From a Korean newspaper article:

“Designer Junggi Sung is the first Korean designer to be hired by a well-known American design firm IDEO. Rather, it was like a scene out of a movie. IDEO co-founder Bill Moggridge became very interested in Sung’s presentation at ICSID 2001 and for the Korean designer, who applied to the U.S. design consulting firm armed only with his own portfolio, even the language barrier did not become a problem. IDEO hired Sung offering him various incentives and the Korean designer began working as a concept designer at IDEO’s Boston office.”

This is my real story and it was like a dream. Bill was a dream maker. That’s why Bill is always in my mind.

Many thanks…

When Bill wrote my letter of recommendation for Interior Design school, I had no idea how privileged I was. I was young and oblivious. Bill had always been supportive of my hopes and dreams. I was only a part time receptionist at IDEO but he always took an interest in my latest and greatest. When I told him I had been a theatre major, he directed and starred me in his latest TIVO video (one of the most embarrassing and horrible representations of myself on screen EVER). We decided maybe voice over was the way to go…

He always asked. He always noticed and smiled in that knowing way. He DID twinkle! When I married Christopher Cowart — a fellow IDEO-er, he told me “now you two are part of the IDEO legacy.” This still feels true.

IDEO is where I grew up and became an adult. It is where I learned that people CAN live creative lives.Bill always tried to give me the tools to follow my dreams. I was perplexed as to why Bill hadn’t responded to my latest and greatest last year. I had sent him a present wrapped oh so prettily and received no reply. I thought he was too busy for me. Now my questions are answered and I am left feeling blind sided.

I counted on that twinkle more than I knew. I was really looking forward to the next conversation and the next hug. Thank you Bill. I will miss you very much.

As a recent graduate working my first job at Stanford University, one of my first assignments was to coordinate the Stanford Conference on Design. The lovely Bill Moggridge was the ambassador and guide for this conference. What an incredible impression he made on me—a gracious, kind, thoughtful and inspiring person is was! Bill and I continued to work together on this conference until 1991. Then in Fall of 1998 I received a call from Bill asking me to help him develop a business plan for a new IDEO offering called IDEO U. Sitting with Bill once a week for several months was my “interview.” I got the opportunity not only to work at IDEO but to have Bill as my mentor for the first year! He never said, “this is what good looks like.” He just is what good looks like. Over the course of my 12 years at IDEO, Bill and I continued to work closely and he became my “go-to guy” when I needed perspective and inspiration. I feel blessed to have known him and learned so much from him. I will miss you lots, Bill.

I will never forget the time I was biking up a steep hill with Bill and his phone rang and it was a call from Europe and he talked all the way up this short steep hill while holding on to the bike with only one hand. I could barely make it up the hill!

Bill’s sense of humor and practical look at the world made him such a joy to work with! He was so open minded and eager to learn new things. He made all the people around him better!

My first week at IDEO, there was an older gentleman who brought a tour through the Toy Lab. Being new, I was racing around furiously trying to prove myself and gave them little regard. But he was very kind and calm and said hello, inquiring for his guests what I was making. I showed him my foam core contraption and he chuckled gently, turning it in his hands. As he held it, he spoke about how we prototype at IDEO, how it is an essential part of the process of invention and discovery. A few days later I opened a book called Designing Interactions and my jaw dropped as I realized who this lovely man was. What a humbling and inspirational experience.

Bill was an incredibly present person. He always seemed to have time for a kind word or thought. I remember him teaching me about ocean currents and whale migrations over the coffee urn, or holding the door for someone behind him, or offering an unexpected compliment — all with that twinkle in his eye and a little smile. From his example I learned to try to walk a little bit slower, have a little more careful regard for my surroundings and appreciation of the Moment in which we live.

Thanks, Bill!

The reality of Bill’s death continues to sting for me. He was just such a distinctively delightful man.

As I read all the stories here, I found myself continuing to say, “Yes, that happened to me with Bill” or “Bill did that for me too,” or “I saw Bill do something just like that.”

My two lessons from this: He was such a wellspring of a person that he could bring so much to so many. Secondly, he had such genuine integrity that he was the same in nearly all settings, with nearly all different people.

Bill, you were an exceptional gift in my life. Thank you.

In 1988, you kindly invited me to a Stanford Design Conference. Later I learned that it was an opportunity you seeded for me to have an interview with ID TWO. You must have gone through a lot of concerns and conflicts in thinking of hiring me who did not even speak much English. I was very young back then and I want to thank you for lending a helping hand and providing me all the opportunities and possibilities that I managed to purely dedicate myself in design and moreover managed to become who I am today. You showed me a standard for richness in everyday life. I am going through all the memories of the past and only now I am realizing the meanings you might have implied in words you shared. You might say to me “at last?” with a smile in your face as always . But facing your death , which I can not still believe, make me reminisce all the days and experiences we shared in the past.

I think it is more like realizing than remembering. I see all the directions you led me, all the opportunities you provided me and the thoughtfulness of you glittering in my mind as twinkling stars. I am only now realizing what your words, your directions, your nods, your suggestions really meant right then. I am now realizing how incompetent my understanding is and how willful I am.

The time I spent with you in San Francisco and the many business trips we made in Japan were very inspiring and they were fulfilled with surprises and impressions. “My most learning time, my 30s, was spent with you . Of course there was design that we shared but there was much more than this. A life which was fulfilled by with a company that was more like a family, with your broadmindedness, your attitude to deal with people one by one, your integrity, kindness, peacefulness and wittiness. Needless to mention that all such experiences greatly influence who I am today. I feel I learnt from you a way to be a man.

Just before finishing my seven and half years time spent in San Francisco, you recommended me to publish and to make a conference with my thoughts with “HARI”.

You spoke to many people and were backing me up for it. This book did not go public at the end but it is true that in order to speak of a concept for an essencial value for beauty in things and people, I had you as a model. I wanted to eventually complete this concept for “HARI” and I wanted to ask you to write the forward of this book. You also contributed a text for my monogram. It was based on a conversation we had on beauty as we were walking in Meiji Shrine. You patiently showed interests in my abstraction and concept that did not make any sense in design and beauty.

I realized I have been spoiled and lived my life willfully until today. I am now giving myself over to a sense of embarrassment and for being inexperienced by facing your death.

I need to stand up on my own. I need to execute all the revelations you suggested in the past from now on. I am truly grateful to you for always being there for me and guiding me.

I am sincerely happy that I met you and I will always be looking up to you.

Thank you so much.

“We are designing verbs…not nouns.” —Bill in Tim Brown´s Change by Design

I first meet Bill at a conference in Chicago in 1993. He gave an inspiring talk during which he spoke about how difficult it was to set his new digital wristwatch. In fact, he confessed that he had to rely on his young son to do it for him. Bill then challenged the audience to start paying the same kind of attention to the way people interact with products that was being given to shaping the objects themselves. In a time where technology-centered terms like “hypermedia” were being use to describe interactive systems, Bill characteristically shared the term “interaction design” to describe a fledgling new discipline…one which focused on shaping how we interact with products, services, systems and environments in new ways. I feel so fortunate to have come upon this new discipline at a time where Bill was leading the way forward in such a special way. His positive outlook on design, gentle demeanor, approachability and his passion for people is something I will always draw inspiration from. Thank you so much Bill for all the wonderful interactions.