Learning
objectives
Define Design Thinking
Describe the three
spaces of design
thinking
Outline the design
thinking process
DESIGN THINKING
What is design thinking?
A method of focusing innovation on people and
designing based on:
What people need and want
What people like
Inregards to production, packaging, marketing,
retailing, support, or all of them
A skill that allows a designer to align what
people want with what can be done, and
produce a viable business strategy that creates
customer value and market opportunity
DESIGN THINKING
(CONT.)
A human-centred collaborative
approach to problem solving that is
creative , iterative and practical
(Brown , 2008)
It is an approach to solve design
problems by understanding user’s
needs and developing insights to
address those needs i.e. a user
centered approach to problem solving
DESIGN THINKING
(CONT.)
Design thinking is people focused
(User/ customer/ stakeholder-
centered) It is anchored by its
commitment to satisfying (and
preferably delighting) users,
customers, and stakeholders.
Design is not only what it looks
or feels like, it is also how it
works.- Steve Jobs
DESIGN THINKING (CONT.)
DT is “a human-centered
approach to innovation that
draws from the designer's toolkit
to integrate the needs of people,
the possibilities of technology,
and the requirements for
business success”
([Link]).
DESIGN THINKING
(CONT.)
Design thinking is an iterative
problemsolving process of
discovery, ideation, and
experimentation that employs
designbased techniques to gain
insight and yield innovative
solutions for virtually any type of
organizational or business
challenge
DESIGN THINKING
(CONT.)
a system of three overlapping
spaces, in which viability refers
to the business perspective of DT,
desirability reflects the user’s
perspective, and feasibility
encompasses the technology
perspective.
Innovation increases when all
three perspectives are addressed
•Does the •Can we afford
solution show desirability viability it?
empathy for human needs business •Does it make
end-users? needs me more
•Is this the profitable?
simplest •Do we have the
solution that skills?
gets the job •What is my
feasibility
done? ROI?
technical
•Is it elegant? needs
•Is it useful?
•How quickly can I configure the solution to suit
my needs?
•Is the solution easy to maintain?
•Is it consistent with my current system
landscape?
•Can the solution be easily supported?
Desirability
Will this solution fill a need?
A great place to start is by checking to see
if the project is adding value to the world.
Will it fit into people’s lives?
Understanding the people using our
solution tells us how they live and in what
way our solution supports or conflicts with
their lifestyle and use cases.
Will it appeal to them? Will they
actually want it?
Feasibility
Is the technology (or resources)
needed to power the design solution
available or within reach?
Sometimes the goal is to create a new
technology, but sometimes we need to
work with what we’ve got. Determine
what your goal is on this front early on.
How long will this take?
Is it realistic?
Feasibility (Cont.)
Can the organization actually
make it happen?
During the convergent phase of
the ideation process of a project,
we have to look at questions of
feasibility. A solution only works
when the team can actually
make it work in the long run.
Viability
Will the design solution align with
the organization’s long-term goals?
By understanding what the business
wants to accomplish, we can focus our
energy in the right direction.
Is the solution cost-effective?
Is the solution sustainable? What
will the return on the investment
look like?
Viability (Cont.)
Measure the effort needed to
execute on a solution with the
potential payoff in terms of desired
outcomes—whether they’re
financial, social impact-related, or
some other quantifiable measure. If
the investment far outweighs the
benefits, it may be worth focusing on
a different solution.
The DT Mindset
Only through observation, contact and
empathy with end users can one
design solutions that address the
user’s needs
as opposed to
“We have this technology, what can we
use it for?”
“ Our competitors launched X ; how can
we do X quickly?”
The design thinking
process
Empathising
• In order to empathise, we need to
understand our users
– We need to research our market
• Some of this can be done through
web research, e.g. scaling the
problem, gaining a foothold
understanding of how users operate
• However the real empathising starts
in the context of ongoing dialogue
with potential users
Empathising cont’
The goal is to gain basic knowledge so that
you know the right questions to ask
Methods
[Link] research
2. Brief interviews for background
[Link] out to friends who may be
connected / have information on domain
* It is not about the designer, s/he needs to
understand and share the feelings of others
How to empathize
Observe
Engage- interview /
conversation
Watch and listen i.e.
combine observation and
engagement
Defining
• List pain points, i.e. things that users
complain about
• Formalise these into a problem
statement.
– This statement should:
• Make it clear whom the user is
• Aggregate smaller concerns into one
larger issue
– This statement should NOT:
• Narrow the problem down in a way that
lends itself towards specific solutions
Ideating
This stage is where your opportunity to flex
your creative muscles comes in
Quantity is your friend! If you are struggling
to come up with 20-30 ideas, then your
problem statement was too restrictive
Abandon judgement – no idea is a bad idea
as long as it fits with the needs identified in
your problem statement
Visualise things! Get a pen and paper out (or
whatever medium you find comfortable) and
draw pictures, bubble-diagrams, etc.
Ideating
Ideate is the mode of the design
process in which one concentrates on
idea generation.
Mentally it represents a process of
“going wide” in terms of concepts
and outcomes.
Ideation provides both the fuel and
also the source material for building
prototypes and getting innovative
solutions into the hands of the users.
Prototyping
Prototypes consist of anything from paper
based representations to fully functional
product
It allows three things
You can figure out if and how your idea
can be implemented
It gives you a way of discussing things
with users in a shared language, i.e. “is
this what you meant?”
Ideas can be tested with users
Testing
Testing serves two purposes
To evaluate ideas
To generate new ideas from users
With this in mind, a few tips:
Test with users that are representative
and appropriately critical
Try to minimize users’ nerves/sense
that they are being observed
Prioritise key tasks (you can’t test
everything)
THE END