Patrice Martin
Co-Lead + Creative Director
IDEO.org
Patrice Martin is the co-lead and creative director of IDEO.org, the non-profit design organization she co-founded in 2011. She guides the work of IDEO.org’s design teams while also keeping an eye on the vision and health of the organization at large. Martin is passionate about the power of design to change lives, and works to create solutions and to get more people to solve problems like designers. She created and stewarded Design Kit, the online learning platform to teach human-centered design to people looking to tackle the challenges of poverty.
Previously, Martin was a design director with IDEO—her work spanned large-scale social change in the private, public and social sectors. She also served as senior designer for SonicRim, a design strategy consultancy.
She serves on the Board of Directors for the non-profit Juma Ventures, and is a member of the Walmart Advisory Collective. Martin earned a BFA in industrial design from the University of Michigan.
The Problem with Problems
Designing for big problems like teen pregnancy, clean water, youth unemployment and the challenges of systemic poverty have taught Patrice Martin a lot about how to tackle tomorrow’s problems today. She’ll share her experiences finding solutions in unexpected places, reframing the big questions so that they lead to the right answers, and why—even in extreme poverty—universal human experiences like joy, fun and aspiration often point the way forward. Learn why the best solutions often can be found on the periphery of development’s big challenges, and why thinking like a designer is more important now than ever.