Design ThinkingWhat is it?

DESIGN THINKING IS A COLLABORATIVE, HUMAN-CENTERED APPROACH...

D*School, Institute of Design, Stanford

... TO SOLVING COMPLEX PROBLEMS BY GOING THROUGH SPECIFIC STAGES: UNDERSTANDING HUMAN NEEDS (EMPATHIZE), FRAMING THE PROBLEM (DEFINE), GENERATING IDEAS (IDEATE), BUILDING MODELS (PROTOTYPE) AND GETTING FEEDBACK TO REFINE MODELS (TESTING).

Design Thinking

Thomas Edison created the electric lightbulb and then wrapped an entire industry around it. In the 19th century Isambard Kingdom Brunel designed The Great Western Railway. He didn’t stop with just trying to design the best railway journey. He imagined an integrated transportation system in which it would be possible for a passenger to embark on a train in London and disembark from a ship in New York.

Edison and Brunel’s approach was an early example of what is now called “design thinking”—a methodology that imbues the full spectrum of innovation activities with a human-centered

design ethos. Innovation is powered by a thorough understanding, through direct observation, of what people want and need in their lives and what they like or dislike about the way particular products are made, packaged, marketed, sold, and supported.

http://hbr.org/2008/06/design-thinking/ http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_urges_designers_to_think_big

EMPATHISEUNDERSTANDING HUMAN NEEDS (EMPATHIZE), ASK QUESTIONS, WHY? WHY? WHY? THIS WILL ALLOW CROSS FUNCTIONAL INSIGHT INTO EACH PROBLEM FROM A VARIED NUMBER OF PERSPECTIVES. OBSERVE, ENGAGE, WATCH, LISTEN.

DEFINEGATHER ALL THE INFORMATION YOU HAVE DISCOVERED AND FRAME THE PROBLEM. BRING CLARITY, FOCUS AND REDEFINE YOUR DIRECTION.

IDEATE

From Wikipedia: Herbert Simon, in the “Sciences of the Artificial” (MIT Press, 1969) has defined “design” as the “transformation of existing conditions into preferred ones” (p. 55).

GENERATE IDEAS. “THERE ARE NO JUDGMENTS IN DESIGN THINKING. THIS ELIMINATES THE FEAR OF FAILURE AND ENCOURAGES MAXIMUM INPUT AND PARTICIPATION. WILD IDEAS ARE WELCOME, SINCE THESE OFTEN LEAD TO THE MOST CREATIVE SOLUTIONS. EVERYONE IS A DESIGNER, AND DESIGN THINKING IS A WAY TO APPLY DESIGN METHODOLOGIES TO ANY OF LIFE’S SITUATIONS.”

Herbert Simon

PROTOTYPEPROTOTYPES OF THE SOLUTIONS ARE BUILT. PROTOTYPING ALLOWS US TO MOVE IDEAS FORWARD QUICKLY.

TESTINGUSER TESTING ALLOWS FEEDBACK TO REDEFINE THE SOLUTIONS.

Conclusion

If we focus more on design thinking as an approach, we might see the results have a bigger impact. Design is human-centered, how easy it is to forget the very people we are solving the problem for, when we get caught up in the logistics and clash of interests that take place in the real world. This is an important reminder of the human-centered approach that the design-thinking process emphasizes.

We need to start asking questions like what makes life easier, more enjoyable? What makes technology useful and usable? It is more than good ergonomics, it’s often about understanding

culture and context before we even know where to start to have ideas.

Design thinking gives us a new way of tackling problems instead of resolving them with what is available. It encourages us to look from several perspectives by focusing on the needs of the human.

http://hbr.org/2008/06/design-thinking/ http://www.ted.com/talks/tim_brown_urges_designers_to_think_big

Entropii is a Design Consultancy in London. You can find more information about us here:

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Hilda AllenLead Designer @ Entropii