Ideoeyesopen.com is about casting a wide net to find inspirational experiences in the unlikeliest of places—the things we do and see everyday. It is the digital compadre to the IDEO Eyes Open series of experiential guidebooks, now available through Chronicle Books.

Aging

Aging is a new phenomenon. Never in human history have we had as many elders living among us as we do now. This is cause for celebration: Aging is one of the measures of a society’s well-being. Aging also poses social and economic challenges and offers opportunities for system-wide change. The short essays included here explore aging in the US, in China, in Germany, and in Mexico. We hope these stories will inspire designers, architects, engineers, urban planners, and other visionaries to think innovatively about the aging experience. Sooner or later, aging will be relevant to us all.

The Power of Experience

Vita Needle | Needham, MA

By Jose Colucci, IDEO

Aging Munich

Munich | Germany

By Pernilla Danielsson, IDEO

Bob’s Diner

Smalltown, USA

By Gretchen Addi, IDEO

Aging in Shanghai

Shanghai | China

By Jo Kewley, IDEO

The Swimming Pool

Northwestern University Pool | Illinois

By Brynn Harrington, Northwestern University

Elderly in Mexico

Toluca | Mexico

By Kristan Taylor, Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico

Workspaces

Officeland

By Taylor Davidson, Capital One Financial

Next Month's Topic & Assignment:

Refresh

Such far-reaching issues as obesity, sustainability, and consumption have us all thinking about where we are heading as a global community. We are at a critical point in time as we establish collective practices for our future. Believing that social change is the collective outcome of millions of individual behavior changes over time, we felt this was a good time to explore individual pattern making and pattern breaking. In this exploration, we hope to further understand how personally inspiring experiences alter our hard-wired behaviors.

This month we’ll look to the world for examples of experiences that provided the inspiration necessary to shift an individual's existing pattern structure. We're talking about things—people, experiences, environments, and services—that motivate us to change. Inspiration that has enough influence to not only affect behaviors today, but well into the future.

Bring anything to mind? We look forward to hearing from you!

Beginnings

Aging

WNYC – The Brian Lehrer Show

aging airport anticipation beginnings boomer café children china coffee commitment community dance diner education elderly exercise experience family film friends fun gallery garage generations germany group health home london mexico mobile munich new york nourishment outdoor spaces palo alto play pride public spaces queue regulars retirement routine san francisco school seattle self-awareness senior citizen shanghai shopping silicon valley start-up take-out technology tours united states volunteer volunteering work workspace

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