In 1987, the three companies that would later form IDEO worked together with Microsoft to create the world’s first ergonomically designed mouse. IDEO’s human factors research suggested a small but significant change: Moving the location of the mouse ball forward, from under the palm to under the fingertips, enabled more precise control and resulted in measurable performance differences compared with earlier models.

The industrial design effort examined and tested dozens of shapes in comfort and aesthetic studies that led to the famous “Dove Bar” form, a significant advance over the boxy mouses prevalent at the time. The resulting clean appearance, enhanced control, and improved reliability created enormous consumer appeal that replaced all earlier versions, and Microsoft sold more than 2 million units in its first two years.

With approximately 55,000 Americans waiting to receive kidneys and a list that could double in the next 10 years, there is an acute and urgent need for new technology to increase the quality and number of organs available for transplant. Using the conventional method of organ storage and transportation—a cooler filled with ice—doctors and nurses needed to accompany the organ to ensure proper handling.

IDEO and Organ Recovery Systems created the LifePort Kidney Transporter to provide a new high-tech alternative. The LifePort gently perfuses, or pumps, the kidney with a cold liquid solution to improve its condition before transplantation, which can nearly double storage time and may increase the number of usable kidneys and improve patient outcomes. The device also provides critical data to monitor and evaluate kidneys during transport.

Organ Recovery Systems believes that perfusion has the potential to remove tens of thousands of patients from the waiting list and dialysis, and save the healthcare system more than $1 billion annually. In 2006, the LifePort Kidney Transporter was used to transport 350 kidneys per month in 12 countries, and was included in the permanent architecture and design collection at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Pediatric healthcare system Nemours provides primary, hospital, and clinic-based specialty care, prevention and health information services, and medical education programs in Delaware, Florida, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania. When Nemours wanted to strengthen its brand, it faced two challenges: Empowered patients had more access to information and choice than ever before, and new players—alternative-care centers, retail-based care clinics, and urgent-care centers—were entering the marketplace, diverting market share.

Nemours approached IDEO for help in creating an innovative, differentiated, and patient-centric experience for a new hospital in Orlando, with the goal of establishing Nemours as a destination care provider and industry leader. Together, they identified and clarified both family needs and key experience touchpoints in the patient journey, resulting in the state-of-the-art-designed, 60-acre, $400 million Nemours Children’s Hospital in Lake Nona Medical City, Florida. “The design team’s approach to defining key moments in the patient journey was highly instructive,” said Dr. David Milov, chief of clinical informatics at Nemours. “They captured insights otherwise unavailable to us.”

Concepts that were realized in the hospital’s final design include:

• Care Team Room ID: Patients and families are introduced to each member of their care team to ensure continuity of care.
• Floor Greeters: Concierge-like greeters welcome and orient families and answer questions.
• Family Lounges: Private dining rooms have kitchenettes, so families can cook and eat together.
• Emergency Department: Patients are greeted, sorted by medical condition, and immediately checked into rooms.
• Patient Information Screens: Doctors and nurses can access patient information prior to entering an exam room to enable informed conversations and build trust.
• Smart Bracelets: Personalized RFID-enabled bracelets keep track of the care team.
• Smart Rooms: Triggered by the Smart Bracelet, Smart Rooms “welcome” the patient upon entry.

To arrive at these designs, IDEO sought inspiration via analogous kid-friendly environments, such as museums, schools, toy stores, and zoos. Designers also conducted in-context interviews with patients, parents, families, doctors, nurses, support staff, and outside physicians. One key insight that led to the final design: Patients and families came to Nemours with varied levels of experience—first-timers, occasional visitors, and those who were chronically ill—but the hospital treated them all the same.

To address these needs, the team created an experience blueprint focused on welcoming, guiding, and supporting patients and families through unique environments, integrated service moments, and market-differentiating spaces and tools. To test the look, feel, and value of the designs, designers built full-scale foam core prototypes of welcome stations, waiting lounges, and exam rooms.

The results appeal to patients, families, and caregivers. According to Dr. Lane Donnelly, Nemours chief medical officer, “all the amenities at Nemours focus not only on the child but their parents and families as well.”

The hospital won two awards at the International Interior Design Association’s 2013 Best of the Best Gala (Georgia Chapter), one for the Healthcare Design category and one for best overall out of all 11 categories. Parenting.com writer Shawn Bean noted, “Set amidst a wooded expanse of central Florida, with theme park roller coasters peppering the horizon, Nemours Children’s Hospital is arguably the new high water mark for pediatric care in the United States.”

Designer turned educator Kiran Bir Sethi wanted to blur the boundaries between school and life to help young students become aware, enabled, and empowered to effect change in the world. In aiming to spread her message to millions of children across India , Sethi tapped IDEO and the d.school at Stanford to help create a design contest for youth that would show them that they could make a difference in their community.

Together with the d.school, IDEO designed a competition for middle school students called the Design for Change Contest. Adapting the human-centered design approach into a simple process that 10- to 13-year-old kids could follow on their own, the contest included rules, tools, and platforms that would be accessible to children and teachers throughout India regardless of their previous exposure to design.

The team shaped the rules so that students could learn core design-thinking skills such as empathy, brainstorming, collaboration, and reflection through the process of participating in the contest. And together, the group developed a toolkit to walk students through the simple four-step process.

The biggest challenges to the contest were overcoming the lack of infrastructure, language barriers, and a discrepancy in school resources. There was no national database of schools for easy outreach, so Riverside built relationships with NGOs across India to distribute the contest toolkit to more than 30,000 schools.

The contest receives about 2,000 entries from groups of youth in India each year. They have been addressing challenges such as illiteracy, pollution, traffic safety, care for the elderly, alcoholism, and the environment.

As of 2015, the Design for Change Contest has scaled far beyond India, and is being run in 30-plus countries, with millions of children participating. Each contest entry shows that kids really can make a big difference in the world.

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.