On Monday, IDEO Bay storytellers (San Francisco and Palo Alto) gathered in the San Francisco studio, bracketed by palm trees and sunshine.

We began by exploring the Global Make-a-Thon inspiration from our colleagues around the globe. We also looked to the science and math underpinning our logo for inspiration. IDEO Chicago designer Sara Frisk, whose first job was at Pentagram under Michael Bierut, flagged the geometry underneath the IDEO logo and showed us the IDEO logo laid out via X's and Y's. Kismet, anyone?

We broke up into teams for three short design charrettes. At the end of each charrette, we shared concepts with the larger group and then shuffled teams for the next session, building on the previous session's ideas.

Three early concepts here in the Bay Area:

1.) The Logonator/Configurator: How might we platform the logo to create a human-centered identity configuration tool that showcases the full spectrum of we are and what we do, from micro to macro, from playful to serious? We were inspired by Issey Miyake's playful video, and the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum's curation by color.

2.) The Dialogue Between Context/Content: We are inspired by local context, from Japanese cherry blossoms to Australian aboriginal installations of local materials. How might we adapt for context? How do we make something feel inevitable, yet also customizable/personal?

3.) The Listening Logo: Are we there to absorb and learn? Are we there to present a point of view? The logo is a symbol of our modes of interaction. How might it shift accordingly? A business card is a souvenir of a personal interaction. How might we invite people to interact with us in a compelling way?

Check out IDEO San Francisco + Palo Alto's concepts (under #sfbay) on our Six Themes Tumblr site, and stay tuned for a comprehensive synthesis of the ideas generated during IDEO's 24-Hour 'Brand New IDEO' Make-a-Thon!

Brand New IDEO:
» Preview with Michael Hendrix and Paul Bennett in Conversation
» Opening Remarks by Michael Hendrix
» Tokyo: Robots, Cherry Blossoms & Bento Boxes
» Singapore: Origami & Experiments with 3D
» Mumbai: Minimum Viable Logo & Windows on the World
» Shanghai: Morning Exercise, Jump Rope and Calligraphy
» Munich: Personalize, Simply and Move
» London: The Grid Grows
» Boston: Crafting and Prototyping with Wood, Dye & Cornstarch
» New York: Exploring Music, Verbs and Cubes
» Chicago: Sketching Sine Waves to R&B
» San Francisco Bay: Build to Think, Dive Into Abstraction, and Embrace the Infinite Grid
» What We Learned and What's Next