About

Hello
I’m Ida, an experience director and design strategist. Nothing delights me more than seeing people surprise themselves when they stretch beyond their known limits, and I believe good design can make this possible. Working in complex organizational and social contexts, I create opportunities for innovation, insight, and change.
My toolbox of co-creative and participatory design methods draws from game design, positive psychology, organizational change methods, conflict mediation, and design thinking. My early career involved game and media design with communities in Guatemala, India, Ethiopia, and Uganda, followed by adventure design influenced by urban underground culture in New York City.
Moving into the world of business and organizations, I’ve worked with Fortune 50 companies and federal governments to redefine their ambitions through immersive experiences for members of the C-suite and collaborative, employee-lead innovation efforts.
My research has been used in coursework at Harvard, Carnegie Mellon, and NYU, among many others. I’ve been featured in multiple New York Times Bestselling books, as well as Businessweek, NPR, and the New Yorker.
This website, uncommonplaces.com, is my online catalog of creative endeavors. Let’s go somewhere new together.
Elsewhere
Talks & Interviews
Trust & Faith for the UNFINISHED Festival 2020
Immersive Design Summit keynote 2019
Voices of VR Interview 2019
Expanding Mind Interview 2019
The Gathering Summit Talk 2019
Cusp Design Conference 2018
Harvard Graduate School of Design Talk 2018
Voices of VR Interview 2017
No Proscenium Interview 2017
Businessweek’s Design Conference Talk 2016
Tribeca Film Festival talk 2015
Book Mentions
Surviving Change At Work 2023
Rituals for Virtual Work: Creative Ways to Engage People and Strengthen Relationships 2021
Life Is In The Transitions: Mastering Change at Any Age 2020
The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why It Matters 2018
Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt 2018
Odyssey Works: Transformative Experiences for an Audience of One 2016
Selected Press
MSNBC 2021
The New York Times 2020
Fast Company 2020
Fast Company 2020
Businessweek 2016
NPR 2014
The New York Times 2014
The New Yorker 2013