What are the advantages of rapid prototyping? Can you think of a personal project that would have benefited from prototyping? How? Why?

IDEO: Masters of Design* SNAPSHOT FROM PRACTICE 15.1 IDEO, headquartered in Palo Alto, California, is one of the premier design firms in the world. They are responsible for a wide range of product innova- tions, including the first Apple mouse, Head's Airflow tennis racket, Zyliss Salad Spinner, and Nokia N-Gage smartphones. IDEO's many clients include Pepsi-Cola, 3M, Logitech, Nike, and HBO. IDEO has won more of the BusinessWeek/IDSA Industrial Design Excel- lence Awards than any other firm. IDEO's approach to product design relies heavily on an iterative development process in which prod- uct prototypes are used to explore and further refine Cultura Creative/Alamy Stock Photo product ideas. CEO Tim Brown states that the goal of prototyping "is to learn about the strengths and weak- For example, IDEO was working on a chair for nesses of the idea and identify new directions that the Vecta, a high-end office furniture manufacturer. The prototype might take." For example, IDEO worked with Procter and project had evolved to the point where the height- Gamble to develop a new Crest toothpaste tube. The adjustment lever that tilted with the chair became critical. The team didn't build the whole chair or even challenge was to improve the traditional screw-on the tilt mechanism. They just built the little lever and cap, which always gets gunked up with toothpaste. IDEO's first solution was a pop-on, pop-off cap. How- its interface with the tilt mechanism. It took only a ever, when designers created rough prototypes and couple of hours. When finished the prototype quickly watched people use them, they quickly noticed that demonstrated that the principle would work. users kept trying to unscrew the cap, even though they "It doesn't matter how clever you are, your first were told how it worked. The designers concluded that Idea about something is never right," Brown says, the action was a well-ingrained habit that would prob- "so the great value of prototyping-and prototyping ably be impossible to break. So they came up with a quickly and inexpensively-is that you learn about the hybrid: a twist-off cap that had a short thread but would idea and make it better." still be easy to clean. Focused prototyping resolves critical problems one *J. M. Pethokoukis, "The Deans of Design: From the Computer Mouse to the Newest Swiffer, IDEO Is the Fim by one. Brown recommends that prototypes should behind the Scenes," U.S. News & World Report, Septem only take as much time and effort needed to generate ber 24, 2008; T. Brown, "Design Thinking," Harvard Bust useful feedback and evolve an idea. ness Review, June 2008. pp. 84-95.OCTOBER 2.200 Best IN BUSINESS CEO Tim Brown at the Palo Alto, Calif., headquarters of IDEO The Deans of Design By James Pethokoukis golian nomads. The yurt is not an IDEO design, though. Brown spotted the Steelcase-created pro- hen you're the chief executive officer totype at a design show last year and just had to have W of one of the planet's most influential it. Yet the technoyurt represents a core IDEO design design firms, you can't help but notice principle: creating something tangible as a launch- compelling design-such as the object , ing pad for further exploration and innovation. "It's in which IDEO's Tim not talking about what may be; it's ac- Brown and a visitor From the tually creating and building it," Brown are sitting this summer morning. says. "Something you can walk into. Right inside the front door of the two- computer mouse It's that ability to make new ideas tan- story lobby at IDEO's Palo Alto, Calif., to the newest gible that makes design useful." headquarters is a 5-foot-high, open- Swiffer, IDEO is IDEO is all about experiential ap- roofed, Corian-shelled, cylindrical proaches. Its designers try to see and micro-conference room. It's sort of the firm behind sense the world by getting inside the a 21st-century version of a yurt, the heads of their fellow human con- sturdy, all-weather tent of the Mon- the scenes sumers. The firm-a dream come true PHOTOGRAPHY BY WILLIAM MERCER MCLEOD FOR USNEWRBest in Business for the concerned parents of liberal arts strategic and business development for majors everywhere-employs anthro- SSM Health Care-St. Louis, part of one pologists, cognitive psychologists, and of the largest Roman Catholic systems sociologists, among other right-brain in the country. "They understand that thinkers, to create, improve, or reimag- you need a messy process to gain con- ine all manner of products, services, sumer insights." work spaces, and business systems. "It's First laptop. IDEO employs some 450 a very human-centered process," says people-including plenty of industrial Tom Kelley, the firm's general manag- designers and engineers-at its home er and brother of founder David Kelley. base in Palo Alto and six other locations "Others approach a problem from the including Chicago, London, and Shang- point of view that says, 'We have the hai. It was created in 1991 by a merger of smartest people in the world; therefore, David Kelley Design, which created the we can think this through.' We approach first mouse for Apple Computer, and ID it from the point of view that the answer Two, which designed the first laptop is out there, hidden in plain sight, so let's computer for Grid Systems. In the 1990s, go observe human behavior and see IDEO made a name for itself by design- where the opportunities are." ing dozens of technology products such To illustrate the principle, Kelley as the Palm V and Treo organizers. On gives the example of working on a proj- the low-tech side, it has designed the ect with the SSM DePaul Health Center | Crest no-squeeze, stand-up toothpaste in St. Louis to revamp its emergency room. One ap- proach the firm could have A key element of IDEO's "design thinking" taken would have been to is getting out of the office and into the field. getting out of quiz a bunch of former pa- field, as with th tients on their experiences. ect. "Design thi That sort of clinical, sterile also leveraging its tradi- out into the work approach is not the IDEO tional product design busi- world in a way way. Instead, the firm went ness, techniques of gather- new ideas," Bro up close and personal. For ing consumer insights, and Specialized instance, one IDEO an- methods for generating California bike a thropologist pretended to ideas to transform itself into to IDEO looking be a patient and managed a broad-based consulting the common wat to videotape his entire firm that can teach compa- pany sent a team emergency room experi- nies how to focus on the foothills above S ence. One realization: consumer, starting with de- Palo Alto to wat While the admitting and sign. "They still do excellent water bottles in treatment process might product designs, but IDEO seem logical and orderly to quickly came to t also helps companies to staff, it appears chaotic and reattaching a wa confusing to patients. So "The answer is out there, hidden in plain sight," says General work through the complex a tricky move wh IDEO created a simple Manager Tom Kelley (top). Above, prototypes of the Apple mouse. issues of innovation, partic- keep your eyes on "map" that the hospital COLAS ZURCHERADEO ularly the front end where IDEO solution wa ideas are generated, gath- a tapered bottom staff could give each incoming patient | tube for Procter & Gamble as well as the | ered, and turned into product and service outlining the seven steps of the emer- ring to make it e award-winning Leap Chair for office fur- concepts," explains Stefan Thomke, a gency room experience, starting with niture maker Steelcase. (IDEO is now a professor at Harvard Business School bikers used a two- the triage nurse. It also recommended |wholly owned independent business unit who has studied and written extensive- water bottle: pull cards that each member of the staff of Steelcase.) their teeth and sq could hand out so the patients could ly on IDEO. Product design has been getting more using the hu-man keep track of who's who. "They under- and more attention in recent years as Nestled inside the yurt, Brown ex- as a bit of in-spirati stand that creativity had to be provoked pounds on what IDEO has termed "de- companies worry about their wares being sign thinking" and how it forms the IDEO team design and fed," says Robert Porter, who has |turned into indistinguishable commodi- basis for innovation and problem solv- ing valve that opens twice worked with IDEO, now as head of | ties. Design can add value. But IDEO is | ing. A key element of design thinking is Years of custom helped the compaelectronic device for use in waving and gesturing. Seeing that this hospitals. One option was| sort of abstract back and forth wasn't to put the 20-pound device getting the group anywhere, an IDEO en- on a rolling cart. But IDEO |gineer stepped out of the room for five realized that nurses would minutes and came back with a crude tool hate hauling the thing model slapped together out of a white- around. So designers de- board marker, a black film canister, and cided to shape it like a clas- a clothespinlike clip. "That prototype sic 1930s doctor's bag, stur- |crystallized the conversation in the room dy handle and all. That and allowed the project to move for- design not only made the ward," Kelley says. "That kind of proto- device easier to carry, but type also lowers the bar so that everyone the visual iconography re- |in the whole organization can do a pro- ally connected with nurses. totype, which really contributes to a cul- "The answer often lies with ture of innovation. No one will mock you humans," says Tom Kelley, for bringing something unpolished to author of two books on cre- the CEO." ativity at IDEO. "When we Fragile. The third big element of de- tried to redesign a supply | sign thinking is storytelling. "Ideas are chain, for instance, we fragile even when they're prototyping," didn't watch trucks, we Brown says. "And in large organiza king" watched the workers." tions in particular, new ideas can get A second key to design | killed very easily because people don't the field. thinking is rapidly proto- understand them or connect with getting out of the office and into the |typing initial ideas and exposing them | them." Vocera came to IDEO with tech- field, as with the emergency room proj- to users. It helped IDEO when working | nology for a two-way wireless device ect. "Design thinkers are trained to go aging its tradi- on the. new Crest toothpaste tube for that could be clipped to a shirt pocket out into the world and connect with the |P&G. A big challenge was improving the or worn on a lanyard. It was ideal for duct design busi- world in a way that gives insight into traditional screw-on cap, which always | hospitals, big-box stores, or corporate niques of gather- new ideas," Brown says. gets gunked up with toothpaste. IDEO |campuses. To dramatize how the Star ner insights, and Specialized Bicycle Components, a first suggested a pop-on, pop-off cap. |Trek-esque device would work, IDEO for generating California bike accessory company, came But when designers worked up rough | produced a five-minute film that the ansform itself into to IDEO looking for new approaches to prototypes and watched people use firm later used to get venture-capital based consulting the common water bottle. So the com- them, they quickly noticed that users funds and that served as a basis for can teach compa- pany sent a team of researchers into the kept trying to unscrew the cap even * marketing the product. v to focus on the foothills above Stanford University in though they were told how it worked. Most people are probably not really r, starting with de- Palo Alto to watch bikers using their |The action was a well-ingrained habit aware that firms like IDEO exist. They ey still do excellent water bottles in action. The observers |that would probably be impossible to may assume that companies do design designs, but IDEO quickly came to two conclusions: First, break. So designers came up with a hy- |in-house. Others may have discovered Ips companies to reattaching a water bottle to a bike is |brid: a twist-off cap that had a short| design firms through the reality tele- rough the complex a tricky move when you're also trying |thread but would still be easy to clean. |vision show American Inventor, which finnovation, partic- keep your eyes on the road ahead. The "It doesn't matter how clever you are, pitted inventors and their products he front end where IDEO solution was a water bottle with your first idea about something is never | against one another for a $1 million e generated, gath- a tapered bottom and a rubber friction |right," Brown says. "So the great value prize. At one point in the show, the fi- product and service ring to make it easier to grip. Second, of prototyping-and prototyping quick- nalists started working with design Stefan Thomke, a bikers used a two-step process with the |ly and inexpensively-is that you learn | firms to improve the look of their in- rd Business School water bottle: pull the nozzle out with about the idea and make it better." ventions, their functionality, or often their teeth and squeeze the bottle. So, The prototypes don't have to be elab- both. But American Inventor gives a d written extensive- using the hu-man tricuspid heart valve orate, Brown is quick to note. Not at all. |misleading view of companies like as a bit of in-spirational biomimicry, the For instance, IDEO was working on a IDEO because "it assumes design is he yurt, Brown ex- surgical tool design for Gyrus ENT. Dur- |something that is added late in the EO has termed "de- IDEO team designed a simple self-seal- ing a meeting with a roomful of surgeons process," Kelley says. d how it forms the ing valve that opens only when squeezed. The show also implies that design is n and problem solv- Years of customer observation also from the company's advisory board, not helped the company design a portable | much was getting done-just lots of hand | simply about products. But IDEO is of design thinking isBest in Business pushing design thinking far be collected by pressing beyond that. The firm was Corporate managers them down and popping hired by Kraft to help im- them back up like tiddly- prove its relationship-and crawled on the floor to winks. That approach was supply-chain management process-with Safeway su- create the Carpet Flick. quickly incorporated into rough prototypes-"You can permarkets. IDEO brought always pretty it up later," teams from both companies to Palo Alto research process, such as visiting people Godfroid says-and eventually to brainstorm and develop prototypes of in their homes to see how they cleaned. into what became the final design. strategies and promotions. Afterward, Then came a couple of days of brain- "I've now become an evangelist for IDEO pestered the participants with E- storming, IDEO style. "So you had all this kind of development process." mails to remind them to follow up on the these P&G managers down on the floor Time to leave the yurt. Brown is ideas generated at the get-together. on their hands and knees working with headed to the airport to catch a flight Crumbs on the carpet. What's it like to tape dispensers and scrapers and to China, where he's giving a experience the IDEO approach as a things trying to pick crumbs off speech on design. Unfortu client? Robert Godfroid has seen it first- the floor," Godfroid recalls. "We nately, when you're the CEO of hand. He led a team from P&G weren't just pondering about one of the planet's most influ- that worked with IDEO on the Carpet this stuff on a whiteboard." ential design firms, you tend to Flick, a version of the popular Swiffer for The Eureka moment came after see disjointed design everywhere. cleaning carpets without an electric vac- an IDEO team member was messing "Airport security-please, just give us an uum. The collaboration combined exist- with a squeegee and realized that hour to work on that!" Brown exclaims ing P&G consumer research with IDEO's crumbs and other small particles could with a smile. Copyright @ 2006, by U.S.News & World Report, L .P. Abridged with permission. For subscriptions to U.S.News & World Report, please call 1-800-436-6520. Visit US News & World Report on the Web at www.usnews.com. For more information about reprints from US.News & World Report, contact Foste Reprints at 800-771-6445