Hi, I’m Marta! I’m a cross-disciplinary design leader and teacher, focused on designing better futures while building thriving communities.

I’m a Senior Director at the leading human-centered design firm IDEO, and I teach at DePaul University. I lead research, prototyping, service design, and futuring efforts, which deliver market-differentiated products and services.

Publications

  • An image of the Little Book of Design Research Ethics

    The Little Book of Design Research Ethics

    The second edition of the Little Book of Design Research Ethics, an IDEO publication made publicly available. I edited the book, provided content and visual direction, and produced the initial publication run and launch party.

    Visuals: Juan Astasio Soriano

    Co-authors: Lucy King, Megan Bontempo, Tracy Joyner, Leah Kandel, Rachel Young, Stu Getty

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  • An image of Marta presenting Designing Good Jobs on a stage at RISD

    Designing for a Sense of Purpose

    I authored and presented on designing good jobs via prototyping alongside workers at their jobs. I wrote more on the subject on the IDEO site, based on my experiences designing and evaluating live prototypes in order to design new products, roles and organizational structures.

    Visuals: Victoria Hammel

    Co-author: Victoria Hammel

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  • An image of the city scape in Songdo, South Korea

    Future-proof Innovation

    I led IDEO’s approach to bringing together design research and futuring perspectives across multiple innovation projects. I wrote and presented a peer reviewed paper on that titled, Situated: Reconsidering Context in the Creation and Interpretation of Design Fiction.

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Projects

Ford

IDEO and Ford reimagined the role of an auto maker and established a nearly 400-person organization called dFord to drive human-centered design. Across multiple programs I served as a project lead and design researcher, bringing together prototyping, ethnography, futuring, and qualitative and quantitative research to develop insights, opportunities, and concepts for the truck and passenger vehicle portfolios. I also guided clients in human centered design as one of the IDEO program leads at dFord in Dearborn.

Deliverables included research design and insights, customer segmentation, product and service design, and experience vision.

Public Case Study

Visual: IDEO

Logitech

Logitech came to IDEO to envision new strategic possibilities together. We worked with C-level leadership to explore bold new edges for Logitech in the climate and tech space. The strategic direction around circularity led to Logitech taking the market lead in carbon labeling its products. I led the research and futuring efforts for this project, and facilitated strategy workshops.

Deliverables included a set of seven potential futures, strategic possibilities, strategic cascades, and experimentation roadmap.

Public Case Study

Visual: Alex Pabian, IDEO

Northern Illinois Food Bank

Northern Illinois Food Bank designed dignity into its digital tools via My Pantry Express, a category leading app that supports neighbors through food choice. IDEO worked alongside NIFB to design the digital and service experience of MPX, with a council of neighbors. I joined the team to work with NIFB to scale access to online ordering. As the relationship lead, my role was to coach the innovation team and lead advisory work streams on scaling online ordering and research design.

Deliverables included a scaling roadmap, workshop facilitation, concepts, office hours and coaching.

Public Case Study

Hello Tomorrow

Hello Tomorrow is IDEO Chicago’s signature event series for area-based leaders and innovators. So far, we designed events about strategic futuring, another on the future of work, an evening to launch our emerging tech lab, and a night of carnival games representing five innovation traps. My role is co-lead, experience design, and creative direction.

Deliverables include experience and game design, event facilitation, branding, and marketing.

Visual: Will Bertke (photo), Max Lackner, Rubani Shaw, and Jonathan Mueller (installation design)

DePaul University

I teach at Depaul University, where I organize and lead seminars on key design issues in various industries, including mobility, health, and consumer goods. I also design and deliver a series of practice-based courses, guiding Master’s level students through framing and completing human-centered design projects, in collaboration with Brandy Parker and previously Ovetta Sampson.

EPIC Conference

In partnership with the EPIC People organization, I chaired the premier international conference on ethnography in business and organizations. With my co-chair, Evan Hanover, I managed the conceptual groundwork for the conference, including six committees, 200 submissions, and 50 accepted presenters. We designed the four-day event, hosted at the Institute of Design at Illinois Tech, for almost 400 attendees from innovation, UX, strategy, and research roles across various industries such as tech, healthcare, and financial services.

Conference Site

An image of attendees at the EPIC conference

Let’s talk!

Open to speaking, publishing, and guest lecturing opportunities, and putting our heads together on possible collaborations.