Fevers. Boogers. Yucky meds. IDEO Play Lab designers dove deeply into the challenges of sick days and doctors’ appointments through video diaries, online surveys, and in-person interviews with parents, healthcare providers, and small children in homes and pediatric offices across the US. They heard about the struggles of giving medicines, wonky thermometer readings, kids having “stethoscope scaries,” and, worst of all, what happens when kiddos hear the “s-word”—shot.

‍‍The research confirmed Sydney and Kaitlin’s initial hunches about playful healthcare products and provided the team with insights on how to move forward. The answer was a formula of sorts. To help reduce kids’ anxiety and keep them calm at the doctor, give them a choice in their care whenever possible. Build familiarity with doctor’s visits and medical devices through playful moments at home. Redirect their attention away from fear. Design for multisensory richness. And provide age-appropriate narratives about healthcare experiences.

Inspired by this kid-centric formula, the IDEO Play Lab team worked closely with Sydney, Kaitlin, and their co-founder, Michael Kamins, to iterate on several designs, winnowing down more than 150 brainstorm ideas into a dozen tangible prototypes (or tinker models) that were shown to doctors, nurses, parents, and young kids for feedback. The designs—a rocket ship medicine dispenser, an elephant-shaped nose aspirator, and a narwhal nasal bulb, among others—were intended to evoke a sense of playfulness, comfort, and familiarity, with features designed for maximum cuteness. Some even lit up and played sounds, like popular toys.

While the designs passed the fun test with kids, they also needed to be functional for parents, trusted by doctors, easily manufactured, and affordable. Eventually, they would need to be approved by the FDA as regulated medical devices. Playhouse MD also requested patentable innovations to help protect their products from imitation.

With these constraints in mind, IDEO Play Lab delivered a collection of nine unique, high-fidelity prototypes that add a dose of fun to caretaking challenges in homes and doctors’ offices. The final designs were durable, medically sanitizable, and safe for testing with real kids, which helped the startup secure multiple rounds of funding and bring its first products to market in 18 months.

Playhouse MD began selling its first four direct-to-consumer products on its website in June 2025: two Medicine Buddies (medicine dispensers shaped like a rocket ship and a butterfly) and two Booger Buddies (a light-up nasal aspirator elephant called Luna and a light-up nasal bulb narwhal named Noa, which was named one of The Best Inventions of 2025 by TIME). The products are available at Target and Babylist stores, and on Amazon through leading medical distributor McKesson Medical-Surgical.

Most companies design child healthcare devices with parents’ or doctors’ tastes in mind; none, however, focus on what will make kids smile, too.

TIME Best Inventions of 2025

in the Parenting Category, Playhouse MD's Light-Up Nasal Bulb

1 ½ years

from initial brainstorms to in-market launch of 4 kid-centric medical products

Verathon offers one of the broadest portfolios of video laryngoscopes on the market. While these life-saving devices increase the likelihood of successful first-time intubations, reducing trauma and speeding recovery times, they are more costly and can be more challenging to learn how to use than traditional mechanical ones, which rely on directly looking at the vocal cords. Wanting to make it easier for cost-conscious hospital administrators to transition from traditional laryngoscopes to Verathon’s video systems, the medical device manufacturer asked IDEO to technically and visually unite its next-gen reusable baton and stats, ensuring they worked together seamlessly, flexibly, and intuitively during the most routine and demanding healthcare moments.

‍The IDEO and Verathon teams used a prototype-led approach to safely gain feedback from anesthesiologists and emergency physicians. Research participants were given various intubation models to simulate surgical use cases and understand ergonomic trade-offs between different design directions. Insights from the field led to design principles such as prioritizing device balance over weight reduction, providing flexibility to accommodate a variety of gripping positions, making connection points between various parts clear, intuitive, and secure, and ensuring the device was easy to clean.

Inspired by physician feedback, the team designed an innovative video baton that felt both familiar and new, supported the ergonomics of diverse holding styles, and fit Verathon’s wide range of stat sizes (one of its competitive advantages). To prevent accidental disconnections, users receive clear tactile, visual, and sound feedback when the monitor and cover are correctly attached to the baton. IDEO chose color, materials, and finishes to help clinicians quickly distinguish between parts of the system and easily identify reusable components from single-use ones.

Verathon’s new GlideScope ClearFit stats-based video laryngoscope hit the market in August 2025. Combining one reusable baton with an industry-leading selection of six single-use stats, it’s compatible with both the GlideScope® Go™ 2 handheld and GlideScope® Core™ cart-based systems. Magnetic QuickConnect™ technology allows doctors to seamlessly switch between platforms, giving hospitals a standardized airway management solution that simplifies workflows, streamlines inventory, enhances medical education and training, and promotes cost-effective care.

Verathon invented video laryngoscopy technology. Twenty years later, the COVID-19 pandemic spurred more competitors to enter the market.

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Cutting-edge technologies like video laryngoscopes are critical—and costly—devices. Hospital systems want to invest in the most comprehensive, flexible, adaptable, and affordable tools for quality patient care

6 shapes and sizes

of single-use covers fit one video baton, enabling health workers to quickly access different throat anatomies

Since its founding in 1992 by the Gokongwei family, which also operates one of the nation’s largest conglomerates, JG Summit Holdings, GBF has supported Philippine education through student scholarships, teacher training funds, and donations to top universities. Over its 30-plus-year history, GBF has reached more than 200,000 teachers and impacted over 1.5 million learners nationwide. When the foundation approached IDEO in 2021, it wanted to move the needle on STEM education in the country’s struggling public schools.

The IDEO and GBF teams interviewed more than 100 subject-matter experts across various government agencies, leading technology companies, and top national universities and educational institutions to build a comprehensive understanding of the current state of STEM in the Philippines. To experience classroom struggles firsthand, the team also shadowed STEM educators and principals. The research revealed that time-strapped teachers needed help mastering overall STEM content, preparing for their classes, and selecting the most suitable activities for their students. They also didn’t always feel supported in their own career development journeys. But the burden of daily responsibilities didn’t leave them any time for outside learning opportunities, either. 

Recognizing that empowering teachers empowers students, the team created an innovative lesson prep tool, the GBF Class Builder, that's based on these insights. Using existing technology and course materials designed to align with school curricula, IDEO developed a working prototype of the Class Builder in under a week, with minimal investment. The team then systematically improved it over several “build-test-iterate” feedback cycles in real classrooms over the course of four months.

The final GBF Class Builder is a targeted program that helps STEM teachers deliver compelling lessons for their students, learn new teaching strategies, and build content mastery along the way. In addition to helping design the Class Builder, IDEO continues to advise GBF on key aspects of the program's piloting and rollout. This includes advising on how to implement the content development, think through the curriculum development process, support in designing feature iterations, define metrics for success, and decide which additional roles GBF will need to support the ambitious program going forward. 

The foundation launched the GBF Class Builder at its 30th-anniversary celebration in 2023. Feedback from pilot 3,500 public schools and 15,000 teachers has been overwhelmingly positive. “Through the GBF Class Builder, we envision our teachers to be more confident and effective in class, more ready to face the challenges of the future, while enjoying every class—feeling proud to be a teacher, " says Grace Colet, Executive Director of GBF.
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The ambitious program continues to scale and is on track to be rolled out in public schools nationwide by 2029.

90% of 10-year-olds in the Philippines can’t read a simple text, according to a Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics report. Eighty-three percent of Filipino 10-year-olds lack minimum proficiency in math.

More than 15,000 teachers in 3,500 public schools

are now using the innovative GBF Class Builder program
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94%

of teachers report the GBF Class Builder has improved student engagement, while 89% say it saves them 1-2 hours in prep time per lesson

Fizik came to IDEO with the aim of entering the helmet market with a range of high-end performance options fit for road racing, mountain biking, time trials/triathlons, and everyday cycling. Fizik planned to use its world-class production and engineering capabilities (the company is part of the Selle Royal Group, which has over 1,400 employees and manages five other cycling brands, including Crankbrothers and Brooks England). IDEO’s task was to develop an on-brand design language that would unify its new helmet line and integrate seamlessly with the sleek, modern aesthetics of the company’s other products.

The design sprint began with in-context interviews with avid and professional cyclists to learn what they wanted—and didn’t—in a helmet. Unlike other accessories, such as shoes or shorts, riders viewed helmets as a necessity rather than an exciting or aspirational purchase. They also wanted a helmet that complemented their overall style, rather than standing out, and had a flattering silhouette. Avoiding making a cyclist look like a “mushroom” was key.

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Different cycling styles involve varying riding postures, ranging from a dropped and horizontal position (time trial/triathlete) to an upright and vertical position (mountain biking). IDEO proposed a family of helmet designs that correspond accordingly. On the horizontal extreme, the time trial/triathlete helmet has the most fluid, organic, aerodynamic shape. A statement of refined simplicity and speed, it features minimal venting and a magnetic wrap-around visor to reduce drag that can be exchanged for the rider’s own cycling glasses.

On the vertical extreme, the mountain biking helmet features a more rugged, angular form with an adjustable brim, rectangular venting, and boxier, back-of-the-head protection. It also offers affordances for goggles, sunglass storage, a GoPro mount, and an optional integrated rear light.

In between, a compact helmet for road racing features evolutionary variations on these design extremes, with more venting as well as a front glasses holder and integrated rear light. All four helmets strike a balance between lightness, comfort, safety, and performance, embodying Fizik’s signature modern style.

In April 2025, Fizik launched all four helmet models simultaneously: Kassis (mountain biking), Kunee (trial/triathlon), Kudo, and the more aerodynamic Kudo Aero for road and gravel. The helmets were greeted with critical acclaim from the cycling world, while Virginia Tech’s independent helmet-safety research lab gave them five-star performance ratings for their strength and durability.‍

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Legendary cycling company Fizik was known for its high-performance bike seats and shoes, but wanted to be a fierce entrant in a challenging product category—helmets.

4

new helmet designs

1

new product category

The role of an engineer on a product team may not exactly involve saving the world, but the scene has some origin in reality: Engineers and other team members often have to come together creatively to solve a problem, and they each have their own language and jargon for describing solutions. As teams practice leaner and leaner development cycles, the process of defining and agreeing on requirements, challenges, and solutions needs to be an ongoing conversation, where everyone comes away with a shared understanding and a feeling that their role’s needs have been met.

So how do you start that conversation, and keep it going successfully throughout the life of a product? Here’s a roadmap to get you started.

Start by developing a common language

Do some level-setting at the beginning of the project to agree on general terminology that everyone can understand. Sometimes, this piece can even be as small as defining your individual product’s features in a way that allows you to speak clearly about your product roadmap.

Early in a recent project, when we were going over wireframes, people were throwing around a lot of terms that referred to the same thing: Was a “folder” the same as a “collection”? What differentiated an “item” from an “object?” By coming together in the product’s infancy and agreeing upon these terms, we were able to define our system architecture and have meaningful database model names that we still use.

Share your vision for the product

Build in time to ask your team members how they feel about the product, and share your vision as well. Try to think outside the smaller details of what everyone’s currently working on, and find opportunities to share thoughts and feelings about the product at large. You might be surprised to hear that an engineer is anxious because they’re worried that the latest feature build is getting way more complicated than they originally planned, or that a designer is excited because users have been clamoring for the feature you’re working on. These small, casual interactions build a sense of trust and shared knowledge about the larger vision that each functional team has for the product as a whole.

Leverage disagreement to come together

It can often feel like product managers, designers, and engineers are at odds with each other. Between wanting to meet deadlines and stakeholder needs, pushing for a joyful and user-centric interface, and working toward robust and uncomplicated code, things can get tricky. The key is to take this source of potential conflict and turn it into a shared learning opportunity. Make sure that every side is not just arguing for a solution, but actually communicating the “why” of a solution. If an engineer understands the user research and decision-making that went into a proposed feature, it will help them communicate all the possible solutions that can meet that particular user need, and then the team can prioritize and make better decisions.

Find opportunities to translate for each other

This opportunity often presents itself when you’re integrating new members onto the team. For example, new engineers with fresh eyes often want to jump in and optimize and uncomplicate things. While that can be a good thing, there may be situations where the more experienced team member needs to explain the design decisions that led to certain features being a certain way—and suddenly the engineer is empowered to speak for the UX designer because they understand the shared vision.

Once you find your conversational rhythm, you’ll find that team members begin to understand each other’s roles better. Because the designer now understands why the engineer pushed back on a certain complicated feature, and the engineer understands why users have been wanting a different feature, both roles on the team are now better equipped to advocate for each other and push toward a common goal—whether that’s defusing the bomb on the bus, or building a successful product.

Illustrations by Cassandra Fountaine

We’ve all seen the action movie trope where our hero needs to defeat a ridiculously complicated doomsday device, and the plucky engineer has to explain how to reverse the polarity or engage the spatio-temporal hyperlink. The hero inevitably responds, “In English, please?”

Work friends are very important, and different types of work friends can fill different needs. We’ll cover three: the confidante, the inspiration, and the frenemy. Understanding how and why you relate to these people will help you commit appropriate mental resources to developing workplace relationships that can bolster your motivation (and maybe even help get you out of bed on that Friday morning).

1. The confidante

This is the work friend who will commiserate when you’ve had a rough conversation with your boss, rush you to the bathroom when you’re about to cry, and give you honest feedback when you need it most. Confidantes make us feel like we can conquer the world—or at least ace a presentation and finally ask for that raise.

But these days, it can be tough to find a confidante at work. Because we tend to switch jobs more frequently, it can be hard to invest as heavily in workplace relationships. To counter that and find your confidente, start by building trust and sharing stories with a coworker you gravitate toward. Or initiate a get-together: People who provide social support to others—by organizing an office event or inviting colleagues to lunch—are ten times as likely to feel engaged at work than people who keep to themselves, says Shawn Achor, author of Before Happiness.

2. The inspiration

The inspiration is your platonic work crush: you don’t want to be with them, you simply want to be them.

This person can either be a colleague you deeply admire or a formal mentor. You probably could've guessed this, but mentors can help improve job satisfaction, teach us how to be effective leaders, and steer us towards the right career moves.

“They’ll bring a field to life for you. They’ll teach you how to find quality material in that field,” advises economist and author Tyler Cowen.

Pro tip: The best way to find a mentor isn't to ask, “Will you be my mentor?” but to start by asking someone for specific advice, then slowly work toward building a relationship.

3. The frenemy

We tend to choose friends who are similar to us, especially at work. But the more we have in common with someone, the more likely we are to compare ourselves to them. The frenemy is both our friend and our benchmark within the organization.

Another pro tip: Don’t feel guilty about experiencing the occasional twinge of envy! Frenemies account for almost half of all important members of our networks.

While frenemy relationships are linked to greater stress, they also motivate us to work harder. In a survey of consultants, those who had a frenemy made more of an effort to succeed and network. Leverage the positives of a tricky relationship by partnering on an important project; you’ll try harder to prove yourself and might end up with a real friendship.

But even the best work friendships have a dark side. Sometimes being close with our colleagues can leave us emotionally exhausted. Managing relationships we care deeply about while giving critical feedback or rushing to meet deadlines takes effort. Talk to anyone who has worked at a startup where coworkers describe themselves as a family, and you’ll inevitably hear how tiring it can be.

And for every friendship, there is also someone outside the friendship. The closer the relationship between two colleagues, the more others might feel left out, even if the friends aren’t actively excluding anyone.

Here are some concrete ways that you can engage with people at work to reap the rewards of having solid work-friends:

• Go for quality instead of quantity. High-quality connections don’t necessarily require deep or vulnerable relationships. Small moments of connection full of trust and engagement can be the beginning of something larger.
• Prevent silos from forming. IDEO structures all of its teams to include designers from different disciplines so each team is cross-functional. Our San Francisco office also has a ritual called tea time, in which people are invited to take a break from their work and mingle with people they don’t work with directly.
• Don’t rely on social events. Studies show that work parties aren’t always effective at helping people make friends. “People don’t mix much at mixers, and at company parties, they mostly bond with similar colleagues,” says Adam Grant.
• Spend casual time together. Google and Facebook plan times for employees to play games and eat meals together. At LinkedIn, the whole family can get in on the fun during Bring Your Parents to work day.

This post was adapted from Mollie and Liz's book No Hard Feelings: The Secret Power of Embracing Emotions at Work.

Choice, meaning, and opportunities for learning all make work more enjoyable. But on rainy Friday mornings when we’re low on sleep and irritated with our managers, research suggests our real motivation isn’t a what—it’s a who. People with friends at work find their jobs more satisfying, and are less affected by stress.

It's my first few hours in Bangkok, and by looking around the train, I can tell it's rainy season. Thin raincoats cover suits, and young mothers juggle both sunglasses and umbrellas.

As I exit the train, I look up, count to three and speed through a very thick rainstorm toward my Airbnb. After a much-needed nap, I open my eyes to a completely different climate. I peek through the shutters of my room and see an indigo sky, birds flying, and I am feeling the heat.

I pick up my fanny pack and leave the Airbnb immediately to explore the neighborhood. On a quiet side road, beside the fence of a wood craftsman shop, a thick black piece of tarp covers a corrugated fence. It’s held in place by a clever set of weights—filled plastic water bottles.

It strikes me that such an old trick can be found everywhere across the world. I start to wonder how can these four small bottles make it through such heavy, rainy days.

I stop to stare at a man approaching me. The woodchips on his shirt make it seem like he must be heading out from the shop nearby. He whispers something, unties a couple of bottles, and brings them to the shop's outdoor sink. These short bursts of sunlight heat must dry the water in them pretty quickly, I thought to myself. Regardless of the one million square meters of water falling over Bangkok each September, nothing beats the strength of a tropical sun, and the dedication of an old craftsman to keep his work tools dry.

Human-centered design requires us to observe human behavior with beginner's eyes, so that we can spot the innate ways people interact with the world around them. We call these intuitive and unconscious reactions Thoughtless Acts, and IDEO designers collect photos of them to inspire their work.

After steaming smooth, straight pieces of wood, Katie sculpts them into loose knots, braids, and squiggles, inherently fluid shapes that defy the medium’s natural rigidity.

To me, Katie’s work represents open-mindedness, possibility, and the means to evolve beyond appearance, expectation, or past. Her sculpture that sits in our living room—a wooden braid that bends upwards in an elegant arc, like a ballerina’s arm extending over the bar—reminds me to be unafraid to challenge the seemingly accepted, even when it comes to myself.

Katie sat down with me to share more about her craft, plus her fondness for classic 80s movies and finding freedom in chaos.

In one sentence, who are you?

I am many things: an artist, mother, wife, designer, and powerhouse.

What do you do? How did you learn it?

I’m an artist specializing in wood. I bend wood by steaming it, which is a unique and pioneering technique that challenges classic woodworking practices. I learned the craft from a young age. Growing up, my grandfather and father were both carpenters and taught me how to work with wood.

3 favorite possessions?

1. My father's Old Timer pocket knife. 2. My wedding rings and grandmother’s jewelry. 3. My adventure hat.

What does a typical work session look like?

I like to have a lot of projects going at once, so there are typically a couple things in the works at any one time. I tend to work a bit on each project all at once. Sometimes it can be a bit hectic, but there’s something in this chaos that allows me to move freely from project to project.

How do you get over creative block?

I try to take a step back. I change my surroundings and not think about the project. I find that once I zoom out, I find the solution I was searching for.

What was the last item on your to do list?

Getting a pedicure. Sometimes making time for myself can be tricky.

How do you see the world in 2078?

Hopefully I'll still be around then. Let’s see... I hope to be telling my grandchildren about growing up in the 80s, and blowing their minds by showing them ET and The Goonies. I hope that the world still holds on to the classics, like going for road trips, camping in cars, or reading books snuggled under a blanket while its raining outside. I hope that the world is similar to today and yesterday. Mostly, I just hope it’s not uninhabitable because of global warming or something crazy like a nuclear explosion.

What’s your number one bucket list item?

I’d like to have a solo exhibition in Japan.

Who are you creative crushin’ on lately?

My number one creative crush is always Aleksandra Zee. She's my creative sister. Windy Chein’s ombre knots are killing me, and Meryl Pataky is truly pushing the boundaries of neon art.

With a dose of hot moisture and a little imagination, San Francisco-based woodworker Katie Gong makes the seemingly stiff become supple. Kind of like my attitude after a bath.

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.