Junyi Zhu🇨🇳

About Junyi Zhu

Senior design lead at IDEO

A researcher, business designer, and mentor with passion. Started the career as a human researcher, and pivoted the career to pursue a more significant impact by becoming an entrepreneur. Now I'm working as the senior design lead in IDEO Shanghai to drive local innovation in China for China.

Expertise

Sessions with Junyi Zhu

• Design Thinking & Innovation 101 (45 min): Welcome to “Design Thinking & Innovation Essentials,” a beginner-friendly course designed to introduce you to the core concepts of design thinking and innovation. I’m Junyi, an innovation consultant with 15 years of experience, including roles at leading design consulting firm like IDEO and tech company like Flexport and with leading brands like Coca, LV. My passion is helping brands understand their users deeply and design solutions that resonate culturally. In this course, we’ll break down the basics of design thinking and explore practical tools that make innovation accessible. You’ll learn how to look at problems through a human-centered lens, using real-world examples from my work in user research, co-creation workshops, product innovation and client stakeholder management. It's a session for people who are new but interested in design thinking and human-centered innovation. We will talk about basic framework, rules, perspectives and I will share some real case if it's relevant
• Mentorship Session (30 min): General mentorship

What mentees say

“Вот более гладкий вариант на английском: My question was about Junyi’s career path from research into innovation. She understood my situation and context incredibly well. I really appreciated that she took the time to ask about my experience, where I am now, and where I want to go. What stood out to me was how thoughtfully she shaped the conversation around the things that mattered most to me.”

“Amazing conversation! I learned what it means and takes to become a researcher (both design and ux); and this experience further solidified my passion for it.”

“My session with Junyi was incredibly inspiring. She generously shared her insights and experiences in business and social innovation within the consulting landscape in China. I saw her experiences not just as case studies, but as living proof that strategy, research, and creativity can be powerful tools for real change.”