Why Toss reduced its design roles to 2

On April 1, 2026, the Toss Design Chapter reorganized its existing 6 roles into 2. It reduced the boundaries that had been divided by screen type or production method, shifting the organization toward assigning broader judgment and responsibility.

Previously, roles were segmented into Product Designer, Tools Product Designer, Platform Designer, Interaction Designer, Graphic Designer, and Brand Designer. But in actual work, the boundaries between roles had blurred. Situations frequently arose where it was unclear which role should handle adding interaction to a design system, connecting internal tool experiences to mobile products, or creating interactive graphics.

Cases of crossing role boundaries were already increasing in the field.

• A Tools Product Designer designing mobile products
• An Interaction Designer handling UX for internal design tools
• A Graphic Designer building a semantic icon system
• A Platform Designer creating interactive web pages
• A Brand Designer even taking on lighting product design

Toss read this change together with advancements in tools, including AI. As the cost of learning skills that were once separate areas of expertise—such as video tools, Lottie, Figma prototyping, and code-based interaction implementation—decreased, it concluded that what ultimately mattered was not tool proficiency but the sense of judging what makes a good experience.

As a result, Product Designer was consolidated into a role that designs products based on user context and problems, moving beyond the old framework that separated mobile and PC. Tools Product Designer was also merged into this role. Meanwhile, Platform Designer, Interaction Designer, Graphic Designer, and Brand Designer were all combined into Visual Designer. Based on the premise that the essence of visual judgment is the same regardless of medium, formative sense and visual judgment were made the core competencies.

This change isn't unique to design either. In other industries too—such as Disney animation, music production, and film/TV direction—as tools converged into one, means-based role boundaries blurred, and better judgment ability took their place. Toss redesigned its role system on the same trend.

However, changing job roles doesn't immediately change how people work. Tasks remain to redesign hiring, onboarding, and growth paths, and that work is only just beginning. Still, the message Toss has put forward is clear: where boundaries shrink, a broader realm of judgment emerges, and the influence of each individual designer grows accordingly.