "fintech" "new york" -jobs -recruiter
To search inside a portfolio network, run site:behance.net or site:dribbble.com
with the same quoted terms. Dribbble skews toward visual and UI work; written case studies on a personal
site or on Behance more often show process.
What LinkedIn, Indeed and Google actually support
As of October 2026, LinkedIn's Boolean help page requires AND, OR and NOT in capitals, supports quotes and parentheses, and does not support wildcards. Candidates write "ui/ux," "ux/ui," "ux ui" and "user experience," so put the variants you see in your results into the title block; slashes are not reliable search characters, so check the first page of results when you add them. LinkedIn Recruiter's Boolean page lists Job titles among the Boolean-capable filters and warns that very long queries can cause problems.
Indeed's Smart
Sourcing guide documents a skill: field and the fieldofstudy: and
school: education fields. Google's
search operators page documents quotes,
site:, the minus sign and filetype:, but not OR; check whether an X-ray's OR
block changes the results before you depend on it.
Narrowing by seniority and shipped work
UX seniority shows up in scope words: "led design for," "owned," "shipped," "partnered with product and engineering," "set the design direction" and "mentored" tend to come from senior designers, while "contributed to," "created mockups" and "supported the design team" tend to come from juniors. LinkedIn's premium search filters add Years of Experience in Recruiter and Sales Navigator.
"Shipped" deserves its own pass. Bootcamp portfolios are often built on concept projects for apps that do not exist; a designer who writes about launching, measuring and iterating on a live product has had to live with their decisions. Add ("shipped" OR "launched" OR "in production") once the list is relevant, and confirm on the call which designs went live.
False positives worth excluding with NOT
- Graphic and brand designers. "Graphic designer," "brand designer" and "print" profiles say designer and often list Figma. See the graphic designer screening questions if the client actually needs brand work.
- Other designers. "Interior designer," "fashion designer," "instructional designer" and "game designer" profiles flood a search on designer alone.
- Front-end developers, for design roles. "UI developer" and "front-end engineer" profiles mention UI and design systems. Keep them only for design engineer roles.
- Customer experience staff. "Customer experience" and "CX" profiles in support and success roles sit near "user experience" in search results.
- Course and bootcamp staff. "Mentor," "instructor" and "teaching assistant" at UX bootcamps list every tool and method. Keep them only if they also hold design jobs.
A worked example: three passes on a fintech product designer search
An invented search, shown as it actually gets narrowed.
Intake: A payments startup needs a senior product designer to own onboarding and account flows, run lightweight research, and work in its Figma design system.
Pass 1: "product designer" AND figma: a very large list including
graphic designers, bootcamp graduates with concept projects and industrial product designers.
Pass 2: ("product designer" OR "ux designer") AND figma AND ("usability
testing" OR "user research") AND (fintech OR payments OR banking) NOT ("graphic designer" OR
"industrial design"): relevant, though some profiles are agency designers who worked briefly on a
bank's site.
Pass 3: add AND (onboarding OR "shipped" OR "design system"). Those
terms tend to come from in-house designers who owned a product area over time. The list is short enough to
review portfolios first, then call the designers whose case studies show research and live results.
"Industrial design" in the NOT block helped more than expected: physical product designers share the title "product designer" exactly.
What a search cannot verify
A string can find someone whose profile names the right title, tools and domain. It cannot tell you whether the case study is their work or the team's, how they defend a design decision, or whether a portfolio project ever shipped. The UX designer phone screen questions test that, the UX designer job description template helps the client decide between product, interaction and research focus before you search, and the interview guide for designers covers the portfolio review and later rounds.
Questions people ask
Is a product designer the same as a UX designer?
At many software companies, yes; product designer has become the common title for someone who owns UX and often UI for a product area. At agencies and larger enterprises, UX designer, UI designer and UX researcher may be separate jobs. Search both titles together and let the portfolio show the split.
Should a UX search require Figma?
Usually it costs little, because Figma is widely used for UX work. But tools are quick to learn for a strong designer, so if the client uses something else or the pool is small, move the tool to an optional block and judge the portfolio instead.
Are UX certifications worth searching for?
As optional terms, sometimes. Nielsen Norman Group's UX Certification requires passing exams for five courses and has a public verification list; Google's UX Design Certificate is an entry-level online program. Neither replaces a portfolio, and many senior designers hold no certification.
How do I keep graphic designers out of a UX search?
Exclude "graphic designer," "brand designer" and "print" with NOT, and require UX process words such as usability testing, wireframes, user research or design system. Some graphic designers move into UX well, so drop the exclusion if the client will consider them.