Thirty years ago, when a group of designers gathered to beginwork on a project, that cast of characters looked very differentthan it does today. A large part of that difference has to do withIDEO and the revolution in design thinking it has helped toignite.Whether fortuitously or by design, the 1980s were a period inwhich the products of Silicon Valley were just beginning tomove from the think tank and the R&D lab to the market, wheredesign was in a position to add tangible value.In the early 1990s, following the singular and creativeadventures of its founders, David Kelley, Bill Moggridge, andMike Nuttall, IDEO formed as a new type of collaborative,which soon emerged as a significant leader in the globalepicenter of design.Many standard-setting successes, such as the first mouse (forApple Computer), the first folding notebook computer (for GriDComputer), the first soft-handled toothbrush (for Oral-B) - inaddition to a few striking failures - helped the partnership evolvebeyond a form-based tradition to a broader exploration of humanexperience in all of its beautiful complexity.Over the past 17 years, IDEO has expanded its size and scopewith the integration of such disciplines as human factors,business thinking, and organizational design, to service anincreasing number of organizations seeking to grow andinnovate through design. As a result, IDEO's practices haveshifted from a methodology of innovation to an underlyingculture of innovation to an overarching mental orientation thatgoes by the name of "design thinking" - perhaps aptly describedas an inclination to see every problem as a design challenge.Our agility and vision has helped us become the largest andmost highly-honored design consultancy in the world. Ourprocess of continual renewal, counterbalanced by a strikingcontinuity of leadership, has enabled us to maintainlongstanding relationships with a global roster of industryleaders as well as a continuous voice in the creative, educational,Professional, and political world.IDEO has created breakthrough solutions for hundreds of companies across literally dozens of industries. Whether inSilicon Valley or Shanghai, London or Munich, Chicago orCambridge, the diverse, multidisciplinary, "T-shaped" peoplewho make up IDEO's global community have contributeddisproportionately to the products and practices of thecontemporary world. For this reason, our focus is not on thepast, but on the opportunities that lie ahead.
www.ideo.com
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