Hasta La Ideas

Core77 is very pleased to present an exclusive look at an IDEO creative ideation exercise, “Brand New IDEO,” centered on a 24-hour global Make-a-Thon that will take place next Monday in their 11 offices around the world, starting in Tokyo and ending at their San Francisco headquarters. In anticipation of this unique event, IDEO offers a bit of background on the history of their brand identity and how the project came about. Be sure to tune in on Monday, March 25, when Core77 will host an (almost) live blog of the process as it unfolds.

When Paul Rand designed the IDEO logo in 1991, he didn’t anticipate the complex challenges IDEO designers would take on 20 years later. Who could have? It’s crazy how many changes the world has undergone during the past two decades—34 new countries, tablet computing, Netflix, the Euro, and the Prius, just to name a few.

Like the world around us, IDEO has evolved too. Where we were once a handful of specialties, today we are dozens. Doctors, biologists, filmmakers, and storytellers rub elbows with industrial designers and engineers—all in the service of creating positive impact through design. And why not? If you listen to futurists, the next 20 years will be a combination of Mad Max and Xanadu. Ferns will become hard drives. Space tourism will be a thing. Thousands of new cities will emerge. We need all the bright, creative minds we can get!

Given these heady challenges, how might we evolve our identity to become even more dynamic in a complex and diverse world? To answer this question for ourselves, we’ve designed a maker experiment that explores extremes and helps us create a brief for the future. We call it “Brand New IDEO.”

Years ago, we needed Paul Rand to design our own brand identity. Today, with communications designers and brand experts in every IDEO studio, we’re looking inward to evolve our identity—and we’re doing it in public.

Brand New IDEO is a “maker experiment” for everyone inside IDEO’s four walls. For many of our designers it means rolling up their sleeves and making something new. For other IDEOers, it means sharing inspiration that explores one of six themes.

Talisman – A memento of the future; a totem capturing our spirit; a talisman bringing fortune to those who encounter it… Let’s create objects that represent who we are and who we will become.

Biological – Living, growing, reproducing, aging and dying; perpetuating through offspring; symbiotic with neighbors… Let’s create a living identity system that matures and mutates through time.

Powers of 10 – Cellular to spectacular; micro to macro; neutrons, neurons and nebulas… Let’s create an identity system that is too large to comprehend, too small to see and every step in between.

Code Junkies – Born in the digital world, forever a resident; viral, logical, & combinatorial; obedient to math- made laws… Let’s create an identity that originates from binaries and algorithms.

Writer’s Block – High brow and low brow; short stories, poems, lyrics; bumper stickers and billboards… Let’s create an identity that lives in the written word- no graphics allowed.

Alternate History – China 1991,* the birthplace of IDEO… Let’s create an identity that is unique to its origin, celebrating culture, materiality, craftsmanship and industry. *and/or Munich, Tokyo

L: Michael Hendrix; R: Paul Bennett

Recently, IDEO’s Chief Creative Officer, Paul Bennett, sat down with IDEO Boston Creative Director Michael Hendrix for a chat about the experiment. Below is an excerpt of their conversation.

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