Introduction
By Martin Tomitsch and Cara Wrigley
Design is no longer a discipline
their way into physical environments
limited to the concerns of a
and products, from smart cities to
singular, specific domain. Like
internet-of-things and medical
most other industries, the field
devices. Technological
of design is being challenged by
advancements are changing the
the arrival of the fourth
process of design. As a result, we
industrial
must integrate the requirements of
revolution. Systems are becoming
all the domains, aspects and features
more complex, requiring more
that make up the most innovative
intuitive user interfaces and
solutions worldwide. We must design
multiple touch points, from
– think – make – break – and then
wearable screens to virtual reality
repeat.
headsets. Digital systems are
weaving
Design evolution
The responsibility of design has better appearance,
evolved over time along with better human
industrial, technological and factors or usability,
market shifts (Owen, 1991). For and better
almost a century, design has been performance.
used to achieve a competitive Around the turn of
advantage across industries. At the century, the role
the of design changed
beginning of design as a profession, again, with
this involved designers working with companies seeking
engineers to achieve better designers to help
construction techniques. them develop better
ideas and better
As markets changed and caught up integration, now
with this trend, the role of design also including better
shifted to delivering a strategic experiences and
advantage by having products with social inclusion.
Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat. 1
As our global and lived environments are
becoming more complex, the role of design is
changing yet again. We are
facing unprecedented global challenges, such as
population growth and mass urbanisation, and
technology is advancing and penetrating all aspects
of our lives at a rapidly increasing rate.
Design is now seen as a pathway for solving
complex, nonlinear problems, which can’t be
solved with technological or scientific approaches
alone. It provides a framework for understanding
the needs of the people, as well as the space to
translate these needs into solutions. For the first
time, in the evolution of design as a field, the use
of such methods
is no longer limited to skilled design professionals.
Using design as a way of thinking provides a
strategic advantage
2 Introduction
across many professions. Design
diamond encourages divergent
is, therefore, becoming a
thinking followed by convergent
capability-enhancing skill,
thinking. The first diamond starts
equipping people with the ability
from a problem situation and ends
to deal with uncertainty,
with a problem definition and
complexity and failure.
focuses on understanding the
problem. The second diamond uses
The last two decades have seen
the resulting problem definition as
much excitement around the term
design brief and is concerned with
‘design thinking’, largely due to its
finding the right solution.
adoption into business as an
alternative approach to business
Despite being criticised by some
strategy development. Herbert
scholars for their simplified view of
A. Simon first referred to design as
design as a process, models like the
a ‘way of thinking’ in his book ‘The
honeycomb
Sciences of the Artificial’ (Simon,
and double diamond offer distinctive
1969), proposing a structured
perspectives and considerations. They
approach for translating an existing
allow organisations to adopt their own
situation into a preferred situation
formalised design approach to inform
using design methods – helping to
how they operate and design their
connect different elements
products and services.
contributing
to a final solution. In the 1980s the term
‘design thinking’ was used to describe the
process of designing in architecture
and urban planning (Rowe, 1991).
Since then several frameworks have
been formulated to provide
guidance for when, how and which
methods to apply at the various
stages of a design process. These
early works have laid the
foundation for today’s role and
place of design as an innovation
method.
Two popular design models that empathise, define, ideate, prototype and test, and
translate this way of thinking into a stresses the importance of iteratively moving
framework are the ‘honeycomb’ between those stages while working on
model proposed by the [Link] at a design project. The double diamond model entails
Stanford University and the ‘double the phases of discover and define (the first
diamond’ model published by the UK diamond), and develop and deliver (the second
Design Council. The honeycomb diamond). Each
model involves the stages of
Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat. 3
The changing role of design to provide
a competitive advantage by achieving
products, services, systems and
environments of better quality. Levels
1 to 3 based on an original diagram by
Owen (1990).
4 Introduction
Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat.
Arriving at an innovative solution is
than investing a lot of time in each
usually not a clear, straightforward
step, it is more productive to go
pathway. Design requires learning
through
about the context (the thinking
the process as quickly and as often
part), building prototypes as
as possible (the repeating part). The
tangible representations (the
earlier an idea or concept is broken,
making part) and testing potential
the quicker we can focus on
solutions (the breaking part).
improving it.
Rather
Design thinking
For an innovation to be successful, for and how to address their needs that
it is critical to not only have the companies find most challenging.
technical and business
opportunities in place but to also To understand who we are
ensure that there is a real designing for (users, customers or
need, a desire, for the product or other stakeholders), it is important
service. According to Eric von Hippel, to develop the skill of empathy.
a Professor at the MIT Sloan School Design thinking uses a wide array
of Management, 70 to 80 percent of of methods to develop empathy
new product developments that fail by collecting data from and about
do so not for lack of advanced real people and for translating this
technology, but rather a failure to data into ideas and concepts.
understand users’ needs. It’s
understanding who we are
designing
Design making
Data and ideas collected during part of the
the design thinking phase can be process.
turned into concepts and This is where we
prototypes – the design making build a tangible
Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat. 5
representation (or many
referred to as the minimal viable
representations) of the solution. In
product (MVP). A concept, prototype
some cases, this is also
or MVP
can be a representation of a specific
scenario, the entire user interface, or
just one feature built as a technical
proof of concept.
6 Introduction
The model for
designing products or
services used in this
book. The methods
are not limited to one
of the phases; many of
them can be applied
at different stages of a
design project.
The steps of a design process are
linked and interconnected. They don’t
happen in isolation from each other.
The better the research data
collected initially, the more useful the
tangible representation of the
solution will be.
Design breaking
One way to find out whether an official
idea works is to put it in front of
potential users or customers.
Sometimes it might be necessary to
let go of an idea or concept to
make room for even better ideas
to emerge. To break a design
solution requires embracing failure.
Taking a different perspective and
exploring many approaches rapidly
can effectively solve complex
problems.
In 1959, British industrialist Henry
Kremer created a prize for
designing a human-powered
aircraft that could fly a figure-eight
course around two poles half a
mile apart. Despite more than 50
Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat. 7
attempts, the prize
went unclaimed for
over 17 years. In
1976, Paul
MacCready, an
aeronautical
engineer,
completed the
challenge by
looking at the
problem from a
different
perspective. While
everyone
else was trying to
build a human-
powered plane that
can fly a figure
eight around two
poles, he built a
plane that could be
crashed and re-built
within hours. His
team would often
break the plane
several times a day,
and from those
failures learn how to
improve their
approach. The
solution was to
build a lightweight
plane that could
fly very slowly.
Constantly
breaking their
concept sped up
the process of
finding a new,
successful
solution.
8 Introduction
Repeating the steps
The final step is to repeat all or
that all those who sat on the left
some of the previous steps. Every
side of the studio would be
iteration leads to new insights,
graded based
and the new insights are what will
on the number of works they
set a product or
produced, while the right side would
service apart from other solutions in
be graded based on quality. When it
the market. Designing, thinking,
came to grading the students’
making and breaking many different
submissions,
representations quickly rather than
he found that those focusing on
striving to create
quantity had come up with
one perfect solution leads to a
much more interesting and novel
more innovative outcome.
works than those striving to
develop a high-quality submission.
According to David Bayles and Ted
Not getting fixated on one idea
Orland a ceramics teacher one day
allowed the students to try out
announced that he would divide
many different ideas quickly and
his class into two groups (Bayles &
that way producing overall higher-
Orland, 2001, p.29). He explained to
quality works.
the groups
Who we are designing for
business and
In interaction design, the end commercial world,
consumers of the designed products the term customer is
are commonly referred to as users. frequently used
This notion is also reflected in terms instead. In some
used to describe emerging design cases, the user
disciplines, such as user experience might not be the
design, and methodologies like user- customer of a
centred design. However, this is not product. For
always an accurate reflection of example, users on
who is purchasing or engaging with Facebook
an end design solution. Within the
Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat. 9
are different from the customers, who are paying,
for example, for targeted advertising. The design of
Facebook as a platform needs to consider and target
both. A design process may also need to consider
other stakeholders, who
are individuals or organisations with an invested
interest or stand to gain or lose from the solution.
The terms user, customer and stakeholders are
not always equally interchangeable and have
been carefully selected and used throughout this
book.
10 Introduction
How to use this book
This book is written as a
learning resource and reference which provides printable versions
guide to of templates as well as further
scaffold the reader’s resources to illustrate the use of
understanding of the design the methods.
process as a method for
complex problem-solving and As well as being a rich resource of
developing innovative solutions. design methods and materials,
The methods included in the the book supports the teaching of
book are applicable to a variety students and readers from all
of design disciplinary backgrounds. It
projects and across a range of provides everyday
domains and industries. This cross- tools that assist with developing
perspective approach is also an understanding of design
reflected in the choice of design thinking by practically applying
briefs and case studies included in the methods through exercises.
the book, which ranges from The methods included in the
autonomous vehicles to designing book have been
the future shopping experience. contributed by leading experts in
the field. The exercises are based
The book is divided into methods on many years of experience in
that include a full description teaching the
along with methods. All methods are
step-by-step exercises and ready- grounded in research and link to
to-use blank templates. The academic articles that provide
methods are included in more detail on each method.
alphabetical order, rather than
structured by phases, to reflect The authors encourage researchers,
that they can be flexibly used and practitioners and learners to use,
adopted across multiple phases. modify, re-interpret and critique
Icons indicate the phases, in which the contents of this book. We
each method is typically used. welcome any feedback, suggested
However, there is no hard rule improvements or experiences with
about when a method can or successes – and most definitely
cannot be applied. failures! In the spirit of the book,
we look forward to its ongoing
Templates can be photocopied or development through
used inside the book. The book conversations
with you.
is accompanied by a website
([Link]
m), References
Design. Think. Make. Break. Repeat. 11
Bayles, D., & Orland, T. (2001). Art & fear: Observations on the perils
(and rewards) of artmaking. Image Continuum Press.
Owen, C. L. (1990). Design education and research for the 21st
century. Design Studies, 11(4), 202-206. Owen, C. L. (1991).
Design education in the information age. Design Issues, 7(2),
25-33.
Simon, H. A. (1969). The sciences of the
artificial. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Rowe,
P. G. (1991). Design thinking. Cambridge,
MA: MIT Press.
12 Introduction