"The Decade of Design”: How 10 years transformed design’s role in tech | Figma Blog

The 2010s transformed design from a secondary concern into a central function of technology companies. The smartphone, especially the iPhone, made products more complex, generated vast amounts of behavioral data, and raised consumer expectations for polished experiences. As a result, companies began hiring designers at scale and treating design as a driver of product strategy and growth.

The Mobile Wave

More Complex Interactions

• Smartphones introduced smaller, varied screens and touch-based gestures such as swiping, tapping, and holding.
• Users interacted with devices in many contexts—while walking, commuting, or multitasking—forcing teams to design for real-world conditions.
• Designers became essential to prioritizing functionality and simplifying complex technical systems.
• Mobile effectively made the phone the primary computer people used throughout the day.

The Rise of Data-Driven Design

• Smartphones produced unprecedented volumes of behavioral data.
• Product teams began continuously A/B testing interface details, including button colors, wording, and layouts.
• These experiments measured outcomes such as sign-ups, purchases, and sharing.
• “Growth design” emerged as a distinct discipline, with designers increasingly focused on optimizing user behavior and business metrics.
• Smartphone ownership among U.S. adults rose from 35% in 2011 to 81% in 2019.

Apple Raised the Standard

• The iPhone changed expectations for how technology should look and feel, replacing the perception of software as merely functional and bland.
• Apple’s design became a benchmark that competitors sought to imitate.
• The iPhone’s broader mainstream appeal made high-quality industrial and interface design visible to ordinary consumers, not just creative professionals.
• Products such as Tinder adopted mobile-first design conventions influenced by Apple’s operating system.
• Even Google reportedly discarded an Android device it had been developing after reassessing its design direction.

Design’s Expanding Role in Technology

• The rapid growth of mobile products exposed the limitations of engineering-only approaches to product development.
• Designers were particularly valuable for translating complicated systems into simple, intuitive interactions.
• Technology companies that had previously operated with minimal design resources began hiring designers and acquiring design agencies.
• Silicon Valley gradually shifted from primarily celebrating engineering expertise to recognizing design as a competitive advantage.

The decade’s central lesson is that design became indispensable because technology moved into people’s pockets and daily lives. Companies that want to compete should treat designers as strategic product partners, not merely as people responsible for visual polish.