IDEO Deep Dive Summary

IDEO is a very successful advertising corporation mainly because of the great technique they use, called the Deep Dive technique. This company focuses on learning from a group of people and ideas. They find success in throwing out all different drawings, concepts, ideas, forms, or words, whether they are wacky or boring. They build on these things and connect the dots from each others mistakes or achievements. Ultimately, this sort of "jumbled mess" of new ideas forms a great design. I loved how this company seemed very playful, fun, and relaxed. That seems to be the right way to work in a design setting. If it were strict, sterile, and boring, nothing exciting or innovative would be achieved. They also bring together a very diverse group of people to work on a project. On the shopping cart project in video, for example, the team consisted of a marketing expert, therapist, artists, and others. They choose a leader that is not necessarily the "expert" of the design project or has the highest seniority, but one that is organized, good working with groups, and puts in as much in put as everyone else might. The deep dive concept that IDEO uses seems to be a great success for them - they produce around 90 newly innovative objects a year.

The deep dive technique is a process. Each member of the team plays a significant part in this process and each member must bring something to the table. This consists of ideas, research, drawings, thoughts, and more. As a team, members must first recognize the client that they are producing a design for, and the client must understand them as a company as well. The team must then observe and research the current ways the public uses the specific object. Nothing can be improved or changed in a more innovative way without first seeing the object as it is now. Brainstorming is done easiest when the designer puts his or her thoughts on paper visually for all too see, share, and discuss. A successful, newly designed object will come from all of the drawings and prototypes that a team or each of its members can create and share. The most successful designs are ones that come from a playful, active, broadened, and focused environment and a group of designers who know and practice these techniques.