As the curtain parted on moooi’s 2022 exhibit, the audience was treated to a multi-sensory performance unlike any other: four synchronized robot scent diffusers telling a story through dance. As the robots—called Piro—swayed and dipped to the beats of a custom-designed soundscape, it was easy to forget the performers were made by a team of industrial designers and engineers in San Francisco.

The work expressed a future vision for what it means to humanize technology. Rather than design technology to make our lives more efficient, what if instead we designed technology to make life more beautiful?

For twenty years, moooi has seduced the world with bold, imaginative design. The firm, named after the Dutch word for beautiful, made its name by designing furniture and home goods that appeal to an interest in pushing the edges of form as much as function. Moooi came to IDEO looking to create an exhibit for the largest furniture fair in the world that might provoke the audience to imagine a world where design’s primary function was to inspire joy.

“Defy Gravity”: one of several experiential “worlds” moooi created for the 2022 Salone del Mobile. Each room had its own scent, soundscape, color, and digital experience.

Our process started by going wide. We presented 20 potential conceptual designs to the team, one of which moooi founder Marcel Wanders lovingly referred to as the “farting pet,” a robot scent diffuser that could walk around the home.

A scented smoke ring lingers in the air after Piro’s final crescendo.

From there, a team of IDEO designers enlisted the support of Catie Cuan, a choreographer who specializes in human-robot interaction, and Dutch sound design firm KLOAQ, to refine the concept into a four-minute performance piece.

Piro learned to mimic balletic human gestures.

The final result was technically involved: four robots moved independently, controlled by custom electronics and software designed to mimic the movements and grace of ballerinas. But in the performance itself, the complex mechanics disappeared, allowing the audience to experience not just what technology can do, but how it can make us feel.

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What happens when a designer and a classically-trained choreographer collaborate? Attendees of Salone del Mobile.Milano, the largest furniture fair in the world, got to see for themselves.

To build a climate-resilient future, we need an all-hands-on-deck approach across industries and organizations, as well as the leadership and collaboration of frontline communities themselves. 

To that end, IDEO and CSAA Insurance Group worked together to unite nine partner organizations, including Aon and the Environmental Defense Fund, to launch an open call for solutions to help communities prevent, prepare for, and recover from climate-related disasters. The goal of the Challenge was to surface actionable and scalable ideas that experiment with new technologies, models, and partnerships, then provide innovators with the support and funding they need to get their ideas off the ground and into the hands of frontline communities.

IDEO set these entrepreneurs up for success throughout the submission process, holding one-on-one conversations with participants, sharing constructive feedback on potential solutions, and developing their ideas and skill sets. The team also hosted workshop and panel sessions to grow community bonds and provide expertise on critical topics, including assessing climate risk and storytelling for impact. Hundreds of ideas came in from around the world, ranging from harnessing the power of AI, to building resilient infrastructures, to democratizing access to climate data, and more.

Once all of the ideas were in, a cohort of judges with a wide diversity of work and lived experience screened for concepts that were relevant, impactful, novel, community-informed, and equitable. At the end of the Challenge, the team chose 13 winning concepts with high potential for impact and partnerships, including Reef Rocket, which seeks to fabricate natural biocement reefs that reduce coastal flooding and erosion, and BurnBot, which is working to prevent wildfires by conducting controlled burns at scale.  

For these winning entrepreneurs, the end of the Challenge is just the beginning. Now, they are equipped with critical early funding, as well as a cohort of climate entrepreneurs, along with mentorship from IDEO, CSAA, and the other organizations. It’s a big step forward as they introduce new forms of equitable and transparent data, promote the voices of BIPOC communities, and bring to market new technologies that will protect and support frontline communities through this ongoing crisis. 

Read the Challenge Impact Report to learn more.

In the US alone, climate-related disasters cause $120 billion in damages annually. That figure is five times greater than 50 years ago, and projections are $2 trillion by the end of the century.

Nearly 90% of counties in the US declared a natural disaster over the last decade.

418

submissions

13

winners

$1M

in prizes

Every year, the NSF provides around 30 teams with up to $750,000 and a year’s worth of coaching, training, and collaboration to develop solutions for research areas like sustainable ocean use or combating fake news. Over the course of nine months, the teams learn how to uncover insights about human needs and design durable solutions for end users. But many of the scientists and experts in the program felt stretched by the idea of putting the needs of end users in the mix with their scientific testing—something few of them have been trained to do in their previous work.

To make that process feel more achievable, the teams built out prototypes and received guidance on refining and pitching their ideas along the way. IDEO joined the project as an innovation partner, facilitating hands-on workshops and creating “Science TV” episodes that could help the program reach a broader audience, deepening its impact now and in the future.

To help grantees get vulnerable, and evolve their ways of working, IDEO sent grantees to improv training  so that they could learn to build off each other. The team also took them to magic shows and on ghost tours in downtown San Francisco to learn the value of compelling storytelling in their work. The fun was part of the plan—gelling as a team and building relationships meant participants could make mistakes in front of one another. Being wrong doesn’t come naturally to academics, but it’s a key part of the design process, and a crucial part of solving complex problems .

Each year, a select group of teams move onto the next phase of the “coop-etition,” receiving up to $5 million in additional funding. And all of the participants leave with valuable new skills they can use to break out of their own silos and create human-centered, ground-breaking solutions for the rest of their careers.

When the NSF launched the Convergence Accelerator and made the radical move of bringing together teams from different disciplines, these academics, scientists, and industry partners didn’t have a shared language to move their ideas forward, and needed a structured approach to coming up with new solutions.

164

trained research teams

$200M

in federal support granted to AI-driven innovation, quantum technology, food security, sustainable materials, opportunities for people with disabilities, and more

IDEO and The Earthshot Prize built a nine-month Fellowship program and a five-day, in-person retreat to give Finalists the best shot at reaching the Prize’s ultimate goal: to scale the solutions that will repair our planet this decade.

To build out the new Fellowship, IDEO took a deep dive with the previous year’s Finalists to uncover where they needed critical support. This research revealed that the Finalists needed more ways to leverage the Earthshot platform, connect with potential partners to help scale their ideas, and build community with each other. The IDEO team then used those insights to create a set of recommendations The Earthshot Prize team could implement to create a more supportive and structured experience. Ideas they took forward included assigning a designated “Leap Advisor” who could provide guidance and assistance for each Finalist, as well as an advisor from the Prize’s Global Alliance Network who could partner on specific growth initiatives, like scaling product design, or policy change. 

Next up: the design of the retreat itself. Together, IDEO and the Earthshot team had three goals for the cohort’s week together in Windsor: focus on new forms of leadership and movement building, spur action through storytelling, and foster community.

The team developed the curriculum with leaders from Google X and Speed & Scale, alongside startups like UPSIDE Foods. They designed moments to build community, like paired walks and a chocolate-making workshop where Finalists could get to know each other away from the noise of meetings. 

Photographers captured the event to create assets for Finalists to use when pitching their ideas, and Finalists honed their storytelling skills. But what most remember is the magical moments of coming together as a cohort of next generation climate leaders who will help each other make an impact on the problems facing our planet, long after The Earthshot Prize has concluded.

The problems facing our planet are enormous, spanning industries, borders, currencies, and regulatory environments. Meaningful solutions will require leaders who can work across those lines.

30

climate solutions accelerated in first two years

In The Octopus's Build Your Creative Confidence series, we’ve shared exercises and activities from the book to help you approach challenges from a new perspective. We’ve compiled all ten exercises here in hopes that you’ll hit the ground running on your creative journey and excel in a future where creativity is currency.

1. Mindmaps: Push yourself to think divergently and creatively

When searching for innovative solutions, mindmaps can be a powerful way to come up with new ideas or gain clarity about a topic of exploration.

2. 15 Seconds of Brilliance: Increase your creative output

Even if you never get to experience Andy Warhol’s fifteen minutes of fame, you’re likely to have your own moments of brilliance once in a while. When that happens, be ready to capture the magic.

3. 30 Circles: Jumpstart an ideation session

This quick, simple exercise is perfect for getting warmed up. Use it with a group as an icebreaker or on your own when you need a jolt of inspiration.

4. Empathy Maps: Lessons from observing human behavior

You’ve gone into the field in search of knowledge, meeting people on their home turf, watching and listening intently. But synthesizing all that data can be a little daunting. Organize your thoughts with this tool.

5. I Like, I Wish: Encourage and accept constructive feedback

We all instinctively know that constructive critique is essential, and yet it can be hard to listen to and absorb feedback without letting our egos and defensiveness distract us from what may be a valuable message. Use this exercise to help introduce feedback into the innovation process.

6. Speed Dating: Warm up a group and break down barriers

Creativity thrives amidst free-flowing social discourse. To get a roomful of strangers to innovate, start by breaking down some of those pesky social barriers. By carefully thinking about your group, you can craft this exercise to prime your participants for the work that comes next.

7. Nickname Warm-Up: Eliminate hierarchy to improve idea flow

While the previous exercise useful in situations where people don’t know each other well, sometimes you’ll encounter the opposite problem: a group meeting where people know each other too well. This warmup allows folks to “try on” a new persona and new behaviors.

8. Customer Journey Map: Empathize with customers, employees, and other end users

A journey map helps you think systematically through the steps your customers—internal or external—have when they interact with your product or service. Use this exercise to drum up new insights about your end users.

9. The Dream/Gripe Session: Define a problem to work on

Dreams and gripes are both a normal part of the innovation process. In this exercise, pair folks up to translate conversations into creative thinking challenges.

10. The Wallet Exercise: Help your group understand innovation thinking

The exercise uses a simple object that most people carry with them as a prop to discover needs, design and prototype solutions, and get user feedback. It gives everyone a chance to cycle quickly through the human-centered design process.

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Creativity is on the rise as a top skill leaders will need to face the increasingly complex challenges the future has in store for them. For those who identify as "creative types," this is likely music to your ears. For those who don't, stay with me! As luck would have it, IDEO was founded on the belief that everyone is creative—and that creativity, like any other leadership skill, can be learned and practiced. In 2013, David Kelley and Tom Kelley put that belief down on paper in their best-selling book, Creative Confidence.

I must say: Designers have an advantage when it comes to communication. We have the benefit to use not only our words, but also visualizations, from sketches and 3DCAD to infographics and physical objects. Designers are capable of making words real, expressing an idea in form, color, material, and finish. We truly are tangible storytellers. But having the means to make ideas tangible doesn’t necessarily solve all communication issues—we all speak nuanced languages and carry biases toward the things we already love to hear, see, or experience.

You may have heard of the 5 Love Languages, a tool to help characterize the ways we give and receive love. What if a similar tool could be built for designers? What if, before sharing an idea, you could learn the “design love language” of your audience? You learn your romantic partner’s love language to better connect with them; you might learn your colleague’ design love language to better collaborate, or a client’s design love language so you can craft the perfect presentation.

Here are 4 “languages” to help you communicate the value of your design straight into the hearts of your audience:

1. Storyteller’s Circle

For many people, it’s the story behind your idea that will really make it sing. This goes far beyond how the idea solves a problem for people and the business; that should be a given. It’s about the thoughtful descriptions of how the idea came about, why it will make a positive impact in the world, how it was better than other ideas, and why you feel confident about that.

The team we worked with at PillPack did this masterfully. During the research phase of the process to redesign how patients engage with pharmacies, we heard personal, painful stories about dealing with the US healthcare system. Standing in long lines, keeping up with expiration dates, making sure you take this medicine with food and that one on an empty stomach—patients told us it's overwhelming. We could immediately tell there was a huge opportunity to design something to solve for these problems, and the stories we heard inspired the team to create a single vision, strategy, experience, and identity that consumers quickly understand.

To gauge whether your story will resonate, try rehearsing it as if you were speed dating. If people understand your concept in a single sentence or get excited in the first 30 seconds, you’re on to something.

2. Make it Zing

There are some ideas that make us express feelings that are beyond words—“oooohs” and “aaaahs.” For people who need that ah-ha moment to really make a new idea click, it’s your job to make them say, “Oh, wow.”

When sharing IDEO’s vision for the future of mobility, I’ve heard people remark, “So that’s what our city could look like.” The project explores the many ways that we imagine transportation—of people, places, ideas—evolving over the coming years. Though they’re purely conceptual, the ideas are brought to life through visual renderings and context clues that make them feel tangible—they transport the viewer to The Future. Try not to gasp when you realize that.

To get started, think about which of the senses you want to appeal to, then work to amplify them. Use visual cues or sound to your advantage—the “zing” happens when the idea flirts with us and tickles our senses, gut instinct, and imagination. Lean into the unpredictable, the whimsical. Make someone sigh or shout.

3. Straight to the Heart

What was the last performance you gave a standing ovation? When was the last time you cried at a movie? Which book moved you so much that you bought all your friends copies for the holidays?

This love language is about emotional resonance—tapping into the power of human emotion to impact your audience on a deep, personal level. I’ve found that it works particularly well for helping people build empathy for the human elements of large, complex systems and structures.

Our approach to telling the story of IDEO's work to design the voting system in Los Angeles County was to tug at the heartstrings, which helped make complicated and bureaucratic topic more accessible. The photos, videos, and audio stories were designed to highlight the humans who are casting ballots—the hardships, the triumphs, and everything in between.

Body language and word choice are key to nailing this one. Take cues from your audience—when you see someone lean in, nod, let themselves smile, you know you’ve landed on a moment that made things click. Practice your story with a friendly audience and observe those moments, then design your storytelling experience around them.

4. Lights, Camera, Action

For some, actions speak louder than words, and they can only fall in love with the idea after seeing or trying it. They want to use it over time, test it, live with it, break it, and have others do the same. For these people, ideas need to be on a movie set, including the actors, the scene, and the props.

For this audience, make sure to bring your idea to life as a prototype, and allow them to experience it out in the wild. That’s what we did when we helped Swarovski build a new chandelier. We didn’t just look at renderings—we built a whole living room in our office to test our prototype.

Prototypes don’t have to be perfect. In fact, they shouldn’t be. Showing up with a prototype made of cardboard and Legos is better than arriving empty handed. Do whatever you can to make your thing real and I guarantee you’ll see lightbulbs go off over people’s heads.

As designers, our job is to create things that improve people’s lives. To do so, designers must learn how to speak the languages of the various audiences we design for. It’s important for us all to recognize our own biases towards our favorite language, and have the empathy to listen and adapt to the other ones. Your design love language might be different from the person using your design.

Language matters. That’s an obvious statement for anyone working across cultures, and it especially holds true in design. As a designer, I’ve always used my skills to create tools that enable shared understanding. This mainly came about out of necessity: I was born and raised in the Netherlands, and I’ve also lived in Sweden, the UK, and for the past seven years, the US. In my 14-plus years as an industrial designer, I’ve collaborated with clients from almost every continent, from Saõ Paulo to Seoul. By working closely with people from different countries, I’ve learned first-hand how language connects us to our cultures and to one another.

Every other week, I host a creative playdate for our studio called MakeBelieveTime (MBT). We always come up with something different. Maybe we’ll combine magnets and mirrors to invent our own games. Maybe we’ll use a needle and thread to learn the basics of computer coding, or fold our hopes and fears into paper airplanes. MBT has become one of the tentpoles in our community’s calendar—a ritual that brings our bodies out of project spaces and our minds out of design mode. It’s playtime for adults.

The value of these exercises has become clear to us, but when visitors happen to be around for MBT, all the natural questions bubble up. Sounds fun, but you do this during work hours? (Yes.) Are these exercises used with clients later? (Sometimes, but not always.) How does this apply to paid project work? (It doesn’t.) So what’s the point?

That is the point. MakeBelieveTime is actually most valuable when it does not directly relate to project work in a typical, measurable way. It’s play for the sake of play, and that’s okay—in fact, it’s essential. Here’s why.

It’s about process, not product

I once had an art teacher who would sketch all over my work to show me different techniques. At first, I was frustrated because my brilliant piece was being scribbled on. But then I recognized his assumption—that an artist will do it again and again and again. That learning a new technique meant focusing on the hand, not the paper.

In our design work, we rely on our own experiences and intuition, so it’s essential that we become fluent in exploring our memories and feelings. MakeBelieveTime gives us a chance to practice that with new and unfamiliar tools. That’s why, whether it’s colored sand or temporary tattoos, the real materials of MakeBelieveTime are our personal joys, hopes, and fears.

It preps the mind for design

When I was a kid, my grandfather told me about Louis Pasteur’s belief that “Chance favors the prepared mind.” Show up and do the work, Grampa explained, so that when the magic happens you’ll be sharp enough to recognize it. Making space for “sensorial, analog, hands-on radness”—that’s how one colleague described MakeBelieveTime—gives designers a much needed mental reset.

Plus, MBT actually has made an impact on client work. A handful of insights and concepts that originally came out of MakeBelieveTime actually made it into an experience we designed for a major NYC landmark.

But that’s not really the point. It’s about helping our designers spread their nets as wide as possible, and to lighten things up with a moment of pure, playful joy, so that when inspiration comes they’re ready to grab it.

It broadcasts both values and value

Most designers will sing the praises of play. It opens you up and makes you braver, more optimistic, and more creative. We pepper client meetings with pipe-cleaner sculptures or a little improv to get the blood and imagination flowing. We put a lot of thought and energy into those activities, thinking about our clients’ needs and the best way to get them comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Most designers will also admit that when deadlines loom, proposals beckon, or clients push back, play is not always top-of-mind. That’s a problem. An organization’s beliefs come through in their actions. To show that play is worth the time, you have to make time for it.

How to build your own MakeBelieveTime

We want MBT to be much more than a free-for-all with glue sticks and googly eyes, so we use three key design principles to guide the activities:

1. Make the familiar unfamiliar. To think about senses we take for granted, we infused finger paints with essential oils and asked everyone to visually illustrate the experience of smelling that scent.
2. Explore safe danger. Blind contour drawing is a great example. We all sit and draw the person across from us—without lifting the pen or looking down at the drawing. It’s always a mess, which guarantees a joyful, public fail, but also allows us to look deeply at each other and practice seeing and being seen.
3. Dig deep. We used Halloween as a prompt to create a mask that evokes a moment we were horrified by our own behavior. This allowed us to acknowledge the full spectrum of our feelings, exorcise that shadow, and leave it to the past.

The first, despairing thought that hit one of my colleagues when he first saw MBT in action was, “IDEO’s gone soft.” And, quite frankly, that's not an unfair concern when you see a room full of world-class designers finger painting.

But MBT serves as an opportunity to nourish a perspective rather than achieve an objective. It’s less about the scented fingerpaints, and more about exploring new ways of understanding and sharing an experience. It’s also about laughing together. It’s about exposing our soft side so that we can trust each other more when we take those lessons back to our project spaces and have a hunch about trying something untested but exciting.

That’s why we believe that designing a cocktail that tells the story of your first kiss doesn’t cost you your edge. It’s how you keep it.

Think back to your first kiss. Remember the place, the smells, the nerves, the lips. If you had to create a cocktail to tell the story of that experience, how would you do it? Would you make Jolly Rancher–infused vodka to conjure the candy-loving kid next door? Would a popcorn garnish nod to the movie you barely watched? Answering these questions is how the designers of IDEO New York spent a Valentine’s Day afternoon.

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.