Michael Hendrix

R. Michael Hendrix is an American graphic designer and entrepreneur.
He is a Partner and Managing Director of the IDEO Boston studio where he practices brand strategy, creative direction and graphic design. He cites a diagram by Charles Eames as a motivation for joining IDEO. He has been a recognized advocate and practitioner of design thinking since co-founding Tricycle Inc., a sustainable design firm in 2002.
He graduated from The University of Tennessee in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design.

In a 2008 Interview with GDUSA Hendrix said, "Designers have a chance to make significant contributions as we face mounting challenges like global warming, culture wars and shifting world powers. The challenge is to understand systems of influence and to create strategies to address them at connection points. We need to be aware that the design thinking skills used in our craft are also applicable to business and social concerns."

On starting an environmentally friendly carpet sample company he said, "“One of my primary reasons for cofounding Tricycle was the search for a career with greater meaning and social significance,” Hendrix adds. After several years as a practicing designer, he was ready for a change. “I began to believe it was possible to change the way design works, to benefit the designer, client, and larger society.”

While at Tricycle Inc. he was made an AIGA Fellow for significant contributions to the field of graphic design, received the Industrial Designers Society of America IDEA award for the carpet simulations, was selected for the Smithsonian Cooper-Hewitt National Design Triennial, and was a Top Nominee (now referred to as Finalist) for the Danish INDEX Awards for Tricycle's sampling program.

He has also been recognized for design excellence by "American design associations and publications including the One Show, Type Directors Club, Print, HOW and Communication Arts" and is a regular speaker at design conferences including WIRED, SXSW, HOW Design, AIGA and Design Management Institute.

In 2010 He co-authored an article with Jane Fulton Suri for Rotman School of Management on why design thinking should also be accompanied by design sensibilities.

Hendrix writes and performs music as R.M. Hendrix. He released one album and two eps in 2011 with minor press coverage. Indie Machine described his music as "new wave with a side order of shoegaze". In 2014 he released "Urban Turks Country Jerks" on Moon Sounds Records, named one of the "fifty finest artists" of the year by Drowned in Sound