It has been exciting to see design thinking gaining ground in a growing range of industries over the last few years, but even I have been surprised by the enthusiasm with which some in the legal field have embraced the concept. The law is not exactly known for creative problem solving. But it turns...

What if we had a new way to design products, services, and businesses that were good for people, the planet, and business? That's one of the questions we were seeking to answer when IDEO teamed up with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation to launch the Circular Design Guide. Why a design thinking guide f...

You may have heard that IDEO has joined the kyu collective (a unit of Tokyo-based Hakuhodo DY Holdings). kyu was formed by a group of diverse companies including SYPartners, Sid Lee, Digital Kitchen, C2, and Red Peak Group. It’s an exciting moment for us, and we wanted to explain why. Since IDEO sta...

A few months ago, I wrote a post about five technologies in need of design makeovers in 2014. I’m happy to report my colleagues at IDEO.org, working with a group of NGOs and health and tech industry collaborators, have taken a shot at redesigning the most newsworthy item on that list, and the one wi...

Does changing how you make things change the way you live? The answer is “yes,” according to Made in the Future, an experimental project I collaborated on with some colleagues at IDEO Boston. The Made in the Future website recently launched and it explores how today’s innovations in maker technolog...

We say we practice human-centered design at IDEO, but what does that really mean? Our friends at +Acumen and IDEO.org have designed a free online course to answer that question. Open to anyone anywhere in the world—no prior design experience needed— the class is called “Human-Centered Design for Soc...

For three decades, three big red letters have signified an annual forum for the creative and forward thinking to share groundbreaking ideas. From revealing the first Apple Mac in 1984 to Jamie Oliver’s heartfelt plea for a Food Revolution in 2010, TED has been one of the best platforms in the world ...

Blocks. Legos. Forts. Kids are natural builders. But most schools don't offer such hands-on learning. They offer sitting at a desk and listening quietly. That's a shame, because there's no better way to learn than by doing. Designer-activist Emily Pilloton gets this idea in a big way. The founder o...

Making drones less dreadful is #1 on my redesigns of 2014 list This time of year, everyone seems to be making a list. Lists of resolutions. Lists predicting what’s to come. I’ve decided to focus on innovations that could benefit from a human-centered redesign. A few of these inventions are already ...

At IDEO, we often start brainstorms with the phrase, "How Might We" (HMW, for short). We use these three words because they help frame a problem in an open-ended, optimistic, and collaborative way. “How” assumes there are solutions out there. “Might” says some of the ideas may work, others won’t—eit...