What is design
Understand what design does and how it helps us solve the right problems.
Design is a problem-solving discipline. Designers work out which problem is worth solving, for whom, and what the right answer looks like, then make it work for the people who have to live with it every day.
Done early, design makes teams faster, because it removes the rework that comes from building the wrong thing well.
There are two versions of design in most organisations. In one, designers are in the room when the problem is being defined. In the other, they are brought in at the end to make something look finished.
Visual polish is the last ten percent. It matters, and it isn’t the job.
What designers actually do
1. Understand the problem. Customer conversations and evidence before opinions.
2. Shape the solution. The intent, the flow, the behaviour, the trade-offs. Not just the screens.
3. Prove it works. Prototypes tested with real users before anything gets built.
Design shapes what’s worth making. It doesn’t decorate what’s already been decided.
What product design is at IFS
Three roles own a squad’s outcome between them. They are distinct, and none of them is a review gate on the others.
Product Designer — owns the experience. Owns the experience end to end, not just the design: the workflow, and the voice of the customer inside it. In a screen-first product, that meant the screen; in an agentic one, it’s the intent, the behaviour, and the oversight, increasingly prototyped in code.
Product Manager — owns the outcome. Leads the roadmap and the business case, and is accountable for the outcome the squad delivers.
Engineering Lead — owns the build. Leads delivery and architecture, and owns how the system behaves once it’s live.
One designer in every squad, owning the design end to end. That’s the ambition we’re building toward.
IFS Design at a glance
Who. Around 30 designers across Product and Technology, growing through recruitment, in three teams led by Design Managers, reporting to the Director of Digital Experience within P&T.
What we own. Product design in the squads, user research, the design standards, and accessibility conformance, plus the Helix design system.
How we work. Embedded in squads, allocated to work by priority, measured on outcomes rather than output.
Where to find us. design.ifs.com, or the Design Manager for your product area.