The Latest

January 21, 2010
Behavior change is more than a trend; it’s a sign of the times. Behavioral economists have joined the ranks of full-time staff at the White House, books covering the topic rank high on the New York Times best-seller list, and increasingly, businesses are asking IDEO to tackle behavior change issues, whether they are about weight loss, smoking cessation, home energy monitors, engaged banking and more.
In the spirit of experimentation, IDEO San Francisco opened its doors recently for a social event called Change+. The goal was to assemble a diverse crowd, share provocations and stimulate dialogue.
Read the several IDEO PATTERNS on behavior change here.

Download a PDF about the Change+ event

Reporter Jonathan Daniel Harris interviewed IDEO’s Tim Brown at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. In the article, he explains that object design has a place beside public policy and corporate social responsibility. In fact, design thinking, he says, may be necessary to enact any real change from the policy side. Click to the Huffington Post for the full article.

Presented by IDEO and hosted by DESIGN 21: Social Design Network, the Living Climate Change Video Challenge aims to extend the conversation about how daily life is shaped by climate change to a wide global audience. People of all ages are invited to create their own 2-minute videos, which will be evaluated by a panel of expert judges drawn from education, technology, media, and government.

For details, including prize information, visit Living Climate Change.

View a PDF about the Living Climate Change Video Challenge

In an online article for the publication's business section, IDEO’s Paul Bennett writes, “Look to collaborate with those who can do what you can’t.” Click here for the full article. By Paul Bennett

Columnist and panel moderator Alice Rawsthorn asks, What exactly is sustainable design? What constitutes success? And failure? On what criteria? These issues were debated at the World Economic Forum’s annual meeting in Davos, Switzerland. The panel, “Design for Sustainability,” included William McDonough, the American architect who co-authored the book, “Cradle to Cradle”; Cameron Sinclair, co-founder of Architecture for Humanity; and IDEO's Tim Brown. Click here for the full story.

In an online article for BusinessWeek, Diego Rodriguez explains that good business outcomes treat design as a holistic process that pulls in savvy marketing and research, as well as smart ideas. For him, it's why design matters. Click here for the full article.

Design Observer’s Ernerst Beck highlights GlobalTap, a way to bring water to haves and have-nots alike with one simple system. Click here to read the full article.

Sandy Speicher is included in the Metropolis article, “Back to the Future.” In the story, Sandy explains, "When you're looking at new models of education, the first question is: How much do you want to stick to the paradigm, and how much do you want to break it?” To learn more, read the full article.

Forbes columnist Saj-nicole Joni interviews Tim Brown about why the world needs more design thinking. Read the full article.

Food is a complex topic — it touches on the essence of our being and our culture, all while transforming our lives in fundamental ways. Designs On– approaches food with the eyes of someone ready to enjoy a succulent meal. The results are fresh and provocative. The designers were willing to go off the beaten path, to question their personal assumptions and to move beyond the realm of expected possibilities. Designs On– Food is the third in a series of concepts, following the the topics of global warming and time.

View the Designs On– website at www.designs-on.com.

View the PDF

Mat Hunter, a former partner at IDEO, has been appointed as the new chief design officer for the Design Council in the United Kingdom.
Read the article in Design Week here.

IDEO's Colin Raney and Ryan Jacoby wrote, “Decisions by Design: Stop Deciding, Start Designing,” in the Winter 2010 issue of Rotman, the magazine for the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto.

View the PDF

Bill Moggridge has the incredible honor of leading the Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in New York as the museum's newest director. He replaces Acting Director Caroline Baumann, who stepped in after the departure of Paul Warwick Thompson last summer.

Last year, Moggridge was given the Cooper Hewitt's Lifetime Achievement award, presented by First Lady Michelle Obama. Read about the award here.

Paul Bennett’s article in London's Financial Times, “The Biggest Idea Might be Learning to Think Small,” highlights his recent trip to Bangladesh, where he met Nobel Peace Prize recipient Muhammad Yunus. While in India, Paul learned from the Grameen organization, its micro-financing banking system, and its collaboration with global French food group, Danone.
Read the article here or find it in the Business Life section of the Financial Times’s print version.

Phil McKinney moderates a podcast interview with Dave Watson from Ford and Steve Bishop from IDEO. They discuss their co-innovation project on the Ford Fusion — a collaboration resulting in the development of the next generation instrument experience. This interview addresses the challenges in creating breakthrough innovations inside large corporations, co-innovation approaches and benefits, human-centered design approaches, the value of prototyping, and keys to staying focused.
Listen to the podcast here.
Read more about the interview here.
Learn more about IDEO's work with Ford here.

Tim Brown's Change By Design made Fast Company's list, "The Best Business Books of 2009."
Read the magazine's review of the book here. Learn more about the full list here.

Tim Brown's Change By Design tops BusinessWeek's "Best Innovation and Design Books of 2009" list. I Miss My Pencil by IDEO's Martin Bone and Kara Johnson is also recognized.

Read about the list here.

Boing Boing’s Cory Doctorow highlights IDEO's Human-Centered Design Toolkit and its option for a free download. People across the Web have downloaded more than 23,000 copies of the toolkit.

In the Wall Street Journal, Gary Hamel writes about the power and importance of design, highlighting Tim Brown's take on design thinking. As Gary puts it, “Tim’s argument: design should be viewed instead as a fundamental business discipline that can produce insanely loyal customers and fat, chunky margins (and also help us solve global-scale challenges like pollution and poverty).” For the full article, click here. For information about Tim’s book on design thinking, Change by Design, click here.

Reporter Tim McKeough highlights the ideas of design director Martin Bone and IDEO materials expert Kara Johnson. "We were trying to study things that get overlooked," explained Martin, noting that he's dismayed by uninspired "everyday things like thermostats, switches, and plugs." Kara Johnson adds that the redesigned thermostat is largely about making our interaction with such objects more human. The pair recently published the product, along with 11 other experiments, in I Miss My Pencil. For the full story, click here.