100 years of impact

Design isn’t just about what we make – it’s about the stories behind it. The sparks of inspiration, the impossible deadlines, the unexpected failures that led to breakthroughs. One hundred years after Louis Kalff gave design a home at Philips, designers step out from behind the polished headlines to share how some of the company’s most iconic work came to be – with rarely seen making-of images, sketches, and storyboards that reveal the process in motion.

 100 years of impact is a celebratory book with magazine flair – striking, visual, colorful – bringing together the ideas that shaped a design legacy, the team stories that made it real, and the questions that will guide what comes next.

 At its core is empathy – the principle that has guided a century of Philips design. That’s why you’ll find designers where you least expect them: walking in the shoes of patients, shadowing surgeons and nurses, learning firsthand how understanding people’s needs drives innovation that truly matters.

 Unfiltered, honest, and human, this book makes the design process understandable to everyone – from designers and students to historians, healthcare innovators, and anyone curious about the impact of design. A once-in-a-century perspective to hold, revisit, and treasure – before it’s gone.