Thesis Body: Design Thinking and Why It's Needed

Definition:

What is design thinking? Is it the latest design trend? Is it an effective problem solving approach? Or even a new business model that is changing how corporate America normally operates?

In fact it is all of this and more. There are varying definitions of and opinions about design thinking. Some see it as a business tool for developing strategy and marketing products while others see it it as a human-centered approach to design innovation. From Tim Brown CEO of IDEO to Roger Martin Dean of Rotman’s Business School to Daniel Pink author of A Whole New Mind, they all define design thinking differently. But what they can all agree upon is design thinking converts need into demand. It focuses on people’s actual needs rather than selling them on what we think they want. The process of design thinking uses the designers’ sensibilities coupled with in the field research, idea generation and prototyping to create unique and unexpected results. It revolves around the customer experience and relies less on the traditional notion of design as a visually enticing package or neatly arranged series of graphics. Design thinking pushes the boundaries of what design is and what it can be.


Process: 5 Steps to Design Thinking

According to IDEO, the process of design thinking is broken up into 5 steps. The intention of this process is to frame the problem, to ask questions, to understand how it is perceived, to stimulate and inspire ideas and then to find the best possible solution to the given problem.


1. Observe
Go out into the world and look and listen to people, see what they are missing, what they like and dislike. Use that to inspire the design of the experience and the way that experience communicates to the outside world.

2. Brainstorm
Do intense idea-generation based on everything. Create one hundred ideas in no more than an hour.

3. Prototype
Make your favorite ideas real in a rough and ready way. Ideas that are quickly expressed in forms that other people can see, hear, touch or otherwise experience don't stay abstract for long.

4. Implement
Bring the skills together to design, engineer and develop the solution to the point of production.

5. Tell the Story
Communicate the experience of the product, service or space by revisiting the insights that provided inspiration for design. Tell stories that reflect the truth.