For 6-year-old Dave Jr., a long line at Disneyland triggered a massive meltdown. His parents were concerned and a little embarrassed, but not surprised; Dave Jr. struggled to keep his emotions in check.

Hoping to help, Dave Jr.'s uncle, entrepreneur Craig Lund, joined forces with researchers at Harvard Medical School and Boston Children’s Hospital, along with a video game designer who had worked on Quick Hit and NBA 2K. Together, they set out to design something that could teach coping skills to kids like Dave Jr. who need to manage “big emotions,” as well as children suffering from anxiety, ADHD, and other behavior issues, which are on the rise.

Their collaboration resulted in a video game called Mightier and a startup called Neuromotion Labs—a 10-person team of psychologists, game designers, and engineers who embedded at IDEO Cambridge for a one-month sprint to improve the game and get ready for launch.

To play Neuromotion's game, kids are first taught simple, calming breathing exercises. During gameplay, kids wear heart-rate monitors on a wrist or arm that detect spikes caused by stress or anger; as their heart rates go up, the game's difficulty increases. Kids have opportunities to pause and try deep breathing to counter the ramped up challenge. As it turns out, "gamifying" restraint builds strong incentives for kids to take charge of their emotions—they have to if they want to win.

Already activated around boosting mental and emotional health, IDEO's design team worked side-by-side with Neuromotion to study how parents and children experience Mightier. From home visits to group interviews to a summer camp-style design session with kid players, live feedback fueled the next iteration of the gaming platform and better product-market fit.

IDEO helped Neuromotion hone the visual design and mechanics of Mightier and expand it's suite of games. The team observed that the Mightier program was more successful the more involved parents of players became, which revealed a need for additional resources for adults. So they created new supports, including a more detailed orientation and a personalized coaching service for parents staffed by trained therapists.

But can a video game actually help kids cope? Early peer-reviewed studies showed that playing Mightier reduced outbursts by 62 percent, oppositional behaviors by 40 percent, and parental stress by 19 percent. After 12 weeks of using Mightier, a survey of kids and parents showed that 96 percent of parents saw positive behavior changes in their children, while 92 percent of kids learned new coping skills.

Shortly after the design sprint, Neuromotion secured its next round of funding and officially launched Mightier’s array of “bioresponsive games.” The games have already been played more than a million times, and Neuromotion has measured more than a 100 million heartbeats. Mightier games are helping kids and families across the country.

What about Dave Jr.? Recently, his sister told Lund she "accidentally" bumped Dave Jr.’s bike off a pier and into the ocean. She was expecting an outburst of anger, but after eight months of playing Mightier, Dave Jr. stayed cool. His uncle couldn’t be prouder.

Many of us have let vegetables wither in the crisper drawer, or thrown out a child’s half-eaten restaurant meal, but the sheer scale of food waste around the globe is hard to grasp. According to the United Nations, about a third of the food the world produces every year—1.3 billion tons—is lost during production or tossed by consumers, with North Americans throwing out the most food per capita. The average American wastes enough food each month to feed another person for 19 days.

IDEO received a series of grants from The Rockefeller Foundation to find solutions, given the power of IDEO’s human-centered design approach to address systemic challenges. Through a number of projects with The Rockefeller Foundation and other organizations, IDEO designers from across the U.S. devised novel ways to tackle food waste.

For IDEO’s first initiative, designers tapped into the enthusiasm of the broader creative community, in partnership with The Rockefeller Foundation, the City of San Francisco’s Department of Environment, the Closed Loop Foundation, ReFED, and other groups. In the summer of 2016, OpenIDEO—IDEO’s open innovation practice—launched the Food Waste Challenge, asking how people might curtail waste by rethinking our relationship with food. Between June and October, more than 20,000 people from 113 countries took part in the challenge, tracking their personal waste and brainstorming solutions.

Challenge participants submitted more than 450 ideas. A team of food industry experts helped select the 12 top proposals, which included software to help people buy food collectively from wholesalers and a service that delivers extra meals from corporate events to those in need. Ultimately, the Closed Loop Foundation chose to award Full Cycle Bioplastics a $50,000 grant to scale up its idea to convert inedible food and paper waste into a fully compostable alternative to oil-based plastic.

At the conclusion of the Food Waste Challenge, OpenIDEO launched the Food Waste Alliance, a platform for participants and experts to stay engaged with the most promising ideas and innovators. The alliance helped entrepreneurs share resources, prototype new concepts, secure funding, hire staff, and form partnerships. OpenIDEO invited hundreds to join the alliance, and 92 percent of members told IDEO they made progress in their work as a result. One member company, RISE, received funding from another participant who discovered RISE through the alliance. This investment let RISE prototype its concept for milling spent grain from beer brewing into flour for baked goods and ultimately join the prestigious Food-X accelerator.

The Rockefeller Foundation also supported IDEO’s work with City Harvest, a New York organization that collects 160,000 pounds of unused food each day and delivers it to soup kitchens and food pantries. City Harvest wanted to understand the habits of local families who visit food banks in an effort to ensure all the food the group distributes gets eaten. To get a peek into these families’ kitchens, in January 2017, IDEO researchers conducted observations and interviews across New York City’s five boroughs. Pantry customers cooked for the researchers, giving them an inside look at how the families engaged with the food they had available and what food meant to each of them: tradition, stability, even adventure. Based on insights from pantry visitors, IDEO made recommendations for City Harvest, including community-run cooking classes and a way for families to request specific foods or reserve pick-up times by text message. IDEO also created three video vignettes to help build even greater empathy between City Harvest and the people it serves.

In spring 2017, capping IDEO’s work with The Rockefeller Foundation, the organizations teamed up with World Wildlife Fund and Hyatt hotels in Florida, New York, and New Jersey to rethink all-you-can-eat buffets. IDEO studied diners and staff at Hyatt buffets and found that employees—from event planners to kitchen staff—each add a cushion of extra food to cover their bases, while guests overfill their plates to avoid missing out. In the end, diners eat just half the food organizers serve, while the rest goes to waste. This and other data-driven insights gleaned about diners’ habits led to subtle substitutions, including smaller plates of meats and cheeses that can be ordered from servers and individual pastries rather than whole cakes. These alternatives have not only built on Hyatt’s existing food waste management strategies, but have also helped reduce buffet costs at Hyatt Regency Orlando and continued to receive support from guests.

The problem of food waste is too enormous to ignore. Wasted food means squandered resources, lost money, and ultimately, hungry people—more than 15 million in the United States alone. Designers and innovators from coast to coast have helped find solutions to the crisis that fulfill a variety of needs, from preserving produce sent to food pantries to keeping plastic packaging out of the oceans. The Rockefeller Foundation and other IDEO partners are leveraging powerful design techniques to pave the way for a waste-free future.

In 2017, IDEO acquired longtime partner Datascope and integrated the company’s data scientists and engineers. Datascope team members aren’t just passionate data scientists; they’re human-centered designers who happen to work with data, as illustrated by successful collaborations like this one:

In today’s job market, there’s no such thing as being "done" with your education. This is particularly true in the fields of data science, machine learning, and AI, where significant advances are made on a monthly basis. To meet this need for more in-depth training, Metis—part of Kaplan—wanted to create a comprehensive data science program for students from all backgrounds. Metis asked Datascope to design the curriculum from scratch, drawing on the company’s deep expertise in the field.

Datascope spoke with practitioners across industries to identify the key skill sets that make them successful: a grasp of design; fluency with data management, coding, and algorithms; and effective communication with coworkers and the wider world. The team crafted a 12-week bootcamp that develops these specific abilities.

In order to prepare students for the work world, the bootcamp is structured less like a class and more like a company, where students are “hired” as data scientists—with projects to complete—starting on day one.

Students collaborate on group projects and presentations in a way that mirrors real workflows, and practice pair programming to learn from one another. Using techniques drawn from design, students are invited to refine their project briefs and continually reevaluate their approach.

Instead of a final exam, at the end of the course, students tackle five real-world, open-ended data science projects inspired by Datascope’s client work. One project involves using data from subway turnstiles to detect patterns in the volume of street traffic; another asks students to use data they scrape from the web to predict a movie’s box office profits using regression analysis.

After students complete the bootcamp, they receive an additional three months of career support, from mock interviews to site visits with potential employers. In addition to designing the curriculum, Datascope taught the first three student cohorts and helped Metis build its teaching team as it expanded the program from New York to San Francisco, Chicago, and Seattle. Metis now offers online courses, evening classes, and corporate trainings in data science.

If you’re going to take a data science bootcamp, it’s best to take one designed by data scientists.

You’re whizzing along on your bike, en route to a new restaurant for a client meeting. You reach an unfamiliar intersection; which way to go now?

Instead of dismounting and digging for a phone, you brush your hand along your jacket sleeve for directions, then double-tap the denim to re-start your music. Without taking your eyes off the road, you’ve taken care of the problem.

This intuitive interface for connected apparel began with Levi's, makers of durable workwear for 140 years, and Google, creators of forward-looking technology, which joined forces to fashion the first item of clothing with touch-sensitive, copper-core threads woven directly into the fabric. Once it was established that the first connected garment from the partnership would be a jacket within Levi’s Commuter line, with interaction on the sleeve, Google worked with IDEO, leaders in designing for human needs, to develop the gesture language of the jacket and industrial design of the technology within.

This is the first connected garment that helps us break free from devices. It seamlessly incorporates Jacquard by Google technology to perform digital tasks, such as navigation, communication, and music playing with a few swipes or taps on the sleeve.

Jacquard by Google—a platform that makes it possible to integrate touch and gesture interactivity into fabrics using conductive yarn and standard, industrial looms—was inspired by a curious twist of history. The Jacquard loom, invented in France in 1804, used punch cards to automate the process of weaving complex patterns into fabric. In the 1940s and ’50s, engineers employed a similar punch-card technique to program the first computers.

IDEO spent time on the project early on, collaborating with Google engineers and Levi’s clothiers on the jacket’s development, helping craft an experience that would make the intelligent threads intuitive to wearers.

Working alongside Google and Levi’s, IDEO’s work included:

• The industrial design of the electronics integrated into the snap tag and connector (the tag snaps onto the jacket’s cuff and connects to your phone via Bluetooth)
• A vocabulary of gestures on the cuff of the jacket that lets you interact with the jacket’s technology
• Early exploration of the basic design philosophy and conceptual design for the interaction model of a corresponding smartphone app that ties it all together (works with both iOS and Android phones)

The IDEO team’s first task was to validate what commuters of all stripes wanted from the garment, in addition to the work Levi’s did in researching with its consumers. In interviews, group exercises, and wear tests with urban cyclists and other workers on the go, the team learned that cyclists needed a way to stay connected, while still living in the moment. That meant being able to answer calls, hear text messages, get the next direction, and control their music without using a screen.

Levi’s, Google, and IDEO developed a language of movement for Jacquard-enabled fabric that feels familiar and human and builds on the ways people would naturally interact with a garment (a whole-hand brush along the sleeve, as opposed to a one-finger tap on a touch screen, for instance).

Then came the design and engineering of the snap tag on the jacket’s cuff, which gently notifies you of calls, texts, and other jacket interactions with light and vibration feedback. The flexible, lightweight strap incorporates the look and feel of a Levi’s jean button, while housing advanced electronics that capture touch data. The tag is removable, charges via USB connection, and works in conjunction with a mobile app that lets you configure settings for the garment, set notifications, and customize gestures and interactions.

The Levi’s Commuter Jacket with Jacquard by Google changes the game because it’s simply that—a jacket—with technology that adds new utility and value, allowing us to wear our everyday interactions on our sleeves.

The Levi’s Commuter Trucker Jacket with Jacquard by Google hit stores in October 2017.

IDEO and Google have a long history of collaboration. Learn more about our work on Google Bloks here.

As a little kid, I always loved drawing, but I didn’t actually get serious about art until high school. At first, I was just doodling on my homework and in my notebooks in my spare time, but by my senior year I thought it would be cool to set a deadline, and complete a sketchbook front to back in one year. It was a good outlet for my stressed and angsty teenage self. The first one took a while—definitely more than a year—but after completing it, I was hooked.

In a way, these notebooks act as a diary for me—I remember where I was mentally and emotionally for each drawing. Over time, my work has become a lot less about how angry I was that day, and more about colors, patterns, and shapes.

I like to draw simple lines and shapes, and for each composition, I typically just wing it. I’m sure there’s a meaning to whatever I’m drawing, but when I’m working on it, I’m actually not thinking too hard about it. It’s all stream of consciousness. I draw to de-stress and because it’s fun.

I ended up creating this bald, baby-like thing to represent a person or a feeling I was having. A lot of people have told me they can relate to my work, and I think it’s because of that character. It has no real defining features other than looking vaguely human, so a lot of people can put themselves in its shoes. I often get asked if it’s a boy or a girl or this or that, but it really doesn’t matter what it is.

As for the others, the only character that has a specific role is the little angry-looking black blob I draw from time to time. Originally, it showed up inside other character’s bodies as a stomach. I had a lot of stress-related stomach issues, and whenever I was feeling particularly bad, I’d draw it into a piece. I’m not great at telling people I don’t feel well, or that something is wrong, so my sketchbook is a good outlet. Recently I’ve just been hiding it around in parts of drawings for no particular reason.

People also ask me about my fish—they seem to be one of my more popular elements. I don’t actually have a particular fondness for fish, I just really love drawing patterns and their scales are the perfect platform.

I started posting each drawing to Tumblr just so I could see the development of my style. Now, it has more than 26,000 followers, which is crazy. Even though it’s super flattering to get such a huge response, I still have no interest pursuing illustration professionally. I draw because it’s fun.

Over the years that I’ve been doing this, I’ve learned that sometimes, you just have to stop talking and start doing. Actually forcing myself to set goals and do the work even when I didn’t feel motivated has been intensely rewarding. Not every drawing I make has to be good, and not every sketchbook is going to be finished within a year—I actually missed my 1/1/17 finish deadline. But my current sketchbook is some of the best work I’ve ever made, and I’m very proud of it—even though I’m only halfway finished.

From the moment we noticed industrial designer Felicia Chiao sketching her latest masterpiece between meetings, we (and our Instagram fans) were hypnotized by her bold colors, intricate patterns, and subtle textures. In this installment of What’s in my Moleskine, we invite you to dive into the dreamlike world Felicia has built in her sketchbooks—we guarantee you'll be hypnotized, too.

1. How hydrated are you?

I pulled this April Fool's prank on the Palo Alto office a few years back. People remarked that it was surprisingly useful and actually led to behavior change. — Albert Leung, IDEO Palo Alto

Tech and design firms love pranking and poking fun at themselves—some of our favorites from years past include Google's self-driving bicycle and Mark Zuckerberg's collaboration with H&M, including a "collection pack" of seven gray t-shirts and one pair of jeans.

2. Homecoming surprise

Back in 2012, I decided it would be fun to "redecorate my roommate's bedroom while she was away for work. It took 18 hours and 76 rolls of Saran Wrap to pull off, but every aspect of her life was covered in bright plastic wrap when she returned. I may have gone a bit over board: Each shoe was wrapped individually, then as a pair; I wrapped each piece of makeup, then wrapped them all together in a group; each thing on her wall was wrapped and rehung; every single book and article of clothing in her closet was accounted for. I honestly think—and I say this in a non-sarcastic way—that pulling this off was one of the things I'm most proud of in my life... which may say something about me. —Adam Moulter, IDEO Cambridge

3. Fluffy biscuits

When I was a kid, my parents made homemade buttery biscuits for us on April Fool's Day. The catch was they embedded cotton balls in the center. When we bit in, we got quite a mouthful!
—Sarah Buchanan, IDEO Palo Alto

4. Puppy love

April Fool's Day is a well-observed holiday in my household. Last year, I put this ad up on Craigslist in three different cities with my father's and two brothers' phone numbers. They received upwards of 100 phone calls and texts (each!) within the hour. —Em Havens, IDEO San Francisco

5. Not-so-current events

My mom was a prank legend in our house. April Fool's Day was a standard spectacle. She had a simple guiding principle for her pranks: Prank them early in the morning before they realize what day it is. One year, my dad, who routinely read the morning paper before work, was sitting with his coffee flipping through the day's events. My mom could hardly contain herself, but Dad didn't quite catch on. When he got to the business section, he suddenly said, "That's odd, I thought the markets went down yesterday and this says they went up." Mom burst out laughing—she had saved last year's April 1st paper for an entire year!
—Chris Waugh, IDEO Alum

Designers love a good side project—Halloween costumes, fancy proposals, Rube Goldberg machines—and April Fool's pranks are no exception. Check out some of the over-the-top pranks IDEO designers have pulled on their friends, family, and coworkers—and steal an idea for yourself!

Name: Farzad Azimpour, MD
Location: Palo Alto
Role at IDEO: Director of Health (biodesigner and cardiologist). I develop new medical technologies with a specialized team in the Design for Health group. We cover everything from biometrics and robotic surgical devices to future healthcare delivery systems, and anything else that hinges on human interaction and decision-making.
Joined IDEO: 2015
Instagram: @farzad.azimpour
Titillating Fact: I do a lot of “mode-switching,” flipping between totally different roles and mindsets. It's my way of cognitive interval training. One day I’m in the emergency room performing cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) on someone with a drug overdose-induced cardiac arrest, and the next day I’m with an IDEO team interviewing someone struggling with addiction—in their home as the police bang on the door.

1. Hot Thoughts

Austin-based indie-rock band Spoon, aka “rock stars for the thinking person,” is releasing a new album called Hot Thoughts, previewed at an intimate set of performances this week at SXSW. I’ve been listening to them since medical school and find some of my best work comes from a late night tapping my pen and feet to their sonic genius.

2. The Current

Listener-supported Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) produces one of the coolest, most progressive radio services you’ll find anywhere, and they stream it live. This is where I discover new music to get me through the coldest winter months on the road.

3. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)

This is one of my favorite resources for the wide landscape of scientific research. It’s where you’ll learn of new micro mechanisms to explain macro systems. Their peer-reviewed specialty journals span everything from cell-signaling and translational medicine to robotics, environment, and space. Out-nerd anyone at the next party.

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In this series, we ask IDEO designers to share the stuff they're digging right now—tools, books, music, sites, people, places—so you, too, can drink from the fount of inspiration bubbling up here. This week's guest star: Farzad Azimpour, MD.

The short answer is not really. Though we agree that every office must be tailored to the specific needs of the people who work there and the kind of work being performed, we polled IDEO designers and found some universally winning environment designs that deliver a jolt of creativity. Here are 13 tips for how to supercharge your space:

1. Install a communal table or other gathering space

At General Assembly, there’s one giant table that can seat 30-plus right in the middle of the main space. Students, instructors, and staff gather round it to share ideas in an unstructured, organic way. Each campus around the world has their table made by community artisans with locally sourced materials, which helps remind people of the importance of place. —Danoosh Kapadia

At Disney Animation Studios, John Lasseter had the conference rooms in the center of the building torn down to make room for a coffee shop. The space served as a large space for folks to come together and collaborate. —Kat Chanover

2. Make things moveable

When people become glued to a particular place, their perspective stays glued, too. Put things on wheels, or having rotating desks allows people to meet new coworkers and invites collaboration. And don’t sit next to someone who does the same thing as you—if you’re an engineer, sit next to a designer. Physical silos are real. —Xin Xin

One of my favorite things about the d.school at Stanford is that the walls in most of the building can be moved and reconfigured. An open space can become a private project space in a matter of minutes (and vice-versa). —Katie Clark

3. Display your values

Placed all around the IDEO Tokyo office are key phrases projected in neon lights. Next to our Maker Space it’s "Talk Less, Do More"; in our lounge it’s "Make Others Successful"; next to the door before you exit it’s "Take Responsibility". Although these are just 3 of the 7 key IDEO values, the signs serve as a daily reminder of what we all believe in. —Mike Peng

4. Hide the clocks

OK, maybe not all the clocks. But consider introducing spaces where people can get a break from the cruel Master Time. Sometimes creativity needs constraints to flourish; sometimes it needs the freedom to take as long as it damn well pleases. —Lode Starstrom

5. Situate joy

In our project space, there is a drawer that only contains British chocolate of the most velvety quality. The team knows it's there. When that drawer opens... well, it's very exciting for everyone. Sometimes they even exclaim, "Milky Time!" Design your space to trigger moments of joy, or surprise, or ritual. —Alex Gallafent

6. Put creative tools in the way

When there are creative tools in the main space, more stuff gets made. Don’t silo the maker space. Out of sight, out of mind. In sight, in practice. —Clark Scheffy

7. Build a home-y kitchen

The kitchen should not feel corporate. It’s the nest where new ideas hatch! Pay attention to details: use real utensils and glasses, not plastic, have employees help wash dishes. And nothing signals a communal, homey feeling more than leaving the butter dish out! —Becky Bermont

8. Activate empathy

At Airbnb, the conference rooms are designed to be replicas of favorite rentals around the world. There’s a picture of the actual space at the entrance. That helps immerse you in the Airbnb customer experience, a great reminder that you’re there to make that experience better. —Kristin Kelly

9. Use nature to support well-being

At my former workplace, CookFox Architects, the firm incorporated the principles of biophilia into their office design. All 80 employees had a direct view to the outdoors, and natural light poured in from three sides of the office. Potted plants were placed in every possible place throughout the office, and there was a rooftop garden where they kept bees and plants that attracted butterflies and birds. Carpet, bathroom tiles, and paint were done in ocean-inspired colors, and decorative lighting structures mimicked patterns found in nature. Biophilic design is said to unburden our cognitive system, supporting it in collecting and recognizing information in the quickest and most efficient way, as well as generally supporting wellbeing. —Alisa Ahmadian

10. Cultivate permission

Allow employees to put stuff on the walls. It goes without saying: it's better to have things on the wall that you've created, versus expensive art you've paid someone else for. —Zach Hobbs

11. Provide spaces for projects

Clear space where workers can leave projects-in-progress without worrying about the mess. I wish every home and every workspace had this. In school maker labs (such as the Innovation Lab at Nueva School), I'm always pleased to notice big shelves for students' work-in-progress projects. —Sally Madsen

12. Introduce some play

Make C-level guys take themselves less seriously and more open to brainstorming by taking them slightly out of their comfort zone. I heard that in Jump Associates' meeting rooms, they have pilates balls instead of chairs. On the same theme, my father, who is an urban designer in Istanbul, installed swings in his studio to create an informal and playful space. He works with mayors on a daily basis, and you’ll see very traditional politicians swinging alongside young urban designers. —Nazlican Goksu

13. Think about a landscape of creative spaces

Create different spaces to match the task at hand. Three things are required to make this successful: abundant power sockets, quality wi-fi coverage, and agreements among employees of how to "use" the space. That way, no individual will attempt to claim a space long-term, and will instead facilitate everyone being in the exact right space at the exact right moment. —Lawrence Abrahamson

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Many businesses are getting wise and ditching the one-size-fits-all flannel suit approach to the workplace. But do they have any clue what to replace it with? For a while, everyone wanted to make their office look like a children's playground. Today, the trend is to try to look like a coworking space or a coffee shop. But are those ideas future-proof? And do they actually create the conditions that creativity needs to thrive?

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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This is the second in a two-part series profiling founders from IDEO's Startups-in-Residence program. The first conversation is with Johannes Seemann, founder of Sooner, on designing GenAI for the emotional side of money.

Most personal financial tools are built to run the numbers and optimize towards a budget. While that works for some, most people experience money as a lived relationship that does not neatly fit into a spreadsheet. Johannes Seemann and Becca Carroll discuss why money is emotional before it is mathematical, and what a human-centered approach to building a generative AI financial product looks like in practice.

Mina Seetharaman talks with Scott Shigeoka, author of Seek and Head of Curiosity Cultivation at the Eames Institute, about what distinguishes genuinely curious leadership from performative curiosity, how power dynamics shape curiosity, and why practicing curiosity can restore energy rather than drain it.

Mina Seetharaman talks with David Epstein, author of Inside the Box and Range, about why total freedom often produces average work, how leaders can design useful limits on purpose, and what organizations such as General Magic and Pixar reveal about the relationship between boundaries and creativity.