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.

And while we're at it: The holidays are a time for gratitude, so from the entire Octopus team, a heartfelt thanks for stopping by. We can't wait to bring you more stories about the design of everyday life.

Help us help you! Got a burning question that you'd like an IDEO designer to answer in the new year? Hit me up via email (octopus@ideo.com) or Twitter.

Miss some of the posts on this list? Sign up for our weekly newsletter to stay up to date with The Octopus in 2018.

1. 19 Things We're Dying to Redesign

Call it an occupational hazard: IDEO designers are always thinking about how to make things better. Here are 19 projects we'd love to get our Sharpies on. Read the story!

2. 5 Exercises That Break Down Barriers

Walking into a room full of strangers can be daunting. Try these exercises to move beyond the small talk. Read the story!

3. 'Sprint' Author Jake Knapp Built You a New To-Do List

For many, to-do lists are a necessary evil. So Jake Knapp, IDEO Fellow and author of Sprint, built a new one that you'll actually want to use. Read the story!

4. 13 Ways to Make Your Workspace More Creative

Businesses are finally catching on: Cubicles are out. But what do we replace them with? IDEO designers share tips to supercharge your space for creativity. Read the story!

5. A Day in the Life of a Design Researcher

At IDEO, design researchers do more than just ask people questions. Follow one of our own through a day of field research in Tokyo. Read the story!

6. How to Design a Meeting That Doesn't Suck

We admit it: Meetings can end up feeling more like black holes in your calendar. But how do you design a meeting that truly inspires? Try these three tips. Read the story!

7. Why You Should Start Prototyping—Right Now

It's never too early to start prototyping. Learn how starting day one of a new project can inspire and excite your team. Read the story!

8. 3 Ways to Make Your OOO More Human

How might we take one of the most automated voices we still offer to the world—the email auto-responder—and make it more human? Read the story!

9. Why You Should Keep Making Stuff By Hand

In between tech projects at IDEO CoLab, Jacob Waites likes to turn off the computer and focus on using his hands—and you should, too. Read the story!

10. Smart Things That Will Save the World

Today's products were designed for the industrial era of browsing store aisles. If we want to create a more sustainable future, it's time to rethink that model. Read the story!

What a year! Inky the Octopus has wrapped her tentacles around some big topics, from creative meetings to sexy typography to blockchain to hip-hop. As we wave goodbye to 2017, we wanted to share Inky's greatest hits—the top 10 stories you read and shared most this year.

Here are a few of the many ways IDEOers want to help reinvigorate the modern workplace:

1. Increase employee feedback

Research in education shows that the best way to help students grow is to give them constant feedback on their performance. How can professionals be expected to grow if they only get feedback once every three, six, or twelve months?

Research by Harvard psychologist Teresa Amabile shows that a sense of progress at work stokes joy, creativity, and engagement. How could we adjust our meetings, our daily routines, and our cultures to make feedback an everyday activity? How much more trust could we create and conflict could we resolve if we created safe ways to help one another grow? It seems pollyannaish to say it, but I’d love to redesign feedback mechanisms to make us all better at what we do. —Joe Brown, IDEO San Francisco

2. Rebrand maternity leave

I want to redesign maternity leave—the brand, the experience, and the expectations.

Maternity leave is viewed as a pause or a step back in a woman's career, but I experienced it as a time of greater perspective and personal growth. I largely credit my mom, who asked me before my leave, "What are you going to do with your sabbatical?" Rather than correct her, I embraced the idea that this was time for me, too. As a result, I’m coming out of it more energized and inspired to lead, which is better for me and for IDEO. —Ashlea Powell Sommer, IDEO New York

3. Rethink retirement

I'd love to redesign the way the financial system, employers, and society think about retirement. Most of us know that retirement in its traditional, as-seen-in-a-401k-brochure form is either undesirable or unfeasible.

Instead of continuing to think and talk about retirement as a phase of life, what if we thought about retirement and the money we set aside for it as a modality that we dip into and out of as we change careers, take care of loved ones, take time off to travel, or work part-time? Instead of worrying about building up our net worth in order to have enough, we could all focus on something much more enriching—designing creative ways to amplify our net freedom throughout life. —Hailey Brewer, IDEO New York

4. Explode the org chart

Organizations are comprised of relatively mobile individuals with multidimensional capabilities who are responding to constantly changing contexts. But the prevailing “boxes and lines” org charts tell the stories of specialized, formal, and static machines. They really don't reflect the fluid way people work today. Let’s redesign the org chart to represent the modern worker who wants to learn, grow, and flex new muscles. —Mathew Chow, IDEO San Francisco

5. Make company cultures transparent

Company cultures can be opaque from the outside, and yet anybody who has experienced a good vs. mediocre vs. bad culture can tell you that it makes all the difference. How might we help more people understand the cultures of the companies they’re joining?

I’ve resorted to asking for one day to one week with the company, working side-by-side, before making a decision to join, which helps a ton but is not always an option. Trial runs like these can also sometimes be discriminatory; for instance, Harvard Business School used to require all potential professors to spend a year teaching, but found that this policy accidentally discriminated against women, who had more trouble spending a year away from family than men. There must be better ways. —Wendy Lin, IDEO Palo Alto

6. Bring UX design to enterprise tools

The tools that so many people use everyday to get things done are ugly and unfriendly and make them miserable—particularly in B2B settings, where employees have to deal with systems that are outdated, painful, and frustrating. I’ve noticed this in particular during work IDEO has done with diplomats at the Department of State—brilliant minds who have to spend a substantial amount of their time dealing with these tools and figuring out workarounds to trick the software. —David Boardman, IDEO New York

7. Flip sales incentives

We know that when sales is about the push, instead of the pull, it can have disastrous long-term effects on customers, communities, and sometimes the business itself. Too many folks in sales and account management positions work in conditions that encourage transactional, short-term, and business-centric behaviors and outcomes.

How might we move all sales—particularly in industries where there's an information and confidence asymmetry between buyers and sellers—away from a “fee for service” model and toward a “fee for value” setup? —Hailey Brewer, IDEO New York

8. Create 21st-century unions

Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures recently wrote what I thought was a provocative piece asking, “What is the union of today?” Especially with so many gig economy workers and the rise of freelancing in Gen Z, how do individuals balance the power of the large organizations that pay them?

There are a lot of both positive and negative opinions—all strong and politicized, it seems!—about unions, but I think taking a closer look at the fundamental goal of unions, which is to give labor an equal seat at the table, can open up new opportunities in today’s labor context, maybe with the help of blockchain and other emerging technologies. —Wendy Lin, IDEO Palo Alto

Want to rework the workplace with us? Contact Maggie Howekamp (mhowekamp@ideo.com) at IDEO’s San Francisco studio.

Our dream for the future of work that companies become more flexible, human-centered, and purpose-driven—in other words, better places to work. But rethinking accepted ways of doing business isn’t easy (BTW, we’ve got some help on hand if you’re interested in learning the tools of organizational change). Our designers have a long wish list and some ideas for how to get started: What if we could reframe maternity leave as a time for personal enrichment? Or make navigating enterprise software less miserable?

‍

Blockchain is a relatively new technology that will soon replace the underlying structure for a lot of the applications and services we use today, including systems for managing our finances, tracking our health, and determining how we connect, transact, and communicate with each other.

So, while it’s tempting to write off blockchains as something to leave to the coders, the potential human impact is too big to ignore. There will be user experiences, communications, and other completely new elements that will need to be carefully designed.

At IDEO CoLab, we explore the potential of emerging technologies like artificial intelligence and the Distributed Web by building prototypes in quarterly sprints. A crucial part of our mission is considering human-centered values in the process of building for the future—creating things the world actually needs, not just more technology.

Here are three reasons why designers need to start thinking about blockchain technology today:

1. It’s bigger than just cryptocurrency

Many people are familiar with cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum. (And for those who aren’t, here’s a quick video that explains the basics.) Blockchain is the technology that forms the underlying structure for these digital currencies, and gives them the unique qualities that make them different from conventional lucre like the US Dollar. That structure includes the ability to exchange funds directly with anybody, anywhere in the world, without the need for an intermediary like PayPal, Visa, or Citibank.

But what most people don’t understand yet is that blockchain technology is about so much more than digital coins. At its essence, a blockchain is a new type of digital ledger which records information in a publicly-verified, traceable way across a decentralized network of devices. What this means is information for, say, an app isn’t just stored on a privately-owned server somewhere—it’s stored across multiple devices that communicate with each other to verify user activity, rather than referencing one central authority, like a Wells Fargo or Google.

Blockchains offer a new way of tracking information, and their applications are broad. Not only are they expected to pervade the financial industry, they’re also being integrated into global shipping, parts tracking, digital identity, healthcare, and other systems. In fact, it’s hard to think of an industry that relies on technology that wouldn’t benefit from using a blockchain.

With a potential to reach millions—even billions!—of people, designers need to start thinking about how they can use their skills to improve the user experience for all of the products and services that will be built on top of this new infrastructure.

2. It will change how humans interact with one another

Blockchain isn’t just a technology, it’s also a state of mind. Well, okay, that might just be the Californian in me talking, but all exaggeration and hype aside, blockchains are going to have a big impact on our culture too.

We’ll come to expect new things from our relationships with other people and parties, based on how blockchains manage our digital interactions. Mirroring the open, accessible code structure, people will expect the companies they do business with are open and accessible as well.

Consumers will demand more information about the goods and services they purchase. Companies will be held to a higher standard of data security.

Trust will become perhaps the most important design element in any system.

Imagine a world where all interactions are more egalitarian, transparent, and traceable—what would that look like? How might we design for this new world view?

(Check out this talk from CoLab’s Gavin McDermott to learn more about the 10 key landmarks of the decentralized web movement.)

3. Technology needs design more than ever

Our world is changing at lightspeed. As new technologies and tools are released daily, it’s easy to get caught up in the rapid pace without stopping to think about the human impact of what we’re creating.

We have a tendency to think of code and algorithms as neutral tools, but they’re not. Technology is neither good nor bad, it's how we apply it that matters. Everything we create has a human imprint on it—our assumptions, hopes, and fears are built into the systems we design (the bias in algorithms has been getting a lot of ink lately).

That’s why, moving forward, we’re going to need a group of people that advocate for the human experience—and human rights—as we develop these technologies. Especially right now, as emerging technologies like blockchain begin to take form, it’s important for designers to have a voice in that process from the very beginning.

How do you envision the designer's role evolving alongside blockchain developers? Let us know on Twitter or Instagram #blockchaindesign

Looking for ways to get started designing for blockchains? Check out this list of quick prototyping tools for emerging technologies from IDEO CoLab.

Blockchain. You’ve heard the word. Perhaps you’ve invested in a digital currency or two. But do you really know what the technology is and why it matters? It all sounds deeply technical—and it is. But it's important to understand this new tool, as it will have a big impact on our lives—radically altering how we live, work, and play.

We were joking about how Aaron's last name is pretty similar to Furby, the interactive Gremlin look-a-like toy from the late 90s. Someone suggested it would be funny if we modified a Furby so that instead of speaking Furbish (I think that's what people call the language Furbys speak?), it would repeat phrases in Aaron's voice. At first, it was just a joke, but then I mentioned I had a couple Furbys at home I'd been meaning to hack…

What’s a Furby?

For the unfamiliar, Furby was a coveted toy when it hit the market in 1998. Seriously. More than 40 million of the hamster-esque creature were sold in its first three years of production. Kids fell in love with it because of its child-like nature and the fact that it required feeding, nurturing, and constant attention. It also only spoke Furbish out of the box, developing an English vocabulary over time as kids talked to it.

Because the Furby was one of the first widely-marketed toy robots, it also appealed to the hacking community. In the early years, there were some news stories about whether the microphone inside Furby was listening in on private conversations, but thankfully, Furby does not use the microphone to record audio. Because of the ruckus over the microphone, there is a wealth of information on the internet about how to properly deconstruct a Furby, and how the Furby's insides function.

How I did it

The first step was to take Furby apart. Unfortunately, due to Furby's realistic personality, the process of deconstructing the Furby felt more like field dressing an animal. I had to delicately skin the toy so that I would be able to resurrect it later.

Once the Furby was dissembled I put together a vice to clamp down its skeleton; it almost looked like I was torturing it until it would talk...and in a way, I kind of was. With the Furby in place, I was able to access its inner circuitry and check out its voice box. After some initial probing, I turned back to the internet again and was able to find a full schematic of Furby’s insides, which meant I no longer had to guess and check what each part was used for and how they were connected. I could also disconnect the voice box.

After some reading, I decided that the best option for triggering voice playback would be to use the motors. Furby always moves and talks at the same time, so any time the motors are working, he should be talking. If I used any of its switches (belly, mouth/tongue, gyroscope, etc.) as an audio trigger, I would miss Furby’s unprovoked audio actions, the ones it does without user input. (Sometimes the Furby will start singing or fall asleep on its own.) Those actions are triggered internally, and I didn't have the time or resources to begin understanding how a Furby's brain works.

To build the the audio playback, I used a circuit board I created a few years ago that's a variation of Adafruit's wav/ogg audio fx board. My audio playback board is very similar, but it also includes the necessary circuitry for charging a connected lithium-ion battery. With this addition (and a voltage booster), I was able to power the Furby from a rechargeable source, rather than four AA batteries.

Now that most of the individual pieces were developed, it was time to play Dr. Frankenstein and connect the parts together to give Franken-Furby life.

I used the newly vacant battery holder space to store the Furby’s new guts...err circuitry. This was an ideal location because there were already holes to run new wiring up to the Furby’s body. I added a wire to break out the motor trigger line for monitoring. I was able to monitor the motor with a basic analog comparator (LM311), and use the output to trigger audio playback. I then amplified the audio output with a class D amp, before connecting to the Furby’s speaker with two more wires.

Last, but not least, I added a few clips of Aaron speaking at various events to the audio playback board. We may or may not have have played around with loading some more inappropriate vocals (i.e. creepy laughing and other Halloween-themed sounds) first for kicks, but things got a little too creepy, so that didn’t last long.

The result

We presented the Franken-Furby to Aaron at his goodbye party, and it was a hit! Unfortunately, because it was a goodbye gift, it's no longer possible to work on that Furby anymore. But I’m game to hack more Furbys. My next goal is to create a new version, perhaps integrating all the circuitry onto a single circuit board, and hopefully dig a little deeper into understanding how Furbys operate.

‍

‍

Our Chicago office has a tradition of giving silly but relevant goodbye gifts to departing colleagues. The goal is to make their exit a little more light-hearted for everyone, as well as give our erstwhile colleagues a sort of inside joke to take with them. When a friend and colleague of mine, Aaron Ferber, was leaving to pursue another passion in St. Louis, we started ginning up ideas for his send-off.

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.

‍

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.