Since the early 1990s, Samsung and IDEO have shared a history of influential and award-winning collaboration. Together, the two companies have worked on more than 50 projects, the offerings created by this partnership spanning a broad spectrum, from a series of conceptual multimedia devices to industry-changing monitors, TVs, laptops, mobile phones and interfaces, computer peripherals, and mobile platform strategies. But beyond the design of products brought to their global market, the Samsung/IDEO partnership used the human-centered design approach to produce the innovation that ended up transforming the electronics giant’s entire business.

After years of being an industry fast-follower, Samsung approached IDEO with the idea of an immersive cultural exchange. Samsung designers, marketers, and strategists came to Palo Alto and set up a studio near IDEO to learn everything they could from the US consumer market and IDEO’s design approach. Together, the teams began to design groundbreaking electronics products, while using design thinking to look at the entire business through a new lens. By putting users at the center of the process, and beginning to understand their needs and emerging behaviors, Samsung found it could not only satisfy existing customers, but also begin to anticipate market shifts. This tipping point led Samsung to evolve into a market leader.

Samsung and IDEO created a design powerhouse, following a journey from designing products to services to experiences, interactions, and innovation that moved Samsung away from consumer electronics toward an even bigger market of back-end services and interactive and systems-based services.

Culturally, the partnership with IDEO has helped Samsung adopt new ways to integrate internal teams, a human-centered design approach and iterative prototyping, and the methodologies to merge technology and design to create a leading-edge consumer line and brand. As evidence of Samsung’s rise to being one of the world’s largest design-driven companies, the company has more than doubled its internal design teams since 2000, according to the article “Samsung Design” in BusinessWeek Online.

Some of the projects include:

LCD Computer monitors
Samsung and IDEO created the industry-standard 970P and 971P monitors, featuring clean surfaces, contrasting textures, and a simple design for a premium look and feel. Designed with IDEO founder Mike Nuttall, they won both the 2009 iF Award and a 2007 IDEA Gold award.

Brand awareness for Samsung Memory
Wanting to raise awareness about Samsung Memory’s products that enhance the performance of electronic devices, IDEO and Samsung designed a humorous campaign that highlighted consumers’ need for Samsung Memory.

SimpleMedia and TotalMedia home entertainment concepts
IDEO and Samsung designed two concepts: SimpleMedia combined a computer, television, DVD, fax, and telephone; TotalMedia featured an adjustable screen and LCD projector combination. Although neither was ever produced, they were honored with design awards from ID Magazine and BusinessWeek, respectively.

SyncMaster 400TFT Flat Panel Display
Samsung and IDEO designed the SyncMaster LCD flatscreen multimedia monitor to be thin and elegant, and it garnered several design awards in Korea, Germany, and the U.S. The British magazine T3 called it “the sexiest monitor we’ve ever seen.”

Nana Joes, a beloved San Francisco granola company, was born from an avid surfer’s desire to bring healthy breakfast back to the kitchen table. Embracing the philosophy that good food is about wholesome ingredients prepared with care, the startup took pride in carefully scraping each vanilla bean by hand and soon gained a devoted following at farmers markets around the Bay Area.

As Nana Joes’ reputation grew beyond the hills of San Francisco, the company asked IDEO to explore how to take a small company and scale the brand for national distribution, while keeping its heart and handcrafted ethos at its core.

A team of IDEO designers set out to position Nana Joes for growth by developing a brand identity and packaging system that would resonate with customers and reduce operational complexity. The entire team went on factory tours and met with packaging suppliers to identify solutions that would be easily manufactured en masse, but still retain the familiar handcrafted feel. With mock-up packaging in hand, they hit local farmers markets to conduct live in-market prototyping with both loyal and new customers and met with retail buyers to get their real-time reactions to how the brand and packaging stood out on shelves.

The final deliverables included new branding and packaging for the entire line of granola, granola bars, and cookie products, as well as a guide for Nana Joes to operationalize the rollout by 2016.

The legacy company that produced the first phone book in Australia more than 130 years ago—and the disruptive change it represented—became directories company Sensis. As Sensis made the transition from a print directory to a digital service in recent years, the company came to IDEO to foster a startup mindset.

Together, Sensis and IDEO identified four ways for Sensis to become more agile: Focus on the company’s core skills, revitalize the product development process, develop insights about Sensis’ global competitors, and strengthen connections to current and potential customers.

After prototyping more than 65 ideas, the team decided on an app, Skip, with which a customer connects remotely to her favorite café right from her phone, sends her order, and schedules a time to pick it up. Then she breezes past the line when she arrives at the café.

To understand how this app might work in the real world, the team fanned out across Melbourne, talked directly with café owners and their customers, gathering data, and watching behavior, then launched the live app just 10 weeks after developing the first prototype.

Watch: Team members from Sensis and IDEO share their experiences.

Fueled by a mission to “help everyone love what they eat,” the Chicago-based food-tech startup Food Genius created a consumer-facing mobile app that used a complex algorithm to track more than 16 million restaurant menu items and classify consumers’ dining-out behaviors.

After the year-old startup became part of IDEO’s Startup in Residence program in Chicago, the company changed its focus from consumers to the food industry.

To build their food industry-focused platform, the designers collaborated on a number of business and technological development strategies, product road-mapping, and a prototype viral marketing experience called Curry Crawl to test the usability of the new API.

In April 2016, Food Genius was acquired by US Foods. "What was really striking about US Foods is that they take a very analytics-driven approach to their business," said Justin Massa, founder and former CEO of Food Genius. "They bought the technology knowing it's going to be able to do great stuff."

Two years ago, I ordered wood, frets, a few parts, and a couple of guidebooks. After watching hours of instructional YouTube videos, I built a mold and got going.

I’m entirely self-taught. I learned mainly by doing, common sense, and from my experience building models as a product designer. There’s a violin maker next to our office who helped me understand old techniques like hot-bending wood, working with hot hide glue, and using and sharpening wood hand tools.

I’ve finished two guitars, and I’m working on a new one now. I do all of my work on them in our IDEO Munich workshop. The first took about 140 hours to make, over six months. The second one took less time. (A professional builder takes about 40 to 60 hours, for reference.) You can’t rush it and there’s not much room for iteration—it has to be right the first time. I sign the inside of each soundboard so people know where and when it was built, in case someone takes them apart after I’m gone.

I build off a 1930s plan by CF Martin, a German who emigrated to the US in the late 1800s and founded the famous Martin Guitar Company. He invented the American steel-string guitar. The model is called OM (Orchestra Model). It was the biggest guitar made at the time, and was for playing in orchestras and, of course, without amplification. I find its shape beautiful, and it has a fine voice. It’s still built today. It has passed the test of time, I guess.

My latest build is European: a gypsy jazz guitar like one played by famous jazz guitar inventor Django Reinhardt. Created by an Italian guitarist named Maccaferri, it was produced by Selmer, Paris, from the 1930s to the late 1940s. I love that genre, and this guitar has a unique sound.

With the shift to a management position, I’m turning my design skills more towards consulting and away from product design. I miss the focussed work that goes deep, spending time on one project, and having a tangible result after hours of work.

Guitar making gives me all of that. It is extremely rewarding. The result of your work becomes increasingly evident, and at the end you can make music on your own creation, while other guitarists can enjoy what you’ve built. It is an exercise in learning, prototyping, craft, and design.

Guitars have been a love affair of mine since childhood. I was surrounded by music at home: My father plays guitar and taught me to play my first chords. Since I am an avid tinkerer, craftsman, and maker, it was a logical step to build them myself.

This toolkit guides you through design thinking so you can start coming up with solutions to everyday challenges within the library. Design thinking, or human-centered design, is all about starting with people—the users that visit your library.

IDEO has been using similar methods to envision new products, services, spaces, and experiences that bring them to life. IDEO created this toolkit specifically for the library setting and is looking forward to seeing how you might create impact by seeing your work through a fresh perspective: the design thinking lens!

Learn more here.

Design Thinking for Libraries is an approach to improving libraries through creative problem-solving.

Apparently I’m not the only one. Aya Jaffar’s exploration, “Introvert at IDEO”, reveals that I am healthier and far less freakish than I ever could have dreamed. As an intern, Aya took on the task of asking her fellow IDEOers how they embrace their introversion in such an extroverted environment.

IDEO is filthy rich with fascinating people. Every week we have stimulating lunch-hour talks and raucous happy hours. Our office is the ultimate embodiment of an extroverted workspace. We think out loud! We brainstorm together! We eat in teams! We have walk and talks, just like in The West Wing!

That’s all well and good for about half the population. But the best work cultures make space for those of us who seek occasional refuge from the chatter.

Here are a few comforting things I learned from Aya’s “Introvert” piece:

There's a spectrum
Carl Jung was a pretty smart fellow. He suggested that everyone falls somewhere on the Introvert <---> Ambivert <---> Extrovert scale, so none of us are purely one thing or another. Big Bird? Michelle Obama? Your bus driver? Probably all extroverts with introverted traits. Just like me.

Introverts recharge with solo time
Introverts aren’t shy! They’re exhausted and they need to step away from others to think things out or recharge. That’s also why they have monstrously large noise-cancelling headphones on. Always.

They've got skillzzzzz
While extroverts’ positive qualities are easy to identify and praise, we should be quick to notice the greatness and strengths of introverts too. They are world-class listeners, thoughtful synthesizers, and often gifted at lifting others up. They also thrive when working independently so they can get just about anything done if you leave them alone for a bit.

Introverts need thoughtful workspaces
While our colorful, collaborative work style might suggest otherwise, our office actually considers introverts more than we know. We have phone booths built for one, the hushed Lighthouse workroom, enclosed project spaces, and breakout couches that allow anyone to focus in a way that works best for them. Plus, IDEO expects us to manage our own space and schedule, allowing us the freedom to work from home on occasion without ever being judged.

So bring on that big dinner! And some wine! And a cheese platter!

You’ll find me in the bathtub, gearing up for tomorrow.

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Hi. My name is Tal. I have to go home and hide in a bathtub. That’s not exactly a socially acceptable thing to say at a client dinner, but as an introvert in extrovert’s clothing, the thought has scurried through my head many times.

OpenIDEO is an open innovation platform where people from all corners of the world collaboratively tackle some of the toughest global issues through launching Challenges, programs, and other tailored experiences.

A Challenge is a three-to-five month collaborative process that focuses attention on the topic and creates a space for community members to contribute and build off each other. This approach is modeled on IDEO's design thinking methodology.

You can learn more about it here.

Active Challenges

Beyond the Bag Challenge

The Beyond the Bag Challenge, launched in partnership with Closed Loop Partners and leading retailers, seeks to identify, test, and implement innovative new design solutions that serve the function of today’s single-use plastic retail bag. Winning Ideas are eligible to receive a portion of $1 million in funding, participate in a Circular Accelerator program to receive further assistance in scaling, and access testing and potential piloting opportunities. Find out how you can be involved in the Beyond the Bag Challenge and sign up to receive email updates‍

‘Agents of Change' Atopic Dermatitis Challenge: Navigating Uncertainty

The ‘Agents of Change' Atopic Dermatitis Challenge: Navigating Uncertainty aims to find creative ways to help people with atopic dermatitis navigate through the ambiguity surrounding the condition with confidence while building awareness and empathy among those around them. Sign up to receive email updates and join the Challenge starting on September 14 to help change the way people think and feel about atopic dermatitis.‍

The Food System Vision Prize

The $2M Food System Vision Prize is an invitation for organizations, institutions, companies, governments, universities, and other entities across the globe to develop a concrete and actionable Vision of the food system that they aspire to see in the year 2050. Together, we’re seeking answers to the question How might we envision regenerative and nourishing food futures for 2050? $2M will be distributed to the Top Visionaries, who will be eligible to receive a prize of $200,000 each.

Intrigued? Read about the many ways to be involved in the Food System Vision Prize and sign up to receive email updates.

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.