Expanding the Innovation Mindset

WHAT IS DESIGN THINKING?

Design thinking is a non-linear, iterative process that teams use to understand users, challenge assumptions, redefine problems & create innovative solutions to prototype and test. It is most useful to tackle ill-defined or unknown problems and involves five phases:

Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.

-INTERACTIVE DESIGN FOUNDATION

bio

Imogen Speer has been in the Design sector for over 20 years, primarily working out of New York City, San Francisco, and Silicon Valley.

In NYC she spent almost a decade focused on advertising, branding, and pre-visualization concept design. Later she would move to San Francisco to help regional government agencies with identity and branding.

The innovation hub of the Bay Area introduced her to her next career as an Innovation Lab Design Lead for Ray Kurzweil and Peter Diamandis', Singularity University. In Silicon Valley, Imogen facilitated Ideation Workshops for Fortune 500 and 1000 companies, mentored young entrepreneurs during Singularity's yearly Start-Up Incubators, produced several graphic novels as innovation concept artifacts, and helped prototype new products in the lab.

Her background in futurism has led her to believe strongly in embracing and harnessing the potential of industry disruption and current technologies with exponential promise.

Imogen appreciates the power of a good story, has had her artwork in the Smithsonian Museum (Renwick, of DC), and is delighted to have had a delivery drone named after her.

Good design isn’t just “making it pretty,” good design is what makes it work.

Design strategy can help you and your team break through creative blocks and approach innovation from conception to implementation.

I offer divergent thinking exercises and practices as well as design artifacts, such as decks, digital concept artwork, storyboards, and even graphic novels to translate your product or message to the public and private sectors.

I focus on use, identity, narrative, and form, uplifting brand and product innovation through a lens of human-centered and visual design, as well as promoting divergent thinking and targeted messaging, primarily in workshops, and one-on-one mentoring.

By guiding targeted investigation I can help you and your team identify and synthesize the potential of your ideas, and form a strategy for their clearest communication.

And hey, if you just need me to help you Marie Kondo some aspect of your life, I can do that too.

I also love building with my hands and the spectrum of mediums and challenges that come with telling stories through design, as well as working with a core team of ferociously creative, science fiction visionaries.