And when I was at IDEO so did David Kelley. They all started their companies because they like designing stuff.
Too many people take a dump on IDEO because they don’t “make stuff anymore”. The reality is that they do. The finality of the things they make has changed, a lot. It is true, they don’t make dope consumer electronic devices nearly as much as they used to or probably as well as places like Lunar, Fuse, Astro and New Deal. But I guarantee that they have designed several products in the last 5 years that you have used, maybe even loved. That product just happens to be a service or environment. If you go to walgreens you’ve benefited from IDEO’s work. If you keep your money at one of a handful of banks around the world you’re service is markedly better because of IDEO.
I’m really tired of the industrial design field’s narrow view of what product design is. I myself care deeply about designing beautiful objects, but understand that there is grand spectrum in which my talents can be used and that some industrial designers choose to be passionate about solving problems and yes creating products that are not necessarily physical.
It’s really easy to say, “I want to do design doing” like designing thinking is just a bunch of hot air. It’s not one or the other, great designers are both. Do you have to work at IDEO to do design thinking? hell no. But I would wager to say that most of IDEO’s detractors in the field of industrial design are people who have never worked at IDEO and probably never will and their nay saying is at least partially based out of jealousy.