IDEO | A Design and Innovation Consulting Firm

This past Tuesday, the BIE cohort made its way to sunny Palo Alto to visit IDEO. Founded in 1991, IDEO is an international design and consulting firm that is ranked consistently as one of the world’s most innovative business.

IDEO employs design thinking methodology to create products, digital experiences, environments, and servers. It’s version of design thinking is best described by its president and CEO, Tim Brown:

“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws from the designer’s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.”

IDEO’s invention. (Top) An electric-assist bike designed to high the electrical components and mimic a traditional bike. (Bottom) On the left is a traditional university student chair and on the right is IDEO’s reinvented chair.

When we arrived, we were greeted by Dr. Farzad Azimpour. A board-certified cardiologist turned IDEO BioDesigner, Dr. Azimpour started off by walking us through IDEO’s exhibited innovations. To name a few, IDEO reinvented desks, classical guitar amplifiers, next-generation ADA accessible voting booths, Burning Man electronic origami flowers, slim-profile electric bike, and more. The sheer volume and quality of IDEO’s inventions was staggering.

We then made our way to the prototyping building. Here, IDEO designers could make up to a couple hundred versions of their design. It also helped them make quick changes and innovate. Items like the Microsoft and Apple mouse were all invented through IDEO at this facility.

Panoramic view of IDEO’s prototyping building

Dr. Azimpour describes a one-time-use insulin delivery syringe. The device eliminates the need for patients to carry insulin vials, but still allows them to deliver specific insulin dosages at any time.

Throughout our tour, Dr. Azimpour peppered his talk with do’s and don’ts of design. His most memorable comment is quoted below:

“The most common mistake a young design firm [or designer] can make is not involving the manufacturers early on. You’ll just end up designing something that can’t be easily or cheaply made.”

After a brief visit to IDEO’s toy invention lab, Dr. Azimpour wound down our tour with presentation of his career path and on IDEO’s design ideology. For aspiring designers, he gave a few pointers on how to navigate the process.

1. Start with the observation.
2. Turn your observation into insights.

3. Based on these insights, generate questions.

4. Create “How might we…….” statements. Ex. “How might we measure heart rate without touching the patient.”

5. Then create need statement

6. BRAINSTORM solutions (focus on speed and volume)

7. Scope the vision.

8. Set constraints.

9. Review / renew ideations.

Overall, we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to IDEO. We were stunned by how, sometimes seemingly obvious, simple changes can make such a dramatic impact on consumers. We look forward to applying what we learned there to our own design endeavors.

BIE Cohort next to the IDEO’s origami flower. The flower, along with others, was featured at Burning Man.

BIE Cohort: Jessica Hsueh, Katie, Priya Bhattacharjee, SARA SAMPSON, Matt, Karthik Prasad, Annika Carlson, and Michael Manguinao.

Special thanks to: Berkeley Bioengineering, UC Berkeley, and IDEO