IDEO () is a
design
A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design' ...
and
consulting firm
A consulting firm or simply consultancy is a professional service firm that provides expertise and specialised labour for a fee, through the use of consultants. Consulting firms may have one employee or thousands; they may consult in a broad rang ...
with offices in the U.S., England, Germany, Japan, and China. It was founded in
Palo Alto, California
Palo Alto (; Spanish for "tall stick") is a charter city in the northwestern corner of Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto.
The city was es ...
, in 1991.
The company's 700 staff uses a
design thinking
Design thinking refers to the set of cognitive, strategic and practical procedures used by designers in the process of designing, and to the body of knowledge that has been developed about how people reason when engaging with design problems.
Des ...
approach to design products, services, environments, and digital experiences.
In 1996,
Steelcase
Steelcase Inc. is an American manufacturer of furniture, casegoods, seating, and space solutions for offices, hospitals, classrooms, and residential interiors. It is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.
History
Originally known as Th ...
took a majority ownership stake in the firm, which continued to operate independently.
By the early 2000s, the company had expanded into
management consulting
Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...
and
organizational design
An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims.
Organizational structure affects organizational action and provides the foundat ...
.
In 2016, Japanese holding company
Kyu Collective purchased a minority stake in the firm,
with Steelcase continuing to hold a small stake.
History
IDEO was formed in 1991 by a merger of David Kelley Design (founded by
Stanford University
Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...
professor
David Kelley
David Christopher Kelley (born June 23, 1949) is an American philosopher. He is a professed Objectivist, though his position that Objectivism can be revised and influenced by other schools of thought has prompted disagreements with other Objec ...
in 1978), London-based Moggridge Associates and San Francisco's ID Two (both founded by British-born
Bill Moggridge
William Grant Moggridge, RDI (25 June 1943 – 8 September 2012) was an English designer, author and educator who cofounded the design company IDEO and was director of the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum in New York. He was a pionee ...
, in 1969 and 1979, respectively), and Matrix Product Design (founded by
Mike Nuttall
Mike Nuttall is a British designer who established Matrix Product Design in 1983 in Palo Alto, California. In 1991, his company merged with two other established design firms, David Kelley Design (founded by David M. Kelley, David Kelley) and ID ...
in 1983).
[ ]
In 1996, Office-furniture maker
Steelcase
Steelcase Inc. is an American manufacturer of furniture, casegoods, seating, and space solutions for offices, hospitals, classrooms, and residential interiors. It is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.
History
Originally known as Th ...
took a majority ownership stake in the firm, which continued to operate independently. Steelcase
began divesting its shares through a five-year management buy-back program in 2007.
By the early 2000s, IDEO had expanded into
management consulting
Management consulting is the practice of providing consulting services to organizations to improve their performance or in any way to assist in achieving organizational objectives. Organizations may draw upon the services of management consultant ...
and
organizational design
An organizational structure defines how activities such as task allocation, coordination, and supervision are directed toward the achievement of organizational aims.
Organizational structure affects organizational action and provides the foundat ...
.
In 2016, Japanese holding company
Kyu Collective purchased a minority stake in the firm.
While the company started with a focus on designing consumer products (e.g., toothbrush, personal assistant, computers), by 2001, IDEO began to widen its focus on consumer experiences and services.
In 2011, IDEO incubated IDEO.org — a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on doing work the centers people in poor and vulnerable communities.
In April 2019, the company announced that Sandy Speicher would replace Tim Brown as CEO of the company.
''The Deep Dive''
On February 9, 1999, the ABC show ''
Nightline'' featured IDEO in a segment called ''The Deep Dive: One Company's Secret Weapon for Innovation''. The segment featured Jack Smith of ABC touring the IDEO office and challenging the company to redesign the
shopping cart
A shopping cart (American English), trolley (British English, Australian English), or buggy (Southern American English, Appalachian English), also known by a variety of other names, is a wheeled cart supplied by a shop or store, especially ...
in five days to demonstrate IDEO's process for innovation.
The end result was a shopping cart with a nestable steel frame which holds removable plastic baskets to help deter theft and increase shopper flexibility. A dual child seat with a swing-up tray was also included in the design, as well as a
cup holder
A cup holder is a device, such as a zarf, to hold a cup or other drinking vessel. It may be free standing to hold cups securely on a desk or other flat surface, or in a tree style to store sets of cups in kitchens. They may be built into automob ...
, a
barcode reader
A barcode reader is an optical scanner that can read printed barcodes, decode the data contained in the barcode to a computer. Like a flatbed scanner, it consists of a light source, a lens and a light sensor for translating optical impulses into e ...
to skip the checkout line and steerable back wheels for manoeuvrability.
The demonstration of IDEO's innovation process has led to the segment becoming part of numerous curricula, including
Project Lead the Way and multiple universities.
Acquisitions and partnerships
On October 17, 2017, IDEO acquired
Datascope — a data science firm based in Chicago. Datascope has worked with IDEO as a consultant on many projects over the past four years. Tim Brown, Chair of IDEO, states that the acquisition is largely motivated by advances in data sciences and machine learning. These advances allow for a bigger focus in human-centered applications including facilitation of the design process. Datascope's 15-person team will be moved to IDEO's Chicago office.
With IDEO's acquisition by Kyu, the firm increasingly partners with other member firms of the collective.
Organizational culture
IDEO's
organizational culture
Historically there have been differences among investigators regarding the definition of organizational culture. Edgar Schein, a leading researcher in this field, defined "organizational culture" as comprising a number of features, including a s ...
consists of project teams, flat hierarchy, individual autonomy, creativity, and collaboration. The firm currently employs over 700 people across many disciplines, including: Behavioral Science, Branding, Business Design, Communication Design, Design Research, Digital Design, Education, Electrical Engineering, Environments Design, Food Science, Healthcare Services, Industrial Design, Interaction Design, Mechanical Engineering, Organizational Design, and Software Engineering.
Products and services
IDEO has worked on projects in the consumer food and beverage, retail, computer, medical, educational, furniture, office, and automotive industries. Some examples include
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
's first
mouse
A mouse ( : mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
, the
Palm V
Palm V is a personal digital assistant (PDA) by 3Com.
Released in 1999 by 3Com, the PDA has an aluminum enclosure containing a Dragonball EZ central processing unit (capable of overclocking to 39 MHz) and 2MB of computer memory, memory. T ...
PDA, and Steelcase's Leap chair. Clients include Air New Zealand, Coca-Cola,
ConAgra Foods
Conagra Brands, Inc. (formerly ConAgra Foods) is an American consumer packaged goods holding company headquartered in Chicago, Illinois. Conagra makes and sells products under various brand names that are available in supermarkets, restaurants, ...
,
Eli Lilly
Eli Lilly (July 8, 1838 – June 6, 1898) was an American soldier, pharmacist, chemist, and businessman who founded the Eli Lilly and Company pharmaceutical corporation. Lilly enlisted in the Union Army during the American Civil War and r ...
,
Ford
Ford commonly refers to:
* Ford Motor Company, an automobile manufacturer founded by Henry Ford
* Ford (crossing), a shallow crossing on a river
Ford may also refer to:
Ford Motor Company
* Henry Ford, founder of the Ford Motor Company
* Ford F ...
, Medtronic,
Mexichem
Orbia (previously Mexichem) is a company providing specialty products and methodologies in the precision agriculture, building and infrastructure, fluorinated solutions, polymer solutions and data communications sectors. It was founded in 1953 ...
, Sealy,
ShinHo, and
Steelcase
Steelcase Inc. is an American manufacturer of furniture, casegoods, seating, and space solutions for offices, hospitals, classrooms, and residential interiors. It is headquartered in Grand Rapids, Michigan, USA.
History
Originally known as Th ...
among many others.
File:Apple Macintosh Plus mouse.jpg, The Apple Mouse
File:Palm V.JPG, Palm V
OpenIDEO
In August 2010, IDEO introduced OpenIDEO - a collaborative platform for the design process. OpenIDEO was designed to be an internal tool for IDEO to collaborate with clients, but it is now a public tool. The purpose of the tool is to virtually drive the creative process to solve social problems, allowing for people of different expertise and backgrounds to collaborate. Examples of projects that have been facilitated by OpenIDEO include various projects of the
WWF and TEDPrize winner
Jamie Oliver
James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants.
Oliver reache ...
's
Food Revolution movement. In a collaboration with
Sutter Health
Sutter Health is a not-for-profit integrated health delivery system headquartered in Sacramento, California. It operates 24 acute care hospitals and over 200 clinics in Northern California.
Sutter Hospital Association was founded in 1921 as a r ...
, London's Helix Centre and
Shoshana R. Ungerleider, they completed an OpenIDEO Challenge to "reimagine the end of life experience" which later led to the founding of international initiatives, End Well and Re:imagine.
Design education
IDEO U is an online educational program released in early 2015. Course participants are instructed on the concepts surrounding human-centered design thinking.
In addition to the online program, IDEO and its affiliates have released multiple books on design thinking, including New York Times best-selling ''Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All''. Former CEO Tim Brown is the author of ''Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organizations and Inspires Innovation'' (2009) in which he argues that design can transform problems into opportunities – emphasizing design thinking as a human-centered activity, he specifically prizes the feeling of empathy, where designers are capable of understanding the perspectives and problems the end users face.
Notes
* Dobbin, Frank. “High Commitment Practices”. Harvard University. October 10, 2012. Lecture.
* Thomke, Stefan and Ashok Nimgade. Ideo Product Development. 9-600-143. Boston. Harvard Business Publishing
* Kelley, Tom, and Jonathan Littman. ''The Art of Innovation: Lessons in Creativity from IDEO, America's Leading Design Firm.'' New York: Currency/Doubleday, 2001. page 70.
* “Recruiting Q&A: IDEO” Business week. January 10, 2001
* "Designed Chaos - An Interview with David Kelley, Founder and CEO of IDEO." Designed Chaos. N.p., n.d.
* "Navigate." Careers FAQ. N.p., n.d.
* Stevents, Tim. “Creative Genius”. ''Industry Week.'' July 4, 1994. Skokie, IL
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ideo
Industrial design firms
Companies based in Palo Alto, California
Design companies established in 1991
Design companies of the United States
1991 establishments in California