Research, Human Centered Design, and Snacking

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As senior director at design and innovation firm IDEO, Meija Jacobs understands how brands work visually. But the journey toward building a brand, she said, begins with comprehending human needs — and by using the “superpower” of empathy to build products that matter. During a panel discussion at NOSH Live Winter 2019 in Santa Monica, Jacobs explained how IDEO uses design thinking to create “supercharged” brands.

Design-driven innovation, which encompasses people, business and technology, has a “distinct advantage” for brands, Jacobs explained. Creating an empathetic brand with a “laser sharp” value proposition involves listening to reframe the problem, designing prototypes to learn from and collecting feedback from clients and consumers, she said.

“Every design challenge we tackle, we start with people,” she said. “We absolutely also look at the possibilities [through] technology the business has to create success.”

In turn, the designer's job is to translate a brand’s message into packaging that will pop on shelf and tell a story. Jacobs pointed to alternative rice brand RightRice (one of IDEO’s clients) as an example of a pack design with a clear value proposition — in its case, a sustainable approach toward a healthy behavior change.