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R. MICHAEL HENDRIX

I am a founder, creative director, professor, and author. I gained wide recognition as a Partner and Global Design Director at IDEO, where I helped expand public understanding of design—from products and experiences to strategy, innovation, and organizational change.
During my time at IDEO, I led global creative initiatives and worked with organizations across sectors and geographies, from San Francisco to Shanghai. My work ranged from entrepreneurship development with the White House to growth strategy for the GRAMMYs, alongside engagements with consumer, fintech and pharmaceutical brands. While industries differ, the challenges are consistent: understanding customers, accessing new markets, developing relevant offerings, and evolving organizations to deliver them.
I hold a degree in graphic design, but my practice has evolved alongside the field itself—from identity and branding to experience design, and now to systemic and strategic transformation. Today, most of my work focuses on helping organizations grow and change through design, while still valuing the tangible expressions that make systems real, from documentation and toolkits to image-making and film.

My approach is grounded in design thinking—the balance of desirability, feasibility, and viability. I begin by listening and learning, not by prescribing solutions. Once motivations are clear, we can determine what needs to be built, changed, or brought to life.

Today, I lead Huldunótur, a design practice supporting Iceland-based organizations, brands, and individuals. I also teach at Bifröst University and the Iceland University of the Arts, and continue my work in the U.S. through Invisible Notes.

I am the co-author of Two Beats Ahead: What Musical Minds Teach Us About Innovation, a book that explores how creative practices from music—listening deeply, experimenting early, collaborating widely, and learning in public—can help organizations navigate uncertainty and build what’s next. These ideas continue to shape my work with leaders, teams, and communities.

01

REIMAGINING DESIGN EDUCATION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY

Led by me—drawing on prior experience helping Berklee College of Music develop the groundbreaking Bachelor of Arts in Music Industry Leadership and Innovation, along with more recent work building an entrepreneurship micro-credential at Bifröst University and developing new MA courses at the Iceland University of the Arts—Huldunótur brought a proven program-building perspective to the engagement.

Over six months I led a research-driven strategy process combining expert interviews, competitive program analysis, and synthesis of weak cultural signals across design, technology, and industry. The work translated insights into an actionable program framework—articulating a differentiated educational model built around balanced human/AI intelligence, regenerative material thinking, and transdisciplinary collaboration. Outcomes included a proposed curriculum arc, a brand-based concept linking campus and urban innovation spaces, and practical recommendations for recruitment and industry engagement—creating a shared narrative and roadmap to align stakeholders around launch. The degree program will launch in 2027.

File Under: Growth Strategy, Brand Innovation, PEDAGOGY

02

TRANSLATING CULTURE INTO SPACE FOR AN AI RESEARCH ORGANIZATION

An early-stage, U.S.-based artificial intelligence research company engaged an American design firm to shape the creative direction of its headquarters and future laboratories. As part of that engagement, Huldunótur was brought in to define and translate the organization’s emerging culture into spatial principles and environments. Rapid growth and technical ambition created urgency around articulating shared values before scale set lasting patterns.
Through interviews with founders, executives, and employees, the work surfaced core beliefs, tensions, and aspirations. These insights were translated into actionable cultural principles and spatial strategies shaping collaboration, visibility of work, and architectural storytelling. The result was a scalable framework—combining spatial concepts, rituals, and participation tools—that allows the organization to express its culture consistently across locations while remaining adaptable as its science and mission evolve.

File Under: CULTURAL INSIGHTS, BRAND TO EXPERIENCE STRATEGY, experience design

03

DESIGNING A BRAND NEW IDEO

As IDEO made design thinking increasingly popular in the United States it attracted the interest of MBA programs and the public sector. While their adoption of the practice was welcomed, this new audience introduced a conservative mindset to the approach, often reducing it to formula. Concerned that the methodology was being elevated above the creativity of the work, I led a global brand redesign to emphasize the experimental nature of our organization and amplify it through our branding.

This redesign also established IDEO as a platform brand. By freeing the logo from a grid, it easily paired with sublogos and partners creating a flexible archtiecture nicknamed the “little black dress” because of it’s ease of dressing up or dressing down. Secondary design language emphasized the iterative and in-process nature of design.
To ensure the brand was not merely expressed but truly lived, I introduced new tools and systems that linked creativity to performance across the company. These included company-wide make-athons to co-design the identity; the State of the Art sentiment dashboard to help executives assess creative momentum; and discussion cards for project teams to reflect on the strategic ambition of their work. I also led the redesign of the Cambridge studio interiors—featured in Metropolis magazine—to embody our culture of experimentation and inclusivity. This combination of brand, environment, and measurement reinforced that IDEO’s value was not design thinking as a formula, but design as a creative force.

In 2019, with the new identity defined, I produced a short film to in collaboration with directors at Dress Code to firmly establish IDEO’s place in the 21st century design canon and demystify the evolution of design thinking. Featuring over 30 cases studies in 13 minutes, it is an oral history of 40 years of innovation. The film’s raw visual language and sets emphasized the iterative nature and curoisity that drove our work.

File Under: BRAND STRATEGY, BRAND IDENTITY, BRAND ARCHITECTURE, CREATIVE DIRECTION, IDEO

04

BAKING IN STRATEGY WITH BRAUÐ & CO

Huldunótur was engaged to guide the leadership team through planning and discovery to codify cultural values, set growth objectives for the coming year, and link these actions to a communications plan. Over four months, we collaborated through group discussions, an executive offsite, and employee interviews. These efforts resulted in clear objectives for 2025, focusing on bakery and logistical efficiencies, an employee handbook to ensure cultural consistency, and a communications outline to reinforce commitments.
The most public outcome is the handbook, a culture manifesto nicknamed “No Rules,” inspired by punk zines. Handmade collages illustrating Brauð’s values reflect artisanal baking and the company’s non-conformist roots. Designed to be mobile-friendly and easy to understand, it supports employee engagement while honoring Brauð’s fair-minded, collaborative work culture.

File Under: Growth Strategy, Brand Innovation, BRAND ARCHITECTURE, Executive Advisory

07

POWERING UP CUSTOMER INSIGHTS FOR GAMING

An Iceland-based game company partnered with Huldunótur to help its leadership team tackle a critical growth challenge: improving the early experience for new players while preserving the depth that defines its flagship product. Rather than commissioning a standalone strategy or external recommendations, the company sought a facilitated, hands-on process that would build internal alignment and capability while directly informing future development decisions.
Over a multi-week, insight-driven working series, I guided directors through framing the challenge, surfacing assumptions, designing and conducting research, and translating findings into actionable opportunity areas. Working in cross-functional teams on a live product challenge, participants developed shared insights, new design instincts, and a clearer roadmap for action—strengthening both the near-term product direction and the organization’s long-term ability to lead insight-led innovation.

File Under: CUSTOMER INSIGHTS, BRAND
PRODUCT STRATEGY, CAPABILITY DEVELOPMENT

08

SAMPLING THE FUTURE WITH TRICYCLE

Each year enough carpet samples are made in the United States to cover Iceland nearly one and a half times. Each of these sample requires one liter of oil to make the yarn and backing.
I co-founded Tricycle, an innovative SaaS company, to address this sampling waste. Using CAD and CAM data from the tufting machines, our software made a digital simulated carpet printed on paper with color accuarcy. This pioneering approach gave architects and interior designers even more creative options because of the reduced environmental footprint and the speed to market. While a physical sample required weeks to create, a simulated sample shipped in a day.
Even with this pioneering advancement, adoption was initially slow. In a business drowning in greenwashing and faux fashion, we needed messaging and marketing that stood out from the crowd. Additionally, the manufacturing industry was well established and feared any possible disruption.
After a series of unsuccessful approaches we determined that embracing this fear of change was the most effective means of communication. Punk inspired graphics with educational messaging cut through the noise and raised the profile of the new format in magazines and at trade shows. We challenged the customers to go from fear of change to fear of no change.
Rather than settling for the outdated oil hungry methods, designers could refuse waste (pun intended) and embrace a climate friendly alternative that was radically better. In the process they could have a better business too. The manufacturers recognized this demand from their customers and embraced the new technology.
As Tricycle grew we began promoting other voices of sustainability. REVERB was an anthology of writings and criticisms of ten industry professionals. Its unusual format allowed readers to take as much or little as they wanted from the publication—literally.
Tricycle received top interiors industry honors, was a finalist in Denmark’s INDEX awards and was added to the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum in the United States. In 2017 the company was purchased by Shaw, a Berkshire Hathaway company.

File Under: ENTREPRENEURSHIP, B2B, BRAND IDENTITY, MARKETING, INNOVATION

10

MODERNIZING MUSIC WITH THE OPEN MUSIC INITIATIVE

In the digital era, music consumption shifted from “ownership” to “access,” disrupting the traditional revenue base of the industry as the lines between creators and consumers blurred. The industry's response to innovation had been artist development, lacking mechanisms to address this shift.
In 2016, I co-founded the Open Music Initiative (OMI) with Panos A. Panay and Dan Harple at Berklee College of Music, collaborating with the MIT Media Lab and Harvard Law School. OMI aimed to create an open-source protocol for identifying music creators and rights holders, ensuring real-time payments to song contributors and investors. This approach was a significant departure from traditional methods that involved lengthy processes to identify and compensate rightful parties, often leading to unclaimed funds.
OMI was a grassroots organization that brought together independent and major labels (Universal, Sony, Warner), publishers, artists, technologists (IBM, Intel), lawyers, industry experts, and streaming services (Spotify, Pandora, YouTube). These stakeholders formed working groups to develop the protocol, resulting in a developer API for blockchain-based information sharing.
We also initiated student-driven summer labs to explore new innovation paths for OMI members. Supported by IDEO, students developed over 20 services and products using the API, investigating how accurate creator data could enhance fan experiences. These labs provided weekly updates and helped shape additional features for the Open Music API, demonstrating how clean data and open access could benefit members by creating new consumer experiences.
The public release of the API coincided with the Music Modernization Act's approval in 2018, mandating payment distribution in line with OMI's vision but using less efficient technologies. Berklee and the MIT Media Lab developed RAIDAR, a student-centered music licensing platform, to showcase blockchain's effectiveness in implementing the law’s requirements. With its goals achieved, OMI concluded its operations.

File Under: ENTREPRENEURSHIP, B2B, Open INNOVATION, labs, IDEO, BERKLEE, MIT

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