About IDO
Our mission is to foster curiosity, promote creativity, and build self-confidence in youth from marginalized communities through design education.
IDO was originally established in San Francisco in 2003 by Professor Martin Linder, leaders of the industrial design community, and university students as Industrial Design Outreach (IDO).
IDO develops creative competencies by delivering three-dimensional design programs through personalized mentorship to high school students.
We have reached hundreds of students in the United States, Bogota, Colombia, and Seoul, South Korea.
As many right answers as there are students.
For every project, students are given materials, tools, and mentorship to help them prototype and innovate in three dimensions. They are encouraged to draw on their backgrounds, using their differences of culture, learning style, physical and emotional sensibilities as an advantage to their thinking. In working together, they see the power of multiple approaches, while also having the pride of success and creating something personal and relevant to keep.
New skills and new career options.
IDO was founded as a direct response to the lack of design course offerings in marginalized public-school curriculum. Most school students have not been exposed to design, let alone its vast potential for careers. Through research, technical writing, design, and prototyping, students gain a variety of working skills as well as social skills for the workplace in any industry.
Our students, by the numbers:
An average high school participant group: 9.7% African American, 23.5% Asian, 0.7% American Indian, 54.4% Hispanic, 2.2% Pacific Islander, and 1% Caucasian. Additionally, 63% of the students came from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, 37% were English language learners, and 30% were students with disabilities.