Design thinking is not an exclusive feature for designers – all great innovators in literature, art, music, science, engineering and business have applied it.
So why do we call this Design Thinking?
Special about DESIGN thinking, designers’ work processes can help us systematically extract, teach, learn, and apply these human-centered techniques to solve problems creatively and innovatively – in our designs, our businesses, our countries, our lives.
Some of the world’s leading brands such as Apple, Google, Samsung and GE have quickly embraced the Design Thinking approach, and Design Thinking is taught at the world’s leading universities including Stanford, Harvard and MIT.
But do you know what Design Thinking is and why is it so popular?
Here, we will soon tell you what this is and why it is so in demand.
What is Design Thinking?
Design thinking is an iterative process in which we try to understand the user. Redefine problems in an effort to challenge assumptions and identify alternative strategies and solutions that might not immediately appear with our first level of understanding.
Design-oriented thinking also offers a solution-oriented approach to solving problems. It is a way of thinking and working as well as a collection of applied methods.
Design thinking revolves around a deep interest in developing an understanding of the people we design products or services for them. It helps us observe and improve.
Design thinking helps us in the questioning process: it makes us question the problem, and allows us to see assumptions and conclusions.
Design Thinking is extremely helpful in dealing with misidentified or unknown problems by reframing the problem in human-centered ways and creating lots of ideas.
Design Thinking also includes ongoing experimentation: sketching, prototyping, testing, experimenting with concepts and ideas, etc.
Stages of Design Thinking
There are many varieties of the Design Thinking process used today, and these have three to seven stages or modes.
However, all varieties of Design Thinking are very similar.
All variants of Design Thinking incorporate the same principles first described by Nobel Prize winner Herbert Simon in The Sciences of the Artificial in 1969.
Here, we’ll focus on the five-stage model proposed by the Hasso-Plattner Design Institute. We chose Stanford’s approach, also known as D.school, because they are at the forefront of practicing and teaching Design Thinking.
The five stages of Design Thinking according to D.school are as follows:
- Empathize with your users
- Define your users’ needs, problems and opinions
- Ideate – Create ideas for innovative solutions and challenge assumptions
- Prototype – Start building a solution
- Test – Solutions
It is important to note that the five stages, phases or modes are not always sequential. They do not need to follow a specific sequence and can often occur in parallel and be repeated recursively.
Accordingly, you should not understand the stages as a hierarchical or step-by-step process. Instead, you should look at it as an overview of the modes or stages that contribute to an innovative project rather than sequential steps.
To help you understand Design Thinking, we’ve divided the process into five stages, or modes:
- Empathizing,
- Define,
- Giving an Idea,
- Prototype
- Scale.
What makes Design Thinking special is that designers’ work processes can help us systematically extract, teach, learn, and apply these human-centered techniques to solve problems creatively and innovatively – in our designs, in our businesses, in our countries (and finally, if things go really well in our lives; passes beyond).
Nevertheless, a great artist like Auguste Rodin who created this famous sculpture “The Thinker” and originally “Le Penseur” would likely use the same innovative processes in his art.
Likewise, all the great innovators in literature, art, music, science, engineering, and business have applied it and are still doing it.
Step into creative processes with Design Thinking training and create a highly effective atmosphere in your organization.
Everything you are looking for is possible with Design Thinking training!