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We believe diversity—of backgrounds, opinions, experiences, and disciplines—is an essential ingredient in every design challenge we face. As a result, no two project teams at IDEO are alike. By blending our diverse band of designers—from anthropologists to food scientists to writers—we’re creating teams that can approach any challenge.

Great design starts with great research—to gain empathy and understanding, to inspire new ideas, and to test our intuition. We rely on observation, in-context interviews, analogous industries, and, when appropriate, a hybrid approach with qualitative research and quantitative analysis.

By synthesizing our research, observations, and learnings in the field, we can spot themes and patterns, look for relationships, and discover insights. Once our teams have finished this process, they can explore any hunches through experimentation and rapid prototyping.

“If a picture is worth a thousand words, a prototype is worth a thousand meetings.” —Dennis Boyle, Partner at IDEO. No matter what we’re designing, prototyping is an essential stage of the design process. Building a prototype is a quick and risk-averse way to get ideas into the hands of the people we are designing for, and to iterate efficiently.

Gathering feedback from users on even the most rapid of prototypes is essential to evolving towards a successful product, service, or experience. It also keeps the people we’re designing for at the center of the process, getting their buy-in early on—an integral part of human-centered design.