Named after Ernest O. Lawrence, UC Berkeley’s first Nobel Laureate, The Lawrence Hall of Science’s wide-ranging products, services, and tools developed organically over half a century. To begin to make sense of the breadth and depth of its offerings, IDEO asked leadership and staff to surface the myriad activities, audiences, and relationships with external partners, enabling the group to visualize—and make sense of—the totality of The Lawrence brand.

During in-depth research with parents and kids, educators, and experts, IDEO discovered that each of these audiences had distinct mindsets. Parents and kids engaged with The Lawrence to explore, have fun, and dive deeper into a specific topic. Educators utilized it for professional learning opportunities and to discover new, exciting classroom tools. While experts, including UC Berkeley faculty, STEM educators across the US, and funders, viewed the center as a resource for best-in-class STEM education research. The mindsets highlighted The Lawrence’s unique capabilities, but the complexity also created some opportunity areas, including ways to use storytelling to create emotional resonance around The Lawrence’s core values and how to design a unified narrative to connect the dots across audiences and offers.

Building on its strengths as an institution and the identified opportunity areas, IDEO created a modern, vibrant, and flexible brand that strategically and visually unites all of The Lawrence’s offerings, working across digital and physical media. Grounded by a grid system, the updated brand identity is simultaneously rigorous and fun, featuring a bright color palette and signature retro-cool super-nova mark. Different offerings are bundled together based on different audience needs, preventing confusion and easing navigation. Even the name of the science museum, The Lawrence Hall of Science, was updated to a more contemporary and approachable, The Lawrence, inspired by The Met.

The Lawrence unveiled its new brand with much fanfare in late 2018 as part of its year-long 50th anniversary celebrations. Visitors can see the updated identity across all public-facing elements, including The Lawrence’s website, curriculum and educator materials, letterhead, collateral, and exhibition and wayfinding signage. The redesigned brand has been credited with bolstering the popularity of the science center among families and schools and causing ticket sales to return to—and exceed—pre-pandemic levels. Internally, the rebranding effort has helped generate excitement and energy across departments, helping solidify a collective future strategy and vision for its next 50 years.

The Lawrence Hall of Science’s diverse offerings had grown extensively over the decades, creating a confusing and disjointed experience for its various audiences. On the eve of its 50th anniversary, Lawrence leadership sought a brand refresh to better connect with its target audiences and differentiate itself in the STEM education ecosystem.

Over $6M in new funding

raised to transform and modernize The Lawrence, thanks to IDEO's rebranding effort

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When Greene King approached IDEO in early 2022, it was (and still is) one of the UK’s leading hospitality brands, with over 2,600 pubs, restaurants, and hotels. At that time, consumers in the UK and other parts of the world were beginning to rediscover the joys of travel after years of pandemic lockdowns. Greene King’s newly formed Venture Hotels Team wanted to understand how guest expectations had shifted during Covid-19 and how a new customer-centric hotel brand and signature service experience might meet—or exceed—their expectations.

To get inspired, the IDEO team interviewed a range of travelers of different ages and backgrounds, met with hospitality and luxury experts, and conducted immersion visits, including visiting high-end hotels. The research revealed modern travelers want unique hotel experiences that cater to their curiosity, support local communities, and are environmentally sustainable. Luxury, which once meant “exclusive,” was now about enabling one-of-a-kind cultural experiences. Today’s travelers value inclusivity, accessibility, and well-being; they want to feel welcome, do things at their own pace and have thoughtfully curated options to choose from. They also expect hospitality practices to be ethical and sustainable, contributing to the welfare of local communities and the planet.  

Building off this research, IDEO crafted a new entry proposition for Greene King’s new Everly Hotels Collection called “The Discover Collection,” which leverages the best parts of a classic British pub and inn—bespoke historic locations full of character, culture, and stories—while offering guests a modern experience from pre-arrival to departure, all grounded in supporting the communities they are in.

Signature moments include a warm welcome during check-in, as well as staff recommendations and local maps highlighting neighborhood gems. During their stay, guests enjoy expansive seasonal food menus, as well as a beverage menu that includes a wide variety of locally brewed, distilled, and crafted drinks by local suppliers. Rooms feature a smuggler's treasure chest with a surprise treat. Art and books from local talent are on display throughout the hotel, and local experts lead activities and events. Guests tangibly experience Greene King’s commitment to sustainability through its use of local materials, produce, talent, and partnerships, all designed to support the surrounding community. Upon departure, guests receive a personalized postcard.

In addition to the hotel experience moments, IDEO delivered branding recommendations for The Everly Hotels Collection, including visual identity and tone of voice that provide a cohesive look and feel for the collection of hotels while simultaneously showcasing each property's unique character. This was all packaged as an experience playbook, with design principles and briefs to help guide implementation decision-making across Greene King’s marketing, digital, interior design, and food and beverage teams.

A few months after the project ended, Greene King launched The Everly Hotels Collection. Its pilot hotel, The White Horses in Rottingdean, East Sussex, opened within the year. The new brand and guest experience strengthened bonds with Greene King’s loyal customers and first-time guests, ensuring the brand's relevance and appeal in a competitive market. More hotels are planned in the future in other scenic UK locations.  

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Greene King wanted guests to have a consistent brand experience while maintaining the storied charm that makes each property unique.

2 years

from concept to the launch of Greene King’s boutique Everly Hotels Collection

1 pilot hotel

The White Horses opened in Rottingdean in 2024

The hard drive space is full of companies competing over technology and performance. But iodyne wanted to add another layer, focusing on user needs and product aesthetics to better position the company to meet the values of a broader audience and create compelling new entrants into this crowded market.

Together, IDEO and iodyne jumped into in-depth discovery research to learn more about the needs of their end users. The team sat down with photographers, videographers, and digital imaging technicians, asking questions about their file management systems, how they used hard drives in the field, and how they stored them for transport and at home. They also headed to the source, visiting studios and home office set-ups to understand the full range of potential use cases.

A few big discoveries leaped out. No one had a single storage solution to rely on. Users constantly transferred data from different hard drives designed for different purposes (in the field versus at home), accumulating hundreds of old hard drives over time. Traditional hard drives also don’t allow multiple users to work off them simultaneously or come with software systems that help keep projects and tasks organized, protected, and sharable. Meanwhile, the ever-shrinking size and weight of laptops—and people’s willingness to take them everywhere—set a new benchmark for portability, one that iodyne could lean into.

With these and other insights in hand, the team brought unrivaled performance and aesthetics together to create a far superior user experience. IDEO and iodyne developed Pro Data’s engineering architecture, collaborating on thermal performance analysis, material choice, inspection of sample parts, and even packaging design. By combining integrated venting, multiple laptop-quality fans, smart power management, and 20 thermal sensors, the team was able to minimize cooling fan loads and reduce noise and power consumption. A single, centralized, and consolidated storage space makes sharing data among teammates easy, too—up to four computers can connect to the Pro Data at the same time and access the same files. The redesigned Pro Data creates new value for consumers in a highly mobile, secure package that can go from desktop to backpack and back again.

The iodyne Pro Data hard drive launched in 2021 to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Storage Review wrote “Nothing else comes close to this level of performance in a package this size,” while Jemery Boros of StarGate Studios said “I don’t think I could have done the shoot without Pro Data. It was easy to use, fast, and kept all of our data safe on the other side of the world.” The drives have since been used in the making of major motion pictures from F1 to A Complete Unknown.

Spurred by Pro Data’s success, iodyne decided to create a second product with IDEO, a Pro Mini that could provide the same cutting-edge performance and sleek design but scaled down to fit the needs of customers who required less storage capacity in an even more portable package. Pairing Pro phone-quality industrial design with a unique internal solid-state cooling architecture that imposed key constraints on airflow was critical.

IDEO worked with iodyne to create the Pro Mini’s internal layout and collaborated with an emerging engineering company to incorporate novel solid-state cooling technology, positioning the vents to maximize airflow and optimizing how users physically interact with the device. The team also addressed users’ durability concerns, advising iodyne on part selection as samples came in from vendors. The new Pro Mini is set to ship in the second half of 2025.

Hard drives are essential tools of the trade for people with large troves of media to store and transfer, like photographers and videographers. But beyond rolls of masking tape and label makers, there isn’t an easy way to see what’s on each drive without literally going through them one by one.  

Traditional hard drives generate a lot of heat and need fans to cool them, making them bulky, loud, and slowing transfer speeds.  

Many external hard drives are treated like commodities. They’re designed for mass production rather than for durability and aesthetics.

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2 cutting-edge hard drives

to market in 3 years

LACDMH is the nation’s largest public mental health department, serving over 10 million people. The agency provides critical support for the most vulnerable, including staffing a toll-free, 24/7 Help Line. Since late 2024, more than 70 Field Intervention Teams—comprised of mental health clinicians (social workers, psychologists, licensed psychiatric technicians, and registered nurses) and community health workers (trained peers or community members with lived experience)—have been dispatched around the county to help de-escalate mental health crises quickly, compassionately, and without force.

Because those experiencing a crisis are often too disoriented, confused, or otherwise unable to seek help for themselves, IDEO’s communication strategy targeted reaching “trusted messengers”—parents, spouses, siblings, and friends of people who have a mood or personality disorder like schizophrenia or bipolar disorder. The campaign aimed to define mental health crises, help people understand what to expect when they call, build trust in FITs, and divert mental health crisis calls away from 911.

To understand what drives these specially trained mental health professionals to do this type of work—and what sparks trusted messengers to call for help—IDEO met and interviewed former clients and loved ones who had reached out to the county for support during a mental health crisis. The team also interviewed multiple FIT staff to learn more about how they approach clients and families.

The research inspired the communication strategy’s central idea: position FIT members as real-life superheroes and first responders. By associating FITs with that term, the campaign changes the narrative and communicates their compassion and expertise to those in crisis. Custom illustrated portraits feature actual FIT staff in strong, action-figure-style poses, while a bright, eye-catching color palette and clear, direct language convey confidence and inspire trust.

The team explored their initial design directions in a series of focus groups with LA residents, trusted messengers, and county and mental health workers to better understand the impact of the potential messaging and visuals. The research uncovered the importance of clarity, even in an inherently emotional situation. The  IDEO team discovered that transparency—and real personal stories—would be the key to building public trust in ACR.

Between March and June of 2025, the robust awareness campaign will run across LA County in a number of languages on city buses, in Metro stations, on social media, streaming TV,  radio, and more. An updated landing page on LACDMH’s website includes in-depth information and educational videos about mental health crises, as well as heartfelt testimonials from staff and former clients who have been helped by the service.

LA County Department of Mental Health created an innovative new program to provide urgent, compassionate care to Angelenos experiencing a mental health crisis but needed help driving awareness of its service across the region.

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Calling 911 is an entrenched behavior in an emergency. However, dispatching police officers who are not trained in mental health can make a bad situation worse. In 2022, 39 percent of people shot by LA police officers were in the midst of a mental health crisis.

172 million impressions

delivered via digital and physical ads across LA

50% increase

in calls to the ACR helpline, year-over-year, attributed to IDEO’s awareness messaging

24%

of Angelenos now name LACDMH as the first to call in a mental health crisis, leapfrogging 911 or the police, which slipped 14.3 points

In short order, a community of designers, entrepreneurs, and social sector innovators embraced it, buying and downloading over 150,000 copies.

In April 2015, IDEO.org launched an exciting new evolution of the HCD Toolkit the Field Guide to Human-Centered Design. The Field Guide is the latest in IDEO.org’s suite of teaching tools and a step forward in sharing the practice and promise of human-centered design with the social sector.

A full-color, 192-page book, the Field Guide comes with 57 design methods, the key mindsets that underpin how and why IDEO.org believes design can change lives, a full slate of worksheets, and case studies from projects that show human-centered design in action.

The Field Guide was funded by more than 1300 backers in a Kickstarter campaign that reaching nearly three times its initial goal. IDEO.org received an amazing outpouring of support and strengthened its deeply held belief that human-centered design can push the social sector forward.

IDEO.org is a nonprofit design organization that launched out of IDEO in 2011 with a mission to improve the lives of poor and vulnerable communities through design.

Visit designkit.org to download a free PDF, or get your own hard copy.

In 2009, IDEO designed and launched the HCD Toolkit, a first-of-its-kind book that laid out how and why human-centered design can impact the social sector.

After a bit of brainstorming, we hit on the perfect idea: a Noam-enabled modern twist on Pong, the classic, endlessly absorbing old video game.

The Pong-a-tron is considerably more complex than its predecessor. It links together four iPads, two Raspberry Pis, 12 Arduinos, 24 stepper motors, a Mac Mini, two Node.js applications, a Processing sketch, an Objective-C app, and over 2000 RGB LEDs. Noam coordinates the entire menagerie by hosting a conversation between all the different elements.

The Pong game itself was written in Node and broadcasts paddle and ball positions, which are then rendered on various portions of the overall display. The paddles are translated into physical "pixel" strips along the edges of the Pong-a-tron, while the ball moves seamlessly from Arduino-controlled RGB LEDs to iPads and Raspberry Pis.

The Pong-a-tron was initially showcased at Solid Conference 2014 and is now a permanent feature in the lobby of IDEO Chicago. Stop by and see it in person at a studio event, or pay Noam a virtual visit.

The Pong-a-tron would not be possible without the incredible talent, skill, collaboration and brainpower of many IDEOers including: Joe Banks, John Grimley, Travis Lee, Zeke Markshausen, David Sjunnesson, Ben Syverson, Jon Wettersten, Garrett Winther, and more. Video by Ben Syverson.

Noam is a software-messaging platform created by IDEO to help hardware and software tools communicate with one another. To introduce Noam to the world, we wanted to build a physical manifestation of the platform, something that was—like Noam—fun and exciting but also remarkably simple to use.

Our bell’s impressive literacy is the result of an experiment in creating cheap, simple, and easy-to-use networks of wireless sensors.

Miha Feus, the interaction designer at the helm of the project, points out that Internet-connected things are set to reshape our lives in ways we can’t even imagine. But while the technology isn’t particularly complicated, setting up and connecting the necessary sensors and receivers is difficult and expensive with the solutions currently available, and the battery life in these systems is terrible. Because of this, Miha says, experimentation by would-be makers is being stymied.

Miha’s solution is a system called Beachsand that aims to make wireless sensor networks, in his words, “as numerous, cheap, disposable, and user-friendly as grains of sand on a beach.” Beachsand is made up of a postage-stamp-sized smart transmitter called a SenseGrain and an Arduino-based receiver he’s dubbed the SandCastle.

You can plug any analogue sensor, button, or switch into a SenseGrain, measuring light, temperature, motion… anything you like. The SenseGrain then gathers data from those sensors and sends it to the SandCastle, and from there, you can use the information as you choose.

Miha explains that Beachsand isn’t really a product in and of itself, but rather a tool to help people cheaply and easily prototype new products, services, and data experiments. He and fellow interaction designer Siri Johansson have already prototyped one use case: the studio’s kitchen bell.

I caught up with Miha and Siri to find out more.

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What exactly is a SenseGrain, and how does it work?

Miha: A SenseGrain is an ATtiny85 microcontroller, which is basically a very stripped-down version of an Arduino, plus a transmitter circuit and a coin cell battery.

You plug in any analogue sensor or switch and set how often you want it to send data. The device then goes to sleep and waits until it receives whatever type of input you’re measuring (in this case, until someone rings the bell). The SenseGrain sends data from the sensor to a receiver, which, at the moment, is an Arduino, where you can access, use, and manipulate the data.

What’s so good about it?

Miha: It doesn’t require any soldering or programming, so it's easy to set up and requires no maintenance at all. I programmed the microcontroller so that it’s very energy-efficient—on standby, it can last up to 30 years on a single coin cell battery (theoretically, at least). And it’s cheap! Each SenseGrain costs $2-3 to make.

Because they’re so inexpensive, you could put them anywhere—in a trash can, for example, to monitor when it’s being opened. Or if you don’t want to check your mailbox, you could put a SenseGrain in there and Beachsand could just let you know when you have post.

Currently, anyone with an RF receiver on the same frequency is able to receive data the sensor is sending, and I would like to keep it that way. Keeping sensor data open gives more people the opportunity to build something with that data.

Can you explain your experiment with the bell?

Miha: It's our Kitchen Bell 2.0. It brings an ordinary object into the age of the Internet of Things, where every physical object has a digital layer.

Beachsand makes our bell more than a static object, limited by its location and the reach of its sound, and gives it the ability to transcend space and time to be “heard” anywhere in the world.

How did you build it?

Miha: First we had to pick the right sensor to detect when the bell is being rung. The simplest one in this case was a tilt switch. We plugged the switch into the RF transmitter and taped everything on the clapper of the bell.

The second part was about receiving the message from the sensor and sending out an email. For that, we used an Arduino and an RF receiver connected to a laptop, which talks to a program called Processing. In Processing, we used some existing code for sending out emails, which we modified for our needs.

What did you learn building the Kitchen Bell?

Siri: It makes you think about what the right tone of voice and personality is for a specific object. We wrote a few drafts of the bell’s email to the studio. It should be light and funny, but also demanding—it’s a bell, after all.

What inspired you from outside IDEO?

Siri: There's an interesting ongoing discussion on the narratives told by smart objects. Hello Lamp Post is a really nice example of giving a voice and personality to inanimate objects, and a lot of effort was spent to define the right tone of voice.

This way of working with sensors and actuators has interesting potential applications in both directions: physical to digital or vice versa. A couple of examples that work in the digital-to-physical direction are the UID cookie box, which rewards tweets with cookies, and Tableau, which quietly prints stuff it “sees” in its Twitter feed.

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What are you planning next?

Miha: Our colleague Alistair Norris is working on another application for the front door, to measure traffic in and out of the studio. We plugged a roller switch into a SenseGrain, which triggers every time the door opens, and added an Ethernet shield to the Arduino.

Beachsand is really still a work in progress. The next step is getting PCBs (printed circuit boards) done, so that I won't have to build every sensor transmitter by hand, which can take anywhere from one to four hours. With a PCB it will take just two to three minutes. PCBs are also less prone to malfunction.

Hopefully I’ll make a version with everything on board, including a littleBits connector. Then I’d like to build actuators, or “ActGrains,” to work with the SenseGrains and the SandCastle.

We’ll let you know more about Beachsand as we prototype more applications for it in the studio—or you might just get an update directly from our trash can, our front door, or the kitchen bell itself! You can find the code here in the meantime.

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The bell that rings in the kitchen at IDEO London sounds rather more sophisticated than the analogue clang you might expect to hear when meals and snacks are ready. Our bell prefers to send articulate email messages, like this recent missive: “I summon you all to the kitchen table for a Beer-n-Nuts with [Arduino co-founder] Massimo Banzi. Come join us. Cheers, your Kitchen Bell.”

Scott Murray is an assistant professor of design at the University of San Francisco, code artist, D3 expert, and contributor to the Processing language.

Scott is endlessly excited about using code as a tool for visual explorations of all kinds, from fine art to interactive data visualizations, but his students aren’t always quite so jazzed about the idea of programming. “They’re used to Photoshop and Illustrator, chopping up pictures and vectors,” he says. “Coding moves them into a totally different working environment.”

It’s Murray’s job to pry open students’ minds to not only the languages of code but also to a new way of thinking—a developer’s approach to solving problems and building things. To this end, he’s helping to continue the development of Processing language, which is tailored specifically to the task of teaching designers and artists to code. “There are pedagogical tools embedded in the language itself,” he says, like the use of familiar terms such as “stroke” and “fill” as well as processes that help students think like developers when approaching the craft of design. “For me, design is all about systems—not creating an image, but a system that, when applied, results in an effective solution,” Murray says. “Processing, as a teaching tool, forces students to think beyond the output or image they want to create and describe the system they’re making and what it needs to do.”

Processing gives designers new tools and expands their design thinking. It’s free, open source, and available to all at processing.org.

Keyfleas (2013) by Miles Hiroo Peyton

To get a sense of what beginners can do with the language, visit openprocessing.org and browse through the sketches.

If you’re itching to get your hands dirty, go straight to this collection of short, prototypical online programs that explore the basics of programming with Processing.

Check out the complete version of Scott Murray's New Year greeting card pictured in the header to this post here.

Every Thursday in Palo Alto, IDEO’s Digital Shop hosts an informal lunchtime presentation by someone who is using code to create something surprising, useful, or generally awesome. Colleagues from all around IDEO gather for a meal and leave with a week's worth of ideas to chew on. We’ve asked some recent speakers to highlight a quick insight or tool they’d like to share.

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.