Growing up with a Jetsonian vision of push-button dinners and automated cleaning, it was easy to imagine coming home to a house managed by a trusty humanoid helper. In hindsight, that glimpse of the future wasn't a bold vision of what could be in 2040. It was a 1960s dream.

In this episode, Jennifer Lo, a futurist-in-residence and senior director of organizational design, shares five techniques for noticing when you're repeating someone else's vision of tomorrow, and getting curious enough to imagine your own.

Read along with the full story: https://www.ideo.com/journal/the-used-future-trap

Related Resources:

Jennifer Lo on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifer-lo-28654b3/

Why every company needs a futurist-in-residence, by Jennifer Lo: https://www.ideo.com/journal/why-every-company-needs-a-futurist-in-residence

Building an enduring operating system, by Jennifer Lo: https://www.ideo.com/journal/building-an-enduring-futuring-system

How to think like a futurist, with Jennifer Lo on IDEO U's Creative Confidence Podcast: https://www.ideo.com/creative-confidence-podcast/how-to-think-like-a-futurist-jennifer-lo

In This Episode

(00:00) Why the housekeeper robot you're picturing is a 1960s dream

(05:00) Notice what's possible rather than forecasting what's certain

(06:26) Question the framing: incremental improvement or transformational reimagining?

(07:31) Prototype tangible futures: newspapers from the future and a mock clinic

(08:40) Create human narratives: what the future will feel like to live in

(09:55) Design nascent paradigms: reorienting how we define progress, value, and success

(10:41) The risk of innovation theater, and what opens up when you move past old visions

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Explore more stories at http://ideo.com/thinking. Subscribe to IDEO’s weekly newsletter for curated perspectives on design, business, and innovation: http://ideo.com/subscribe.

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As AI makes it easier to generate polished renders with minimal effort, more people are celebrating the ease and speed of design. But beautiful images aren't design. They can seduce us into thinking an idea is fully baked, stopping us from asking the most important questions, the ones that uncover the insights that help us truly meet human needs.

In this episode, Michelle Lee, partner and managing director of IDEO San Francisco, shares the story she wrote with Danny DeRuntz, an executive design director at IDEO, on why the three Rs of prototyping—rough, rapid, and right—still hold.

Read along with the full story: https://www.ideo.com/journal/rough-rapid-and-right-in-the-age-of-ai

Related Resources:

Michelle Lee on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellesklee/

Danny DeRuntz on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/danny-deruntz-3200b419/

Meaningful resistance, by Michelle Lee and Takashi Wickes: https://www.ideo.com/journal/when-convenience-kills-the-magic

Playful thinking under pressure, with Cas Holman and Michelle Lee on IDEO U's Creative Confidence Podcast: https://www.ideo.com/creative-confidence-podcast/playful-thinking-under-pressure-q-and-a-with-cas-holman-and-michelle-lee

Work mentioned:

Prototyping Elmo's Monster Maker app for Sesame Workshop: https://www.ideo.com/case-study/bringing-beloved-childrens-characters-to-a-new-platform

A new way to vote, for the people of Los Angeles: https://www.ideo.com/case-study/a-new-way-to-vote-for-the-people-of-los-angeles

In This Episode

(00:00) Why a beautiful render doesn't always equal great design

(03:42) Rough: a strategic incompleteness, and how to get it from tools that default to polish

(05:53) Rapid: using AI's speed to get through more cycles

(08:22) Right: building discrete prototypes for discrete questions

(11:30) Maintaining joy and discovery: why designers still need to get their hands dirty

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Explore more stories at http://ideo.com/thinking. Subscribe to IDEO’s weekly newsletter for curated perspectives on design, business, and innovation: http://ideo.com/subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There are 24 million caregivers in the US. For Sierra Hillman, becoming one at 22 exposed not just the many gaps in healthcare, but the massive opportunities to improve how care is designed and delivered.

In this episode, Hillman, an interaction designer at IDEO focused on healthcare and emerging technologies, shares four opportunity areas to ease the burden on caregivers: mitigating enormous burnout, navigating the system, providing physical care, and making home modifications accessible.

Read along with the full story: https://www.ideo.com/journal/opportunities-in-the-hidden-costs-of-caregiving

Related Resources:

5 principles for easing the burden on caregivers, by Sierra Hillman and John Won: https://www.ideo.com/journal/5-design-principles-for-easing-the-burden-on-caregivers

Sierra Hillman on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sierra-hillman/

In This Episode

(00:00) Coming face-to-face with the hidden costs of healthcare at 22

(02:23) Solutions for mitigating enormous burnout

(03:37) Navigating the financial complexities of care

(05:52) A human-centered approach to providing physical care

(08:18) The journey to accessing at-home modifications

(09:49) We've only scratched the surface for designing for caregivers

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Explore more stories at http://ideo.com/thinking. Subscribe to IDEO’s weekly newsletter for curated perspectives on design, business, and innovation: http://ideo.com/subscribe.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.