Designing for access resilience choice wellbeing prosperity safety health equity transformation

IDEO.org is a nonprofit design studio.
We design products and services alongside organizations that are committed to creating a more just and inclusive world.

Design has always been about impact

The social sector needs a design organization that is willing to do things differently.

At IDEO.org, our goal is to improve lives through design. Which means that we are designing for impact, building partnerships with organizations that know how to bring innovative solutions to life, and continuing to evolve the products, services, and experiences we design even after they’re out in the world. Every solution starts small, and at the moment, many of ours are. But we’re eternal optimists, and we’re tracking our solutions as they continue on their steady trajectory of improved lives, stronger communities, and brighter futures.

From nonprofits to foundations to governments to social enterprises, we build deep partnerships because we can’t do this work alone.

It takes a deep and global network to really push back against inequality, and our amazing partners help us identify which challenges to tackle, lend their considerable expertise, and work tirelessly to bring the solutions we design to life. We’ve joined forces with a rich and diverse network of partners, from large-scale funders like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the UK Department for International Development, to emergent entrepreneurs, social enterprises, and boots-on-the-ground doers.

Human-centered design sits at the intersection of empathy and creativity

We use human-centered design to create products, services, and experiences that improve the lives of people.

We’re mission-driven designers who are looking to have as much impact as possible in the lives of the people. It starts with getting to know the people we’re designing for. Without them, we wouldn’t know what to design, how it should work, or why it matters. From there we build, test, and iterate until we get it right.

The problems we face are immense, systemic, and complex, but we believe that a design-led approach, the right partnerships, and sustained engagement with a particular problem can create transformative change. Our goal is to see our designs implemented, evolved, and operating at scale.
IDEO.org launched as a 501(c)(3) from the global design and innovation firm IDEO in 2011, and like IDEO, we practice human-centered design. In addition to actually making things to improve the lives of people, we're working to get the social sector at large to take a human-centered approach to problem solving too.