IKEA’s design process

Graham pointed out a recent Wall Street Journal article out to me as I was going on about my recent kitchen renovation (yes, I’ve used IKEA units). It gives a glimpse into IKEA’s ‘painstaking’ and, for me, fascinating design process.

Even though, being IKEA, they can very much define how people will live, they go through long and careful research, which also has to be in line with their strict production processes. The symbiotic relationship between user, design, engineering, and the dedication to improving this relationship, reminded me of the design process that happens here at Canonical and Ubuntu.

Research Manager Mikael Ydholm leads a team that visits thousands of homes annually … and compiles reports from trend spotters and experts that look as far as a decade into the future.

I would love to learn more about IKEA’s design processes and their designers’ work, so if anyone knows of more in-depth articles, videos or books on it, please give me a shout.