Learn design thinking

Learn design thinking

Think Design

Design thinking was adapted for business purposes by Faste's Stanford colleague David M. Kelley, who founded the design consultancy IDEO in 1991. The method gained momentum in the larger business world by Tim Brown.

Designers have been designing from prehistoric times. The prehistoric people designed various tools, clothes, utensils, shelters for their people according to the geographical location. All their designs were of daily use.

Think Design

 In the present day, design field has become  global. To create products one must be   aware   of the users needs.

 So the word design got improvised to design thinking. Design thinking course is most sought after in the present day.

 Design thinking has five phrases 

 Empathise, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test.

 Empathise: The designer has to be more in   tune with what the user needs.  This means   observing and engaging with people in order   to understand them on a psychological and   emotional level.

 Define: The second stage in the Design   Thinking process is dedicated to defining the   problem. You‘ll gather all of your findings   from  the empathise phase and come to a     conclusion at what is needed to be done.

Ideate: Once you have gathered information now ideas have to come out of your mind, put it in the form of sketches. This is where an  idea will start taking a shape. Designers will hold ideation sessions in order to come up with as many new angles and ideas as possible. There are many different types of ideation technique that designers might use, from brainstorming and mind mapping

Prototype: The fourth step in the Design Thinking process is all about experimentation and turning ideas into products. This step is key in putting each solution to the test and highlighting any constraints and flaws. Throughout the prototype stage, the proposed solutions may be accepted, improved, redesigned or rejected depending on how they fare in prototype form.

Colourful Mugs

Test: After prototyping comes testing. In this phase one comes to understand flaws that their may be in the designers model. Changes are implemented if needed.

Is design thinking a Linear process 

Design is not a  linear process. Design is evolving all the time. When one design is made over the years the same product gets improvised in design, material used, colours used, shape also gets changed over the years. 

Here in this picture you will see mugs. These mugs are used  to drink  beverages. All of them are designed differently to attract the customers.

Design thinking has a purpose.

Design is done for a purpose. Design Thinking develops creativity and innovation. Design thinking steps are implemented on a large scale when manufacturing products for a society.

Design thinking involves identifying, defining and solving a problem by  using information collected in a step by step manner.

Design thinking can be done on individual bases also like creating a new design product by combining already existing products. It could be any thing_ pen stands, new dress, furniture, software's,  apps and so on. 

Watch this video on how new objects is created using existing objects.

Design thinking has a purpose. Design are created for humans. This is human centric. Design thinking generates feelings, it compels the designers to enhance there creativity and innovation so that more and more people benefit from this.

Lot of research work is done before the product is made accessible to the people.  For the user, this means better, more useful products that actually improve our lives. For businesses, this means happy customers and a healthier bottom line.

Design thinking is important as it has lot of benefits at work.

As designers we have a role to play in designing the products that the company puts in the market. Using Design Thinking methods can add to business value. It will also be useful to the customers.

Design thinking solves problems by meeting the demand of the consumers and the present situations. Creating timely products and supplying it in the market ensures good lifestyle. It also encourages designers to constantly innovate their ideas. 

1. Cost savings : Getting successful products to market faster saves the                        company money.

2. Improves customer retention and loyalty:  Design Thinking ensures a user                centric approach, which ultimately boosts user engagement and customer                retention in the long term.

3. Fosters innovation: Design Thinking is all about challenging assumptions and          established beliefs. This fosters a culture of innovation which extends well                beyond the design team.

4.  Can be applied company-wide: The great thing about Design Thinking is that it‘s       not just for designers. It leverages group thinking and encourages cross-team           collaboration. What‘s more, it can be applied to virtually any team in any                   industry.

Fields where Design thinking is applied  effectively.

Product design.

Service and experience design.

Business design.

Leadership building. 

For design thinking to be effective, visual thinkers play an effective role here. Visual thinkers have good ability to think in an innovative way and also they are skilled to implement their ideas using tools like colours or digital devices. 

"Wicked " problem Solving.

The term ―wicked problem‖ was coined by design theorist Horst Rittel in the 1970s to describe particularly tricky problems.  With wicked problems, there is no definitive solution. characteristic of wicked problems is that they have no stopping point; as the nature of the problem changes over time, so must the solution. Solving wicked problems is therefore an ongoing process that requires Design Thinking.  Some examples of wicked problems in our society today include things like poverty, hunger and climate change. 

Lean and Agile in Design Thinking.

Lean- This terminology was brought into manufacturing to improve profits by reducing costs, instead of solely relying on increased sales. If a company can eliminate waste and become more efficient, it can save money, thereby increasing overall profits. In this method the teams brainstorm within work premises after collecting information from consumers. This is what means by Lean thinking in design.

Agile- Agile development is a procedure that relies on close teaming with customers  to understand the market changes and latest trends rapidly. The goal is to get to market quickly with improvements, sometimes continuously. In this the teams in the company interact with the users related to their product. The teams may conduct surveys, interviews with consumers to collect information for further improvements.This is what means by Agile thinking in design.

Combining design thinking with lean and agile thinking

Applying Design Thinking in a lean, agile environment helps to create a product development process that is user-centric, it is also highly efficient from a business point of view.

Design Thinking is a solution-based approach to explore and solving problems. It focuses on generating ideas with a specific problem in mind, keeping the user in the mind  throughout. Once we have established and designed a suitable solution, we start to incorporate lean principles—testing our ideas, gathering quick and ongoing feedback to see what works—with particular emphasis on cross-team collaboration and overcoming departmental needs. Agile ties all of this into short testing cycles, allowing for adaptability in the face of change. In an agile environment, products are improved. In Agile method there is more feed back from the end result.

 Combining design thinking lean and agile method is useful in any company.

   Read More:  Learn advanced design