IDEO: Masters of Innovation

Graphis, Sep/Oct 2001 by Byars, Mel

Book Reviews

The author of the IDEO monograph, Jeremy Myerson, is the director of the Helen Hamlyn Research Centre at the Royal College of Art and a former editor of DesignWeek magazine, both in London. A decade before IDEO's founding in 1991, he spent some time in California's Silicon Valley with two of the studio's future initiatorsBrits like himself-and has since followed its history closely. A better person to write the IDEO monograph than Myerson probably does not exist. His admiration for these English comrades and their approach to client education shines through. However, the book, which took him about three years to complete, would have been better had he included the date of each product design.

Even though the TV network, ABC, devoted 30 minutes to what news-anchorperson Ted Koppel touted as "probably the most innovative industrial design firm in the world," IDEO is not a household word, and the word means "idea" in Greek. The studio has become famous to design afficionados primarily for its electronic products; after all, it is headquartered in the Silicon Valley, adjacent to Stanford University, where the third IDEO partner, David Kelley, is a tenured engineering professor. Kelley was recently replaced as the president of the firm by Tim Brown, who came over from the London branch to take up his new assignment in Paolo Alto.

Based on the oxymoron, famous but unknown, the public is unaware of the studio's being the author of a number of high-profile wares including 3Com's unsuccessful Audrey but highly successful Palm V as well as the competing devices, the Handspring Visor and Springboard. And let's not forget those cheap and popular youthfocused Polaroid cameras and the ingenious grocery cart that was included in the Cooper-Hewitt Museum's recent and first Triennial. However, the group's non-electronic wares have embraced office furniture and supplies.

IDEO, now exactly 20 years old, was founded by British emigres, Bill Moggeridge and Mike Nuttall, and American engineer Kelley. Before then, Moggeridge had become known for the first laptop computer (Grid Compass, 1985), Kelley for the first in-production mouse (Apple, 1982), and Nuttall for products by his own studio, Matrix.

They set out to change industry's mindsets about design by "living the future," as Kelley describes the approach. "If you just provide a written report on new appliances, the client can take it or leave it. But if you actually build tomorrow's kitchen, they can walk right in, experience it, and take a view. [In this way] you can get people to think in a new mode."

So there you have it : a marriage that has become a $50 million to $60 million annually grossing enterprise. And-no matter the sight of the unkempt staff of designers, engineers, anthropologists, and researchers-the impressive five-studio Paolo Alto, California, campus, which houses electronics labs and model-making facilities, has done much to garner its 200-plus giant clients like BMW, Nike, Pepsi, Steelcase, Canon, and GM/Hughes. And there are eight other IDEO studios on three continents. Fortune-500 executives have a need to keep company with other biggies like themselves, and IDEO is it.

By Jeremy Myerson. teNeues Publishing, 2001. 160 pages, 200 color illustrations. 9-114" x 11", $35, Paperback.

Mel Byars is a specialist in 20th-century design and the decorative arts. He has taught at Pratt Institute, is the author of nine books, and has contributed to a number of periodicals including Graphic, LD., Metropolitan Home, Echoes and Form. Byars is currently working on The Museum of Modern Art Design Encyclopedia, to be published in 2002. His latest tide, On/Off: New Electronic Products, from Universe/Rizzoli, will be available in fall 2001. Byars' books on contemporary design include the 6-part "50" series of volumes on the use of new materials and technologies50 Chairs, 50 Light, 50 Table 50 Sports Wares, 50 Products and 50 Beds. A native of South Carolina, Byars is currently a resident of New York City and Paris. For this issue, Byars reviews IDEO: Masters of Innovation, page 103.