Keeping diabetes in check isn’t easy. Between checking blood sugar multiple times a day, keeping a detailed activity record, and logging food intake, staying healthy can be daunting.

But a recent advance in smart diabetes management—Ascensia’s CONTOUR NEXT ONE blood glucose meter and the CONTOUR DIABETES app—can give patients more clarity and control.

The CONTOUR NEXT ONE is the latest product to spring from a multi-year collaboration between IDEO and Ascensia Diabetes Care (formerly Bayer Diabetes Care). In 2009, Ascensia and IDEO developed the award-winning CONTOUR USB blood glucose meter—the first meter to plug directly into a computer, providing patients and their doctors with instant access to blood sugar data and personal trend reports.

Buoyed by the success of the first collaboration, Ascensia asked IDEO to help design a next-generation diabetes management system (and the company’s first internet-connected device).

To help reduce the stigma of checking blood sugar in public, IDEO designed the CONTOUR NEXT ONE to look and behave like today’s modern tech devices. The highly simplified, seamless system allows patients to upload blood glucose readings automatically to the app, which helps guide informed, real-time decisions. The meter’s red, green, or yellow smartLIGHT feature gives instant feedback about whether blood sugar levels are below, within, or above the target range.

Seeing contextual data, which includes physical activity logs and photos of meals, paired with recent and historic blood sugar levels, nudges patients toward healthier lifestyle choices and better control of their condition.

For doctors, the accuracy and quantity of the data combined with the app’s easy-to-read pattern views invites more comprehensive, actionable conversations with patients.

The CONTOUR NEXT ONE hit shelves in Europe in 2016 and is now available in the U.S. Ascensia is poised to develop more products enabled by rich, personalized data to help people with diabetes live longer, healthier lives.

What if we could use the sky to provide alternative solutions to these problems, creating more space for living and transportation? What exciting future awaits us?

At JAXA’s Aeronautical Technology Directorate (ATD), researchers are conducting research and development on aviation science and technology for the future. They are working to affect positive impact through research like noise reduction of airframe and an integrated aircraft operation management system for disaster relief and crisis management.

Normally, JAXA begins their projects by examining the needs of the aircraft industry or comparing themselves against global technology standards. This approach often leads to ideas that are merely an extension of the current technology. JAXA needed a new approach in order to create radical ideas and real change.

The key question was: What solutions would emerge from prioritizing people’s needs over the most advanced technological possibility—taking a human-centered approach to tackling the most pressing societal challenges?

JAXA ATD voluntary partnered with IDEO to attempt to answer this question, identifying new research areas by envisioning people’s needs in the near future. Together, JAXA and IDEO developed four scenarios of future societies.

The scenarios do not necessarily focus on technologies. Rather, the focus is on telling stories that help readers put themselves in the shoes of the four personas. At the same time, the team worked with industrial designers to illustrate convincing demonstrations of the vehicles and machines of the future.

JAXA’s team embraces the belief that “technologies developed at JAXA should incorporate emotional aspects to blend seamlessly into people’s lives.” Driven by this philosophy, the visual design of the four scenarios used a friendly illustration style intended to be approachable and understandable for people of all ages.

In order to develop human-centered concepts from scratch, the IDEO and JAXA team first undertook research and inspiration-gathering. They skydived, observed cities from above, brainstormed with students from the department of architecture at Waseda University. They interviewed airline employees, a former Judo world champion, skyscraper lovers, a business producer who focuses on new working styles. Throughout the research phase, the team explored the possibilities of the sky as a “living space,” not just a place for transportation.

The team was surprised and excited when they learned from a former fighter pilot that old cockpit designs were inspired by the Japanese tea room, highlighting a historic precedent for taking inspiration from real life to inform new technology designs.

The team synthesized their research and developed several concepts, each informed by a different social issue or pressing concern. Each issue was brought to life through a fictional personal narrative.

How might we relieve city congestion and pollution using the sky, while still keeping it clean and blue? Floating public lights, a skyway that regulates air traffic, camouflaged planes that keep the sky blue—concepts introduced in this scenario were the closest to the technologies already being researched at JAXA ATD. They show us how the sky could become an infrastructure that supports our daily lives. Meet Ayame, a girl from Gunma prefecture, ready to begin her college life in Osaka.

How might we make travel feel easy for people of all ages, no matter how far they need to go? While the researchers at JAXA ATD are working to improve the mobility of aircraft, like reducing air friction or increasing the engine efficiency of aircraft, this scenario explored how people could travel door-to-door through the sky with or without aircraft. A day-in-the-life of Naoto, a 72-year-old man who commutes twice a month from Tottori to Tokyo for medical checkups.

How might we leverage the sky as a resource for reusable energy and economic growth? One of the criteria of JAXA’s R&D activities is to improve the environment. While JAXA has been focusing on “protecting” the environment, this scenario focused on “creating” new environments. A day-in-the-life of Toshi, who runs a “sky-to-table” farming business.

How might we help people live with peace of mind, even during a disaster? JAXA’s disaster relief technologies have been extremely valuable in countries like Japan, which frequently suffers from natural disasters. In this scenario, we approached the problem from victims’ point of view while exploiting the potential of a network of aircrafts and other flying objects. Here's the story of Yuri, a victim of an earthquake in Tokyo who reunites with her family after evacuating to the sky.

The purpose of the project website is not to present answers, but to introduce new directions towards an exciting future. By presenting JAXA ATD’s vision through these four scenarios, the team invited people from all industries and of all ages to participate in co-creating the future.

Just like movies, cartoons, and novels from childhood stimulate the imagination, this project aims to spark new conversation and vision for a radically different, positive future.

By illustrating and communicating a more human-centered future to a wider audience, Japan’s top aeronautical technology development agency may already be changing the future of the sky for the better.

The speed and scale of change in our world are unprecedented. As more people relocate to cities, our lives are impacted by urbanization problems such as pollution, congestion, depopulation of rural areas, resource, and energy deficiencies.

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For factory operators, a smart valve is a game-changer. It gathers data on how smoothly the system is running and feeds it to an app, making it easier to troubleshoot from anywhere. And when things get overheated, it can automatically shut down the machinery, avoiding a meltdown.

Georg Fischer (GF), the Swiss-based, B2B industrial manufacturer collaborated with IDEO to design that valve, along with a system that adds value for generations of engineers to come.

And there were some surprises along the way. When the team set out to interview customers, they learned a lot about their real needs. “We showed a customer a sacrificial concept of a smart valve and asked, what do you think about this?” says Laura Barrabia, GF’s Head of Corporate Design Thinking. “The customer answered, we don’t want your valve to be smart, we want to be smart. If GF is providing a smart valve, where is my value?”

For GF Piping Systems, these insights helped shape initial prototypes and guided the direction of the design to something that would tie parts together into smart systems and more efficient industrial facilities—a competitive advantage.

Yves Serra, GF’s CEO, recognized early on that his company needed to strengthen its customer-centricity and digital capacity, so he approached IDEO to begin shifting GF’s culture from engineering-led and procedural to customer-focused, multidisciplinary, collaborative, and flexible. That kicked off a decade-long relationship that would help GF take a design-based approach.

Learn what it means to move from being technology-driven to being truly customer-centric.

To help GF identify clients’ pain points and address them with new digital offers, IDEO proposed three “lighthouse” projects, one for each of GF’s divisions: Piping Systems, Casting Solutions, and Machining Solutions. Lighthouse projects (also called “Beacons”) are proofs of concept that light the way for an organization and help it shift its way of working.

For example, GF Machining Solutions built a prototype for an application that uses real-time data to help customers identify and fix problems in the machines, laying the foundation for truly predictive maintenance. Making data streams more transparent for customers also simplified life for the GF service engineers, who keep the machines running.

Learn how Georg Fischer is moving from hardware offerings to digital solutions.

For GF Piping Systems, the design team developed the GF Digital Line, a set of products, apps, dashboards, and other services that help customers plan, install, and maintain water and chemical piping systems. GF teams went back to customers to test several prototypes and gather feedback on the Digital Line and make sure it addressed current and future needs. They also built internal capabilities to support product development, laying the groundwork for future innovation.

Lastly, IDEO helped GF Casting Solutions escape the “commodity trap” of competing with foreign automotive suppliers. To better understand the pressures car manufacturers face, the design team explored the development cycles of two car manufacturers. They learned how challenging it is to implement solutions to reduce vehicle weight—essential for cutting fuel consumption. As an expert in aluminum die casting, GF was well positioned to help manufacturers meet that challenge, not just with quality parts, but also with digital engineering to deliver cutting-edge lightweight casting solutions, which are harder to replicate.

By the end of these lighthouse projects, GF had rolled out a global design thinking training program that had touched more than 1000 employees. After the training, employees throughout the organization adopted a new way of working and became passionate ambassadors. The enthusiasm spread from the R&D department to HR to finance and many other departments.

Today, GF has permanent design thinking and digital teams to continue this work. All three divisions aim to launch the first releases of their lighthouse projects by early 2019. And with every project, GF’s business—and solutions—get smarter about how to meet the needs of a fast changing world.

IHG’s ambition is to grow in service of its guests around the world. IHG’s Atlanta-based team had identified a major opportunity for hotels in the midscale space—a market segment known for its inconsistency.

Alongside colleagues at London-based forpeople, IDEO was invited to help IHG shepherd that business opportunity into a human one, by asking how IHG might reimagine the everyday travel experience for people relying on this category of hotel. What kind of offer might resonate equally with guests and with the owner/operators who’d need to buy into a new brand and bring it to life?

IDEO began by talking to travelers to better understand their lives, values, and needs—travelers who spend one or two nights on the road a few times every year; travelers who regularly take short trips to small cities or away from city centers; and travelers who live on the road, moving from hotel to hotel. These included court stenographers, medical technicians, consultants, conference-goers, and more.

Early research insights evolved into two distinct concepts for a new hotel brand, which were built out into two full-scale physical prototypes at IHG’s design center in Atlanta. Over three weeks, IDEO and its IHG partners led potential guests and hotel owners through each model, gathering their feedback on new formats for breakfast offerings, service details, booking experiences, and overall tone.

The investment in prototyping paid off with surprising and actionable insights. Despite wide variation in occupation and income, these guests are sophisticated and self-reliant; they know what’s out there, and they know what’s reasonable to expect. In fact, many describe a syndrome IDEO dubbed “anticipation anxiety:” the sense of dread that comes from not knowing whether a lower-priced hotel is going to be clean or safe, or provide a bed that enables restful sleep. Many have so little confidence in the cleanliness of hotels in this price range that they travel with their own packs of wet wipes.

IDEO, along with the IHG team, recognized these behaviors as an unanswered cry in the market. The purpose of the new brand crystallized around extinguishing that anxiety and rewarding guests with something much better. avid hotels exceeds its competition by doubling down on quality in just a few select areas: an extraordinary mattress; rigorously high standards of cleanliness; a focused, high-quality, grab-and-go breakfast and coffee experience; and an overall tone of warmth and straightforwardness.

These guests made clear that for trips like this, they aren’t interested in bells and whistles, or communication that isn’t frank or to the point. That led to an insight that upends an industry truism: for these guests—and there are many of them—choosing a hotel is rarely only about the price of the room. avid guests can often afford to stay in a more expensive place for a honeymoon or a vacation or a trip with friends; they’ll spend more when they need more. But for functional stays of one or two nights, it just feels wasteful. It goes against their values and their principles.

IHG and IDEO heard a clear call for a sense of focus and affordability—but never at the expense of quality. Guests should be able to access a simple booking process, rooms designed for sound sleep, and a quality breakfast, all at a fair price. And hotel owners ought to be able to deliver that experience with confidence and consistency, at costs that build a compelling case for their own business.

That’s what avid hotels is designed to deliver, every single time. Early traveler reviews have been exceedingly positive and have noted specifically the unique differentiating offers avid brings to the market.

Within a year of partnering with IDEO, IHG had issued 150 avid hotels licenses to franchisees in the US, Mexico, and Canada, and announced a development deal for 15 avid hotel locations in Germany over the next five years—a scale of success that came at unprecedented speed for the industry. The collaborative, inclusive design process is now serving as a model for how to develop robust, guest-centered hospitality brands that deliver where it matters for people.

Originally designed for cyclists, the idea was that we could give them access to information from their phones while reducing distraction. As we worked to progressively learn how the electronics and denim could work together as one seamless product, we explored hundreds of variations of the smart tag, failing our way toward the best version. From 3D-printed shapes to sewn straps and overmolded silicone assemblies, each iteration brought us one step closer to an ultimately successful product launch.

At IDEO, we’re big believers in the idea that if you want to succeed sooner, you’re going to have to fail earlier. And fail a lot. But each time you build something, you learn something new about the challenge you are trying to solve. This iterative cycle of question, make, answer, and ask a new question is why prototyping is such an important part of the design process. The more you make, the more—and the faster—you learn. And ultimately, the better the end product. That’s why we always encourage our teams to make something—early, often, and repeatedly.

Here are seven principles that help guide our prototyping process, as we fail our way to the best version of whatever we’re making.

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Early prototypes should be rough, rapid, and right

When you are working at a lower fidelity, you spend less time and fewer resources on each iteration, so you can build more and learn more. The key is to know what questions you’re trying to ask—and answer—with each new variation. What can you make to address those questions first? What is the fastest way to make something you can test? Keep those goals in mind to guide your process.

On a project developing a new laryngoscope (a device that helps doctors examine the larynx), we needed to quickly explore many ways a retraction mechanism might work, and what the implications each option would have on the device’s internal architecture. We prototyped at just enough fidelity to convince ourselves and our client that the task was possible, and to align on the leading methods we had for achieving it.

Add refinement only when and where you need it

Every time a prototype helps you answer a question, you take a step toward a higher-fidelity design. In this progression, the prototypes usually start to get more complex—as do the methods for making them. Improvements and iterations start to take more time as complexity grows, so prioritize your efforts accordingly. Keep asking yourself, “What do I want to learn from this prototype, specifically?”

On a fairly recent project, one of our teams was designing a new handheld massage device that incorporated a digital touchscreen. Even though it was a big part of the final product, we consciously chose to keep that complex element out of our prototypes for months, because we hoped to evaluate ergonomics, size, and use patterns before digital interactions. We added functional digital elements once we felt we needed feedback to keep evolving and testing the concept.

Embrace pivots

When you are building early, low-fidelity prototypes, try to keep all the possible doors open and maximize exploration. We like to work with modular elements, and avoid permanently removing or attaching things. That way you can quickly change directions or incorporate new ideas without having to start from scratch. It’s a practical way to save time and money, and to keep yourself from locking in on one idea.

Embracing pivots was key to our success when we were designing a new set of multi-tool experiences for SOG, a specialty knife and tool manufacturer. A multi-tool can do so many things, but each form factor lends itself to being particularly good at just a few core tasks. By prototyping in a way that allowed us to mix and match functions across form factors, we were able to easily pivot and experiment with various tool elements across the product line without over committing to a specific direction too soon.

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Don’t reinvent the wheel

You could fabricate bespoke elements for each prototype you’re building—or you could take advantage of what's already out there, using existing products as a foundation. No point in wasting time building something you could easily grab from elsewhere. The spirit of prototyping is all about speed of execution, so it’s always better to focus on what you want to learn without getting bogged down solving additional problems. Plus, taking things apart is in itself a way to learn—and it’s fun!

When we developed a scent-ring-blowing robot with the furniture company Moooi, we turned to all sorts of other products as we figured out the best way to create visible scent rings. We landed on a viable solution sooner because we started from existing product architectures—like solenoid valves (electrically -controlled valves used to allow or prevent the flow of media) and speakers.

Always be documenting

If every prototype is a question, and every interaction with a prototype provides an answer, you need to capture those answers as best you can. Plus, when you’re working at low fidelity, things can break, fall apart, or even disappear. It can be easy to forget to set up a phone and hit record, but don’t make that mistake. Short videos and still images are amazing tools for telling the story behind a prototype—why you made it, what you hoped to learn, what users' reactions were, and ultimately how the prototype pushed your design forward.

No one wants to get the message, “Hey I think I just broke the prototype.” But it happens to all of us, and having documentation can be a lifesaver. When our team was creating a folding infant travel bassinet for an IDEO PlayLab client, a delicate, 3D-printed collapsing mechanism was broken just hours before we needed to ship our functional model to the client. Luckily, sending them a video of the mechanism in action created the extra time we needed to print new parts and fix the model—just in the nick of time.

Don’t forget your prototype is … just a prototype

All prototypes are meant to be learning tools that elicit feedback, and the point of prototyping is to discover new challenges, problems, and flaws as you progress to the right solution. Sometimes that means you’ll hear critical things about a prototype you may have spent hours working on—and eventually you’ll probably have to provide feedback for others, too. Prototyping isn’t about defending your perfect creation; it’s about amplifying the speed at which you can learn to enable you to get to the right solution.

Often, IDEO will send research participants several prototypes for evaluation. One of the first things we tell people is, “It's okay if you break the prototype,” because we know it frequently happens. It's more important to allow for genuine interactions and feedback than it is to be overly precious with our models.

This might seem like a lot of information, but these principles are simply guidelines—there’s no right or wrong way to prototype. We think of it as a dance between questions and answers, constantly taking steps toward a more resolved and robust design. That’s why the last principle is, don’t forget to have fun! Rolling up your sleeves and making something is one of the most rewarding parts of the design process, and one of the critically important ingredients in IDEO’s approach to solving hard problems with our clients.

Getting stuck in your own prototyping process? Get in touch so that we can work together to figure it out.

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A few years ago, we partnered with Google and Levi’s to build the mechanics inside the Jacquard jacket, which allows wearers to control their smartphones with a brush of their sleeves.

We’re already living in the future. We’ve had small computers in our pockets for almost two decades that have more computing power than the first space missions. We have cars that drive themselves. There’s a man out there who has a Neuralink chip implanted in his brain, allowing him to control Mario Kart. This is the stuff of futuristic science fiction—except it’s our reality.

And already, we’ve begun to chart the next era of humanity and technology, as we live out the initial stages and repercussions of the technological, social, and political future that we and others drafted as designers of technology. But this future that we now live in has us asking some panicked questions about what the next one will mean for our jobs, the environment, and our kids. Because we’re realizing: This future we’ve created is not good enough. 

Early cartographers once depicted the vast oceans on ancient maps with intricate illustrations, often accompanied by the warning, "Here Be dragons." These words marked the thresholds of the unknown world, the entry point to unknown realms. In his essay “Here Be Dragons,” James Baldwin pushes us to consider what it looks like to meet those shores with curiosity, empathy, and compassion, to use moments of facing the unknown to overcome fear and uncertainty. Right now is a moment to be brave: Not to react with fear and step back from the edge, but to dive in and see what we find and if we can make the future better, together.

To accompany us in our journey to design a better future, we’ve created a set of talismans that represent what we already know about what’s coming.

1. Eve’s apple: We can’t go back to reality

We’re building a world of deepfakes, synthetic humans, and invented K-pop bands. The real, the invented, and the generated are blending more every day.

Think about U.K.-based Synthesia, which makes tools that can turn a one-off performance by an actor into an endless stream of deepfake avatars, reciting whatever script you give them at the push of a button. According to the company, its tech is now used by 56 percent of Fortune 100 companies.

Hyperreality is here, and we can’t go back—so let’s see where it takes us. What if the debate between “real” and “fake” becomes irrelevant? Maybe our creative expressions will no longer be bound by the limits of human imagination.

2. The heartbeat: Everything is alive

To be alive is to breathe, to pulse, to love, or to dream. But what if life also emerges from calculations, from quanta, and from superpositions? The sharp line between animate and inanimate is blurring, fading, and vanishing fast; life is no longer limited to the organic. What if this is the end of human exceptionalism? What if every object around us becomes alive? 

These questions inspire projects like Hume AI’s Empathic Voice Interface (EVI) and ChatGPT-4o, which interpret emotional expressions and generate empathic responses. With systems like these, technology feels more “alive,” because it can understand and react to human emotions with nuance. We can have full conversations with a machine that almost feels like a living being.

3. The Tweezer: Develop taste and precision

In a future of abundant AI-generated content, anyone can create anything, at any time. This means an explosion of creative output, no longer constrained by cultivation of craft.

In this world, we’ll have to select and curate experiences. Otherwise, we’ll drown in options. So, what if taste becomes a valuable currency? Imagine if finding compelling worlds was more valuable than making them.

Consider Pharrell Williams’s role as Louis Vuitton's Men's Creative Director. Broadly known as a musician, he’s an example of a broader trend in the luxury fashion industry, where the role of a creative director evolves beyond traditional design skills. Now, it can include curating and connecting broad artistic expressions​ to form and build new kinds of media that stand out among the noise.

4. The Hotdog: Orchestrate digital ingredients

More and more, technology is moving from standalone apps to integrated and embedded functions. At WWDC, Apple Intelligence presented visions of technology that can seamlessly anticipate our needs and meet them. Instead of flipping through apps to find recipes for a dinner party, a system like this could come up with a menu based on guests’ dietary preferences, choose a date that fits calendars, and order groceries. Similarly, the vision from the movie Her, which ChatGPT is largely modeled after, is an all-in-one voice assistant that knows all of our needs and preferences, and supports our emotional and social wellbeing—and even provides a romantic connection.

Let’s lean into that trend. Picture technology acting as an innate extension of oneself, rather than as isolated tools. The essential skill is no longer using different apps to complete a task, but mastering the orchestration of digital agents.

5. The Parrot: How to bridge realms

Words matter. But there are so many more ways to communicate, many that humans have never been able to access—until now.

We’re leaving behind the confines of human-to-human communication, and unlocking the secret languages of animals, natural systems, and time. Think about the Earth Species Project, which has been working for the better part of a decade to use AI to decode animal language to support conservation.

So, what if we could decipher the dialogues of the animal kingdom? What if translations could capture the essence of cultures and the subtleties of metaphors? Imagine if we could bridge the ultimate divide—time itself. 

In their TeleAbsence series, researchers like the MIT Media Lab’s Hiroshi Ishii and D. Pillis are experimenting with technologies to facilitate dialogues with digital renditions of those we've lost, redefining our concepts of connection and presence. Their project, MirrorFugue, is a piano that captures how a loved one plays, and then plays itself back, allowing you to touch the keys and feel the piano move as it would if they were actually playing it. 

Thanks to these talismans, we have a sense of what’s beyond the edge of the map, the future that lies beyond. But, if we want to be the ones to draw the map, we have to live in the real world. And that means folding in not just pie-in-the-sky ideals, but building the best version of business and commerce. So how do you make sure we build the future we want, while creating a future that makes commercial sense?

We believe that great design commercializes emerging technology by marrying what’s possible with what people want and need. That’s the future we’re working to build. As we listen to the panicked questions, let’s unpack the human needs behind them, mapping them to the incredible potential of technology, designing a future that we want to live in.

What is the future you want to live in? Let us know: ai@ideo.com 

What can a heartbeat, a pair of tweezers, a hotdog, a parrot, and an apple tell us about what’s coming?

Healthcare is responsible for 10 percent of global material extractions and 4.4 percent of emissions, contributing significantly to the very environmental issues that are increasingly impacting human health. Paradoxically, 80 percent of health outcomes globally are driven by non-clinical factors—the environmental conditions in which people are born, grow, work, live, and age. These compounding factors present a unique opportunity for leaders within and beyond the health industry to rethink their approach, moving beyond traditional care models to embrace more holistic, preventative, and sustainable strategies.

At IDEO, we believe that the climate crisis can be more than a threat—it can also be a catalyst for innovation. By shifting our healthcare focus upstream—from last-mile care to first-mile health, ie, creating the conditions that make everyday life healthy by design—we can create solutions that not only improve individual and community wellbeing, but also contribute to a healthier planet. This approach doesn't just mitigate risks and improve health outcomes; it opens new avenues for growth and value creation.

So, what might this future of climate-conscious healthcare look like? During Climate Action Week in London, we asked a group of leaders and creatives to combine future inspiration, nature strategies, and building blocks of first-mile health to come up with ideas that could lead to better results for people and planet. Here are some of our favorites:

Converge urban planning and healthcare 

Imagine a world where public green spaces are not just amenities, but prescribed interventions for both physical and mental health. Already, these spaces serve as natural air purifiers, reducing urban heat islands while providing accessible areas for exercise and community connection. Health insurers might offer incentives for time spent in these green spaces, recognizing their role in preventing chronic diseases and improving overall community wellbeing.

Bridge empathy and health with wearable technology

Picture a wearable device that allows users to experience the physical sensations of others—perhaps those with disabilities or health conditions different from their own. This technology could revolutionize patient care, medical education, and public health campaigns by fostering deeper empathy and understanding. It might also encourage more sustainable behaviors by allowing people to viscerally experience the health impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations.

Make community rituals a cornerstone of preventative healthcare

Consider creating re-localization rituals, which would bring communities together to build shared culture, empathy, and social cohesion. These events could incorporate nutrition education, physical activities, and community health moments, all while fostering the kind of strong social bonds that are crucial for mental health, quality of life, and community resilience in the face of climate challenges.

Bring the fashion and health industries together around sustainability

Envision a partnership where health tech companies and fashion brands co-create wearables that monitor health while promoting sustainable consumption. These products could adapt to users' changing health needs over time, reducing waste in both the fashion and medical device industries. They might even incorporate materials that actively purify the air or neutralize pollutants, turning personal style into a form of environmental stewardship.

Give children a voice in health and environmental policy

Picture a Ministry of Children (or, in the U.S., a Department of Children) with real executive decision-making power on issues of health and climate, working for and with children to understand and serve the needs of some of our most vulnerable citizens. This radical approach to inclusivity could lead to policies that prioritize long-term health outcomes and environmental sustainability, breaking free from short-term thinking that often dominates current governance models.

These scenarios may seem far-fetched, but they illustrate the kind of bold, systemic thinking required to address the intertwined challenges of health and climate. They also highlight the immense opportunities for growth and innovation in this space, and the importance of bringing diverse groups together in service of solving these problems.

For health industry leaders, embracing this climate-conscious approach to healthcare isn't just about corporate social responsibility—it's a strategic imperative. Companies that lead in this space will be better positioned to:

• Tap into new markets: As consumers become increasingly aware of the health impacts of climate change, there's growing demand for products and services that address both personal and planetary health.
• Attract and retain talent: Purpose-driven initiatives that tackle major global challenges can be a powerful draw for top talent, particularly among younger generations.
• Mitigate future risks: By investing in preventative, sustainable healthcare models now, companies can better prepare for the health challenges that climate change will inevitably bring.
• Drive innovation: The constraints imposed by climate considerations can spark creativity, leading to breakthrough technologies and business models.
• Enhance brand value: Companies that demonstrate leadership in addressing climate and health issues can build strong, positive brand associations that resonate with consumers and partners alike.
• Cut costs: Not only will sustainable strategies lead to better health outcomes that save money, they may also lower regulatory costs.

As we navigate the Climate Era, the health industry has a unique opportunity—and responsibility—to lead the way in creating a more sustainable, resilient future. By focusing on upstream, preventative solutions that address both human and planetary health, we can unlock new sources of value while making a profound positive impact on the world.

The future of health is not just about treating illness—it's about nurturing wellbeing in its broadest sense. We look forward to joining health industry leaders in stepping up and embracing this challenge. The health of our businesses, our communities, and our planet depends on it.

Looking to catalyze change in business or healthcare? We’d love to connect.

In the rapidly-evolving landscape of global health, we find ourselves at a critical juncture where the health of individuals, communities, and our planet are inextricably linked.

Digital technologies will be a huge piece of that puzzle, helping us find solutions to everything from reusable packaging to textiles that stay out of landfills, the electrification of everything, and retailers that embrace circularity.

The opportunity is enormous: Leaders who adopt new technologies to meet sustainability goals will not only lighten their impact on climate—they will gain new value for their brands and their customers because of all the benefits that new tech brings. Those who evolve now will be positioned to lead the market. 

So, how do you adapt a fashion or luxury brand to be more sustainable, more inclusive, and more connected to the consumer, while increasing value to brands, manufacturers, and consumers alike? 

The challenge is complex, but it’s nowhere near impossible. Take H&M’s work to streamline its supply chain, cutting unnecessary inventory, and producing less waste. Together, IDEO and H&M mapped out the complex network of people that make up its supply chain across the globe, then created an algorithm for more precise ordering, and a tool that provides a shared view of information. Now, a new automated flow called “Cruise Control” creates a demand forecast that makes it possible for employees to place much more accurate bets on what consumers will want, when. It’s a project that not only led to less waste—but better sales, too. After all, it's a lot easier to buy the thing you want when it's in stock. Already, Cruise Control has led to an eight percent average reduction in inventory, saving the company €500 million (more than $630 million) per year.

Human-centered technological strategies like this one also create opportunities to change—and deepen—the relationship between brand and consumer. A climate-conscious future isn’t just responsible and increasingly required (see Corporate Social Responsibility Directive, Waste Framework Directive, and the Ecodesign Criteria for Consumer Textiles in the EU), it’s full of opportunity for growth.

Here are four ways fashion brands can leverage digital technologies to increase value in the climate era.

Measure a garment's value across multiple life-cycles

Provocation: By shifting how you measure the profitability of garments from linear sales to circular value creation, you can redesign the business from the core. Today, shoppers buy garments from celebrity closets on the second hand luxury platform The RealReal, and collectors are happy to buy a pre-owned Eames chair, like one Redditor who said "I ain't got time to age a 670—I'll buy someone else's history.” Brands can expand on these trends to show off the value embedded in goods that are already out there in the market, while deepening their long-term relationships with customers and communities. Digital twins—virtual data tied to a physical object, like data tied to your passport—can streamline tracking and enable new business models that compliment physical experiences with digital.

Impact: New KPIs connected to digital twins in a circular product lifecycle allow the reconfiguration and measuring of new value chains.

Use the shift to on-demand manufacturing to co-create with customers

Provocation: On-demand production and direct-to-fabric printing mean your customers can create their own bespoke prints, directly collaborating with your brand, while making sure you don’t produce too much inventory. Some brands are already taking advantage of this strategy. Reebok, for example, has a service where you can supply images to a chatbot to create custom sneakers, and then can buy digital versions of the sneakers for eight dollars. Projects like this one are becoming increasingly common, as brands come into proximity with user-generated worlds and designs. There's a great opportunity here to expand on the creative drive of potential customers through co-design tools.

‍Impact: Co-design drives brand engagement and loyalty, taking your customer relationships to new heights.

Create new experiences that add more bonding between the customer, your brand and their new purchase


Provocation: Manufacturing on demand can lead to a longer window between a customer’s order and the delivery of their goods—but that doesn’t have to add friction. Instead, brands can reframe delays with a bespoke, insider experience, where the customer connects with the designers, people, and processes that make their garment possible—and unique to them. It’s also a way to make visible the labor and resources it takes to produce their garments, which can drive real behavior change. This concept even has a name, Shinkansen Theater, after the shift in perspectives that riders on Japan’s bullet trains had on turnaround time after watching cleaning staff work.

Impact: Luxury purchases are often the pinnacle of many months or years of decision-making and brand engagement. Involving the consumer in the production process enhances and elongates the thrill of the purchase moment. Customers who are willing to spend a lot to get a coveted item will go to great lengths to acquire as much information about it as possible (see this discussion of a bespoke order tracker for Ford). 

Design for the impact of the design idea, rather than the identity or size of the buyer

Provocation: Experimenting with different styles, fabrics, and customizations in a virtual environment can create a sense of ownership and excitement akin to bespoke tailoring. Picture a hybrid experience, where high-quality simulations allow shoppers to start the design process online, then see the final touches at delivery. It’s a strategy that makes brands more accessible to more sizes, body types, and genders. Already, brands like Unspun are using body scanning to create custom jeans, and Universal Standard has committed to carrying sizes 00 through 40, with the same attention to cut and quality, regardless of size. Returns in fashion are not purely about technical fit, but about a complex set of emotions, context, and expectations. How are you feeling about your body? What’s the lighting in your space? How does the garment make you feel? High-quality and accurate simulations of a garment’s shape, texture, and movement could also help close the gap between digital and physical shopping experiences, reducing the emotional mismatch between online vision and product reality.

Impact: Sizing and gender categories become irrelevant, allowing your brand ethos and styles to reach—and be reinterpreted by—the largest possible portion of the market.  

These provocations are just four ways fashion and luxury brand leaders can leverage emerging tech and trends to cut impact on climate, while increasing value to their customers—there are many, many more. And the leaders that implement them first will not only be doing better by the planet—they’ll also reap the rewards. 

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Looking to implement emerging tech to add value to your brand? We’d love to connect.

The climate era is ushering in changes so big, everything will need to be redesigned—including fashion and luxury brands.

I help organizations cut through complexity by shaping how they show up, through brand strategy, identity, and storytelling.

Working at the intersection of brand and business, I bring an editorial eye and a bias toward making—turning ideas into tangible experiences that people can understand, trust, and believe in.

My work spans government, healthcare, financial services, media, and consumer goods, from launching Gen Z-focused ventures to building innovation labs and reimagining legacy brands. I relish moments of ambiguity and enjoy translating across teams, perspectives, and priorities to move ideas forward.

I started my career in editorial and digital design, shaping cross-platform experiences and identity systems in publishing and agency environments. That foundation still shapes how I work today: I’m detail-oriented, collaborative, and overreliant on the Oxford comma. I hold a BFA in Visual Communication from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

For 25 years, I've asked the same question: Who does this design exclude—and what are we going to do about it?

My work spans human-centered strategy, inclusive design, and qualitative research, with clients ranging from Microsoft, Google, and Verizon to the National Science Foundation, and San Francisco Unified School District.

Before IDEO, I taught elementary school in East Palo Alto and spent a decade doing design work with social service organizations—where I learned firsthand what it costs people when systems are built without them in mind.

I am currently writing User Error, a nonfiction book about digital access and the design decisions behind it. I live in Oakland, California.

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My expertise spans brand, communication, and product design across tech, education, the arts, and social impact.

I believe great work demands both high-level vision and obsessive attention to detail, and only happens through collaboration.

I bring an inclusive, hands-on approach and a deep understanding of business, which enables me to consistently deliver excellence while always asking why.

Before joining IDEO, I worked at the brand firms Pentagram and VSA Partners. I began my career as a designer, leading teams at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and the Milwaukee Art Museum. I hold an MFA in graphic design from Maryland Institute College of Art and a BFA in communication design from the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design, and have taught at some of the best design schools in the US.

I am responsible for IDEO’s long-term success in China and working with clients to use design as a tool to enable growth. Specifically, I have helped Chinese companies design holistic brand solutions through the development of their products, communication, services, and innovation teams, and I have helped multinationals expand their presence and influence in China.

I advise global leaders on developing China-led innovation and capabilities.

In over 15 years in IDEO Shanghai, I have worked on projects that use design to elevate the quality of the experience of healthcare products and services, streamline processes that increase productivity, create spaces and programs that promote and enable inclusive communities, and build next generation mobility solutions that are planet-positive.

Before joining IDEO, I worked at Philips Electronics and the Electrolux Group in Italy, the Netherlands, and Singapore on a number of breakthrough commercial products. I am a member of the Young President Organization in Shanghai.

Most AI products today are built for work—a space with clear problems and established systems. One founder noticed a gap: personal life is messier, harder to systematize, and mostly left behind by the AI boom. So she built Cue, a personal AI that lives inside iMessage and group chats, to go where the other tools haven't.

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In this episode, Becca Carroll, IDEO's Chief Strategy Officer, talks with Sida Li, co-founder and CEO of Shared Context Lab, about staying anchored to a human need while the technology around her keeps changing shape, why she treats her business model with the same rigor she'd bring to a product, and what it feels like to build a company at this particular, disorienting moment in AI.

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The conversation also gets into how Sida makes design decisions: the language Cue uses to describe itself, the tradeoffs behind building inside iMessage instead of a new app, and a real story about a business idea that didn’t pan out.

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