What is Design Thinking and How to Apply It?
Introduction
Design thinking is a valuable approach that can be applied to a wide range of innovation challenges in business, government, and society. This article explores the historical perspective of design thinking, its principles, the importance of prototyping and storytelling, participation in the creator economy, and the application of design principles in process redesign.
Understanding Design Thinking: A Historical Perspective
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Design thinking is a valuable approach that can be applied to a wide range of innovation challenges in business, government, and society.
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Isambard Kingdom Brunel, a 19th-century British engineer, is a prime example of a historical design thinker who applied the principles of design thinking before the formal profession emerged.
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Brunel’s innovative projects, such as the Great Western Railway and the first ever tunnel under the River Thames, demonstrate his holistic approach to creating transformative experiences for users.
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He aimed to create an experience for passengers of ‘floating across the countryside’ rather than just providing a faster mode of transportation. This vision led him to consider not just the railway journey but also an integrated transportation system that would allow passengers to embark on a train in London and disembark from a ship in New York.
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Brunel’s approach embodies the principles of design thinking, even though the formal profession of design had not yet emerged during his time.
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Design thinking encourages divergent thinking, which involves creating new choices and possibilities that may not have existed before, in contrast to convergent thinking, which focuses on selecting the best option from existing choices and executing it.
Understanding Design Thinking Principles and Concepts
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Design thinking is about thinking in an integrated and holistic way, also known as integrative thinking, which involves holding multiple tensions and resolving them in an idea that solves for all of them simultaneously.
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The classic tension in design and innovation is the balance between desirability, feasibility, and viability, where a workable idea must resolve for all three aspects at the same time.
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Design is essentially human-centered, starting with understanding and meeting the needs of people before considering technology or business aspects.
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Learning through making things, from speculating and thinking about what to build to actually building and prototyping, speeds up the innovation process and allows for deeper understanding of end users.
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Prototyping is crucial in the design thinking process, and it is often misunderstood as slowing down the innovation process, especially in larger companies.
The Importance of Prototyping and Storytelling in Design
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Prototyping is essential for testing the quality of an idea and improving it at a faster pace.
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Speed of prototyping can give entrepreneurs a competitive edge over large companies.
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A venture-funded medical startup, Back Sano, demonstrated the power of rapid prototyping by developing accurate back surgery tools in just seven weeks.
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The speed of prototyping can create a significant advantage, especially in industries with slow development processes.
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While good ideas are important, they often require effective storytelling and passionate involvement to be successful in today’s market.
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The advertising industry was established in the 20th century to sell products and create consumer engagement through storytelling.
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Creating movements and fostering passionate involvement are crucial for promoting creative solutions in the modern era.
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The concept of open innovation is designed to involve more people in the design process and tackle social innovation challenges. IDEO launched an open innovation platform for this purpose.
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The platform has garnered a community of about 15,000 designers working on various social innovation challenges and has won the Webby Award for community websites.
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One of the challenges on the open innovation platform was related to Jamie Oliver’s TED Prize for making food more accessible to Americans. The challenge focused on raising kids’ awareness of fresh food and received significant participation with nearly 200 concepts being generated.
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Participants on the open innovation platform are measured using a ‘design quotient’ to quantify their contribution to the design process, and this metric is gaining traction within the design community.
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The platform’s success was evident with 7.5 thousand users from 166 countries participating in the challenges and presenting 17 impactful ideas.
Participation and the Creator Economy
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The concept of creating movements to engage large numbers of people in a common cause is gaining traction, drawing inspiration from initiatives like Jamie Oliver’s.
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Design is evolving from simply encouraging consumption to creating meaningful participative experiences in various aspects of products and services, signaling a shift to the creator economy.
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Paul Sappho predicts that the 21st century is characterized by the creator economy, where everyone, not just an elite group, will participate through small creative acts, such as constructing a search string on Google.
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Distinguishing between the creator and creative economy is essential, as the former involves widespread participation by individuals in creating value for themselves, such as in the case of Google’s search usage.
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The participation-driven mindset is crucial for both internal and external organizational success, with collaboration being a key factor for innovation and progress.
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Fear can be a significant obstacle to collaboration and creativity, hindering the willingness to take risks and explore new ideas. Creating environments that mitigate fear and encourage playfulness and exploration is vital for fostering innovation.
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Companies like Google and Pixar prioritize creating playful and exploratory environments, where trust and creativity flourishes, highlighting the importance of integrating these elements into the organizational culture.
Design Principles and Process Redesign
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The founder of zing, Lars Henrichs, created a new venture incubator in Europe called Hack Forward to bring together angel investors, venture capitalists, marketing experts, and software entrepreneurs.
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The organization, Hack Forward, was designed to create a greater output of software innovation in Europe.
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The design process included everything from business model to legal agreements, with a focus on simplicity and understanding for all involved parties.
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Asking the right question is crucial in the design thinking process, as it determines the creative destination and the outcome of the process.
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It’s important to consider the holistic approach and design everything to get the most out of design thinking.
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Measuring user contributions to the site, including inspirations, ideas, evaluations, and building on other people’s ideas, is a significant part of the process.
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Ad hoc teams are emerging based on building off ideas on the site, and in some cases, formalizing these teams and seeking funding for idea implementation is being considered.
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Design principles can be effectively applied to process redesign, particularly in industries like healthcare to improve efficiency and achieve better health outcomes.
Conclusion
Design thinking offers a holistic and integrative approach to innovation challenges. By understanding its historical roots, principles, and practical application in the creator economy, businesses and entrepreneurs can enhance their problem-solving and innovation capabilities. Embracing design thinking principles can lead to more user-centered, impactful, and successful outcomes.