Faculty Leaders

Brendan Boyle

consulting associate professor at the d.school

Brendan Boyle, MS '88 is a Partner at IDEO, consulting associate professor at the Hasso Plattner d.school, and toy inventor. He believes that play is the key to innovation and has spoken to creative leaders, entrepreneurs, and students about the importance of playful exploration and risk-taking. Brendan founded the Toy Lab to uncover kid-centered solutions to the challenge of boredom. As Brendan always says, “The opposite of play is boredom.” Under his leadership, the Toy Lab has invented and licensed hundreds of toys and apps, including the bestselling Jumperoo and Elmo Calls. Brendan also consults with companies about redesigning their organizational behavior to include space for play, teaches on IDEO’s online learning platform, IDEO U, and co-authored the award-winning encyclopedia of never-before-seen inventions, The Klutz Book of Inventions.