Design Teams In 2020: Evolution And Expansion

The profession traditionally known as user experience (UX) has expanded, bridging toward adjacent disciplines — especially product strategy, product management, data science, and customer experience (CX). Reflecting this broader charter, its leaders and practitioners increasingly refer to it as “experience design” (XD) or simply “design.” To understand this evolving landscape, we surveyed 282 practitioners. We then interviewed 35 of them who are design leaders across industries. This report highlights our top findings and what they mean for design teams in 2021, including how design teams are influencing strategic decisions, scaling design to work more effectively and efficiently, and expanding the scope and impact of their work.