I.D. Magazine awarded IDEO a design distinction in its Annual Design Review 2009 for work on Peek. According to the magazine, “It’s a game-changer,” and praised the interface and cheap access, explaining, “It’s all part of the easy-tech revolution.”

To read the article, click here.

Fast Company blogger Craig Pelkey-Landes writes on IDEO’s method card deck in “IDEO Method Cards Turn, Um, 7!”

Read the article here.

VisionSpring blogs about their partnership with IDEO and developing a model for integrating eye care for children in India.
For the full discussion, click here.
Learn more about the Visionspring project here.

BusinessWeek’s “Innovation of the Week” podcast highlights Kara Johnson’s latest book, I Miss My Pencil (co-authored with Martin Bone). In the interview, Kara walk listeners through the book’s freewheeling experimentation.

Listen to the podcast here or visit the articles / Posted: June 25, 2009

IDEO’s Boston office hosted “The Big Reset,” an event for friends and thought leaders to reflect on how today’s economy may shape tomorrow’s business opportunities. Check out the event and the ongoing discussion here.

Why do many internal Web 2.0 systems fail to thrive? Is it culture? Fear of new technology? Unspoken rules around collaboration and competition? Designing solutions that work means finding triggers for individual motivation, insisting on simple and intuitive UI, and integrating into existing workflows. IDEO’s Gentry Underwood shares key insights derived from his experience building knowledge sharing systems internally in his talk, “How to build collaborative software that people will actually use.”

For more information about Gentry’s talk on June 24, click here.

On June 23, Jocelyn Wyatt will speak at the National Conference on Volunteering and Service in San Francisco. She will participate in two panel discussions – one on innovation and one on social intrapreneurship.

By IDEO Authors

PATTERNS is an ongoing effort that lets the IDEO team share some of the common insights we see bubbling up across projects, as well as out in the world. They are a foundation for intuition. A way to elevate insights to the level of cultural impact. And a way to tap into IDEO’s collective intelligence to do better work for our clients — even faster.

IDEO kicks off PATTERNS with Business in Beta by Colin Raney, who considers how to build a business around a new-to-world concept or in an unknown market. He asks, How do you figure out what customers need when you’re delivering an experience they’ve never seen before? Join the discussion here.

Visit the PATTERNS site here.

Paul Bennett was interviewed on Survival of the Fastest. The initiative is the product of a partnership between London Business School, the Daily Telegraph and Google, and aims to provide “unique bite-sized insights contributed by some of the UK’s leading organisations.”

View the video clips here:
• “The importance of asking the right questions”
• “What will winning organisations look like in 18 months’ time?”
• “How do business leaders prepare for the upturn?”

IDEO’s Tim Brown is part of a new iGoogle launch of homepages created by world-renowned celebrities and thought leaders, including Al Gore, Arianna Huffington, and Dave Matthews. Add some of Tim’s favorite gadgets to your own homepage with just a click. There are sketches of IDEO mind maps, photos of our global offices, updates from Tim’s blog about Design Thinking, as well feeds from his top online picks, including Bringatrailer.com for finding great vintage cars.

Core77 reviews Martin Bone and Kara Johnson’s recently released book, I Miss My Pencil. The 240-page tome considers what inspires designers to design. The authors provoke new ways of seeing the objects that surround us.

Read the full review here.

Financial Times reporter Sarah Murray spoke with IDEO’s Sabine Müllauer, based out of IDEO’s Munich office, about designing medical devices. In the article, Sabine explained, “The concept of old age has changed significantly in last few decades. They’re working, very active, participating in sports and starting businesses … So it’s really extremely important to have a next generation of designs for this age group.”

Read the article here.

Design critic and columnist for both the International Herald Tribune and The New York Times, Alice Rawsthorn wrote about the notion of “form follows function.” For the article, she spoke with Kara Johnson, a material scientist and co-author of the book I Miss My Pencil. In the story, Kara explains that “people are always ready for new or better or more sophisticated experiences — digital and physical.” For Kara, “the role of the designer is to make them simple and meaningful.”