Bill might not have coined the offer, “Let’s do lunch!”, but he most certainly defined it. We always treated ourselves to “lunch”, whenever we were in geographic range. Those precious meetings were the best excuses to strategize and scheme about design challenges and life. At our first lunch, the day we met as jurors for a design competition in New York City, Bill huddled me off to a corner to ask about my decision not to support the panel’s choice of a product. I was the new kid on the block and the youngest juror. My concerns about the entry had fallen on deaf ears. Bill was the only other designer who appreciated my point that the design didn’t deserve recognition because it failed to address arthritic hands. After lunch, he reversed his vote. Bill was always a champion for universality. Design that embraced inclusivity thrilled him. And now, that “Design For All” has a Guardian Angel in Heaven, I am certain the best is yet to come.

It was amazing luck to visit his North Beach office in 1987. As he did for so many, Bill changed the course of my life. He could see opportunity in what I’d dreamed of, welcomed me into his home and his company, creating the space to evolve my craft among talented colleagues who became dear friends as we grappled with new frontiers in design.

Here are a few of very many things I learned from him:
— graciousness and gratitude are the heart of creative culture (connects and brings out the best in everyone)
— choose your medium before your content (gives you focus, helps you edit, and of course you can change it)
— think about verbs not nouns (keeps your focus on people’s experience)
— stories help people see what you’re seeing (encourages an audience to discover things for themselves)
— imagine that you have a pocket full of gold and just spend it till someone tells you to stop (a liberating antidote to British thrift and caution)

Life is so much better for time with you Bill, with your encouragement, respect, optimism, dignity and playfulness. May you rest in peace and your spirit live on.

Bill was a mentor to me and I am sure many others. A man of great perception and insight but also a generous person in sharing his passion and approach to design. He will be missed.

I joined Moggridge Associates in 1979, instead of taking up an offer to study at the Royal College and never regretted the decision. Working in London and Palo Alto my memories of Bill are of him allowing individuals to develop their own approaches and opinions guided by his wisdom and a light touch. “What about…?” And “how would you solve…?” Never dictating always supporting and guiding, I believe this made me and the many other people he came into contact with better designers, and people.

Bill the person, I recall early on in my career at IDTwo Bill; who knew I had an interest in, (contemporary), music asking if I liked AC/DC, strange question I thought? On discovering that I thought they were OK he told me that his sons had asked him to take them to see AC/DC but as I probably liked them more than he did he would be, “more than happy to let me have his ticket”, and accompany Alex and Eric. So I found my self on the way to Cow Palace and despite wondering how I had been talked into it, had a great night out. Thinking of Karin and the AC/DC fans at this sad time.

My first encounter with Bill was as a student in the Product Design Program at Stanford. Bill was my instructor for ME116A, the first course in the senior design sequence. The first assignment was to design a chair. I spent most of the night before the due date finishing the chair in the design loft with a hefty exposure to caffeine and Krylon paint. The next day in class, the recumbent chair was finished, the paint was dry (barely), and I was a bit bleary eyed. Bill decided to critique my chair first. He thought it was “lovely”, but he wanted to try it out. I cringed as he struggled to get into the chair and to get comfortable. I cringed even more as his 6 foot frame tried to get up and out of the chair. Once upright with the help of a few students, he proceeded to tell me in his ever-charming way that that was the most uncomfortable chair he had ever sat in! This was my first big awakening to the meaning and potential of design. When I joined DKD as my first job out of Stanford, it was Bill again who mentored me through the design process on my first client project. I was fortunate to have many more encounters will Bill during my tenure at IDEO. In every interaction, he was charming, elegant, eloquent and calm no matter what was happening. His steadfast passion for design has inspired me throughout my career, and his spirit lives on as I spread my passion for design to those I work with and teach. Thank you Bill!

I didn’t have the honor of knowing him personally. I discovered his “bible” Designing Interactions while studying in Barcelona. From that day forward I found a reference to several of my questions on innovation and digital design history. Now, back in Buenos Aires, I always say that this book (and the person of Bill) should be pillars for anyone who wishes to study or deepen in innovation and digital issues.

As I kept researching and learning about Bill (IDEO) last year I had the pleasure to personally meet Tom Kelley. As José Ortega y Gasset said: “Men do not live together because, but for large companies undertake together.” (Los hombres no viven juntos porque sí, sino para acometer juntos grandes empresas) and Bill Moggridge still lives in IDEO and many other companies that have the delicious challenge of innovation.

I know I will not be the only one to say that you were the single most influential person and designer in my career and an inspiring role model as a human being. I feel so fortunate to have worked with you, we will miss you Bill Moggridge.

More excerpts from ID Two’s humorous internal publication.

This video excerpt is from one of the many New Year’s celebrations we enjoyed with Bill. He made fun and creative contributions to the events and here he is exuberantly leading the fairly non-musical gang in “song”.

Lots of small vignettes come to mind, and they all include some common denominators: the smile, the ever-present twinkle in his eyes, the subtle remark that carries with it layers of meaning wrapped in British humor, and the ability to see beyond the obvious horizon, with so much humility… What a privilege to have had the opportunity for interactions with such a beautiful soul!

The last time I spoke to Bill he was visiting Facebook. People ask you many things when they are visiting Facebook, mostly about Facebook and something they heard in the news, but Bill caught me off-guard when he asked me how I was and if I was still enjoying working at Facebook (and he was genuinely interested to know). It was a simple question but I really appreciated that he took the time to ask it.