IDEO

Awards: IDEO Receives Five Core77 Design Awards

2013-06-18T00:05:10+00:00

Vodafone and Richard Nicoll’s smartphone-charging handbag design wins the soft goods category in Core77’s 2013 design awards program. IDEO’s work with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (strategy + research), Food Genius (food design), and IDEO.org’s Clean Team project (social impact) were awarded runners-up, while Sunlight Foundation’s Sitegeist received professional notable in the interaction category.

For more on the award winners, read here.

Articles: Core77 Interviews Jane Fulton Suri

2013-06-17T21:49:11+00:00

Core77 interviews Jane Fulton Suri and Naoto Fukasawa on their thoughts about the current state of design and just what it means to be ‘normal.’ Read the full story here.

Events: Mayo Clinic + OpenIDEO Healthy Aging Challenge

2013-06-13T16:32:07+00:00

OpenIDEO’s latest open innovation challenge, sponsored by Mayo Clinic, asks “How might we all maintain wellbeing and thrive as we age?” Check out the design brief and join in the community’s collaborative efforts here.

Work: IDEO on 60 Minutes and CBS This Morning

2013-06-12T21:44:41+00:00

Articles: Tom Hulme on the Wisdom of the Crowd

2013-06-07T23:17:39+00:00

OpenIDEO recently reached the milestone of 50,000 users from over 160 countries. Tom Hulme shares some of the his learnings in a series of blog posts with the Huffington Post.

Articles: Wired Design on IDEO’s Work with Pong Research

2013-06-07T00:46:57+00:00

IDEO design director Blaise Bertrand talks with Wired Design about our work with Pong Research on their radiation reducing iPhone case. Read the full story here.

Articles: IDEO in Top 15 Employers for MBAs

2013-06-07T00:15:23+00:00

IDEO is in the number 13 spot on Universum’s 2013 ranking of the Top 15 employers for MBA graduates. The study is based on a survey of 3,739 participants in 72 schools. Read the full story on CNNMoney.com.

Articles: IDEO Featured in Courrier Japon

2013-06-05T21:45:46+00:00

Courrier Japon featured IDEO in an article entitled “What Japan Needs at the Moment Can Be Learned from the Greatest Idea Company.” Read the article and interviews with Tom Kelley and Paul Bennett in the PDF below.

Articles: Diamond Interviews IDEO’s Sungene Ryang

2013-06-03T22:36:51+00:00

Japanese business publication, Diamond, features an extensive interview with Sungene Ryang, on IDEO’s work, culture, people and point of view on innovation. Read the full interview here.

Work: Gold Reveal for Pong Research Corporation

2013-05-30T18:36:42+00:00

Smartphones and tablets are increasingly popular worldwide. And yet, all smart devices transmit a form of electromagnetic radiation (EMR), which the World Health Organization has classified as a possible carcinogen, or cancer-causing agent. A third party case can interfere with a device’s signal, draining the battery more rapidly. By contrast, Pong Research Corporation makes tablet and smartphone cases that protect against EMR–while also optimizing device performance. Pong cases reduce consumers’ exposure to wireless energy by redirecting and diffusing cellular and Wi-Fi radiation using a patented, wafer-thin antenna developed by a team of PhD scientists trained at MIT, Princeton, Harvard, and UCLA.

The antenna inside each Pong case works with the antenna inside each portable device to direct and diffuse the energy that a person’s head and body could otherwise absorb. Pong products are proven to reduce radiation exposure in two independent facilities—CETECOM and RF Exposure Labs—both accredited by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and certified to US, Canadian, European, and Australian standards.

Articles: IDEO’s Designs On— Packaging Launches

2013-05-14T19:22:47+00:00

Core77 and Fast Company cover IDEO’s Designs On— Packaging online launch. Expired and Synthetic Biology are spotlighted.

Articles: How to Create Great Digital Experiences

2013-05-04T19:08:09+00:00

IDEO’s Duane Bray sits down with Smashing Magazine to discuss agile development, digital prototyping, and why he still sketches interfaces out on paper.

Events: Tim Brown and Yves Behar on Design Thinking at the Commonwealth Club

2013-04-30T18:56:39+00:00

KALW 91.7 FM broadcasts Tim Brown and Yves Behar’s Commonwealth Club conversation on design thinking. Check out the segment here.

Articles: To Create the Future of Brand Identity, IDEO Looks Inward

2013-04-23T23:40:30+00:00

Fast Company’s Co. Design summarizes IDEO’s creative ideation exercise “Brand New IDEO” and hints at what brand identity may look like 15 years from now. Click here for the full article and check out the IDEO Tumblr site here.

Articles: What Business Can Learn From Social Movements

2013-04-19T23:18:56+00:00

In To Tweet Or Not to Tweet: What Business Can Learn From Social Movements, Suzanne Gibbs Howard explains how design principles gleaned from social movements can help organizations achieve influence at scale in the Spring 2013 issue of Rotman Magazine.

Awards: Three Webby Honorees for IDEO

2013-04-11T21:54:13+00:00

Two IDEO projects are named Webby Honorees in the 17th Annual Webby Awards, recognizing excellence on the Internet. Sesame Street’s Elmo Calls App was selected in the Best Use of Device Camera category and Sunlight Foundation’s Sitegeist App was recognized in two categories — Best Use of GPS or Location Technology category and Education and Reference category.

Articles: Leif Huff in GRID Magazine

2013-04-02T16:29:37+00:00

GRID Magazine’s editor in chief, Gerrit Terstiege, talks with IDEO’s Leif Huff about nurturing successful collaboration, design consulting and how IDEO works with clients.

Articles: Brand New IDEO: IDEO’s Brand Identity Make-a-Thon

2013-03-21T23:57:54+00:00

Core77 begins their exclusive coverage of IDEO’s creative ideation exercise, “Brand New IDEO,” centered on a 24-hour global Make-a-Thon starting in Tokyo and ending in San Francisco.

Follow the coverage here and check out the IDEO Tumblr site here.

Articles: TODAY: First IDEO Make-a-thon in Asia

2013-03-18T09:56:25+00:00

IDEO’s Singapore studio brought together a group of designers and civil servants for its inaugural Make-a-thon, inspired by the concepts from a recent OpenIDEO challenge hosted by the National Environment Agency. TODAY, a major national newspaper in Singapore, covered the fast-and-furious weekend in a two-page spread.

Articles: Chicago Grid Tours IDEO Chicago

2013-03-12T16:35:44+00:00

Andrew Burroughs shows the new Chicago Sun-Times business magazine around IDEO’s creative make space in the city’s West Loop. View the entire slideshow here.

Articles: Michael Hendrix on Creative Leadership

2013-03-08T21:28:19+00:00

In a post entitled “Creative Leadership Is Gardening, Not Architecture,” for Metropolis Magazine, Michael Hendrix writes about how Brian Eno has helped him lead the IDEO Boston studio.

Events: OpenIDEO Technology Leveraged by Knight Foundation in Latest News Challenge

2013-03-06T18:04:45+00:00

IDEO has customized the software platform that runs OpenIDEO.com to help the Knight Foundation transform the way they run their news challenges and issue grants. Their first challenge is around Open Government and is open to anyone to submit proposals. Join the challenge and submit your ideas here.

Articles: IDEO Featured on CBS This Morning

2013-02-19T23:34:59+00:00

Following IDEO’s appearance on 60 Minutes in January, this follow up piece on CBS This Morning spotlights how we form project teams and create impact through design. The story is told through the lens of a specific design challenge: How might we encourage healthier eating habits in young children?

Articles: Tom Hulme on “Open-sourcing”

2013-02-19T17:17:20+00:00

In “Open-source your product to unlock its full potential,” published in WIRED UK, Tom Hulme writes about designing for emergence.

Articles: Boston Beer Launches First Samuel Adams Can

2013-02-17T17:17:14+00:00

The Boston Globe covers Boston Beer’s quest to design the perfect can for Samuel Adams and spotlights IDEO’s involvement in the project. Read the article here.

Articles: Metropolis and Fast Company Celebrate a Love Letter to Node

2013-02-14T18:00:32+00:00

Metropolis and Fast Company’s Co.Design celebrate IDEO designer Elger Oberwelz’s Love Letter to Node, a video and series of stills that tell a love story between two chairs and celebrates IDEO’s work with Steelcase. Happy Valentines Day!

Articles: Fast Co. Feasts on Food Genius Reports

2013-02-06T19:40:14+00:00

Fast Company’s Co.Design covers Food Genius Reports, a powerful food-trends dashboard the company developed in collaboration with IDEO while they were a Startup-in-Residence.

Articles: How the Design of Mobile Apps Can Promote Healthier Behavior

2013-02-05T15:58:53+00:00

The Wall Street Journal’s Venture Capital Dispatch blog features David Webster and his 2013 Burrill Digital Health Meeting presentation on healthy behavior and the design of mobile apps.

Articles: Tim Brown on Davos 2013

2013-02-05T15:16:41+00:00

IDEO’s CEO and president Tim Brown reflects on his time at the 2013 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in this week’s LinkedIn post.

Work: Venture and Design Strategy for Dabble

2013-02-04T20:29:19+00:00

“Learn something new, shake up your routine, and meet new people—starting at just $20!” That’s the promise of Dabble, a digital marketplace launched in 2011 that helps curious people discover, teach, or host classes. Wanting to reconnect people with their passions and democratize learning, Dabble offers classes ranging from Creative Writing to Canning 101 in Chicago, Denver, and Milwaukee, and plans to expand their service to San Francisco and other cities in 2013.

The Chicago-based startup was chosen to be IDEO’s second Startup-in-Residence from over 150 international applicants in the Fall of 2012. During their four-month-long residency, the Dabble team moved into a project room in our Chicago studio and worked side-by-side with a dedicated IDEO team. The goal: enhance the overall Dabble experience and inspire more long-term, sustained engagement with Dabble.

Some residency activities included diving into qualitative research, working through a series of two design sprints, mapping alternative business model options, and launching in-market prototypes on their website. The ability to live prototype new offers and services—and receive immediate feedback from Dabble’s existing customer base—was particularly inspiring and allowed team members to quickly and nimbly iterate on design ideas. These focused design bursts resulted in an enhanced service offer that unlocks the curiosity and potential of both students and teachers alike.

Articles: Sitegeist on GigaOm

2013-02-02T23:04:14+00:00

GigaOm on how the Sunlight Foundation and IDEO teamed up to create Sitegeist, an app that uses location-based census data to help you understand more about where you are.

Work: Designs On– for IDEO

2013-01-25T21:24:44+00:00

Designs On— is an award-winning design innovation platform that advances global discussion in the creative community by presenting forward-thinking provocations around themes such as Food, Global Warming, and Packaging. Each edition combines individual perspectives at the leading edge of design to form a collective point of view. The fifth edition, Designs On— Packaging Concepts, explores 18 unexpected packaging ideas for products, tools, containers, scents, interactions, and environments. Ideas include sustainable cup manufacture through synthetic biology, banana decay-inspired medicine bottle expiration date signals, and behavior-change-promoting cigarette packages that draw inspiration from Rubik’s cubes.

The challenge in the 5th edition was to push the boundaries of experimental design and innovative thinking on the topic of packaging, providing an inspiring and meaningful take on a crowded and arguably over-designed space. Contributors were asked to consider three interdependent elements (object, verb, and emotion) when generating provocations.

Designs On— concepts challenge preconceived ideas with a diverse approach based on different branches of knowledge: product design, interaction design, service design, human factors, and communication design. Their tone ranges from scientific to playful, from serious to emotional.

Articles: Arvind Gupta on Adaptive Innovation

2013-01-23T20:09:37+00:00

In Adaptive Innovation: Launch, Learn, Repeat, Arvind Gupta explains how teams can iterate an offering, product, or business model in sync with evolving market needs and stay ahead of the competition. (View the full Winter 2013 issue of Rotman Magazine here.)

Articles: Innovating Ideas and 10 Conversations That Changed Our World

2013-01-15T15:49:01+00:00

Fast Company talks to IDEO’s Albert Lee about innovating ideas. IDEO’s Dennis Boyle also talks to FastCo about the Palm V in 10 Conversations That Changed Our World.

Books: Second Edition of the Design Thinking for Educators Toolkit

2013-01-14T23:00:05+00:00

Over a year ago, IDEO launched the Design Thinking for Educators toolkit. Since that time, we’ve incorporated feedback from educators, reformatted the book for clarity, and created an accompanying workbook to support teachers through their process. Download the new toolkit here and check out the updated website here.

Articles: NYC Department of Education Gap App Launched

2013-01-09T02:20:19+00:00

Mayor Mike Bloomberg launches The Gap App Challenge, designed by IDEO. The New York City Department of Education approached IDEO to identify and frame a challenge for software developers to submit apps that enhance teaching and learning middle school math. Learn more about the project on the NYC government’s site and watch video coverage of the press conference.

Articles: IDEO Featured on 60 Minutes

2013-01-07T04:29:47+00:00

Charlie Rose visits IDEO and interviews co-founder David Kelley in this segment of 60 Minutes. Rose also discusses the future of design thinking with Tim Brown and delves deeper into human-centered design with David in his home. 60 Minutes also checked in with the IDEO Toy Lab. View all of the footage from 60 Minutes’ time at IDEO here.

Articles: An Exercise in Good Taste: A WSJ Roundup of Sleek Fitness Machines for the Home

2012-12-29T18:20:27+00:00

The Wall Street Journal spotlights a high-end home fitness machine roundup which leads with the Allegro 2 Pilates reformer, designed by IDEO.

Events: Happy Holidays from IDEO!

2012-12-21T03:16:35+00:00

In the spirit of building and making, create an IDEO bot at bots.ideo.com to share with the world. Happy holidays from IDEO!

Articles: Changi General Hospital: Delivering Better Quality Care

2012-12-11T18:37:50+00:00

The Business Times profiles IDEO Singapore’s work with Changi General Hospital. As part of the feature, one doctor says that the redesigned Orthopaedic Clinic, which IDEO focused on, “has enabled the same number of nurses to serve a larger pool of doctors” and allowed for quicker clearing of queues in the space. Read more about Changi General Hospital’s revamped healthcare delivery system on the Business Times site.

Awards: MyFord Mobile Wins IxDA Award

2012-12-07T19:36:39+00:00

MyFord Mobile — the smartphone app that helps electric vehicle owners learn smarter driving behaviors — won a 2013 IxDA Award in the “optimizing category.”

Articles: Synthetic Biology on Australian Public Radio

2012-12-05T15:57:07+00:00

IDEO’s Will Carey leads off a discussion about synthetic biology on the station’s By Design show. He discusses the field of synthetic biology, and how it can be used as a material and perspective on design. Listen here.

Articles: Introducing: Will Work For

2012-11-26T18:30:28+00:00

Will Work For is a design provocation created by the Collaborative Fund and IDEO to spark conversations about the future of work. Will Work For unveils an alternate present and the inevitable future: communities that create and support creation.

Articles: Harvard Business Review: Creative Confidence

2012-11-19T19:47:05+00:00

Creative Confidence is the ability to come up with breakthrough ideas, combined with the courage to act. Tom and David Kelley expand on the concept of Creative Confidence in the latest issue of the Harvard Business Review magazine. Read ‘Reclaim Your Creative Confidence’. Available in German here.

Articles: Marketplace: Digital Design + Health Insurance

2012-11-17T01:13:29+00:00

Marketplace interviews Christian Palino about how IDEO’s work on the Consumer Health Insurance Enrollment Experience can help people make sense of health care exchanges under the Affordable Care Act. Listen to the piece here.

Articles: Bloomberg Tech on IDEO.org’s Sanitation Hackathon

2012-11-16T22:59:45+00:00

Bloomberg‘s Tech Blog reporter Mark Milan shares his experience of IDEO.org’s Sanitation Hackathon and the challenge of solving open defecation issues in Ghana. Read Bloomberg‘s Tech Blog post here.

Work: Lantus & You Journal for Sanofi

2012-11-14T22:37:23+00:00

Sanofi is a diversified global health-care company that discovers, develops, and distributes branded and generic medicines, vaccines, and other consumer and animal wellness products. It makes the number-one prescribed insulin pen in the United States, the Lantus SoloSTAR—and sales of Lantus insulin are a major driver of growth for the company. Sanofi’s worldwide diabetes-related sales grew 16.7 percent to $7.56 billion in 2012, closing out eight consecutive quarters of double-digit increases.

Yet adherence to insulin treatment continues to be an issue for patients with Type 2 diabetes, especially when another medication is added to their treatment plans. This owes to the fact that starting insulin treatment requires education and support: Patients tend to experience a wide range of emotions when initially prescribed insulin, and physicians often have limited time and resources to ease them into insulin use. Engaging both parties in a productive, mutually beneficial insulin conversation can prove difficult.

To address this, Sanofi asked IDEO to help it conceive, design, test, and produce a first-of-its-kind product that would encourage meaningful conversations between patients and their doctors—without re-creating the brand sample pack (which must meet FDA requirements). The solution: The Lantus & You Journal by Sanofi, a starter system for the Lantus SoloSTAR.

The Lantus & You Journal introduces patients with Type 2 diabetes to Lantus SoloSTAR and empowers them to use it correctly and effectively. It does so by delivering a simple, step-by-step guide to injecting insulin and a calming experience for their first seven days of self-treatment at home*. The Journal walks patients through their first week of treatment, helping them to establish good habits, such as using a new needle and sanitary swabs every time they inject. It also puts them on course to follow a daily routine, which studies show increases adherence and decrease the drop-off rate. Patients may also refill and reuse this start-up “kit” for travel and other purposes, if they so choose.

Articles: Metropolis Magazine on Strategy and Business Design

2012-11-02T18:21:20+00:00

Metropolis blogger Kevin Budelmann shares a memory of IDEO co-founder Bill Moggridge and the story of IDEO’s transformation “from product design firm to strategic design thinking juggernaut.” Read the Metropolis post here.

Articles: Tim Brown in The Wall Street Journal

2012-11-01T11:16:46+00:00

IDEO CEO and president Tim Brown spoke with The Wall Street Journal about how firms with a product design legacy are moving into the design of systems. For example, IDEO recently designed a curriculum, classrooms, and business model for a private school system in Peru called INNOVA Schools.

Read The Wall Street Journal article here.

Articles: Hybrid Insights: Where the Quantitative Meets the Qualitative

2012-10-23T12:11:02+00:00

IDEO business designer Johannes Seemann bridges qualitative and quantitative research methods through an innovative approach called hybrid insights. In the latest issue of Rotman Magazine, he writes about how organizations can identify new opportunities for growth by taking a human-centered approach to market segmentation.

Articles: PSFK: Dana Cho on the Future of Retail

2012-10-22T23:28:39+00:00

How might businesses rethink their physical brand retail presence in new and strategic ways? IDEO Partner Dana Cho spoke with PSFK about helping companies design and launch innovative solutions. Read the full PSFK interview here.

Awards: Wounded Warrior Selected in AIGA “Justified” Awards

2012-10-04T14:20:34+00:00

The AIGA’s “Justified” Awards highlight design’s impact. Entries were judged based on their design attributes and whether their case for effectiveness was clear, compelling, and accessible. Wounded Warrior was one of 18 selected from over 400 great entries. Read the full Wounded Warrior design case study here.

Work: China Cook Top and Range Hood for Fotile

2012-10-02T21:48:36+00:00

In China, most kitchen appliances available on the market are rooted in Western cooking practices. Fotile, based in Ningbo, China, specializes in high-end kitchen appliances designed specifically for the Chinese market. As the market leader in this space, Fotile partnered with IDEO to design a new cook top and range hood that would satisfy the unique needs of Chinese cooking culture. The result: An innovative cook top and range hood that combine form and function in beautiful, unexpected ways.

The Fotile cook top and range hood take into account cultural practices and needs while also addressing the aesthetic preference of the Chinese consumer. This appliance duo eliminates the tension between the staples of Chinese cooking culture—the wok and cooking oil—and the consumer demand for modern design.

The traditional Western five-burner stove is designed to support cooks in need of variable heat and numerous small pots and pans. This arrangement crowds the cooking surface and can be difficult to clean—especially when trying to remove oil drops. In addition, most Western range hoods have exposed oil and smoke filters—which, over time, can become dark and unsightly.

By contrast, the new Fotile appliances support a key need of Chinese cooking: the dual-cooking center. This two-burner range eliminates unnecessary burners, instead dedicating one side to the wok, the primary tool in Chinese cooking, and the other side to a flat-bottom pan. The wok burner has a special stand with angled posts to hold steady a round-bottom wok (typical in China) and ease the rigorous, constant “tossing” movement that is prevalent in Chinese cooking.

Articles: Tim Brown in LinkedIn’s Top 150 Thought Leaders

2012-10-02T17:45:38+00:00

Tim Brown is one of 150 thought leaders selected for LinkedIn’s original content launch, which was recently covered in Wired, Fast Company, and All Things Digital. Read Tim’s original post in the LinkedIn series here.

For more of Tim’s latest writing, follow him on LinkedIn or visit designthinking.ideo.com.

Articles: Tim Brown: Why Global Firms Should Serve the Developing World

2012-09-27T20:53:12+00:00

Beyond philanthropy, why should global companies invest in social impact projects in developing countries? IDEO’s CEO and President, Tim Brown, outlines five good reasons in Co.Design with Linda Tischler. Read the article here.

Articles: Hilary Hoeber Selected to Mayors Challenge Committee

2012-09-25T01:44:48+00:00

Bloomberg Philanthropies announces the Mayors Challenge city submissions and selection panel, which includes IDEO’s Hilary Hoeber. More at Bloomberg.org.

Articles: Tim Brown: Clinton Global Initiative Opening Remarks

2012-09-25T00:00:06+00:00

IDEO’s CEO and President, Tim Brown, and Fast Company’s Senior Editor, Linda Tischler, share the stage for the opening remarks of the 2012 Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) on Designing for Impact.

Watch the opening session here and read Time magazine’s kick-off summary here.

View the remaining agenda and watch IDEO and IDEO.org’s Fred Dust, Patrice Martin, Sandy Speicher and Jocelyn Wyatt on the live webcast.

Articles: Boing Boing Interviews David Kelley

2012-09-24T22:49:08+00:00

Boing Boing’s Avi Solomon interviews David Kelley on creativity, empathy, and design thinking for social good. Read the full Q&A here.

Articles: HBR Explores the Phrase “How Might We?”

2012-09-18T20:09:45+00:00

In “The Secret Phrase Top Innovators Use,” HBR delves into an essential question to the innovation process: “How Might We?”. Tim Brown contributes thoughts on its role in design challenges.

Articles: Fortune: Sealy, IDEO Build a Better Bed

2012-09-18T19:16:28+00:00

Sealy’s collaboration with IDEO resulted in more than just a prettier bed. Together, the two organizations spurred cross-functional collaboration across the mattress maker’s divisions. Read more about the effort in this Fortune story.

Articles: The Atlantic on the Phone of the Future

2012-09-18T18:53:13+00:00

Mobile phones continue to evolve, but are reaching a plateau in terms of features and capabilities. Ten years from now, what will the evolution—or disruption—of the devices we keep in our pockets bring? IDEO’s Danny Stillion weighs in here.

Awards: Fast Company’s 2012 Innovation By Design Award Finalists

2012-09-12T19:16:13+00:00

Two IDEO projects have been selected as finalists in Fast Company‘s 2012 Innovation by Design Awards: Future Visions of Synthetic Biology in the concepts category, and the Faraday utility bike in the transportation category. Read more about the finalists on Co.Design.

Articles: Digital Design Standards for Health Insurance Enrollment

2012-09-11T22:43:32+00:00

IDEO worked with a coalition of national and state-based partners, led by the California HealthCare Foundation, to create a digital toolkit of human-centered design standards that can be used at scale to make it easier for Americans to enroll for health insurance online. FastCoDesign covers the work here.

Articles: Bill Moggridge: 1943-2012

2012-09-11T18:19:06+00:00

Bill Moggridge, co-founder of IDEO and director of the Smithsonian’s Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, died September 8th, 2012, following a battle with cancer. He was 69. An outspoken advocate for the value of design in everyday life, Bill pioneered interaction design and integrated human factors into the design of computer software and hardware.

Watch a Cooper-Hewitt video about Bill’s life and work here, and read articles in the New York Times here and here about Bill’s impact and influence.

Share your story of how Bill has changed our world at billmoggridge.com/celebration.

Articles: Elmo Calls App in Fast Company’s Co.Design

2012-09-04T18:21:43+00:00

Sesame Workshop partnered with IDEO to design Elmo Calls, an app that helps families accomplish routine activities – such as potty training, getting dressed, and going to bed – with their 2- to 5-year-olds. Read FastCoDesign’s coverage of the app here.

Articles: HBR Video: Real-World Prototyping

2012-08-28T16:45:24+00:00

In this 3-minute Harvard Business Review video, Tom Hulme talks about why launching a prototype into the real world makes projects faster, lower cost, and less risky.

Articles: NYT on the Next Wave for the Wristwatch

2012-08-19T19:03:56+00:00

The task of telling time is increasingly dominated by smartphones. So where does that leave watchmakers? IDEO design director Blaise Bertrand weighs in on the questions watch manufacturers should ask themselves when designing timepieces for a connected world.

Articles: The Huffington Post Interviews Tim Brown

2012-08-16T18:28:19+00:00

The Huffington Post’s Rana Florida interviews IDEO’s CEO and president, Tim Brown, in her business advice column, Your Start-up Life. In this week’s column, titled “Design Your Thinking”, she talks with Tim about organizational culture, integrative thinking, design iteration, and more. Read the full interview here.

Work: Top Chops, Daredevils, and Presso

2012-08-15T22:15:52+00:00

In an IDEO design challenge, we asked ourselves this question: How might we help kids be healthier and make better decisions around food and being active?

Designers moved forward with three concepts that addressed this challenge from three completely different directions. The winning trio:

• Top Chops
A hands-on cooking adventure that builds up kids’ confidence in the kitchen as they learn new skills and work towards becoming Top Chop master chefs.

Kids love teaching up to parents and taking home knowledge to share. Plus, it’s easier for kids to try new things when encouraged by authority figures other than their parents. Progress is symbolized through apron ties, badges, and tools—all of which demonstrate commitment toward a better understanding of nutrition.

• Daredevils
A fast-paced, social game of dare designed for high-energy play over performance.

Articles: IDEO.org Announces New Projects, Fellows

2012-08-14T22:46:34+00:00

IDEO.org, the nonprofit organization that grew out of IDEO’s work in the social sector, is now in its second year of existence. The organization announced the first three projects of the 2012-2013 and its new class of fellows here.

Articles: Tom Hulme in Wired UK on Agility, Serendipity, and Networks

2012-08-06T19:09:47+00:00

Tom Hulme writes about agility, serendipity, and connected networks for Wired UK. His article, “Serendipity Favours the Connected,” appears in the September 2012 issue of the magazine. Read the article here.

Events: Edutopia Educators Workshop Opens for Registration

2012-07-25T21:35:20+00:00

Edutopia, IDEO and the Riverdale Country School are offering “Design Thinking for Educators,” a five-week, free virtual course for K-12 teachers. The workshop starts on July 30. To sign up, visit Edutopia’s website. Read more about the course on Good magazine’s site and MarketWatch.

Articles: Tom Hulme Appointed to Tech City Advisory Board

2012-07-24T00:31:14+00:00

OpenIDEO co-founder Tom Hulme has been appointed to the Tech City Investment Organisation advisory board with the objective to provide “strategic direction” for the UK government’s efforts to support the startup community in East London. To read more, visit Wired.co.uk.

Articles: Faraday Bicycles Launches on Kickstarter

2012-07-18T19:08:33+00:00

Faraday Bicycles, a business conceived at IDEO, debuts its first bike, the Porteur, on Kickstarter. Check out coverage of the launch on CNET, Engadget, and Core77.

Awards: IDEO Awarded Core77 Design Awards

2012-07-16T17:00:34+00:00

In the 2012 Core77 Design Awards, electric propelled utility bike Faraday placed runner-up in the transportation category, while IDEO’s work on Future Visions of Synthetic Biology received professional notable in the speculative category.

Work: “Pi” Payment Platform and “Albert” Point-of-Sale Device for Commonwealth Bank of Australia

2012-07-16T00:28:22+00:00

Commonwealth Bank of Australia (CBA) is a major provider of integrated financial services, including retail banking, funds management, and investment services. As a leader in financial technology solutions for personal, business, and corporate needs in Australia, CBA approached IDEO to explore and develop impactful new ways to improve everyday payment interactions. The result was the conception, design, and implementation of a new open platform—“Pi”—and portable payment device—“Albert.”

Pi is an open retail business platform designed to enhance customer relationships, not just improve customer transactions. Pi improves face-to-face customer interactions at the point of sale by offering an unprecedented level of flexibility, functionality, and customization for businesses. Whether you’re providing an easier way to split the bill in a restaurant, activating a loyalty program in a store, enabling customers to donate to a charity, or responding to individual preferences to offer more personalized experiences at a hotel—all of this new app-based functionality is now possible with Pi.

To access the open Pi platform, IDEO and CBA partnered with Wincor Nixdorf to create a multifunctional, interactive device powered by the Android operating system.

Articles: Nathan Waterhouse named HHS Innovation Advisor

2012-07-13T22:29:11+00:00

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services invited OpenIDEO’s Nathan Waterhouse to be an Innovation Technical Advisor for its Innovation Fellows program. He will work with the fellows to take on some of the Department’s toughest challenges by pushing fellowship projects forward and sparking innovation within HHS.

Events: Tim Brown at the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival

2012-07-12T20:53:08+00:00

Tim Brown spoke as part of the 2012 Aspen Ideas Festival. His talk, “From Newton to Design,” presented design as an evolutionary process. Watch a 2-minute clip on the Aspen Ideas website.

Articles: FastCoDesign on IDEO’s Startup Program

2012-07-11T23:18:26+00:00

Iain Roberts explains what IDEO Chicago learned from our first Startup-in-Residence, Food Genius, and what we’re looking for in our next this Fall. Applications due July 15. Apply here.

Work: Helix™ Fuel Dispensers for Wayne, A GE Energy Business

2012-07-10T13:52:44+00:00

Wayne, A GE Energy business, is a global innovator of fuel dispensers and related technologies. In 2003, the Wayne Ovation™ fuel dispenser set new industry standards for product design and customer experience by integrating ATM-like technology. After a successful collaboration to design and launch the Ovation fuel dispenser, Wayne brought a new challenge to IDEO in 2009: Create a globally consistent design language and manufacturing approach for a new family of fuel dispensers—i.e., the “Wayne DNA.” The result is the Wayne Helix dispenser, a robust family of pumps that combine Wayne’s advanced fuel-dispensing and payment technologies with IDEO’s human-centered design innovations to positively impact the lives of distributors, retailers, service technicians, and motorists worldwide. The new design also meets all of the various regulatory standards over 145 countries.

While designing the Helix fuel dispenser, IDEO closely considered the global manufacturing process to see where improvements could be made. The team quickly discovered that a variety of legacy designs were still in use. A modular, globally consistent design language could differentiate Wayne products, bolster worker safety, and allow pumps to be produced anywhere in the world.

Behind the scenes, extensive global industry research and rapid prototyping of new pump designs produced more innovation-driving insights. Some key findings include:

Traditional fuel dispensers are heavy, bulky, and difficult to transport
Retailers and motorists all over the world have a growing comfort level with advanced technology and want a consistent pump interface

Articles: China Daily on IDEO’s Impact

2012-07-09T23:41:10+00:00

Richard Kelly talks to China Daily, a prominent English language newspaper, about IDEO’s business, impact and future in China.

Articles: PAGE Interviews IDEO’s Leif Huff

2012-07-04T21:37:40+00:00

German magazine PAGE includes a brief interview with Leif Huff about what it takes to make real innovation happen, crowdsourcing and the impact of design (thinking) on businesses. A separate article in a different issue of the magazine highlights Designs On—.

Articles: MIT Media Lab’s Innovators Guild

2012-07-03T09:53:48+00:00

“One thing I’ve noticed is that the people in organizations who are the most responsible for innovation are frequently working alone–and they’re lonely,” says Joi Ito, director of the MIT Media Lab. This reason among many others is why MIT and IDEO have teamed up to form the Innovators Guild, a new concept for supporting and encouraging thought leaders, now and into the future.

Read more about the Innovators Guild on the MIT Media Lab blog, and on BostInno.

Awards: IDSA’s 2012 IDEA Awards

2012-07-02T22:48:46+00:00

IDEO was awarded 13 International Design Excellence Awards (IDEAs) by the IDSA, with winning designs ranging from an open innovation platform to redesigning women's breast health journey.

Silver

Elmo Calls App for Sesame Street (Web and App)
Kiosk Consumer Experience Redesign for Redbox (User interface)
Next Door for State Farm Insurance (Research)
Next Door for State Farm Insurance (Service Design)
OpenIDEO for IDEO (Design for the Majority)
Radically Disruptive Empathy Lunch Workshop for IDEO (Design Research)
Sacred Care for St. Joseph Health (Service Design)

Bronze

Customer Care Strategy for Intuit Quickbooks (Design Strategy)
Designs On— Packaging for IDEO (Packaging and Graphics)
eReader Design Language for Kobo (Laptops and Notebooks)
GE Mammography: Redesigning the Women's Breast Health Journey for GE and GE Healthcare (Design Research)
Healthy Workplace for Kimberly Clark (Service Design)
Room Wizard II for Steelcase (Office Equipment)

For more on the winners, read here.

Articles: Popular Science on IDEO’s CHCF Enroll UX 2014

2012-06-29T17:55:29+00:00

Popular Science checks in with IDEO’s Christian Palino about the design of Enroll UX 2014, a consumer healthcare enrollment experience developed in collaboration with the California HealthCare Foundation and a coalition of national and state partners. Read more about the project here.

Work: Consumer Health Insurance Enrollment Experience for National Non-Profit Coalition

2012-06-28T18:56:55+00:00

Forty million Americans will become newly eligible for health coverage when the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) is fully implemented in 2014. Some will be enrolling in health insurance for the first time, while others will experience changes that provide increased access to affordable health coverage. In anticipation of this transition, the law requires the development of electronic enrollment options for health insurance plans operated by state and federal governments under the ACA. To assist public and private agencies in meeting these requirements, a coalition of nine national and state-based foundations, led by the California HealthCare Foundation (CHCF) worked on a project to develop a digital enrollment prototype for Americans seeking health coverage. The goal of the project—called Enroll UX 2014—was to create a detailed reference design of an easy-to-use consumer health insurance enrollment experience. IDEO was selected to lead the consumer research and design effort. After a yearlong collaborative process, the resulting 300-page design specifications manual and design reference prototype illustrates a customizable and human-centered approach to public and private health insurance enrollment.

IDEO’s core challenge was to create a flexible set of design standards that could make it easier for Americans to enroll online for health care coverage. The scope and complexity of this design challenge required a multi-part design solution that was inclusive, responsive, and respectful of state-to-state variation and resource constraints.

Articles: OpenIDEO at Rio+20 Summit

2012-06-27T03:43:48+00:00

Nathan Waterhouse kicked off the latest OpenIDEO challenge at Rio+20, the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development. The challenge, which is focused on the problem of discarded electronics, is being done in partnership with leading Brazilian bank Itaú Unibanco, the US State Department and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Articles: Paul Bennett in the Business Times, Singapore

2012-06-23T20:14:57+00:00

Paul Bennett, IDEO’s Chief Creative Officer, writes for the “From the Desk of” column for Singapore’s The Business Times, the country’s most influential business paper, about why Singapore is the perfect place to prototype ideas. Paul says that “trying is the new talking,” describing why Singapore lends itself to a learn-by-doing approach.

Articles: Colin Raney in HBR on Helping Big Organizations Grow

2012-06-15T14:56:00+00:00

How might businesses that found success in one area find new outlets for future growth? Colin believes that the start-ups of today and the skunkworks of the 1970s suggest ways larger organizations can pursue growth. Read the full article on HBR.com.

Articles: IDEO Named Top MBA Employer

2012-06-05T17:41:54+00:00

IDEO is ranked No. 13 on the places MBAs most want to work in the U.S., according to Universum, an independent polling company. The annual study surveys 60,000 business school students. See the list on CNNMoney.com.

Articles: Stacey Chang in Medical Device ‘Under 40’ List

2012-06-04T23:49:28+00:00

MD+DI, a magazine for the medical device and diagnostic industry, named Stacey Chang to its “40 Under 40” list for 2012.

Articles: Sue Siddall Interviewed for CBN Weekly’s Figures Column

2012-05-31T23:14:31+00:00

Sue Siddall, Location Lead for IDEO London, is interviewed for CBN Weekly’s Figures column extolling the inquisitive sprit of London, which inspires even the largest companies to try experiment and learn from their consumers’ reactions.

Articles: Tim Brown in Harvard Business Manager

2012-05-24T21:49:13+00:00

IDEO’s CEO and President, Tim Brown, is interviewed by Harvard Business Manager (Germany) in “We Need to Know More” about successful organizations and business models.

Articles: Designing Apps for the Arts

2012-05-21T16:30:07+00:00

The WSJ highlights companies and venues that are helping arts-goers digitally curate their offline cultural experiences, saying the app revolution may be “best suited to the Lincoln Center, where it’s often hard to keep track of everything going on.” IDEO and the Lincoln Center designed the app that allows people to purchase tickets, learn more about the venue, create a personal calendar, and share events they’re attending with friends via Facebook and email.

Events: David Kelley’s TED talk on Creative Confidence

2012-05-16T18:00:26+00:00

David Kelley spoke at TED2012, and now his talk on building creative confidence is posted on the TED site. Watch the video here.

Articles: What Corporations Can Learn from Start-ups

2012-05-13T00:12:53+00:00

In German business magazine Impulse, IDEO’s Leif Huff discusses how large corporations can learn from start-ups.

Articles: The Future of Digital Behavior

2012-05-11T20:18:54+00:00

At the 2012 Mashable Connect Conference, IDEO’s Duane Bray presented “6 Ways of Anticipating Future Digital Behavior” and points to current human behaviors that help us to see what the future might look like. Read more about the talk here.

Work: Samsung Memory: Brand Awareness for Samsung

2012-05-09T04:04:39+00:00

Samsung Memory offers a range of products that enhance the performance of consumer electronic devices. The company partnered with IDEO to create a human-centered brand campaign that illustrates how Samsung Memory provides people with more efficiency, more time, and more enjoyable experiences. To help consumers understand the core benefits of Samsung Memory, the IDEO team created a series of short videos starring three fictional characters that conspire to annoy people by causing everyday inconveniences. These “conspirators”—named Battery Brutus, Loading Ball Larry, and Fiona Freeze—embody the usual pain points that consumers experience with their electronic devices. They also form the basis of a broader brand awareness campaign that integrates advertising, video, and interactive simulations on the Samsung Memory website.

To create the Samsung Memory brand campaign, the design team began by identifying everyday consumer pain points related to memory, such as:
• Losing cell phone battery power in the midst of an important phone call
• Running out of computer battery power on an airplane, mid-flight
• Experiencing screen freezes in the middle of a movie
• Losing important files when programs crash

The team saw that by addressing familiar pain points, memory can offer people more efficiency, more time, and more happiness. To illustrate this connection, designers invented a humorous, fictional world in which all the pain points people despise are personified as “conspirators.” Blame conspirators for everyday memory situations, not computer technicians. Point, instead, to Battery Brutus, Loading Ball Larry, or Fiona Freeze.

Awards: IDEO’s Future of the Book Awarded a Webby

2012-05-02T22:39:06+00:00

IDEO’s Future of the Book concept wins a Webby in the Experimental & Weird Category.

Webby Honorees include IDEO.org for Charitable Organizations/Non-Profits and GoGo Inflight Portal for Best Navigation/Structure.

Articles: From Blueprint to Genetic Code: The Merits of an Evolutionary Approach to Design

2012-05-01T18:36:18+00:00

IDEO CEO and president Tim Brown discusses how design is evolving away from a Newtonian model and toward a Darwinian model to meet the needs of an increasingly complex world.