International e-reading service Kobo, Inc., with more than 2.5 million digital book, magazine, and newspaper titles, approached IDEO to gain a strong foothold in the shifting publishing landscape. The design challenge was to create a new suite of advanced reading devices with the best aspects of paperback books—tangibility, portability, and a small footprint.

To make digital reading devices feel approachable, personal, and sophisticated, designers focused on the intersection of physical and digital interface design. The teams created a family of affordable e-readers with clearly differentiated feature sets, and the resulting design provides a reading experience that approximates holding and reading a paperback book. No larger than a novel, the front of the e-reader is designed for the reader’s eyes, while the back features a signature “quilted” back shell designed to create a pleasurable, tactile memory for the hands.

The Kobo family includes the Kobo WiFi, with a 6-inch glare-free E-Ink screen; the smaller Kobo Touch, with infrared touch-screen interface, E-Ink Pearl screen, and faster processor; and the Kobo Vox, a 7-inch Android tablet model with social and digital sharing options.

Kobo saw record sales of its digital reading devices during the 2011 holiday season, and was named “Editor’s Pick for Best e-reader” by Wired magazine.

The U.S. Green Building Council asked IDEO to help visualize how buildings might communicate environmental performance. Together they came up with the LEED Dynamic Plaque, an elegant public declaration of a building’s environmental efforts.

Located in a lobby or other common space, the plaque displays real-time measurements about a building’s resource use—from energy to waste disposal. IDEO designed and built the physical plaque, and the IDEO Digital Shop created an online interface that allows USGBC’s software to interact with it, enabling people to enter data, analyze details, and make personal decisions that influence a building’s performance.

WATCH: "LEED Dynamic Plaque" video

In China, most kitchen appliances available on the market are rooted in Western cooking practices. High-end kitchen appliance company Fotile, based in Ningbo, China, was looking to design a new cook top and range hood that would satisfy the unique needs of Chinese cooking culture.

The new appliances designed by Fotile and IDEO support a key need of Chinese cooking: the dual-cooking center. This two-burner range eliminates unnecessary burners, instead dedicating one side to the wok, the primary tool in Chinese cooking, and the other side to a flat-bottom pan. The wok burner has a special stand with angled posts to hold steady a round-bottom wok (typical in China) and ease the rigorous, constant “tossing” movement that is prevalent in Chinese cooking. The Fotile cook top and range hood have become popular with Chinese consumers since market launch.

Great art requires great openness, a space large enough to contain all the tragedy and comedy of the human experience.

The limestone walls and Palladian arches of the Royal Academy of Arts (RA) hold such a space. The institution’s building in Mayfair contains galleries where a wanderer can appreciate the everyday miracle of a Caravaggio or amble through the former home of Academicians, a group led by some of the most eminent artists in the world, from Anish Kapoor to Sir Norman Foster. This revered site has also been home to the Summer Exhibition for 246 years, an event open to submissions from any living artist.

As the RA approached its 250th anniversary, the institution came to IDEO to help create a digital strategy that would open new doors to these resources, reveal hidden avenues to new experiences, and offer broad vistas of the collection.

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After rounds of research with artists, staff members, and visitors, our designers immediately started building and testing. They ran workshops to refine digital tools, watched as patrons scribbled notes about things they wanted to know more about, and built pop-up design studios in RA’s galleries where they could generate insights on the fly.

The result is a rich, immersive site for different audiences. Art lovers can view stunning images of the works, artists can learn more about RA schools, and RA staff can share surprising stories about some of the most prized pieces.

Based around human needs rather than organizational structure, the new digital space allows audiences to wander freely in this immense storehouse of inspiration and awe. And perhaps most important, the RA organization has benefitted from a human-centered paradigm shift that will enable the institution to forge boldly into its next quarter millennium.

Whether you’re looking to be more productive at work or make a more personal change, it helps to have a roadmap. Here are three low-fi methods to help you stick with your intentions for the New Year.

1. Start at the finish line

“Designing Your Life” (DYL) is a popular Stanford d.school course (and now, best-selling book) that helps you leverage design thinking to creatively envision your future. The curriculum guides you to identify and flesh out several different paths (or “odyssey plans”) that your future might take, in order to discover what’s possible and gain clarity about what matters most.

We can apply this same process to 2019. What are various directions that the next 365 days might take? What decisions or moments might guide the path ahead?

Try this:

• Close your eyes and visualize where you might be at the end of 2019, in as many as three different scenarios.
• Choose the path that excites you most, and write a eulogy, looking back on the passing of 2019. What did you learn, do, and experience? What events or opportunities created meaningful twists and turns along the way?
• Reflect on the eulogy and see if you can identify any surprising patterns or trends in the language. These might hint at a few of your New Year’s resolutions or areas that matter to you for 2019.
• Store the eulogy in a place where you’ll stumble upon it throughout the year, or seal the letter in an envelope to open one year from today.

2. Step into your discomfort zone

Doing things that scare us can be healthy and inspiring. Take Jia Jiang, who overcame his fear of rejection by spending 100 days asking for what he thought he would never receive—everything from a “burger refill” at a restaurant to a live radio interview. Not only did he gain confidence in asking for what he truly wanted, but he even walked away with some critical yeses to his asks, opening the door for him to do things he never thought possible.

What fears do you want to conquer in 2019? Here’s one way to get started:

• Draw three concentric circles on a piece of paper, like a target. The innermost circle is your comfort zone. As you move farther from the bullseye, you get farther outside your comfort zone. Everything outside the circle or by the edges of the paper are activities you need the most courage to do.
• Starting from the center and extending to the outermost ring, write down five to 10 activities in each area that you want to do but might need a little extra nudge to make happen.
• Compare your comfort zone map with a partner. Did you flag skydiving as “level-three scary,” only to find that it’s squarely within your partner’s innermost comfort zone? Maybe they could show you the ropes. See if there are also activities where the opposite is true, and your partner can lean on you in return.

3. Break up with it

Do you have a proclivity for showing up late all the time, or a tendency to scroll mindlessly through your Instagram feed in the morning, rather than starting your day intentionally? Do you have a behavior, activity, or even a physical belonging that you want to say goodbye to in 2019, so that you can make room for what you really want?

Once you know what you want to break up with, try this:

• Write a breakup letter. As you’re writing, consider: Why are you done with this behavior, activity, or thing, and what’s going to replace it? Why is this change so critical to make in 2019? How will you make sure that you don’t end up getting back together again? Sign the letter at the end and date it, as you would with a formal contract or pledge.
• Keep the letter in a place where you’ll be reminded to follow through, like on your nightstand or in your wallet.

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Ever since I was little, I’ve been experimenting with different ways to mix up my New Year’s resolution routine—from vision boards and journey maps to classic spreadsheets and lists of lists. But setting resolutions and actually sticking to them can be very different things.

The list is chock full of tips and tools to help you bring a creative mindset to your life and work. We hear you loud and clear: Look out for more how-tos and to-dos in 2019!

PS: Sign up for our weekly email newsletter to stay up to date with The Octopus in the new year.

1. 5 Brainstorming Exercises for Introverts

Shy people of the world, unite! Try these five creative brainstorming exercises to help the introverts among us feel more comfortable contributing their ideas.

2. An IDEO Recruiter’s 5 Tips for Writing a Better Cover Letter

Prepping for a job interview? Use these five tips from a seasoned IDEO recruiter to help you write a compelling, well-crafted cover letter.

3. This Deck of Cards Will Change the Way You Work

It can be a challenge finding the right language for critiquing creative work. That’s why a team of IDEO designers created this deck of cards to establish a shared vocabulary for cross-disciplinary teams.

4. Why Gesture is the Next Big Thing in Design

Soon, communicating with our AI assistants by talking into thin air may no longer be our only—or best—option. Here’s why gesture interfaces could be the future of interaction.

5. Why Workplace Culture Matters (And How to Build a Good One)

You might think workplace culture is about ping pong tables and sparkling water, but really, it’s about creating the conditions for employees to do the best work of their lives. Here’s how to level up your company’s culture.

6. 3 Tips to Help You Prototype a Service

Prototyping is a powerful tool in the design process, but not every prototype can be built out of cardboard and foam core. IDEO U shares tips from their newest course to help you prototype intangible service experiences.

7. 15 Podcasts Playing in IDEO Ears Right Now

Looking for some fresh audio inspiration? Feast your ears on these 15 podcasts hand-selected by IDEO designers.

8. 3 Ways to Get Comfortable with Ambiguity

As designers, it’s our job to help build the future we want to see. While that freedom can be liberating, the ambiguity can also be tough to navigate. Try these mindset shifts to help you embrace uncertainty like it’s no big thing.

9. A Cartography Nerd’s Guide to Custom Map-Making

IDEO’s resident cartography nerd shares his step-by-step guide to designing a custom interactive map.

10. 6 Ways to Hack Your Workspace and Find More Joy at Work

Research shows that feeling joy at work not only increases our wellbeing, but also our job performance. Get started with these colorful ideas from guest contributor Ingrid Fetell Lee, a designer who studies joy.

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From workplace culture to best practices for brainstorming to the future of interaction—2018 has been a year of creative growth for The Octopus. To celebrate, we’ve rounded up our greatest hits—the top ten stories that you, dear readers, have read and shared most this year.

People are talking about what the world will look like once machines take over jobs. But before (and if) we ever get there, the way humans experience the workplace will change in other ways, too. Recently, while a group of us were in between client projects, we spent a week asking questions about just that—the future of work.

We dug into topics like technology, flexible hours, global teams, connection, and community. Once we had our ideas, we prototyped quickly. Building these physical models made the intangible more tangible, which was helpful when talking about something as abstract as the future of work.

In addition to these physical prototypes, we created the following visuals to illustrate what we think might be the future of our nine-to-fives (which we don’t expect to be nine-to-five at all). Here are the four questions we asked and the playful ideas we came up with to help people navigate the ever-changing professional world.

1. How might we foster belonging, connection, and accountability?

Technology lets you work from almost anywhere. But the unforeseen cost of this is often a loss of community, both inside the office space and for those working remotely.

Imagine a small, portable “wormhole” that connects you to a place and those inside. The portal projects the visuals and sounds of your office and coworkers into your space, so you’re no longer alone. Based on your need, the signal strength can be adjusted to convey atmospheric office noise or actual hallway conversations. By turning the device on, you also notify others that you’re available and working.

2. How might we enable our environment to change to support different modes?

With our lives becoming more flexible and connected, the same needs to be true for our spaces. A certain room might need to host an interactive meeting, but also allow heads-down time.

Imagine a digital and physical piece of furniture that transforms your environment. Spatially, the window hides certain areas. Digitally, it displays dynamic images. You can move the window to the wall to showcase a relaxing video of ocean waves, or on top of your kitchen counter to display recipes. Merge multiple windows into a large canvas to turn virtual face-to-face conversations into room-to-room conversations.

3. How might virtual spaces gain a physical presence?

Lawyers, therapists, and teachers are now having more virtual meetings with clients and students. What if this virtual connection came to life in the physical world through new types of digital brick-and-mortar service stations?

What if there was an array of large, screen-based portals throughout your city? The screens create virtual shop windows that integrate into existing shopping streets, letting pedestrians peek inside retail stores and virtually interact with owners. Buildings constructed with the screens can host private conversations with dietitians or job counselors. The screens can create small-scale versions of existing services, too: Banking booths made of screens let tellers offer financial advice to customers.

4. How might we manage changing rhythms, rituals, and transitions?

For many of us, our minds primarily switch between home and work mode. Our environment, attire, and tasks reflect the current mode. The big advantage of this mental separation? Focus.

We envisioned a wearable assistant that autonomously creates your optimal daily schedule based on your relationships and connections using set units of time. The notion of nine-to-five is replaced by alternating, colorful blocks representing work and life activities. The bracelet reminds you of work meetings and the best time to call your parents who live across the globe. If you’re not feeling like exercising, remove the block or push it back in time. The device rearranges your schedule while you focus on the present task.

Asking questions, brainstorming, and quickly prototyping can help bring even the most abstract ideas to life. And even if the prototypes are a little more whimsical than serious, they help us imagine the future in a creative and human-centered way.

The team that worked on these ideas included Julian Kraan, Dogan Sekercioglu, Chloe Lee, Kim Cullen, Matty Martin, Geemay Chia, Andy Deakin, Jayne Jeffries, and Matt Marchand.

As designers, our work begins by asking good questions. They range from the straightforward—how might we make ice cream more portable?—to the wild—how might we design the workplace of the future?

On our team, our currency is joy. In a not-too-far-off and awesome future, I hope parents begin to tell their kids, “You can’t do your homework until you go outside and play for an hour.”

Even though we love those everyday objects that turn into toys, we have some favorites on store shelves too. 2018 was another year of fun in our Palo Alto office—we got to work with toy companies on everything from transformative, nostalgia-based toys to new electronic games. Here are some of those favorites, invented by the IDEO Play Lab.

1. Flipslide

If a Rubik’s Cube and Simon had a baby, it would be Flipside. This fast-paced puzzle game can be played by yourself, against a friend, or with the whole family.

2. Hungry Bunnies

Adopt a (robotic) pet for the holidays. This adorable bunny really eats, but you won’t have to blow your budget on carrots—its favorite food is paper. It also laughs, sings, and comes complete with cuddly, fluffy ears.

3. Scooby Doo Transforming Mystery Machine

Look out, meddling kids! This toy transforms from the classic Mystery Machine into Scooby and the gang’s crime fighting HQ. Perfect for the preschooler who you want to introduce to your favorite nostalgic cartoon.

4. RC Mobile Command Center

More preschool fun, but with Batman this time! Also, a missile launcher. What kid doesn’t want a toy with a missile launcher? And on second thought, what adult doesn’t want a toy with a missile launcher?

5. Creative Cafe Barista Bar

Think Starbucks, but with brighter colors and a kid-safe milk frother. Latte art stencils are included so little ones can create their own designs.

6. Barbie Dream Camper

Barbie’s had a lot of sweet rides over the years, but this one makes road trips a breeze. The camper folds out to a full two feet and includes a play pool that holds real water. After going down the slide, Barbie can dry off roast marshmallows around the campfire. Kids will spend hours discovering all the features of this toy, so a vacation for Barbie means a vacation for parents too.

7. Paw Patrol Flip & Fly Chase

Paw Patrol is one of the most popular (not to mention cutest) shows for kids. Chase the German Shepherd’s vehicle is a dual truck and rescue jet—just lift to transform your truck into an airplane!

8. Jurassic World Alpha Training Blue Raptor

You've always wanted a pet velociraptor, right? Right. Now’s your chance—this interactive toy allows you to train your own pet dinosaur. You can even use it as a guard animal, set to alert you when anyone gets too close to your office—or, uh, your kid’s bedroom.

Header image via CNET.

At the IDEO Play Lab, we believe that a good toy is one that promotes play. Of course, all sorts of things can promote play—it’s hard to top pots, pans, and a wooden spoon for a one-year old, or a giant cardboard box for toddlers. (Tip: Never recycle those giant boxes too quickly!)

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.