Just the headlines. One line per month. The shift that mattered most to working designers.
Series A-B teams run flat. One CD, a Design Engineer or two, and apprentices learning taste on the job.
Series A and B teams run with half the designers they would have hired in 2024, and twice the seniority.
Series A/B teams run senior-only design pods that direct agents. The junior seat is gone or rebuilt as a formal apprenticeship.
Series A/B teams stop rebuilding the old pyramid. They hire four Design Engineers instead of one lead plus three juniors.
61 synthesized monthsin the data layer. Stage breakdowns (Starter / Scaler / Titan) are available for 2026 only — earlier months show under the All segment but won’t appear under stage filters until the design-context pipeline runs further back.
Series A/B teams run senior-only design pods. The ladder has a top and a middle, no bottom.
First real design team, already fighting agent sprawl
First design system agents can actually read
First design system, first design ops hire
First design system, agent-readable from the start
First design hires own the system and the agent
First real team, first real system fight
First design system, first real governance debate
Design system becomes agent rulebook
First design system, agent-accelerated, brand rules required
First design system, AI-augmented from day one
First design system, now it ships real code