Future of Design in Start-Ups Survey 2017

Future of
Design in
Start-Ups:
2017 Results

We launched the Future of Design in Start-Ups
survey last year to set a baseline for how design
operates in the tech ecosystem and also to begin
to track what value is created by design in fast
growing companies.
This year, we asked some of the same questions
from 2016 to create a trailing data set. We also
wanted to dig into the nitty gritty of design
teams (structures, salaries, etc.) and squint at
where design might be going within start-ups in
the future (new skills, new mediums, etc.).
We heard responses from over 350+ companies and
this is a summary of what was shared. A sincere
thank you to all those that responded!

FUTURE OF DESIGN SURVEY 2017 3
Software
Hardware + Software
Healthcare
CPG
Fashion
Media
Hardware
Consulting
Other
62%
10%
6%
3%
3%
2%
1%
2%
11%
Here’s a Breakdown
of Who Responded:
Geography Size Funding B2C or B2B Industry
Respondents were representative of
all stages of growth, funding levels,
across major start-up markets, and
across all product types.
The survey consisted of 60 questions
which explored perceptions of
design’s value, team structures,
collaboration best practices, and
future trends in technology.
No Funding
<$1m
$1-5m
$5-20m
$25-50m
>$50m
0-10
11-20
21-50
51-150
151-500
500+
SF
NY
Rest of US
Europe
Rest of World
27%
38%
35%
6%
34%
14%
19%
8%
19%
17%
10%
20%
23%
20%
9%
26%
24%23%
14%
13%
B2C - Consumer
B2B - Enterprise
B2B2C - Both

FUTURE OF DESIGN SURVEY 2017 4
A Quick Note About
How We Cut The Data:
2. “Design Mature”:
For the most part we looked at the data
through the lens of growth, using headcount
as a proxy for stage of growth.
We also looked at it for some questions
through the lens of how ‘Design-Mature’ a
company is and used these criteria:
1. By Growth Stage = Headcount
Early
(0-50 Employees)
Mid
(50-300 Employees)
Late
(300+ Employees)
• $25M+ in funding
AND
• 20+ designers on staff
and/or Designer Founder
Design Mature =
Everyone Else

1 DESIGN & BUSINESS
Is it important and/or necessary for
designers to engage with the business?
And if so, how?
2 DESIGN TEAMS
How are design teams evolving?
What are best practices for
collaboration with product and
engineering?
3 DESIGNERS IN THE FUTURE
What are the key emerging skills and
trends for designers squinting at
emerging tech?
WHAT’S INSIDE:

Right Brain,
Please Meet
Left Brain
DESIGN & BUSINESS1

95% of all respondents
believe that designers should
be involved directly in the
business.
The Significance of
Business for Design
These were the business factors that
everyone felt were critical:
91%
84%
78%
67%
Product Roadmap Strategy
Company Strategy
Retention/Engagement Metrics
Conversion Metrics
55%
45%
35%
34%
Funnel Acquisition Metrics
Revenue Model
Financial Metrics (i.e. Revenue, Margin etc.)
Resource Allocation
01 / DESIGN & BUSINESS
7FUTURE OF DESIGN SURVEY 2017

Tim Riley - Senior Director of Digital Experience
@ WARBY PARKER
Ultimately everything a design team does has
consequences (both good and bad) for a business. The
more you know about the business and its goals/
intentions, the better a design team is positioned to
deliver good experiences and results for the business.
“
“
Rochelle King - Global VP Product Design and Insights
@ SPOTIFY
Randy J. Hunt - Head of Design @ ARTSY
Design is an expression of strategy, so designers
need to understand the business.“
“
Jessica Karle - Digital Product Lead @ EVERLANE
“
“Designers are empowered to do their best work when
they understand the context of the business goals and
how a product fits into the holistic company strategy.
With that context they can create an experience that
meets customer and business goals.
Why a particular design solution is being developed
should always be framed around how it will impact the
business. That includes improving user experience,
sharpening the brand identity, and connecting with
the audience. All of those activities are in service of
moving the business forward. Designers who don’t have
a relationship with the business will have a hard time
understanding how to create impactful solutions.
“
“

How Design Moves
the Needle
Design Mature companies believe that
design moves the needle more in Sales,
Engagement, and Retention, than do their
peers.
Increase In Sales
Increase in Brand Awareness Faster Product Cycles
67%
41%
81%
45%
Increase in Customer Retention
Higher Company Valuation
62%
48%
39%
17%
Increase In Customer Engagement
86%
48%
56%
35%
Design Mature Everyone Else

1. NPS
11% of companies reported using NPS as a
key metric for measuring design’s impact.
For those unfamiliar, NPS (Net Promoter
Score) asks the question of customers:
“How likely is it that you would
recommend [insert company] to a friend
(or colleague)?”
It is used primarily as a gauge of
customer satisfaction and sentiment.
EXAMPLE:
“The only design-centric metric we
measure is NPS. However, we’re looking
into more specific metrics like SUS and
SUPR-Q.”
Measurement of Design’s
Impact Is Still Fuzzy
2. Cross-Functional Metrics
Many companies reported using a basket of
metrics from other cross-functional partners.
EXAMPLES:
“Design tends to be measured through their
associated teams metrics (product, marketing,
etc.).”
“Design contributes to larger team KPIs such
as conversion and engagement.”
“The design team KPIs are often merged with
(or a part of) the line of business KPIs—so
designs that serve the retail team or the
core product—are measured as part of the
success of the product as a whole.”
“Qualitative and quantitative measurement.
What users are saying (research, NPS) and
what they are doing (analytics based on user
conversion of desired objectives).”
3. Straight Product
Metrics
Other companies said that their success is
directly linked to Product team success
measurement:
EXAMPLES:
“We’re tightly coupled with product so
success of product = success of design”
“KPIs are not design-team specific, but
product KPIs include design aspects.”
“Everything we do is measured. If it’s on the
web/app, we break it down by certain action
oriented metrics big and small (conversion,
add to cart rates, general “engagement”
with a feature.) When we see these metrics
move in a positive way we know that we are
delivering value for our customers.”
53% of companies reported not having
design-specific KPIs. There were 3
primary methods reported:

CEOs Value Design, And
Most Everyone Thinks
That’s Positive.
71% of companies think that
CEO involvement in design
is a good thing.
CEO plays a role in design
for 86% of companies.
How Do CEOs Play A Role
In Design?
51%
2%
28%
6%
12%
Regular Design Reviews
Only Major Launches
Product Design Only
Brand Design Only
None of the Above

Enterprise and
Consumer Co’s View
Design Similarly Now
Somewhat Surprising:
Enterprise vs, Consumer companies are
no longer different when it comes to
design. Companies perceive, invest, and
operate in design in similar ways.
45%
54%
54%
53%
82%
84%
57%
56%
60% 85%
49%
31%
29% 88%
92%
97%
Enterprise Consumer
Separate Brand/
Marketing Design Team
Product and Brand Designers
Report to Same Boss
Did You Use An Outside
Agency?
Do you Plan to Increase
Designer Headcount?
My Company is a
Design-Centric Company
CEO Weighs in
on Design
Designers on
Founding Team
Important for Designers
to Interact with Business

Who’s Really
In Charge
Here?
DESIGN TEAM GROWTH2

Design Has A Broad Remit...
Design has an expansive definition in start-ups
with multiple disciplines represented.
Design sits within product
in many organizations.
It is much more common
however, for the design
team to be standalone in
Design Mature companies.
... and is Closest
to Product.
What Types of Designers
Do You Have On Your Team?
71%
57%
54%
52%
36%
28%
24%
20%
10%
6%
3%
Product Designer
UX Designer
UI/Visual Designer
Marketing/Brand Designer
Front-End Developer
Copywriter
User Researcher
Illustrators
Motion Graphics
Industrial Designer
Environments/Retail Designer
Structure of Teams
Design Team Is Standalone
Design Sits In Product
Design Team Sits In Engineering
Squads or Pods
26%
39%
8%
27%
39%
22%
11%
28%
23%
43%
11%
24%
NEAT FACT:
Writing is a
key design team
role now.
Overall
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

Early Mid Late
Most Teams Structured As
Squads/Pods Are Organized
By Product Initiative
By Product Initiative
Customer Journey
By Platform
Other
Breakdown By Stage of Growth:
SURPRISING:
38% of companies
reported having
remote design
team members
61%
13%
13%
13%
70%
10%
10%
10%
88%
12%
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

No PMs
Designers serve
as product managers
1:10
1:4
1:2
1:1
Early Stage Mid Stage Late Stage
Designer to PM Ratio
Mostly Stays Below 1:4
Ratio of Designers to Project
The ratio of Designers to
PMs varies by stage, but is
generally at parity,
Somewhat surprisngly however,
many early-stage co’s have
designers who serve as PMs.
Almost 1/4 of early stage
companies don’t have PMs.
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

Best Practices
Overheard For
Design + Product:
1. Be clear on accountability:
• Product is accountable for
business needs
• Design is responsible for user
needs and overall experience
2. Prototype early and often.
3. Narrow the gap between design
and development, which product
can help facilitate. Start
the collaboration as early as
possible.
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

Karyn Campbell- Senior Design
Manager @ ETSY
We help our product partners
organize planning through
design sprints, as well
as creating visions and
prototypes for the future. As
a design lead, I often help
my colleagues ask the right
questions, about the right
customers, before jumping to
solutions. Once we’re aligned
on the problems, we empower
designers to create north star
experiences that guide their
teams’ long-term work.
“
“
Conor McGauflin - VP of Design
@ CODECADEMY
Head of Design has weekly
1:1 with Product, and sits on
executive team. Product Pods
run design sprints where
PM and Product designer
are collaborating on key
decisions. Finally my Design
Team works on a North Star
project once a year that
prototypes the next year -
this work often makes its way
into the roadmap
“
“
Head of Design @ Large B2BC
Company
Design is a peer organization
to Product Management
and Engineering. One
representative from each
group is the triad responsible
for roadmapping.
“
“
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

1:10
1:5
1:4
1:2
1:1
1:7
Early Stage Mid Stage Late Stage
Designer to Engineer Ratio
Continues to Trend Down
Ratio of Designers to Engineers:
In general, the ratio of designers to
engineers stays below 1:7, except for
the later stage companies where the
ratio increases dramatically.
80% of companies
report working in an
agile environment
Should Designers Code?
6%
65%
26%
Yes
No
Depends
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

• Document ALL decisions
• Sit TOGETHER
• Bring engineers in EARLY
• Know some coding to understand
constraints and the engineer’s language
• Pick collaboration tools wisely (e.g.
Zeplin, Avocode, etc.)
• Cross-functional teams built
intentionally are the most successful
Best Practices
Overheard For
Designers + Engineers:
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

Brand and Marketing
Design Teams Are
On The Rise
Companies are building branding and
marketing teams separate from product design
teams.
As companies get larger, the brands teams
start to split with regards to who they report
to in the organization.
Brand/Marketing And Product Design
Report Up To Shared Leadership
26%
73%
86%
Early
Mid
Late
79%
42%
23%
Early
Mid
Late
Have Separate Brand
Marketing Team
26%
73%
86%
Early
Mid
Late
79%
42%
23%
Early
Mid
Late
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

Co’s Are Continuing
to Invest in Design
Team Growth
Over 80% of companies reported that
they plan to grow their design teams
up from 70& from last year in 2016.
Most are looking to add 1-5 designers
in 2018.
Overall
1-2
3-5
5-10
10+
Don’t plan to
increase
54%
Late
37%
23%
20%
9%
11%
Mid
42%
32%
2%
5%
19%
21%
4%
3%
Early
68%
13%
1%
19%18%
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

Product Designers
are Still Most
Wanted
Early Mid Late
46%Product Designer
13%Design Director/Lead
32%UX Designer
38%UI/Visual Designer
26%User Researcher
27%Front-End Developer
29%Marketing Brand Designer
59%Product Designer
32%UX Designer
36%User Researcher
71%Product Designer
71%UX Designer
66%User Researcher
RISD 36
Parsons 29
Carnegie Mellon 27
Stanford 26
Art Center College of Design 22
SVA 22
NYU-ITP 17
CCA 15
U.Wash Seattle 14
MICA 13
Georgia Tech 5
RECRUITING:
These were the
most popular
schools to hire
from (by mention):
• Everyone is looking for product
designers.
• User Researchers also become
popular at Mid-Stage.
• The majority of Late-Stage co’s are
in need of a senior design leader.
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

Design Leadership
Hierarchy is Complex
There are lots of different design leadership
titles. The most prevalent are the Head of Design
and Director of Design titles at most companies.
As companies get larger, fewer design
leaders report directly to the CEO,
while Design Mature companies maintain
that relationship. Take note.
C-Level (Chief Design Officer)
VP of Design
Director of Design
Head of Design
Design Lead
Design Manager
Senior Designer
Designer
6%
10%
27%
23%
11%
5%
8%
8%
Mid
15%
3%
10%
22%
13%
3%
3%
18%
Early Late
6%
14%
26%
26%
17%
6%
3%
0%
Overall
Early
Mid
Late
Design Mature
42%
58%
28%
26%
43%
Title of Most Senior Designer Reports to CEO or
Founder
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

What is Product
Design?
• Product design is the practice of
designing the entire user experience
for digital software.
• Exploration, definition and crafting
of experiences to unlock value for
users through feature development,
testing, and iterating.
• The essential partner for Product
and Engineering to craft an amazing
experience. If Product articulates
the ‘why’, and Engineering the ‘how’,
Product Design challenges both
while owning the ‘what’ are we going
build.
• Defining how it works and how it
feels.
• The ability to go from fuzzy problem
to final, high fidelity solution
(through opportunity identification,
generative research, project scoping,
ideation, concept development,
prototyping, user testing, system
design, wireframing, and final visual
design), thinking holistically across
the user experience.
• Understanding users’ pain points
and solving them through research,
facilitation, sketching, creating
flows, visual design, and iteration.
• Delivering a constantly evolving,
constantly improving experience for
customers (typically through digital
experiences) backed by user research,
analytics and product strategy.
• “Product design” for is a complete
lifecycle: research, design, build, and
support.
• Product design is understanding what
will drive value for users, and being
able to translate that into great
experiences. This includes 1) concept
articulation for the business, 2) low-
fidelity prototyping for user research,
and 3) high-fidelity design for
engineering.
• Product design here is the act of
creating human solutions to digital
problems. Product design works with
the product and engineering teams
to bring these solutions to the world
in the form of websites and mobile
applications.
The question of what constitutes ‘Product Design’ is widespread.
Below are some of the best answers we read. Commonalities include:
• Focus on the very best end-to-end experiences
• Iterative cycles utilizing multiple tools/methods
• Deep partnerships with Product and Engineering
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

02 / DESIGN TEAMS02 / DESIGN TEAMS
Salaries for Designers
Vary Widely By Stage
We’re seeing broad ranges in salaries
across stages, but the median shows a
clear hierarchy of compensation.
VP of
Design
Sr. Product
Designer
Product
Designer
Jr. Product
Designers
TITLE
EARLY STAGE MID-STAGE LATER STAGE
$150k
$115k
$90k
$75k
MEDIAN
SALARIES
$200k+ (23)
$50-75k (18)
$200k+ (1);
$50-75k (22)
$150-175k (3);
$50-75k (30)
$125k-150k (4);
$50-75k (58)
RANGE
VP of
Design
Sr. Product
Designer
Product
Designer
Jr. Product
Designers
TITLE
$110k
$100k
$90k
$70k
MEDIAN
SALARIES
VP of
Design
Sr. Product
Designer
Product
Designer
Jr. Product
Designers
TITLE
$160k
$125k
$105k
$75k
MEDIAN
SALARIES
VP of
Design
Sr. Product
Designer
Product
Designer
Jr. Product
Designers
TITLE
$175k
$140k
$115k
$85k
MEDIAN
SALARIES
OVERALL
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

Design Tools
Are Continuing
to Proliferate
88%
77%
62%
55%
36%
29%
Sketch
Invision
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop
Zeplin
Principle
40%
20%
11%
9%
3%
3%
Jira
Trello
Asana
Github
Clubhouse
Pivotal Tracker
23%
14%
9%
54%
63%
usertesting.com
FullStory
Hotjar
Other/None
% of Teams Conducting User Research
Design Tools Design Ticketing User Testing
20%Abstract
There is a ton of activity in the design
tools space. Digital user testing
products are still not however fully
pervasive.
12%
32%
46%
Early
Mid
Late
SIDE NOTE:
Surprisingly,
very few co’s
conduct qual user
research.
% of Co’s That Conduct
Qualitative User Research
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

Lots of Design Help
From The Outside
Early
• Branding
• Marketing/Creative Campaign Design
• Packaging Design
• Product Design
Mid
• Branding
• Product Design
• User Research
Late
• Branding
• User Research
• Product Design
What Do Companies
Use Agencies For?
(by mention)
Uses External Support
50%
46%
54%
Mid
Early
Late
Companies are still going to
the outside for design help, but
primarily for marketing and
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

Diversity in Design
Overview
Diversity in general was
broadly defined as critical to
delivering better design.
Some quotes:
“It means building a team with diverse
perspectives that are shaped by gender, race,
ethnicity, religion, and culture.”
“We look at diversity not only from
demographics, but also from life
experiences (e.g. grew up in a rural v.s.
urban v.s. suburban area, associates v.s.
bachelors v.s. no formal education v.s.
degree in a discipline other than design).”
“Diversity is essential in bringing not
only a varied understanding of our subject
matter (which is deeply personal and often
stems from what’s learned at home) as
well as diverse experiences — it’s more
important to us to have a range of minds
thinking about a problem than several with
the ‘right’ degree or alma-matter. It means
we can deliver better design.”
1. Gender Diversity
51%
33%
16%
Higher Male Ratio
Higher Female Ratio
Equal Ratio
2. Ethnicity
(% of companies with representation)
3%
54%
17%
26%
86%
American Indian / Alaskan Native
Asian
African American
Hispanic
White
49% of Design Teams
reported having an equal or
higher female to male ratio.
(We posed this question to be inclusive
of all gender identification identities.)
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

Who’s Most Admired
for Design?
Startups Admired
For Design Airbnb 43
Stripe 20
Slack 19
Intercom 17
Spotify 12
Invision 11
Dropbox 11
MailChimp 9
Casper 9
Headspace 7
Figma 6
Square 6
Robinhood 6
WeWork 6
Pinterest 5
Uber 5
Asana 4
Medium 4
Tesla 4
Warby Parker 4
Atlassian 4
Glossier 3
Typeform 3
Outdoor Voices 3
Shopify 3
VSCO 3
Oscar 3
Mapbox 3
Collective Health 3
Thinx 2
Duolingo 2
Care/of 2
Apple 2
Instacart 2
Ranking By Mention:
By several orders of magnitude, Airbnb is hands
down the most admired start-up for design.
Followed by 3 enterprise co’s. We found the
prevalence of B2B or B2B2C companies in the Top
10 refreshing.
02 / DESIGN TEAMS
02 / DESIGN TEAMS

We’re Not
in Kansas
Anymore
DESIGNERS IN THE FUTURE3

Designer Skills in the Future:
THE NEAR FUTURE:
Greater Management and
Business Skills Please:
When asked what are the most critical skills
for designers to learn in the next 2-3
years, the basics were business, followed by
communication, and softer people based soft
skills.
Some hard skills were mixed in, such as
writing and data science.
22
16
12
11
10
7
7
6
6
5
Skills - NEAR FUTURE:
(by mention)
Business
Communication
People Skills / Emotional Intelligence
Writing - Copywriting
AR Design
Data Science
Empathy for End User
Facilitation Skills
Management Skills
Service Design
03 / DESIGNERS IN THE FUTURE

Designer Skills in the Future:
FURTHER OUT:
51
21
17
13
13
12
11
9
9
9
Writing - Conversation Design, Tone, Script
AI / ML Principles and Constraints
Data Science
Empathy for End User
Storytelling
Sound Design
Scenario Design / Service Design
Ethics / Bias
Psychology - Behavioral
Systems Design
Some New Expertise Needed:
When asked what are the most critical
skills for designers to learn in a
landscape of new emerging tech, such AI, ML,
voice, etc. the focus was very different.
Very interestingly, the skills of a
designer may have to expand to include
conversation design, data science, sound
design, scenario design, and behavioral
psychology.
Additionally, ethics and bias entered into
the picture.
Skills - FURTHER OUT:
(by mention)

Where Will Design
Play A Big Role Next?
What Spaces are Most Ripe for Design?
73%
51%
46%
41%
38%
37%
33%
28%
AI / ML
Enterprise Software
Financial Services / Insurance
Hardware / IOT
eCommerce
Robotics
Mobile Voice
Retail
Squinting At What’s Next:
In looking at where design could play a
potentially outsized role in the coming
years, AI/ML topped the list.
This was followed by Enterprise and
Financial Services / Insurance, which
are areas traditionally not touched by
designers in the past, but are rapidly
undergoing change due to design’s role.
More consumer facing spaces such as e-com
and retail also made the list.

Designers Can Create
Impact Internally
Product Decisions and Roadmap 95% 86%
Company Culture 81% 58%
Workflow Process 81% 68%
Customer-Centric Decisions 71% 73%
Hiring 62% 41%
Mission/Values 62% 44%
Marketing Decisions 57% 61%
Engineering Decisions 57% 59%
Employee Experience 52% 36%
Business Decisions 52% 33%
Organizational Structure 48% 21%
What Do Designers Influence
In Your Company?
It seems that designers
impact multiple parts of
an organization and not
just design and product
workstreams.
More Design Mature co’s
have design weigh in across
the board from the Product
Roadmap to the org structure.

• Design does not communicate its
value in terms of business goals.
People don’t understand the role of
design and when it should be brought
into the process.
• Lack of successful user research and
communication barriers among levels
up the org.
• When we’re not brought into the
process prior to kickoff; and we’re
frequently so resource constrained
that we can’t be utilized on all
initiatives.
• When steps in the process are
skipped or overwrought. When people
spin their wheels without getting
feedback/collaboration from others.
• Design iterations often seem
irrelevant to critical engineering
challenges and core efforts. The
result is often the development
of features / forms that aren’t
super user friendly and the lost
opportunity to change.
• When there are too many cooks in
the kitchen with varying fluency
in design. And when design debates
become subjective and opinion-based
vs. data driven.
• When we start feeling like A/B test
results are more important than our
own intuition, or when the product
becomes so complicated that no one
can explain why a decision was made
however many months ago.
• When there isn’t research or data to
back up ideas / decisions.
• Design fails when designers are asked
to implement a solution instead of
design a solution based on a problem.
• If design or designers don’t have the
holistic context for a problem, design
in isolation, or are only focused on
solving for a user challenge but not
addressing the business need.
When and Why Does
Design Fail?
Design fails in a company because
of miscommunication or a lack of
understanding of the value of design.

Communication And Time
Management Are Key
• Design fails when we’re not
disciplined enough to know when
to stop iterating and deliver for
implementation
• Design fails when we spend too much
time over-thinking and designing the
wrong things
• Design fails when we’re brought in too
late in the process
• Design fails when there are too many
cooks in the kitchen with varying
fluency in design. And when design
debates become subjective and opinion-
based vs. data driven

With emerging technology such
as AI, ML, and voice, designers
will be called upon to marshal
a broader set of inputs and
outputs.
On the input side, utilizing
data to design ‘scenarios’ and
ever complicated decision
trees and experiences, will be
necessary.
On the output side, less ‘visual’
mediums such as script writing
and sound design will be key
for designers to understand.
The demand for design
talent is unyielding.
Salaries are rising and
even junior designers are
able to command healthy
compensation.
Additionally, the next
generation of design
leaders will need to mature
quickly to service the
demand of growing large-
scale design teams in high-
growth companies.
The rise of the enterprise
design team, both in scale
and influence has reached
maturity, led by B2B2C
companies primarily (e.g.
Stripe, Square, etc.)
This will make talent
even more in demand, but
will also ultimately mean
design will make it’s way to
every corner of the start-
up ecosystem and create a
new generation of design
leaders.
1 2 3Design Is Going To
Get Broader... Yet
Again with Emerging
Tech.
Design Talent
Needs See No
Immediate
Ceiling.
Enterprise Design
Teams Are Here
To Stay. Will
Eventually Redesign
Everything.
The discipline of ‘product
design’ will continue to be
refined in it’s definition
and role within a company
vis-à-vis traditional
product management and
engineering.
The design team as ‘service
bureau’ within a start-
up, will become outmoded,
as designers embrace what
it means to be the keeper
of the entire end-to-end
journey and weighing that
against business needs.
4 Design Will
Continue To Grow
Closer And Closer
To Product.
HIGH-LEVEL SUMMARY

We did this in collaboration and with support from a diverse
set of design leaders. Thank you for leading the way:

“
“Design has moved the needle for us in two ways.
First, in the user-centered design of our physical
products. It’s the side of Casper that has made for
success that lasts. We wouldn’t be a lovable brand
without great products.
Second, the design of every experience of our brand
- from subway ads to emails to pop up experiences -
has driven awareness to a topic that people otherwise
wouldn’t care about. People engage with us because
it’s fun to. It may sound silly, but we take a lot of
care to design joy and fun into every experience.
Eleanor Morgan - VP of Product and Experience Design
@ CASPER

Thank
You.
Connect with us at:
Email: neadesign@nea.com
Albert Lee / Design Partner - @tweetalbert
Dayna Grayson / Partner - @daynagrayson
Charlotte Dillon / Associate

Future of Design in Start-Ups Survey 2017

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