IDEO is a community of designers, entrepreneurs, engineers, teachers, researchers, and more.
As early leaders of human-centred design, IDEO keeps people at the centre of their work. They feel it's a key aspect of design thinking, and even as their methods evolve in response to new, complex challenges, they’re always designing solutions for people first. They’re building to learn, and learning as they build, through inspiration, ideation, and implementation.
“Design thinking is a human-centred 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.”
-Tim Brown, Chairperson of IDEO
IDEO is a non-profit design organisation which aims to make create solutions for a more just, inclusive world. They design and scale products and services that put people first, partner with organisations to help pioneer new ways of working and build tools which help people learn and practice human-centred design.
IDEO aim to better their work and influence by not limiting themselves to the usual areas of interest for designers. If you venture over to IDEO’s website, you won’t find hundreds of posts on the importance of colour theory and the latest design software (although they’re also important to their work), but instead will find articles like ‘Visions for the Future of Child Care in the US’ and ‘Beauty as a Tool for Social Transformation’.
https://www.ideo.org/perspective/visions-for-the-future-of-childcare-in-the-u-s
https://www.ideo.org/perspective/beauty-a-tool-for-social-transformation
IDEO’s interest in these topics shows that the best way to ensure your design is human-centred is to incorporate human-centred thinking in all aspects of your work. Keeping in-tune with the issues people around you are facing ensures you can produce the most effective and streamlined solutions for your clients.
In the past 10 years, IDEO has;