What does it mean to be ‘design-led’ in a startup?

When people think of design, they often think of what something looks like. While that’s an incredibly important part of any experience you create, it’s so much more than that.  

“Design-led organisations utilise design tools, processes, and mental models not only for aesthetic and functional product or service design purposes, but even more to generate insights to make better strategic decisions.” (Ross Republic) 

“Design is also not limited to a particular department or phase in the development process. Design-led organisations have an intentionality around how experiences are designed in all, or at least most, aspects of the business.” (Superside) 

For early stage startups, I would say that being design-led is two fold. Externally, beyond aesthetics, it’s about a commitment to your users—in terms of your brand, your end-to-end experience, and the needs/desires you’re addressing. Internally, it’s your company culture and values. Being design-led doesn’t just mean creating a design function, and sidelining everyone’s voice who isn’t a designer—it means that everyone in your organisation is an advocate for your users.  

Four principles for being design led:

1. Creating an amazing experience for your users

Some of the best founders are obsessed with creating a memorable and seamless product for their users. Having a functional and aesthetic product that meets your user’s needs is now the bare minimum. It is already assumed that businesses are relentless in finding their users’ problems and designing for their needs, or for what they may desire. Users expect seamless digital interactions: companies who consider every microinteraction a user has with their product, both online and offline, can stand out. 

Airbnb is a great example of this—co-founders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia are both designers by background. While we all know Airbnb as an online booking platform, they are aware that “99% of experiences happen outside of the website/app”, with design for interactions including unlocking a door, accessing the wifi or allowing and guiding first time hosts to set preferences for their first guests. They have also recently introduced “Adapted”, which focuses on adding more clarity to accessible and step-free homes. These kinds of design and product decisions make your users your ambassadors, and create positive memories when using your product.

On Airbnb’s design page, they describe themselves as being design-led. “Design influences everything we do at Airbnb. Behind the scenes, it shapes our work, how we build new tools and the ways that we share and interact with our global community.” 

They understand how to use design to enable their product to come to life and step back when needed. Alex Schleifer, Head of Design, explains: "People are in constant motion and interacting with your tool in specific ways throughout the journey. You need to bring your tool forward when it's most needed, and hide it when it's not. And then you need to build the transition from the digital world to the real world.” 

3. Having a well-rounded design leadership / team setup 

If design isn’t one of the voices in the room when important decisions are made, user experience, brand, aesthetics, and internal design culture may not be prioritised. More creative people can display new ways of thinking and different styles of management. Our portfolio company Worldr, which recently raised $11m, has a Chief Design Officer on the team. They’ve shown they care about customer experience, focusing on seamlessly integrating into customers’ existing communication channels, and building an easy-to-understand product.

Dmitry Nikonov, their CDO, sees “simplicity in the product” as his responsibility. He explains that he does not want to overwhelm interfaces with unnecessary elements, and is always striving to make the product as understandable as possible, both visually and functionally. “People feel scared when they don’t understand something—especially in this [privacy & security] industry. I believe that design can bring light to this darkness.” 

If you can’t do this, bring a designer into your startup early on. Tudor Cotop, CTO of one of our studio ventures HealthKey, wants a designer as his first hire. He explains that “UX is the most important. If people don’t understand how to use your product, they won’t. If you get it right at the beginning, you don’t have to re-work. Your brand can also really differentiate you from others on the market.”

When thinking about your first hires, consider how important having a designer is for the type of product you are creating. Remember that designers can contribute to much more beyond UI and brand. Product Designers in early stage startups often have strong product thinking, user research skills as well as UI experience, and can advise on the kind of actions that need to be taken from a design perspective. 

In conclusion: the business case for being design-led

Being design-led allows you to build better products, faster. It brings you closer to customer satisfaction, building brand loyalty and trust, and encouraging word of mouth referrals. Great design shows customers you care for them and what they think, and can create a more emotional connection with them, building loyalty and trust. 

It is also more widely acknowledged that design led businesses are increasingly important for business success. A McKinsey report analysed 300 companies over 100,000 design actions over a 5 year period, and found that design-focused startups make 32% more revenue and 56% higher total returns to shareholders compared with other companies. These were relevant to all industries.

Design doesn’t need to be a nice-to-have, nor does it need to feel like a major step. It can just start with a shift in thinking that can even come about with having one design advocate on your team. Even dedicated venture funds, such as designerfund, are being created to encourage design led businesses as it’s clear that it’s crucial for growth and success. 

And hey, if you’re a designer, it’s increasingly common for designers to become founders and create design-led businesses—even Airbnb’s CEO Brian Chesky is advocating for more creatives to become founders.

More resources + further reading:

• The Business Value of Design (McKinsey)

• A framework for finding a design partner (a16z)

• Five ways to tell if a company is really design driven (UX Collective)