Over the past several months, D&I Global surveyed Design & Innovation leaders across a wide variety of industries and positions to determine exactly how the developments that have emerged due to COVID-19 have affected their design initiatives, how they are working to respond to these disruptions, and how widespread those design-led initiatives and strategies are across the greater organization.

It is important to note that these changes were not initiatives or strategies entirely unanticipated. Many industry leaders were already taking action to become more human-centered, consider new ways to collaborate virtually, and find ways to keep the customer at the center of every decision. However, COVID-19 elevated the necessity of these initiatives and left brands with no choice but to take action.

Some report findings include:

• 38% of respondents said COVID has made them re-prioritize and create new objectives/strategies
• 50% of respondents said that their product development function are actively using Design Thinking
• More than 50% of respondents said that their organization's Design Thinking competence level is introductory (101)