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

Then one day, a tutor showed us Dominic’s piggyback seat. After class I jumped onto his blog and found his sick bag beard. Amongst my fits of laughter, I knew that everything would be okay. Here was someone using the full extent of their imagination and in doing so giving the rest of us permission to do the same.

Since then, Dominic has used his unique perspective to create a whole bunch of wonderful things—from a gallery made for dogs to Little Inventors, a global program designed to encourage creative thinking in children. It’s reached more than 15,000 kids in China alone.

And this is what I love most about Dominic’s work: It’s accessible to anyone. Thinkers like Dominic remind us how important it is to use our imaginations, to be weird, to take ourselves less seriously—and that everyone is capable of having ingenious ideas. You can imagine how excited I was to actually get to talk to the guy.

In one sentence, who are you?

I’m Dominic, born in Sunderland, living in London.

What do you do? How did you learn it?

I think up ideas I find interesting, then make them real—or just draw them and show them to people. I did lots of education in design BA, Pgrad, MA then when I ran out I just kept doing the same thing but by myself.

What have you poured your heart and soul into lately?

I made something called Little Inventors, which encourages children to gain a lifelong passion for creative and inventive thinking. It's also is a project that inspires adults to think more creatively. We ask children to think up and draw their invention ideas, bonkers or practical, then ask local makers and manufacturers to make them into a real thing for exhibition.

I won a commission in Sunderland to do a project that used creativity that engaged the local community. I proposed this idea and the results went viral. I started receiving emails from around the world asking me to do the same project in their country, so I decided to start it as an ongoing project called Little Inventors. The V&A Museum in London took 5 objects from the first project into their permanent collection—and next year, the best invention idea for life in space will be shown on the International Space Station.

What does a typical work session look like?

In general, I have no set day. My day looks like my desk, a bit messy and random. We do design the idea generating sessions for Little Inventors, though, and for those, we aim to create an atmosphere where creative thoughts come easier. Usually we will create a fun atmosphere and show surprising and inventive examples of creativity to start the thinking process.

We then present some knowledge and understanding on the particular subject the challenge is focussing on. We have different methods of focussing the children's minds on the task at hand and getting the children to discuss their thoughts and ideas as a group. Then we ask the children to draw their own ideas and answer questions onto a sheet we have designed to create a sketched design of their idea. We now have over 7000 children's ideas on the website from around the world. It is interesting to see how creative children in different countries are. The makers tell us that they feel more inspired and are pushed into areas that stretch their skills.

How do you get over a creative block?

I try to get my head out of the track it is stuck on. Change the music, change the mood, do something else. Then I push myself to keep writing or doodling thoughts on the subject. It can be hard mental work sometimes. Eventually I break through to the other side where the nice ideas have been hiding.

What was the last item on your to do list?

I don't have an order of doing things. I should make more lists, as they can help you get a bit of satisfaction at the end of the day rather than thinking, What did I actually do today? I'm jealous of bricklayers: At the end of each day, they can look back and see what they have achieved.

What are your 3 favorite possessions?

A pen, paper, and a Branston pickle.

How do you see the world in 2078?

China and India will be a lot more influential on world culture, technology, and politics. We still won't have hoverboards. People will still want to be happier, make more friends, be more attractive. Some will do that in a computer-generated virtual world. The more technology becomes part of our lives, the more we will desire real world experiences.

What's your number one bucket list item?

Contribute something positive to the pile.

Who are you creative crushin' on lately?

I'm thinking musicians are the one's I admire most. Write your song, play the instrument and sing it. I'm jealous of them. Currently, it’s Neil Young

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I still remember the first time I saw Dominic Wilcox’s work, the collection of really weird and clever creations on his blog, Variations on Normal. I was a few years into university, so my body was still 95% hope and ambition. At the same time, I was slowly realizing that I wasn’t, in fact, the center of the universe. It was a confusing time.

As with any design challenge, we started by breaking the big question—what matters to us—into smaller questions. How could we bring the intimacy of our much smaller former office into this new space? How can we use our studio to bring diverse groups together, both within our office and in the broader community? And how do we celebrate our commitment to collaboration and making?

We created a list of priorities, and, together with our architects Feilden Fowles, found ways for our studio to reflect our values and support our work. Here’s a glimpse into what we focused on, and how it affected our design.

1. Focus on storytelling

The goal of the overall design was to create a natural flow through the new space that works as a design narrative, explaining how IDEO works and what it cares about—from that first view of the maker space to social gathering areas to projects and meeting rooms. The design is also open enough that it’s easy even for visitors to navigate without signs or a map.

“We wanted to showcase IDEO’s creative innovation on immediate arrival,” architect Fergus Feilden says. To that end, when visitors and employees walk in the door, they see a presentation wall with display niches that showcase the London studio’s work, as well as small meeting booths outfitted with pegboards for additional exhibitions. “We also brought forward the workshop into this area, and designed it to be as open as possible in order to immediately celebrate the making that takes place at the heart of IDEO’s design process,” he says.

2. Prioritize collaboration

Because our work is built on collaboration, it’s very important to us to provide teams with dedicated spaces they can make their own. We wanted these spaces to be open, flexible and inviting, and we purposely limited enclosed area to only those that are strictly necessary. Our work often entails not only helping to create a new product or venture, but building a team around it, so the spaces are meant to facilitate collaboration. “The layouts are fundamentally social, and even the divided rooms have glazed walls or windows to introduce natural light and maintain the ethos of transparency throughout,” Fergus says.

At the same time, because we often work on confidential client work, it’s important to be able to keep some projects private, so these spaces have been designed so that they can be closed off if necessary. Aside from the designated team spaces, there are also several break-out areas with soft furnishings or working tables for group meetings or individual workspace.

3. Talk less, do more

We wanted to make the workshop as accessible as any of the social spaces so that there are no barriers to making ideas tangible early. The idea is that you can walk directly from a meeting into the workshop and start building. It was designed to be neutral and understated—the life and color come over time from the projects and prototypes are teams are working on.

We’ve also limited meeting rooms to only two. When clients and partners come into our office, we don’t want them only to see the inside of a conference room. We want our teams to bring them into their work spaces instead. We also saw that many meeting rooms were actually mostly used for video calls with one or two people, so we put in phone booths that can fit up to four instead.

4. Embrace ambiguity

We know as well as anyone that a design that seems ideal today might not support the work we take on down the road. “A key part of the original brief was to allow a ‘loose-fit’ transition into the new space, and to provide a backdrop to IDEO’s creative process—not an over-designed space, and one that doesn’t shout,” Fergus says.

By keeping open space, making designed work areas extremely flexible, and making sure to maintain social spaces for everything from events to client dinners to casual coffee with coworkers, we’re keeping the doors open for all kinds of projects and functions. “In theory the whole studio is flexible to host different sorts of working including the coffee bar, dining and terrace spaces as well,” Fergus says.

Above all, though we wanted to create a space that our community could bring to life—the teams in our studio, the clients we work with, and members of our greater community. We’re a company founded on the idea of working with friends, and this space was built to enable that philosophy.

At IDEO, our values are the guideposts for everything that we do. And that commitment extends to our office spaces. As our London studio looked to create its new home, we envisioned an environment that embodies design and innovation, serves as a hub to welcome clients and visitors, and sets a tone for our employees to do their best work. And, as designers who work on projects that help shape the future, we also wanted to be sure that the design would be flexible enough to fit our needs and work for years to come.

Creativity Challenge # 4: Lessons from observing human behavior

A fundamental principle of innovation or creative thinking is to start with empathy. On the path from blank page to insight, sometimes people need a tool to help with what comes next: synthesis. 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.

Take control of your field observations by organizing them with an “empathy map”—a tool inspired by IDEO and further developed at the Stanford d.school.

Tool: Empathy Maps
Participants: Solo or groups of 2-8 people
Time: 30 to 90 minutes
Supplies: Whiteboard or large flipchart, Post-its, and Sharpies

Instructions

Step 1: On a whiteboard or a large flipchart, draw a 4-quadrant map. Label the sections with “say,” “do,” “think,” and “feel,” respectively.

Step 2: Populate the left-hand quadrants with Post-its that capture each of your individual observations—using one Post-it per idea. Place observations of what people do in the lower-left quadrant, and place observations of what people say in the upper-left quadrant. Try color-coding positive things with green Post-its, yellow Post-its for neutral, and pink/red for frustrations, confusion, or pain points. The key is not to record everything, but instead to capture what stands out.

Step 3: When you run out of observations (or room) on the left side, begin to fill the right side with Post-its, inferring what people think in the upper-right quadrant and what they feel in the lower-right quadrant. Pay attention to people’s body language, tone, and choice of words.

Step 4: Take a step back and look at the map as a whole. Try to draw some insights or conclusions from you have just written down, shared, and talked about. These questions serve as a good prompt for a discussion of insights. What seems new or surprising? Are there contradictions or disconnects within or between quadrants? What unexpected patterns appear? What, if any, latent human needs emerge?

Tips from the Field

The key to extracting value from observing human behavior is to come away with real insights. This can be challenging, but the exercise is worth the time and effort. As you build up confidence, ask yourself, “Is this a real insight?” Our advice is to look for takeaways that help you see your topic or subject from a new perspective. Try to come up with several that feel novel. As you spend more time with others exploring your topic or subject, patterns will emerge. Some insights will prove to be more pivotal than others.

This post was taken from Chapter 7 of Creative Confidence. Purchase the book for more on how to use creativity to solve problems.

Everyone is creative. This belief runs through everything we do at IDEO, and in 2013, it led my brother David and me to write a book that would help others—even those who don’t think of themselves as “creative types”—to unleash their creative potential. Creative Confidence has inspired thousands of people to adopt a creative mindset and apply it to the diverse real-world challenges they face. In this series, we’ll share some exercises from the book that can help you approach your challenges from a new perspective.

It’s yet another summer at our seaside house, and my nonna is heading to the gardens to pick up some herbs for her pesce al forno. She says that freshly picked lemongrass adds a completely new flavor to her signature dish.

At 12 p.m., she walks down the rocky stairs and heads to the herb bush she carefully planted 33 years ago, the same year she bought the villa and restored it to host our ever growing family tree. As I watch her, I witness something unusual that I have never seen her doing before.

She is literally hanging from the muretto, or wall. Nonna is 94 and not really a geriatric athlete, so I run towards her. “Tutto bene, Luca!” she says as she bends back up. She tells me that this is ‘her new way’ of picking herbs in the garden.

With age, small actions become a big effort, so leaning down or bending started to become an obstacle to her recipes. The dwarf wall serves the purpose of protecting her back from injuries and keeping her from falling. As she nicely puts it, “I use gravity to my advantage. At my age, you have to find ways around things, to keep feeding your family the way they deserve.”

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

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.