About
Uncommon Places Design is the experience design practice founded and led by Ida Benedetto. I craft experiences with and for groups facing pivotal moments and complex challenges. I draw from game design to promote agency and ingenuity, experiential design to drive learning and growth, and organizational psychology to integrate smartly into the realities of teams and work.
Core Values
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Trust in Emergence
Breakthroughs important to your organization can't be scripted. The most powerful insights happen during a moment of unexpected connection or an honest disclosure between team members. I design the setting and maintain the conditions for those moments to occur.
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Responsive Collaboration
You are the expert on your organization. I bring a depth of rigor in designing gatherings of consequence. The magic happens when we combine those domains. I adapt in real-time to your team's needs, ensuring our work is authentic and integrated.
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Vulnerability through Integrity
Tough problems scare us. We put our defenses up. But real growth requires vulnerability. We build trust and psychological safety by demonstrating unflinching integrity. This creates an environment where people feel safe enough to share and do what they were afraid to before, opening the door to the kind of changes that shape an organization’s future.
Ida Benedetto, Founder
Linkedin | idabenedetto.info | Get in touch
I began my career designing adventures and games. I learned that the fastest way to inspire creative thinking and courage was to put people in a situation with real stakes, clear choices, and a shared goal. I founded Uncommon Places Design to bring that same spirit of high-stakes play to leaders facing consequential moments for their organizations.
My work has been featured in Businessweek, NPR, and The New Yorker, multiple New York Times bestsellers, and a Harvard Business School case study. My research on designing transformative social experiences has been widely cited and incorporated into coursework at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, and NYU.
Before creating Uncommon Places Design, I co-founded two design practices focused on game design and adventure design, pioneering creative methodologies centered on the participant experience. I have worked for high-profile clients at SYPartners, NOBL Collective, and MESA. I hold an MA in Design Research from the School of Visual Arts, a BFA in Design and Technology from Parsons, and a BA in History from the New School, where I won awards for humanitarianism and outstanding research. My multidisciplinary approach and commitment to pushing boundaries inform a rare depth of expertise for crafting experiences that participants cherish for decades.