The key to winning the competition in high-end business class air travel lies in the level of service. Legacy European carrier Lufthansa approached IDEO to help redesign its long-haul, business-class service experience into one that’s thoroughly modern, distinctly Lufthansa, and centered on the new needs of today’s discerning passengers.

After putting themselves in the shoes of both travelers and flight attendants on a variety of different airlines, the IDEO design team found that what matters, above champagne and fancy food, is a personal connection between crew and passenger. They used this insight to focus on a new goal: Flight crew consider themselves to be travelers’ trusted, knowing hosts.

To achieve the goal, the design team focused on improving service in six key travel moments, then built a cardboard 1:1 scale mockup of different parts of an airplane to see what they’d need. Designers tested the service in a full section of an Airbus A380 at the airline’s Raunheim, Germany, facility, with real passengers and crew. This prototyping process was crucial, as executives witnessed firsthand how big an impact the new service would have across the organization, which includes 18,000 flight attendants.

Rolling out across the fleet, Lufthansa’s hospitable new service is already getting a good reception among crew. “Pampering passengers like this—individually and personally—was the reason why I started flying for Lufthansa 25 years ago,” said Sabine Schwarz-Odewald, senior flight attendant.

Of all the rooms in our homes, the kitchen is the center of energy, activity, comfort, and creativity—the beating heart of any dwelling. In the coming decade, as our environments and habits change, the kitchen as we know it will evolve drastically. More people will move into cities, and our living spaces will become smaller. Natural resources will become more scarce, food more expensive, and waste an increasingly urgent issue. Near-instant grocery delivery will alter how we shop for and store food, and technology will be embedded in every part of our homes.

What will the kitchen of the future look like, and, more important, what will it feel like to cook, eat, and socialize there?

For IKEA, the world’s biggest furniture store, the time to start designing the kitchen of 2025 is now. So IKEA asked IDEO London and a group of students from Lund and Eindhoven universities to explore the social, technological, and demographic forces that will impact how we behave around food in 2025. The students spent months researching people’s attitudes and ideas about cooking and eating, and IDEO designers guided them as they built concept kitchen products.

To bring these future concepts to the present day, IKEA asked IDEO to design and build a full-size concept kitchen for 250,000 visitors to test out during the Salone Del Mobile in Milan and a six-month stint at EXPO Milano.

Mindful design

Crucial to the success of the project was preserving the tactile creative pleasure of the kitchen. Technology could easily make the space feel robotic and sterile, but this project was guided by the need to use tech to enhance the kitchen’s warmth.

The Concept Kitchen 2025 doesn’t automate away personal choices, but rather facilitates mindfulness with embedded cues throughout the kitchen that subtly guide people toward being conscious of their actions and making informed decisions. In designing the prototypes, the following few concepts emerged.

The Modern Pantry encourages us to have a closer relationship with what we eat by storing food in transparent individual containers on open shelves rather than hiding it at the back of the fridge. The design makes it easy to be inspired by what’s on hand rather than going out to buy more, and it also saves energy: Induction-cooling technology embedded into the shelves responds to RFID stickers on the food’s packaging in order to keep the containers at just the right temperature.

The Table for Living is designed to inspire people to be more creative with food and throw away less. At a loss for what to do with that leftover broccoli? Just place it on the table and a camera recognizes it and projects recipes, cooking instructions, and a timer directly onto the table's surface. Set the timer for how long you want to spend preparing the meal, and the table suggests recipes that can be completed in the window you have available. The table is a nifty solution for a smaller urban dwelling because it’s multimodal: Hidden induction coils instantly cool the surface when not in use, so it’s adjustable for working, cooking, or eating.

The Modern Sink pushes us to be more conscious of our water consumption with a pivoting basin. It must be tipped to one side to drain toxic, or “black,” water, and to the other for safe “gray” water, which is not drinkable but can be filtered and used in a dishwasher or as nourishment for the cooking herbs that grow above the sink.

The Thoughtful Disposal system is a response to the overuse of landfills, and reminds us of exactly what we’re throwing away. Users manually sort recycling from rubbish, and recyclables are then crushed, vacuum-packed, and labeled for pick-up, earning credits for the conscientious (and debits for the wasteful).

IKEA’s kitchen and dining range manager, Gerry Dufresne, explained that the Concept Kitchen 2025 is not really a functional kitchen, but rather “a tangible communication of what the behaviors of the future will be.” It’s just the start of IKEA’s journey toward understanding how those behaviors will shape the company’s future, and Dufresne says the findings will be carried forward into future product development.

Long before Tina Fey’s hit show 30 Rock made it a household name, Rockefeller Center was among Manhattan’s most popular destinations. Not least because NBC’s TODAY show starts every morning by filming its gaggle of fans gathered at Rockefeller Plaza.

When TODAY asked IDEO to help design the experience of their guest audiences before, during, and after the show, IDEO's team joined the fray—standing behind the barricades from 7 to 9 a.m. alongside the show’s visitors.

We gathered feedback and learned what was most important to this dedicated audience: to feel a human connection to the people they had shared their mornings with—every day, for years, sometimes for decades. Visitors wanted a celebration, an event they could document and remember, and of course a clear sense of where to go and what to expect once they arrived.

TODAY’s morning time slot offered an additional challenge: The visitor experience would need to be assembled and fully dismantled every morning, leaving Rockefeller Center in its pristine historic state immediately after the cameras stopped rolling.

To ensure a solution that would be both satisfying to visitors and viable for the show, IDEO engaged audiences, anchors, and crew in a series of live prototypes that incorporated feedback from all sides and designed a warmer, more human-centered experience for everyone involved.

Visitors to the show can now RSVP at TODAY.com/visit beforehand. When they arrive at the new iconic archway on 49th Street, they are given clear directions by dedicated plaza staff on what to expect during their visit. The audience can also craft posters to display in the crowd, receive commemorative Birthday, Bucket List, or Super Fan buttons that recognize special occasions during their visit, and watch live video and audio feeds to build excitement and momentum when the anchors head into the studio.

From the moment visitors decide to visit TODAY at Rockefeller Center to the weeks after when they share memories with friends, the revamped plaza experience ensures visitors feel cared for and appreciated. They now leave feeling that they’re more than just spectators—they’re the heartbeat of TODAY.

Brands don’t take bank holidays. A successful company doesn’t just find solutions during strict nine-to-five office hours—the strength of its relationship with its customers is based on openness to good ideas and flexibility around the unpredictable ways that real people live and work.

Over a five-year relationship with GS Shop, a multichannel commerce company based in Korea, IDEO helped the company develop a brand that reflected an emphasis on openness, transparency, enthusiasm, participation, personalization, and distinction.

When it was time for GS Shop to build a new headquarters, it wanted these ideals to be baked right into the structure of the new building, inspiring the interactions and work styles that would define the company’s future. The team started by looking at one of the most fundamental factors in their employees’ day-to-day experience, the physical spaces where they did their work.

The designers broke down all the elements of the space, including everything from flexible wall configurations to nature-inspired fabric choices that brought the outside in. At the core of their decision-making was the intersection of environment and behavior: How could a certain configuration of desks help new ideas to bubble up? How might the transparency of the boardroom walls encourage executives to make more collaborative decisions?

Traditional Korean business culture places a strong emphasis on hierarchy, but IDEO found that teams worked better when they arranged seating areas in ways that decentralized the boss. Coworkers had felt isolated from those in other business units, so the designers created room for impromptu gatherings outside common meeting spaces. Everything from functional needs, like toothbrush storage, to features that encouraged cross-pollination of ideas, like a set of shelves where departments could share examples of their work with other units, was taken into account.

The result was both an entirely new headquarters and a reimagining of the company’s existing building, each closely mirroring the renderings and recommendations provided by IDEO. GS Shop employees are now working in the new spaces, ready to field new ideas wherever—and whenever—inspiration strikes.

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Dear Maira Kalman,

I have to admit, it was Tibor who brought us together. Him and his flair, and boldness, passion and humor. But you—YOU! You were the words and the drawings and the insights. A creative mess of things I found in contrast to my young orderly graphic design mind, yet loved and admired and wanted every bit of.

In 1999, I saw you at the SFMoMA talking about your beloved husband when Tiborcity was on exhibit. I was sitting next to the person I didn't know would become my own beloved husband. You became part of our lives together—extending to our children. When our 3-year-old daughter recited the full story of Sayonara, Mrs. Kackleman from memory as we flipped through each page, we knew we had done something right.

Yours in missing our beloveds,
Jen Panasik

Portraits in Creativity: Maira Kalman

Dear Buckminster Fuller,

From the moment I first read you, I fell under the spell of a man who couldn’t be contained by a dictionary. Livingry. Tensegrity. Dymaxion. Big ideas packed into beautiful words. Then again, you said to never think about beauty whilst working on a problem. I'd simply know the solution is wrong if its not beautiful in some way.

Oh Bucky, Spaceship Earth needs you now more than ever.

P.S. Can I leave my toothbrush at your geodesic dome?

—Chris Nyffeler

Dear Janet Champ,

I was just a few years out of college when your "If You Let Me Play" Nike campaign came out, and it rocked my world. Here was this gorgeous feminist rallying cry: It wasn't on a flyer at the natural foods store, and it wasn't on a poster at a protest march. It was on national TV, with a big ol' Nike swoosh at the end. I remember thinking, "Whoa. You can have a paying job AND change the world. That's badass." And I promptly became a writer.

With great affection and respect,
Jenn Maer

Dear Syd Mead,

I'm writing to thank your for the countless hours I spent in my youth immersed in the details and possibilities of your future visions. Your inspirational and sometimes cautionary depiction of future artifacts, cities, and cultures inspired me to design optimistically towards a better tomorrow. Thank you for helping enrich and enlarge our dreams of what lies beyond the horizon and for pulling humanity forward.

Best,
Danny Stillion

Visual Futurist: Syd Mead

Dear David Kelley,

You taught me that even the most simple acts can communicate thought, intention, and creativity. Who knew gift wrapping could be an act of self-expression and creativity, or that you could say "no" to someone and still leave them feeling good about the exchange?

You taught me it's all about the nuance, and the details. That with as much care and thought applied to the moments in between, that you can have a lasting impact on someone's day.

In an world of design full of black and grey, you encouraged me to bring the color.

—Sally Sosa

Dear Vaughan Oliver,

I first met you through the Pixies. I don’t know if it was the big hairy back, geometrically augmented monkey, or the bowl of sheep eyes, but you had me hooked. And who uses script type like that!?!! When I first met you, I expected a severe, dark personality in an equally severe, dark dress. But who I met was a clever, happy, normal guy with an incredible eye for the unusual and a penchant for good stories. Because of you, I still own an unusual number of 4AD CDs, whether I like the music or not. And I usually do.

—Michael Hendrix

Dear Aleksandr Rodchenko,

Thank you for teaching me that typography matters. That, with the right size and placement, words on a page can punch you in the face. That might be the most powerful design lesson I ever learned, and something I’ll never be done learning.

Still stunned,
Joe Brown

Dear Jackie and Lloyd,

It was summer of 2007, London Design Week, and my feet were pounding from covering miles and miles of "best of the best design."
Everything is starting to look the same. My eyes glazed over. "Get me out of here!"

On my way to exiting this hell I stumble across a sanctuary. "Take a deep breath..."

Actually, it took my breath away.

Organic sinuous lines, the color so elegant, I still remember that egg-shell blue on the Malvern sofa. But what made the most lasting impression was the two women designers standing before me—as if I was looking at a future self.

Flash forward 11 years, you two continue to inspire me by pushing the craft in furniture design, to bridge the gap between design cultures at We Present, and to help others be successful.

Thank you for showing me the way.

I still dream of an internship, maybe one day...

—Yuni Lee

Dear Marcel Wanders,

You were the designer that I literally wanted to be when I was in school. From your early work with Droog to your radical experiments with materials, to the fantastic stories you create through spaces and objects today. Your work couldn't be more different from what I do as a designer—and I relish that you live way out there on the edge of art and design to remind me of the limits of sound strategy and argued rationales, and to remind us all of the importance of beauty and love and intuition. More recently, we've had the chance to meet, work together, and become friends. I am better at what I do by being challenged by what you do.

—Clark Scheffy

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Do you remember when you first fell for design? The moment you discovered someone whose work sang to you, moved you, sent you skipping down a creative path? In these love notes, the bleeding-hearts of IDEO declare their love for the artists, writers, and designers who showed them the way.

Here are four titles on Tim’s list of highly recommended reading:

1. Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson

Walter Isaacson, the biographer behind Kissinger and Steve Jobs, turns his attention to the original Renaissance man, whom Brown describes as “perhaps the most curious person who ever lived.” Isaacson draws from 7,200 pages of the artist’s notebooks to trace his journey as inventor, painter, doctor, sculptor, and scientist. Da Vinci was both a procrastinator and a perfectionist, both exuberant and introspective—and his life holds valuable lessons for creatives today. Read the book.

2. Scale: The Universal Laws of Growth, Innovation, Sustainability and the Pace of Life in Organisms, Cities, Economies and Companies by Geoffrey West

Presenting something of a “theory of everything,” West says we can apply the same mathematical principles that govern growth in nature to complex political, corporate, and civic systems. What they all have in common is their response to a rapid increase in size. As cities, companies or human beings grow, they require more resources, which leads to innovations like higher wages and new products, but also negative consequences like waste and overcrowding. As he unpacks the physics of modern systems design, West cautions that growth must be matched by greater sustainability.

3. Heroic Leadership: Best Practices from a 450-Year-Old Company That Changed the World by Chris Lowney

Before he became an investment banker at JP Morgan, Chris Lowney spent seven years as a Jesuit priest. That background in the cloth helped him realize that the issues he faced in nurturing new leaders at JP Morgan were the same ones the Jesuit order had faced over its 450-year history. The Jesuits focus not on what leaders should do, but on who they are. They contend that leadership springs from within and involves a never-ending process of self-examination and learning. The four pillars of leadership that inform the Jesuits’ “corporate culture” are: self-awareness (understanding your strengths, weaknesses, and values), ingenuity (innovating and adapting to a changing world), love (engaging others with a loving attitude), and heroism (energizing yourself and others with heroic ambitions). Can you imagine if every corporate leader embraced these principles? Read the book.

4. Doughnut Economics: Seven Ways to Think Like a 21st-Century Economist by Kate Raworth

Doughnut analogies do a lot to sweeten economics. What, Raworth suggests, if we positioned society within a “doughnut” made of two rings: an inner ring that represents the minimum amount of food, shelter, and other necessities a person needs, and an outer ring that represents the point at which greater consumption begins to damage the Earth beyond repair? That question, along with the author’s case for a more compassionate, sustainable economic model, dovetails with our interest in advancing the circular economy. Tim calls it “a book about economics that makes sense to designers.” Read the book.

Want more? Here are 10 graphic novels we give a thumbs up. And here’s a list of more than 75 books we love, from East of Eden to Exit West.

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When he’s not on the road, teaching, or tinkering in his garage, our CEO Tim Brown can often be found immersed in a good book. Histories, biographies, creative nonfiction—for someone who leads a company that approaches problems from multiple angles, it’s often books that have nothing to do with design that offer the most useful insights.

The exercise wrapped up a three-day workshop with The Nature Conservancy, focused on finding new ways to track entangled whales. Whales often get caught in fishing lines, and responders can’t always free them on the first try. The Conservancy was looking for an easier way to find the whales after they swam away, so that they could complete their rescues.

When designers take on a new challenge, we start by talking to people to gain empathy for their needs. But how do you do that when the user is a whale? Along the way, we found a few workarounds.

Here are our top four lessons on designing for non-humans:

1. Understand the entire ecosystem

We were designing for an unusual ecosystem—an underwater one—and we needed to understand it from all angles. So, we took a day-long field trip to Monterey Bay and Moss Landing, where we really focused on getting a sense of the marine environment. We went kayaking among wildlife, visited a whale disentanglement boat and checked out all of its knives, buoys, and equipment, and talked to several locals. We wanted to understand everything we could about a whale’s journey and behaviors—even if we couldn’t talk to the whales themselves.

Tip: When you can’t physically ask users about their environment, you have to get creative to put yourself in their shoes (or fins). Getting a first-hand look at the users’ surroundings helps you gain empathy for them and gets you into the right mindset.

2. Get visual

Knowing that we’d never be able to experience entanglement from a whale’s perspective, we had to find our own scrappy ways to understand how it happens. We watched whale rescue videos, got a collection of whale posters (illustrated by the man who did the special effects for Free Willy), and asked a rescuer to tie string around miniature whale models to help us visualize the entanglement process. We also bought crab fishing gear, rope, buoys, flippers, and lifejackets to decorate our project space. When our clients arrived for the workshop, we set up kiddie pools and inflatable orcas on our patio. This may sound excessive, but it was a really important part of the project; not only did the equipment set the right scene and mood for the workshop, but it also allowed us to quickly and easily test our ideas.

Tip: Keep your designers and clients immersed in the project with visual cues that represent the subject matter. It keeps morale high, and can even help you quickly iterate and test concepts—the kiddie pools at the workshop came in handy when it was time to try out prototypes.

3. Bring all the players to the table from day one

Since we couldn’t talk to any whales during the project, we conducted our design research with the people who knew them best—marine biologists, researchers, fishermen, and rescuers. We also brought in people with backgrounds in design, technology, government, and academia, and collectively discussed the problem and potential solutions. With the help of so many experts, we were able to fill in all of our gaps in knowledge, whether it was about whale anatomy or government funding.

Tip: When you’re designing for animals, you’re also designing for the people that work with those animals (similarly, if you’re designing for kids, you’re also designing for their parents). To make sure your solutions work for them, too, bring a wide range of voices into the room—even if they have to dial in.

4. Test prototypes in context

After brainstorming and sketching out early concepts, we headed to the IDEO Shop to create prototypes for the whale trackers. We couldn’t test the devices in the shallows of the kiddie pool, so we set up a rig in a neighbor’s swimming pool to see how they’d perform above and below water. This context helped us immensely in understanding what improvements could be made and how much each tracking device would burden the whale. We were able to measure how smoothly the devices moved through water (to minimize drag), and how well they stayed afloat. After each trial run, we were able to refine the prototypes on the spot, and continue testing.

Tip: Before you finalize any concepts, create a test environment that’s as close as possible to the user’s environment. This helps you understand how the concepts will work in context, and gives you the ability to record and measure what you've learned.

Next time we have to design for whales, though, we'll probably just channel our inner Dory.

Special thanks to Dali Yu for being a thought partner for this article, Rachel Tobias, Joerg Student, and Brooke Thyng for taking these photos, and the rest of the team for hosting an amazing workshop!

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On a Thursday afternoon, I found myself with a team of whale biologists, product designers, mechanical engineers, and public policy directors, all standing by a gigantic pool, throwing handmade contraptions into the water. Above us, aerial drones were flying around capturing the scene. Below us, GoPros on selfie sticks moved back and forth under the water. Typical day in the office.

In one sentence, who are you?

A hard-headed idealist, who revels in the start and finish of every project, but curses throughout the process.

What do you do? How did you learn it?

I am a curator of architecture and design. I always wanted to work in a museum, and so I studied art, architecture and curatorial history, and then worked in several galleries and museums.

3 favorite possessions?

1. A pour over coffee maker
2. A pair of small ink drawings of imaginary landscapes
3. Handwritten notes tucked into my suitcase from my sons and husband

What does a typical work session look like?

A typical work session includes too many people and little is accomplished, but a productive work session includes 1-2 colleagues, an inspiring setting, and a knotty idea.

How do you get over creative block?

Deadlines. My father always said to think of a deadline as an opportunity to submit a draft. If you are truly interested in going further you will or you may never return to a subject, but one shouldn’t think that you need to know everything at the time of a deadline. It is a moment that reflects what you do understand at that time.

How do you see the world in 2078?

More tax money is spent on public education and the arts than on the military. Society needs to value education and the arts. SFMOMA understands the value of arts in culture, in making sense of issues, as well as complicated issues. I am hopeful humanity will come to its senses on what to prioritize.

What is the biggest challenge in curating "design"?

I’m not sure there is a singular big challenge to curating design. There are smaller challenges, such as how to exhibit interactive software or ubiquitous commercial products or representations of buildings meant to be experienced in person, etc, but no one specific challenge. Challenges make work interesting, no?!

What’s your number one bucket list item?

I don’t have a bucket list, but I understand the concept and my interests are always shifting, but this week, I’d like to be sure to experience:

• Space travel
• De Maria’s Lightning Fields with my family, New Mexico
• Piamio Sanatorium, Finland
• I am too late since it is destroyed, but would have loved to have visited the Operations Room for Project Cybersyn, Chile

Who are you creative crushin’ on lately?

The ladies of today—Neri Oxman, Tatiana Bilbao, Nathalie du Pasquier, but especially ladies who paved the way, Esther McCoy, Lina Bo Bardi, Barbara Stauffacher Solomon, Susan Kare, Ruth Asawa, Anna Halprin, Clara Porset, and the list continues

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Capturing the world of design is a tall order. It means constantly considering the now, questioning the promise of future technology, and looking across the historical register for patterns and mishaps. Jennifer Dunlop Fletcher does just that, and as the curator of Architecture and Design at SFMOMA, she goes one step further and puts it all on view. Her work asks tough questions for us and, in turn, to us. I took a moment to catch up, get a bit of background, and figure out what motivates her day to day.

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.