Module 2: Design & Engineering

Background

Design thinking approach

Design Thinking is a “process for creative problem solving.” It’s an approach, typically applied
in a Design Thinking workshop that anyone (not just designers!) can take to solve a business or
creative challenge. While there are different approaches to the Design Thinking depending on who is
teaching it, the process typically boils down to the following five steps:

1. Empathize
2. Define
3. Ideate
4. Prototype
5. Test.

1. Empathize - Research Your Users' Needs

 First stage of the design thinking process.
 you should gain an empathetic understanding of the problem you’re trying to solve, typically
through user research.
 Empathy is crucial to a human-centered design process such as design thinking because it
allows you to set aside your own assumptions about the world and gain real insight into users
and their needs.
 Depending on time constraints, a substantial amount of information is gathered at this stage
to use during the next stage and to develop the best possible understanding of the users, their
needs, and the problems that underlie the development of that particular product.

2. Define - State Your Users' Needs and Problems

• During the Define stage, you put together the information you have created and gathered
during the Empathize stage.

• Then analyze your observations and synthesize them to define the core problems you and
your team have identified up to this point

• These definitions are called problem statements.

• Problem statements are concise descriptions of design problems.

• Design teams use them to define the current and ideal states, to freely find user-
centered solutions.

• Synthesize your observations about your users from the Empathize stage

• Definition of a meaningful and actionable problem statement, which the design

thinker will focus on solving
3. Ideate - Challenge Assumptions and Create Ideas
• You are now ready to generate ideas

• The solid background of knowledge from the first two phases means you can start to “think
outside the box”, look for alternative ways to view the problem and identify innovative
solutions to the problem statement you’ve created.

• It is important to get as many ideas or problem solutions as possible at the beginning of the
Ideation phase.

• Brainstorming is particularly useful here.

• Brainstorming is a method design teams use to generate ideas to solve clearly defined
design problems.

• You should pick some other Ideation techniques by the end of the Ideation phase to help you
investigate and test your ideas so you can find the best way to either solve a problem or
provide the elements required to circumvent it.

4. Prototype - Start to Create Solutions

• This is an experimental phase.

• The aim is to identify the best possible solution for each problem found.

• Prototypes may be shared and tested within the team itself, in other departments, or on a
small group of people outside the design team.

• Team should produce some inexpensive, scaled-down versions of the product (or specific
features found within the product) to investigate the ideas you’ve generated.

• The solutions are implemented within the prototypes, and, one by one, they are investigated
and either accepted, improved and re-examined, or rejected on the basis of the users’
experiences.

• By the end of this stage, the design team will have a better idea of the constraints inherent to
the product and the problems that are present, and have a clearer view of how real users
would behave, think, and feel when interacting with the end product.

5. Test - Try Your Solutions Out

• This is the final stage of the 5 stage-model, but in an iterative process, the results generated
during the testing phase are often used to redefine one or more problems and inform the
understanding of the users, the conditions of use, how people think, behave, and feel, and to
empathise.

• Evaluators rigorously test the prototypes

• Although this is the final phase, design thinking is iterative: Teams often use the results to
redefine one or more further problems.

• Can return to previous stages to make further iterations, alterations and refinements – to find
or rule out alternative solutions.
 • Even during this phase, alterations and refinements are made in order to rule out problem
solutions and derive as deep an understanding of the product and its users as possible.

• Chance to gather feedback, refine solutions, and continue to learn about your users.

• The test mode is an iterative mode in which you place low-resolution prototypes in the
appropriate context of your user’s life.

• Prototype as if you know you’re right, but test as if you know you’re wrong

Convergent and divergent thinking

Divergent thinking
• It is a thought process or method used to generate creative ideas by exploring many possible
solutions.

• It typically occurs in a spontaneous, free-flowing, "non-linear" manner, such that many ideas
are generated in an emergent cognitive fashion.

• Divergent thinking uses the imagination to open the mind to new possibilities and solutions,
and ultimately become more innovative.

Convergent thinking
• It is the opposite of divergent thinking.

• It generally means the ability to give the "correct" answer to standard questions that do not
require significant creativity, for instance in most tasks in school and on standardized multiple-
choice tests for intelligence.

• Convergent thinking moves from broad thoughts to concrete understanding, where the
thoughts from divergent thinking can be narrowed down to the most promising ideas and
solutions.
Q1) Illustrate the design thinking approach for designing a bag for college students
within a limited budget. Describe each stage of the process and the iterative
procedure involved. Use hand sketches to support your arguments.
Solution:

Step 1: Empathize: Research your user’s need

In this stage we are trying gain an empathetic understanding of the problem you’re
trying to solve, typically through user research.
 Bag should carry books
 Bag should carry tiffin box
 Bag should carry water bottle
 Bag should carry pen, pencil and other accessories
 Zipper breaks most of the time
 Shoulder gets pain, when carried for more time
 Laptop carry section must be there and it must be protected
 Items get wet on a rainy day
 Bag won’t last long
Step 2: Define: user’s need and problems
P1) sections must be there for books, laptop, tiffin box, pen, water bottle
P2) Zipper and bag breaks most of the time
P3) shoulder and back pain occurs if bag is carried for longer period of time
P4) Extra safety for laptop
P5) Items get wet on a rainy day

Step 3: Ideate: create idea for the problem

P1)

Zipper for pens and other accessories

Books and Tiffin box

Laptop area
P2)

 Better zipper material must be used, like steel for long lasting
 Good and long-lasting bag material can be used
 Better stitching material can also be used
P3)

 Adding good cushions and sponge material at the shoulder strap for reducing
the shoulder pain
 Can reduce the back pain by adding cushion material on the back side

P4) extra safety for laptop can be added to laptop carry area by adding extra sponges
and good material

P5)
 To protect the bag from getting wet on a rainy day the bag can have a
special rain coat
 The rain coat can be placed in small section under the bag when it is in
not used
 Raincoat for bag Raincoat
carrier

Step 4: Prototype: solution for the ideas

Step 5: Test: Try the solution

 In this step we can give the prototype that we made from our design to
some college students and tell them to use that for some time and collect
the feedback from them
 And from the feedback we can improve our design if we want
2) Construct a number of possible designs and then refine them to narrow
down to the best design for a drug trolley used in hospitals. Show how the
divergent-convergent thinking helps in the process. Provide your rationale for
each step by using hand sketches only.
Solution
Objective: To design a drug trolly
Scope/domain: Hospitals and health care centres
Users: Hospital staffs
Possible design using convergent thinking

Fact1) it must have to carry the entire place with item/medicine

Fact2) Medicine carry racks must be there
Fact3) It must be light weight and easy to carry
Fact4) it must have a handle to pull
 SOLUTION FOR
THE FACT

Possible design using divergent thinking

In divergent thinking we are exploring new ideas to improve the design of a

drug trolley, let us discuss more ideas by including the facts
Idea1) instead trays we can use drawers to keep the medicine safe

Idea2) Additional racks can be added in the sides of the trolley for more
compartments
Idea3) Add an extra section for hand sanitizer
Idea4) waste bins can be placed for both medical and normal waste
Idea5) can add breaks at the wheels to keep it in same position

SANITIZER
HOLDER

MEDICINE DRAWER

MEDICAL WASTE

BRAKE SYSTEM

TYRES
NORMAL WASTE