When it comes to food, we often have to choose between health, convenience, and taste. Parents struggle to get their kids to eat veggies. The same daily salad can become boring or bland over time. Produce often withers in the crisper drawer.

Betterer Foods set out to make one of the world's favorite foods healthier. Rice is a beloved food across many cultures, but many people now avoid simple carbohydrates due to diet restrictions or health concerns. Innovations and alternative options have mostly been limited to products in the freezer section, like riced cauliflower.

Betterer Foods created RightRice: a dry, shelf-stable grain made from rice and vegetables, including lentils, chickpeas, and green peas. RightRice has more than double the protein, five times the fiber, and 40 percent fewer net carbs than traditional rice. But the product still tastes and looks like rice, and is faster and easier to cook.

RightRice founder Keith Belling, the founder and former CEO of popchips, asked IDEO to design a brand that would communicate the product’s benefits. The start-up needed everything from a defined target consumer and brand story to a stand-out package design, website, and go-to-market materials.

The team listened to people's challenges with rice and eating healthfully: home cooks find it difficult to store fresh foods without them going bad, busy professionals are strapped for time when preparing balanced meals, and parents sneak vegetables into dishes like casseroles or mac and cheese. Some consumers say they avoid rice because it’s a carbohydrate, which is forbidden in so many of today’s diets. People describe themselves as “carb phobic” or say they consider rice a “guilty pleasure.” Others don’t eat rice because it makes them feel sluggish or bloated, or is too difficult or time-consuming to prepare. Overall, people wished rice could be healthier, simpler to cook, and still taste delicious.

IDEO translated these insights into a brand foundation that helped RightRice come to life on shelves, online, and in the world. The package messaging emphasizes the vegetable ingredients, and the cut-out window lets consumers see that the product looks like rice. The shape of the window simultaneously forms a bowl of rice and a smile.

Rice is a household staple around the world. The RightRice brand makes it easier for consumers to have health, convenience, and good taste in one accessible product. RightRice launched nationwide in Whole Foods and Amazon in February 2019.

Since this launch, the company has expanded both its reach and product line. RightRice is now available in nearly 5,000 retailers nationwide in addition to Whole Foods and Amazon, including Sprouts, Wegmans, and approximately 1,800 Kroger stores. Over one million bags have been sold.

The company has received numerous awards and acclaim, including being named “Best Plant-Based” by People’s 2019 Food Awards. Building on the success of RightRice, Belling and his team launched RightRice Medley, a blend of RightRice, ancient grains, and vegetables, in 2020. This new product, which features the same branding the company created with IDEO, has doubled the company’s shelf presence at Whole Foods.

After 40 years of rapid development, China's economic growth has reached a critical turning point.

However, looking at the world, today is also the most complex and uncertain era in human history. The traditional engine of economic development is slowing down, while innovation and other emerging ideas are helping the economy burst into dynamism. To ride this trend, China has already put in place comprehensive policies to ensure that the country can achieve this magnificent transformation—not only to maintain economic growth, but also to achieve high-quality development. To this end, what China needs most is a group of new business leaders with a sense of cooperation and innovation to lead and realize this change as a pioneering force.

People of insight can often see the situation clearly with a forward-looking eye. China's society and economy are undergoing transformation and upgrading, and market demands are constantly changing driven by technology. While seeking business development, many mature entrepreneurs with successful experience have realized that they need to explore some of the most essential issues inwardly, including: The original intention and mission of the enterprise and the role that enterprise leaders should play. However, without a systematic approach, transformation and upgrading, strategic decision-making, management mode and cultural construction cannot truly serve the enterprise

As a top institution of higher learning in China, Tsinghua University has always placed an important strategic position on cultivating innovative talents for China. IDEO is the world's leading design and innovation consulting firm. As a pioneer of design thinking, IDEO has always been committed to applying design and innovation capabilities to solve the world's most complex problems. After discovering the need for China's economic and social transformation and the need for innovative leadership by Chinese entrepreneurs, Tsinghua University and IDEO jointly launched the "Leading China" program in 2018. This program is aimed at senior management of Chinese enterprises, and aims to train entrepreneur trainees to use new perspectives and ideas through a one-year innovative leadership course to seek solutions for the systemic changes that need to be achieved in the process of social transformation in China.

The students of the first "Leading China" program came from more than 30 entrepreneurs from 20 different industries. The teachers who participated in the lecture included 73 Chinese and foreign experts including Shan Jixiang, the former dean of the Forbidden City, Masahiro Kuroyama, the father of Japanese industrial design, and Jake Knapp, the inventor of "Design Sprint". As China's first innovative leadership course with design thinking as the core, the project is equipped with "design to open enterprise creativity", "reshape enterprise competitive advantage", "forge innovative business system", "innovate with the help of finance", "embracing Industrial Revolution 4.0" and "Win-win China Created 2030" six modules. The trainees traveled to nine cities in one year, and completed the courses in the interactive teaching of inspiration and the exchange and sharing of practical experience. Many students said that the course not only helped them find the direction and path of enterprise reform, but also improved their way of thinking, strategic planning and leadership models.

Liu Feng, the founder of Top Intelligence, gave an example of the inspiration brought by the six pillars of "vision-led" enterprise reform. Through "vision leadership", he not only sorted out the original intention and values ​​of the company, but also launched a series of measures based on this starting point, which improved the company's various aspects from the telephone customer service process to the organization of the annual meeting, and mobilized the enthusiasm of employees. This greatly improves the company's efficiency and flexibility. Ting Zhihong, chairman of Hongtu Logistics Co., for example, said that the biggest change brought by the course is her awareness of the importance of empowering the team. The company has now built many platforms to give employees more room to play, to create markets, to put decision-making on the front line, and to let employees play the role of company operators. Her company doubled its profits in 2018. Hu Chao, founder and CEO of Leyou Pregnancy and Baby, introduced that what most executive courses learn is knowledge, and what this course learns is people-oriented values ​​and ways of thinking.

The students of the first class of "Leading China" graduated in December 2018. Regarding the course of this year, Wang Jingwei, former assistant dean of the PBC School of Finance, Tsinghua University, commented: "Since the project was launched, we have not only witnessed the true value of design in a business context, but also experienced first-hand the use of people-oriented The difference between the designed executive courses is that the entrepreneurs who participated in the courses quickly entered a state of immersive learning, and many students quickly began to practice the methods they learned in the enterprise.”

On April 8, 2019, the list of winners of the 3rd "Changing the World Innovation Award" was announced, and the "Leading China" project was shortlisted for case nomination, becoming the only Chinese innovation case in the education category. The "Change the World Innovation Award" was announced by Fast Company, one of the world's three major financial and business media organizations.

As one of the world’s leading smartphone manufacturers, the Chinese brand vivo is widely known for its exceptional technological innovation and top-of-the-line photography and gaming hardware. But in an increasingly saturated phone market, vivo understood that it wasn’t enough to lead the pack based solely on technological excellence. To win the hearts of young Chinese consumers, they needed to become a beloved brand.

China consumes roughly 30 percent of the world’s smartphones, presenting a tremendous market opportunity to brands who wish to capture young consumers’ loyalty. In order to achieve that, vivo wanted to design a complete brand experience beyond the devices themselves—one that would express the joyful vivo brand spirit through services and retail experiences. One of their first key initiatives was to build its first concept store in an iconic building in Shenzhen, China.

Before building the concept store, vivo approached IDEO to explore what kind of in-store experience would resonate with young Chinese people. The concept store needed to convey joy in a meaningful, tangible way, while also setting the stage for vivo’s future brand systems. With this in mind, IDEO set out to explore how vivo’s young consumers experience fun.

After conducting research in four different cities, IDEO shared the stories of young Chinese consumers back with the vivo team. Their interviews revealed that young people value experiences that enrich their lives and create a feeling of positive personal transformation. They seek opportunities to expose themselves to new experiences, express themselves in different ways, expand and deepen their social connections, and build knowledge and skills.

Through this understanding of how young Chinese define “enjoyment,” IDEO helped vivo identify the value proposition of the concept store as expressing oneself in new and different ways. The store would allow every visitor to see something unique and find a fresh perspective. The vivo team took that value proposition into a design brief and later built out the space and interactive experiences.

The concept store launched at Shenzhen on March 22, 2019, featuring an upper level dedicated entirely to interactive experiences with photo booths, sound recording, and lighting technology. The engaging, lively and positive atmosphere of the store represents a major milestone in vivo’s transformation from a smartphone maker to a consumer brand.

WATCH: Official launch video provided by vivo.

As China's agriculture moves towards scale and sustainability, helping farmers grow healthier food with resilience is a matter of national economic security and individual livelihoods.

Bayer Crop Science—with its mission to accelerate China's agricultural modernization and benefit Chinese farmers and consumers—has provided high-quality products for millions of growers in China over 18 years. Yet its service relies heavily on multi-layered distributors and retailers across the country. The last mile of Bayer’s product delivery spreads across tens of thousands of highly fragmented retail stores, making the quality of service difficult to monitor and control.

Together with IDEO, Bayer Crop Science aimed to uncover new ways to engage with local farmers and retailers, and develop design concepts for its diverse set of retailers—establishing local relevance as well as the potential to scale nationwide.

With this ambition in mind, a team formed by Bayer Crop Science and IDEO launched into a design sprint in the rice fields of China’s Anhui province. Field research uncovered multiple challenges facing Bayer Crop Science’s retailers. First, each store needed to serve more than one hundred farmers, many of whom rely solely on the store owner to understand how to use the products. Retailers struggled to meet a high daily demand for direct support in a way that provided a positive customer experience.

In turn, farmers felt they had insufficient access to expert advice. While many farmers shared similar needs, there was no system for aggregating requests or arranging group instruction. Given that many rice farmers are illiterate, pre-printed educational pamphlets had limited impact, and retailers lacked tools for providing targeted support. And because the retail stores were also used for storage, little space remained for educational or community programming.

With these constraints in mind, the team needed to come up with ideas and design concepts that could be easily integrated into the daily lives of the retail store owners. The team brainstormed hundreds of concepts and quickly prototyped a select few. One retail store in Dangtu was transformed entirely into a live prototype set. Over three days, more than 50 farmers and retailers came through and provided feedback. From there, the team was able to make daily iterations of the concept, evolving the experience in real-time.

The Bayer team was energized by the potential of these prototypes to enable more customer-centered retail experiences. An exhibition of the concepts was set up during the National Annual Sales Conference of Bayer Crop Science in China, during which a much wider audience from Bayer experienced not only the concepts, but also the immediate feedback from farmers.

One year after the project’s completion, more than half of the design concepts have been included in Bayer's support kit for dealers. In 2019, these concepts will be rolled out in more than 1,000 flagship stores across China.

The work has also accelerated Bayer Crop Science’s efforts to build an ongoing engagement mechanism with its retailers and growers. Its online platform, Bayer Joy Grower, now has more than 10,000 retailers and will be expanded to growers soon.

Or won’t fall apart the second they’re out of the box?

Luckily, our intrepid toy inventors and play experts at IDEO Play Lab are ready to weigh in on the best of the best!

Here are our most highly recommended toys, games, and more for everyone from the littlest on your list to your most raucous game night buds. Some we had a hand in making, others are from toy and game makers we admire.

1. Harmonies by Asmodee
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Who will love it: Families with kids ages 10+.

What’s great about it: In this calm, creative, strategy game, every move makes your world a little more harmonious. You’ll take on the role of a gentle nature spirit, shaping the land and guiding animals to their new habitats. Place colorful terrain tokens to build mountains, forests, and fields, and create a living landscape. Choose animals to live in your habitats, earn points through clever placement, and watch your ecosystem come to life in peaceful balance. I love the game for the light amount of strategy required, its adorable graphics, and the chance that it gives kids (and adults!) to feel smart. 
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—Jeremy Chen

2. A Gentle Rain: Bloom Edition by Incredible Dream
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Who will love it: Kidults looking for a quick, screen-free way to unwind—because sometimes playing is better than meditating.
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What’s great about it: Keep this cozy tile-placement game close by on your coffee table or desk for a quick, relaxing play session whenever you need a break. It’s especially great for jigsaw puzzle fans who want something that’s easier to dive into and put away when done. Match the flower shapes on the edges of each tile to create the board. When you complete a square, add a flower bloom piece in the center. The goal is to bloom all eight flowers before you run out of tiles. It’s therapeutic to play this game solo, but also easy for someone to join or step away at any time. My nine-year-old son and I love playing a round while we’re waiting for dinner.
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—Diana Tobey

3. NANO-MALS by Hasbro (IDEO invention)
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Who will love it: Children who love cute, interactive collectibles and adults who also appreciate an aesthetic collectible with a soothing fidget element.
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What’s great about it: These adorable, interactive fidget toys are for children and adults alike! There are tons of different characters to choose from, like Meadowmist the Unicorn, Cowbert the Highland Cow, and Pamanda the Red Panda. Press their noses and watch as they light up and talk. Their arms and ears click back and forth, which provides a satisfying fidget element. These pocket-sized cuties can even interact with each other. Place two or more NANO-MALS close to each other and watch as they react with lights, sounds, and even speak in their made-up language.
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–Shaylyn Berntson

4. Flip 7 by USAopoly
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Who will love it: Families with kids ages 8+.
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What’s great about it: Flip 7 came out last year and has been growing in popularity ever since. It’s a fast, easy-to-learn game where players score points by flipping over cards from a deck. You can keep drawing cards as long as you like, but if you flip a card that matches the number on one you’ve already flipped, you “bust” and get no points that round. This push-your-luck kind of game is fast and fun—even when it’s not your turn—and leads to a lot of good-natured table talk.
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 —Matt Hovde

‍5. Rubik’s Pulse Cube by Spin Master (IDEO invention)

Who will love it: Classic Rubik’s Cube fans—and anyone who likes a new kind of puzzle. ‍

What’s great about it: Rubik’s Pulse Cube reimagines the classic Cube through the lens of sensory play and digital interaction. At first, the Cube is entirely silver with no colors—but when you press the button, the Cube lights up to reveal the colors beneath one-way mirrors. When the lights pulse on—go! You have to solve it before it’s lights out! Pulse Cube blends the familiar challenge with new layers of feedback, encouraging players not just to solve the puzzle, but to experience it.
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—Inna Yankelovich

6. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem Pizza Fire Delivery Van by Playmates Toys

Who will love it: Recommended for 4 to 14-year-olds, but this toymaker can confirm it provides hours of entertainment to 30-plus-year-olds, too.
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What’s great about it: This van looks amazing, holds all your TMNT characters, and most importantly, has a super fun motorized pizza disk shooter. Just push down on the slice atop the van, and the door automatically swings open, revealing the shooter. The graphics on the box are so cool, I saved it.
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—Sam Hobish

7. Ollyball Planet Earth 22” MEGA by VICTURY Sports

Who will love it: Playful children and adults.‍

What’s great about it: Two things: One, you can inflate this lightweight 22-inch ball with regular air using the enclosed straw, or you can fill it with helium and watch it float “gravity neutral” indoors or out. Kids and adults can have fun playing “keep-it-up” or just be mesmerized by the way the ball floats when you hit it. (Its patented KrunchCOR construction, which absorbs impact while maintaining its shape, also makes it safe for indoor play without fear of breaking anything.) And two, it’s a tool for learning about science and geography. Use the included pens to color in different countries, and the accompanying curriculum and lesson booklet for at-home STEM learning. 
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—Weishan Liao

8. Playful: How Play Shifts Our Thinking, Inspires Connection, and Sparks Creativity by Cas Holman

Who will love it: Adults who want to rekindle their spirit of play and wonder.‍

What’s great about it: Adults need play just as much as kids do. Cas Holman’s book, Playful,  is the perfect reminder of why it’s so important, especially today, when play can prepare us for uncertainty and help us see beauty in complexity. It’s a great read to help you identify your adult play style and bring more play into your life, both for the adult you and the kid that still lives within.
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—Michelle Lee

9. Bluey Chikit Chikit Camera Toy by Moose Toys (IDEO invention)
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Who will love it: Kids who love the adorable animated Australian Blue Heeler, Bluey.
What’s great about it: This camera is the perfect roleplay gift for Bluey fans and anyone who likes to take photos. Easily load pre-printed Bluey images into the photo frames, then put them into the camera. Press the button and watch as the photos come out of the sides. Kids can even customize the toy with their own photos and drawings!
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—Weishan Liao

10. Monopoly Deal by Hasbro
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Who will love it: Anyone 10+.‍

What’s great about it: If you’re wondering how vicious your friends can be, this game is an excellent way to find out. The gameplay itself moves quickly, leads to plenty of surprises and unlikely winners, and lends itself to making up your own house rules. And because it’s a pocket-sized Monopoly, it’s easy to chuck in your purse or backpack whenever you leave the house. I’ve played this in a parking lot, on a picnic bench, and at a restaurant table before dinner. So much fun and frustration in just 15 minutes!
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—Elise Granata

11. Booger Buddy Light-Up Nasal Bulb by Playhouse MD (IDEO design)
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Who will love it: New parents, especially.
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What’s great about it: This one’s a sniffle-season helper. Part toy, part tool, it’ll make both parents and sick little kiddos happy. The adorable light-up narwhal nasal bulb adds calm and even a little delight to clearing stuffy noses. With its kid-friendly, ENT-informed design, it turns a sick-day routine everyone dreads into a moment of playful connection. It even lights up with a gentle glow.
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—Keren Ruth Wong

12. Project Shindig by Sony Interactive Entertainment
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Who will love it: Pretty much everyone, especially if you want to play with both long-distance and IRL friends and family.
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What’s great about it: For those who can’t be together in person this holiday season, we highly recommend Project Shindig, a new website that combines video chat with fun, casual party games. Think of it like a virtual game night you can play right in your web browser with your family and friends—no apps or installs required; invitees don’t even have to sign up for an account! This product is currently in Closed Public Beta, so give it a try, invite your friends, and let us know what you think!
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—Diana Tobey

13. Skytrails by PLAYMOBIL (IDEO invention)
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Who will love it: Future engineers from 7 to 99.
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What’s great about it: Tired of gifting LEGO to the builders in your life? Check out Skytrails! This modular construction set is both fun to build and to play with afterward, thanks to loads of kinetic action. Enjoy sending figures zipping around the tracks you just assembled. 
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—Rikki Devlin

14. Hot Wheels Toy Vehicle Track Creator Triple Loop Kit by Mattel
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Who will love it: Recommended for kids ages 4+.
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What’s great about it: Hot Wheels recently updated their track design with this snap-together system. This is a big improvement from the old sliding platform, which is prone to coming apart and is difficult for younger kids to use. The new tracks stay together, feel stronger, and are far easier for smaller hands to play with. 
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—Sam Hobish

‍15. The Lord of the Rings: Fate of the Fellowship by Z-Man Games
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Who will love it: Experienced gamers who like Pandemic, Lord of the Rings, or games that balance strategy and luck.

What’s great about it: Fate of the Fellowship is the latest iteration of a cooperative game based on the revolutionary Pandemic. The board is a map of Middle-earth, and the players work together as the familiar heroes of the story—from Samwise and Frodo to Éowyn and Gandalf—to defeat the rising dark forces of Sauron. This game perfects the formula: the gameplay is tense and full of interesting decisions, and the odds feel just the right amount of stacked against you to make winning feel legitimately satisfying. Plus, it’s richly layered with the LotR theme—it really feels like you are experiencing your own version of the story.
 
—Matt Hovde

(Please note that IDEO makes a commission off of affiliate links.)

If you’re like most of us, you’ve had toy ads coming at you since before Halloween. But how do you know which ones are actually as fun as they seem?

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It identifies patterns, nudges behavior, and interprets my health data in plain English. Meanwhile, my doctor toggles between screens, re-asks questions I just answered on paper, and tries to piece together my health story from systems that weren’t designed to communicate with each other—let alone with her.

This isn’t her fault. It’s the byproduct of a system designed and optimized for billing, not care. While consumer technology continues to evolve, clinical tools are stuck in another decade. And it shows.

The healthcare industry produces 30 percent of the world’s data. Yet, 97 percent of it goes unused. Physicians spend more time clicking through dashboards than connecting with patients. People receive data with no explanation, then Google their way to answers through fear and confusion.

Imagine a healthcare experience where technology takes a backseat—and human connection takes center stage. It’s possible, if we design it that way. And not only will it save lives—it will offer incredible healthcare cost savings, too. 

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The hidden opportunity in EHRs

Electronic Health Records (EHRs) offer extraordinary promise—in theory. In actuality, they’re a rabbit’s warren of seemingly disconnected information. EHRs weren’t designed to incorporate the constant, streaming flow of data from wearables, continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), and other connected health devices. They were built in a different era, for a different kind of healthcare. My doctor's EHR requires her to navigate through multiple screens just to piece together my complete health picture—information that should be seamlessly connected but is trapped in separate sections. 

In contrast, my Apple Health app, which is free and came pre-installed on my iPhone, automatically syncs data from dozens of other apps and devices, surfaces trends, and offers up easy-to-understand insights without me asking. Apple Health was designed for humans; EHRs for billing departments and regulatory compliance.

Connecting the data in EHRs is technically possible, but is often thwarted by a combination of bureaucratic hurdles, proprietary systems, and a risk-averse regulatory environment. The missing ingredient is human-centered design. We need to treat the EHRs as raw materials, not finished products. 

Meeting patients where they are

Across our healthcare work, we hear one thing over and over: patients don’t want more data. They want actionable insights.

For a person with type 2 diabetes, a glucose reading of 130mg/dL is just a number. But “Your levels stayed stable after switching to whole grain bread” provides insight. It’s actionable. It sticks. On a recent project, we interviewed a person with type 2 diabetes who asked us, “Why does my doctor get to see this data—but I don’t?” It was a great point. That question prompted us to design a way to turn numbers only doctors would see and understand into plain-spoken, personal insights for patients. 

Lead with what matters most. A simple visual cue—trending positive, stable, or concerning—invites deeper exploration. Show the big picture, then let people drill down when they want to.

Making quality care easier for clinicians

“We get 15 minutes per patient,” one doctor told us. “That barely gives us time to talk about labs.” Imagine if patient-generated data appeared automatically where and when it’s needed.

A doctor typically doesn’t need 47 glucose readings. They need to know that “levels are trending down since the patient started taking evening walks, but spike on weekends.” Give them insight, not overwhelm.

Another patient we interviewed with type 2 diabetes also used a CGM but was unsure about what to make of the numbers. We had her test a new prototype that drew inspiration from a traffic light: red numbers required immediate action, yellow signaled borderline readings with clear guidance on how to curb highs and lows, and green indicated that her blood sugar was within a healthy range. “I like this,” she told us. “It’s plain, telling me what I should do.”

Imagine a world where, before a visit, both patient and provider receive contextual insights:

• “Heart failure trending positive—activity up 15 percent this month. Consider reducing dosage.”

• “Your walking routine is working—heart rate variability improved 12 percent since last visit."

• “Medication adherence improving—blood pressure responding well to timing changes, but you’re missing weekend doses.”

Instead of parsing dashboards or reliving symptoms from memory, conversations could focus on decisions, adjustments, and next steps. It would save time during appointments and improve and clarify doctors’ visits for both parties—not to mention patient outcomes. 

The economics are begging for better design

Designing for better use of health data isn’t just compassionate; it’s also cost-effective.

By applying human-centered design principles, healthcare systems can streamline processes and improve patient engagement. For example, when a hospital in Oslo, Norway, redesigned its breast cancer diagnosis process using design thinking, it reduced the patient waiting time by 90 percent, thereby decreasing operational costs. At a major New York hospital, redesigning the surgical rounding process helped doctors submit discharge orders nearly an hour earlier and improved on-time surgical case starts by over 20 percentage points. And according to one study, patients treated in hospitals with advanced EHRs cost an average of 9.66 percent (or $731) less than patients in hospitals without them. The ROI is there for everyone paying the price of avoidable care—not to mention the benefit of better outcomes. However, real change runs into real barriers: siloed data, regulatory red tape, and business models that haven’t kept pace.

We need to design for what’s real: the 15-minute appointment, the overburdened clinician, the caregiver toggling between apps, and the patient staring at a number they don’t understand. 

That’s the kind of healthcare system people deserve. One where clinicians practice their craft—instead of decoding numbers, asking to see your app, or clicking through broken systems—and patients feel seen, supported, and part of the process. 

We’re not there yet. But we know how to design our way there if we remember that providing oceans of health data to drown in is not the end goal. It’s surfacing actionable insights to help patients and providers ride the waves toward greater health and well-being.

My phone’s Apple Health app gives me more meaningful insights than the test results from my doctor’s office.

I spent years facilitating process improvement and lean management, work that was effective at driving efficiency but rarely got into deeper questions. It lacked the rigorous patient focus I wanted to see in the efforts I took on for health systems. That frustration drew me into human-centered design (HCD). HCD opened up entirely new ways of seeing people and problems, and I was inspired to create solutions that were far more meaningful and human. Still, something was missing; I hadn’t yet found a way to connect the immediacy of design to the larger, longer-term forces shaping the world around us.

Around this time, I met futurist Bob Johansen. Listening to him describe how leaders could anticipate multiple plausible futures truly unlocked something for me. I could see how process improvement, human-centered design, and futuring could come together: the rigor of operational change strengthened by the empathy of design and the expansiveness of foresight. That moment was transformative; I had found a way to unlock real transformation. So I became a futurist. 

Fast-forward 15 years. I recently joined the Creative Confidence podcast to share lessons in strategic foresight and better decision-making. 

During the course of the conversation, so many people wrote in with questions that we couldn’t answer them all. But I didn’t want to leave these insightful thoughts floating in the ether. Here are answers to some of the most intriguing. ‍

What do you see as the biggest misconception about futures thinking?

It is about making predictions. Futuring does not predict; instead, the focus is on imagining multiple plausible futures. It enables individuals, governments, and organizations to anticipate the various ways tomorrow can unfold so that they can either capture opportunities (going on offense) or prepare for risk (going on defense). What people often overlook is that futuring is primarily about building the capacity to live with uncertainty. The true value of futuring lies in cultivating adaptability and creativity in the face of change.

Can you tell a story of a time when futuring helped unlock an innovative solution? 

In 2024, IDEO partnered with KQED to reimagine the role of public media in a future shaped by rapidly evolving technologies and changing cultural habits. By combining human-centered design, strategy, and futuring, we helped KQED’s leadership surface tensions between their legacy of trusted journalism and the demands of an increasingly fragmented and personalized media landscape. By crafting narratives and artifacts from the future, participants envisioned a more participatory, interactive, and community-embedded role for KQED, as a dynamic presence across platforms and generations. The work evolved from future visioning into a strategy-building process that engaged voices across the organization, creating a bold new roadmap and a deeper sense of shared ownership, along with a nimble resiliency in shaping the future of public media.

What are some simple ways to facilitate a futuring session with non-designers or skeptics?

Success comes from making the future tangible and human. Instead of starting with abstract scenarios or long trend decks, begin with something familiar. I like to ask participants to imagine their birthday in 2040 or to write a headline about something that will happen in their community far into the future. These provocations lower the barrier to entry for futures thinking and spark imagination grounded in the familiar.

The key is to give people something they can react to. Prototypes, such as speculative artifacts or visual storyboards, help shift conversations from the theoretical to something people can actually experience. Futurists need to help people practice balancing multiple possibilities simultaneously, which is actually quite a difficult task. When people can see, touch, or even laugh about the future, they start to take ownership of the ideas, making futuring far more actionable.

How do you actually start a signal scanning practice? How do you bring it into your weekly routine or regular process? (Where do you look? How often? How do you track what you find?)

Starting a signal-scanning practice doesn’t need to be overwhelming—it just requires leaning into your own curiosity. Think of it as building a habit of paying attention to the edges of culture, technology, and behavior. Signals appear in unexpected places that feel a little unconventional or out of step with the mainstream, such as an experimental product launch, an emerging subculture, or a policy change in a small town that hints at something larger.

I often recommend weaving it into a weekly ritual. When I started futuring, I set aside 30 minutes every Friday to scan a handful of sources: news sites, academic journals, niche blogs, and social media. The point is not just to look at the usual suspects, but to stretch into places that spark your imagination. I find myself asking, What’s weird here? What’s new? What’s showing up that feels different? Who is benefiting from this? Now I tend to capture signals endlessly, but I still carve out time each Friday to explore them, look for patterns, and so on. In the past week alone, I have gathered signals in areas as broad as agentic AI payment protocols, outsourced “moms,” lab-grown spinal cord nerves, and virtual relationships-only AI dating apps.

Tracking is key for adding structure. Many teams use a tool like Figma to quickly capture what they’re seeing and gather signals together. The tricky part is that over time, signals become stale and need to be refreshed regularly, especially in areas where change occurs rapidly, like in technology and media. Having signals in a format that allows them to be easily viewed and moved around to combine with other signals is critical. It allows patterns to emerge across the collection, sparking insights and stories of possible futures. 

What kind of mindset shift do you need to become a future-ready organization?

A future-ready mindset embraces uncertainty as a resource to be explored rather than a threat to be minimized. You have to shift from a posture of certainty and control to one of curiosity, adaptability—and above all—organizational flexibility. Instead of anchoring on a single, short-term vision, leaders must help their organizations map out multiple plausible futures at once, building the nimbleness to pivot quickly, experiment with new pathways, and respond creatively across a range of possible scenarios.

How can teams move from being risk-averse to welcoming it?

They need to value experimentation as much as execution, and treat prototyping and testing as essential tools to become more proactive, flexible, and anticipatory.

How do you measure the ROI of futuring work—especially when outcomes are years away?

When people ask about the ROI of futuring, my instinct is to turn the question around. It's difficult to calculate ROI on something that hasn’t happened yet, but the cost of failing to anticipate change can be enormous. Kodak is the best example. The company actually invented the first digital camera in 1975, but failed to see how quickly digital photography would upend film. By clinging to its film-based business model, Kodak lost market dominance and became a cautionary tale.

Traditional ROI frameworks struggle here because strategic foresight isn’t about the yield of one project; it’s about building the organizational muscle to spot signals early, test ideas, and avoid expensive missteps. You measure it by looking at the risks you didn’t take, the dead ends you avoided, or the resilience you gained by having already prototyped tomorrow. Futuring pays for itself when leaders say, “We saw that coming, and we were able to pivot.”

What’s a future trend or shift you’re excited—or concerned—about today?

One of the shifts I find most fascinating right now is around aging, specifically, what happens to work and purpose as people move into what we’ve traditionally thought of as “retirement.” Futurists are seeing a wealth of signals about how people in their “golden” years are reimagining later life: seeking out new forms of community, finding ways to stay mentally active, and extending their financial participation.

The trends and drivers round out the plausibility. Global fertility rates are dropping, life expectancies are increasing, and economies will need older workers to remain in the workforce. These factors raise provocative questions: How do we design systems of lifelong learning? What does work look like if “retirement” is no longer a given? And what shifts in behavior and policy should we be making now if this is the direction our futures are headed? These are just some of the plausible futures I’m excited to continue exploring. 

How have you been using AI in your futuring process, and any cautionary notes?

AI can be a powerful amplifier in futuring. It can help scan vast amounts of content, pulling together trends from across industries and geographies that might otherwise go unnoticed. It can rapidly outline starter scenarios, artifact ideas, or speculative narratives that expand a creative range of what’s possible. When it is used alongside human-centered design, it can iterate on a futurist’s speculative images, prototypes, or interactive experiences that stakeholders can react to. AI is also well-suited to helping teams stress-test assumptions and edge cases. AI is frequently my research assistant, helping me organize and then chase down areas to explore.

However, there are significant limitations and risks associated with the use of AI in this space. AI reflects the bias of the data it’s trained on, which means it will always reproduce “used futures,” or outdated ideas about the future that resonated in the past but are no longer relevant. That data is the sum of its experience, so AI can also magnify well-documented content and underrepresent marginalized, edgy, or more local viewpoints. As a designer and futurist, it’s important not to outsource your imagination or creativity to AI, or treat the output of AI work as anything more than a prompt or starting point for human creativity and discussion. Futuring is ultimately about culture and values as much as it is about trends and technologies, so relying on AI risks stripping away the deeply human context that makes foresight meaningful.

If you’re curious to learn more about futuring and missed the Creative Confidence episode, you can find it here. If you’d like to work with us on a futuring project of your own, get in touch.

About 15 years ago, I stepped into the role of Managing Director for Innovation and Strategy at Kaiser Permanente. My remit was broad: performance improvement, innovation, and leadership and culture development.

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At IDEO’s Play Lab, Dreamforce serves as a reminder of how quickly technology evolves and shapes the world our kids are living in. It prompts us to consider what’s next for people, especially young learners growing up in an AI-shaped world, and how play can serve as a powerful tool for tackling complex, often intimidating challenges with curiosity and creativity.

So, when I learned that IDEO was partnering with Salesforce on a student-focused event ahead of this year’s Dreamforce, I jumped at the chance to speak with Dr. Ron C. Smith, Vice President of Philanthropy at Salesforce. The lifelong educator and Bay Area native leads Salesforce’s global education philanthropy team, directing millions of dollars in strategic philanthropic investments to build AI literacy through public school education around the US. While some worry that AI will replace jobs, Smith is an optimist; he sees AI’s potential to unlock new interests and career opportunities. His team’s role? Preparing today’s young people to be educated and ethical AI consumers and creators so they can step into their still-being-imagined future careers—and training the adults who teach them along the way. I spoke with Dr. Smith about how to help young people thrive in a future that’s still taking shape, and why optimism, access, and play will matter more than ever.

Keren Ruth Wong: You were a former Network Superintendent at Oakland Unified School District and a classroom teacher, and now you’re leading philanthropic giving at one of the world’s largest tech companies. With your background, I imagine you have an interesting perspective on what a valuable partnership with public schools looks like.

Dr. Ron C. Smith:  For 20 years, I worked as a teacher, then principal, and then led schools and managed school transformations. Then, eight years ago, I joined Salesforce. At the heart of everything we do at Salesforce are the young people we serve, ages 13 to 22, and the teachers, counselors, principals, and superintendents who work with them.

Technologically speaking, the world we live in has changed so much. And I know it continues to change. We used to have a sense of what tech jobs are out there, but that’s all changing so quickly. I know some students feel discouraged because I often hear, “There aren’t any jobs,” but that’s actually not true. A lot of new and diverse industries are seeking tech talent, including gaming and medical and education technology, among others. On top of that, there’s what AI can offer. These types of jobs are perfect for the young people we work with. They’re not afraid of technology. They understand the concept of working across different learning modalities. People tell kids, “Oh, you have to be a doctor or lawyer,” which are great professions, but there are other paths; they’re just not recognized as careers yet.

For far too long, there has been a strange disconnect. There’s been education on one side, and the workforce on the other. But actually, there’s a through-line from education to training and skill development to a career. When you think about it like that, you can ask how to get the right resources to support that continuum. Our goal at Salesforce is to identify and support nonprofits and educational institutions that serve young people who are furthest from success, empower them, provide career counseling and mentoring, and enable them to navigate society’s uncertainties. Salesforce is not going to solve every problem, but by working with great partners like IDEO and Formula One, among others, who engage and inspire students, we can be stepping stones to change and be part of the overall solution.

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Keren Ruth Wong: Salesforce made a very specific choice to focus on AI education grants and AI fluency. What was behind that decision?

Dr. Ron C. Smith: AI has been around for a while, but it has only become a mainstream topic in the last two years. At that time, my team and I took a step back and embarked on a listening tour with our nonprofits and partners. We asked them, “Where do you see your work intersecting with AI now and in the future? What are your needs, and where can we support?” We discovered three things.

One: The nonprofits that focus on work and skills training said, “We need to start training young people earlier.” Two: Our partners in the education system said, “We need more support, more training, and more access for educators helping our young people dream about their future careers.” And three: everyone is preparing our young people for unknown careers. Because at the time—and even now—no one says, “I got an AI job!” What is an AI job, anyway? They’re still being created. So, we were intentional about considering partners that focus on AI literacy and fluency, specifically. That means knowing how to use AI safely and ethically, as well as being able to be an AI creator. Having that concrete baseline gives everyone a fairer starting point.

What we also knew was that we couldn’t wait. Now’s the time to invest, especially for the young people we serve, because if we waited until everybody’s ready and felt great about AI, we’d already be behind the eight ball. The education system works notoriously slowly. It just is what it is. We’re saying: let’s take a chance. What we don’t want is for our partners to wait and stay stagnant, potentially pushing those young people who are already behind further behind as they prepare for their futures. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity to engage, invest, and partner with school systems, nonprofits, and all stakeholders involved in public education.

Keren Ruth Wong: It sounds like co-creation between you, the nonprofits, and the students. You’re deciding and preparing together for whatever the jobs might be, five, 10, or 15 years from now. 

Dr. Ron C. Smith: One hundred percent. It’s also about working with school leadership. During our listening tour, we invited superintendents from our partner districts, Oakland and San Francisco, as well as superintendents, CEOs, chancellors, and executive directors from across the country, to share their initial thoughts on the role they saw AI playing in their school systems. Our goal was twofold. We wanted to learn what types of training and skills they needed, so we could find partners that could provide that. Then, we wanted to know how they, as leaders, were building AI into their overall infrastructure. Because it’s one thing for leaders to say they want to do something. It’s another if they make AI part of their overall goal, mission, and strategic plan. 

Keren Ruth Wong: As a former teacher, you were in the classroom when laptops, smart boards, and other technologies were introduced. What makes AI feel different—if it does—than any other wave of classroom technology?

Dr. Ron C. Smith: I mean, I started in the classroom with chalk. There are young people who’ve never touched chalk!

Computers, the internet, interactive smart boards: they’re all tools. They’re about accessing information. The thing that’s different about AI is that it’s interactive and personalized. You can ask deep questions, have a conversation, and get information about something that’s specifically for you, not just “What’s the capital of Montana?” When you’re talking to Claude, Perplexity, or Gemini, it’s as if you’re talking to a friend. It feels more personal and intimate—less like a tool and more like a partner or assistant. And it’s just getting stronger and wiser because it has more information. The better the questions asked of it, the more meaningful the partnership that can be developed between the AI and the human, which is key. I keep hearing this phrase, “It’s not AI leading humans to an answer, it’s humans leading AI to an answer.” We need to help young people develop the skills to ask better, deeper questions.

Keren Ruth Wong: What role does critical thinking play in helping students have intelligible, meaningful conversations with AI?

‍Dr. Ron C. Smith: When you think about reading and writing, you’re using critical skills like inference, drawing conclusions, and summarizing. Those same skills are needed when working with AI. Asking AI a simple question can get you basic information. That’s level one. What you can get by Googling. If you want to go to level three, four, or five—really go deep—you have to be able to summarize, draw an inference from the answer, rephrase, and ask it to try it another way.

I recall writing my dissertation. My editor said, “Ron, remember, it goes: good, crap, good, crap, good, crap. The second you realize every other sentence or thought is not good, you’re going to get better.” It’s the same with asking AI questions. The more you engage, the better questions you learn to ask, and the more you start to process what your own ideas are. The young people in the future who can ask the right questions will get ahead faster, and likely stay ahead of those who simply tell AI, “Find me the best restaurant.”

Keren Ruth Wong: Tech is moving so quickly. It feels like the conversation is more technology-led and technology-driven, rather than human-centered. What keeps you optimistic these days? 

Dr. Ron C. Smith: For me, it’s humans and technology working together. It’s not a war game! It’s the next evolution of a technology that’s been around for a while. We can’t be afraid of change. 

At the same time—and this is the part we must take to heart—if those who are furthest from success don’t have access to the same tools of change, the gaps that already exist will become chasms. These kids will be left behind and never catch up. And that’s something that we, as a society, should not let happen. We should be pushing everyone forward. 

Keren Ruth Wong: It’s heartening to hear that the conversations you’re having with different stakeholders in the education system are informing where Salesforce grant dollars go, eventually impacting what jobs are created and what the future looks like.   

Dr. Ron C. Smith: Look, my team is amazing. We all come to our work with deep knowledge and experience. Despite this, we believe we should never tell those who are part of the education system what to do. They should tell us what they want, and then we need to agree on how to support that. If we go in with an idea, saying, “This is what’s gonna work,” most nonprofits or education systems that are starving for resources will say yes to the money, then change the idea to meet their needs. A better, more effective path is to say, “Let’s partner. Come up with an idea that aligns with both our strategies and goals.” Now, you’re building together. 

‍Keren Ruth Wong: Are there any programs or grantees that you’re particularly excited about?

Dr. Ron C. Smith: Yes! aiEDU will be leading one of the AI sessions for the students we’ll be hosting at IDEO. They’re an amazing group. Not only do they offer AI literacy training for young people, but they also train and empower educators and school leaders to use AI tools. They understand that having a strong pedagogy to dive deep into the tools is different than using them. Having that back and forth is awesome.

Another group that will be part of our IDEO event is the Hidden Genius Project, based in Oakland. What we like about them is that they engage in a lot of hands-on learning with computers, 3D printing, and other technologies. They’re trying to infuse AI into all of their work. 

Those are just two of our high-quality partners. There are so many more.

Keren Ruth Wong: It’s been such a pleasure speaking with you. Any final thoughts? 

‍Dr. Ron C. Smith: This sounds like the start of a Star Trek episode, but we cannot be afraid of the future. Let’s play together, work together, and figure out how to drive change for those who are in greatest need.

Looking to use AI to shape the future of work and learning? Get in touch. We'd love to help.

If you live in San Francisco, like I do, October is synonymous with Dreamforce, Salesforce’s annual mega conference that gathers hundreds of thousands of technology professionals—both in-person and online—to hear about the latest advances in AI.

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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.