Design thinking Introduction

Design thinking is a methodology that designers use to brainstorm

and solve complex problems related to designing and design
engineering. It is also beneficial for designers to find innovative,
desirable and never-thought-before solutions for customers and
clients.

Design thinking is a blend of logic, powerful imagination,

systematic reasoning and intuition to bring to the table the
ideas that promise to solve the problems of the clients with
desirable outcomes. It helps to bring creativity with business
insights
It is a methodology of design that originated in Stanford University
and is today considered to be one of the most attractive skills in
the industry.

Infosys Ltd., India’s second largest IT-based company providing

business consulting, information technology and software
engineering services, has also made design thinking a mandatory
skill to be acquired by each of its employee.

Stanford University in the United States and the University of

Potsdam in Germany have also promoted design thinking, citing it
as one of the most useful skills for professionals.
PROCESS OF DESIGN THINKING
Design thinking is a five-step process, where each step focuses
on a specific goal. Each of the steps is independent of the next step
but is borne out of the previous step. Design thinkers are expected
not to think of the following steps when working on one step.
For example, it is not recommended to think of solutions, when the
problem is being defined. The problem definition must be written
in detail without missing any point, even if it makes finding a
solution difficult. In this tutorial, we will understand the importance
of design thinking, its impact of strategy development and we will
then explore each of the steps of design thinking.

Features of Design Thinking

Such problems require multidimensional solutions. Design thinking
helps in this regard. It not only assists a professional to come up
with a solution, but it also helps the organization to gain a
competitive edge over its rivals. Following are the benefits
conferred by design thinking. These are incidentally also the
distinguishing features of design thinking.
• Finding simplicity in complexities.
• Having a beautiful and aesthetically appealing product.
• Improving clients’ and end user’s quality of experience.
• Creating innovative, feasible, and viable solutions to real world
problems.
• Addressing the actual requirements of the end users.

Find
Simplicity

User Appealing
Requirements Product

Client Innovative
Experience Solutions
Most of the challenges in the world do not get solved because
people trying to address those problems focus too much on the
problem statement. At other times, the problem statement is
overlooked and there is too much stress to find a solution.
Design thinking helps to gain a balance between the problem
statement and the solution developed. A design-oriented
mindset is not problem focused, but solution focused and action
oriented. It has to involve both analysis and imagination. Design
thinking is the way of resolving issues and dissolving problematic
situations by the help of design.

Strategy of Innovation

Design thinking is also considered to be a strategy for innovation.

It leads to dramatic improvements in innovation. This is why design
thinking forms the core of effective strategy development and
seamless organizational change. Anything that involves human
interaction, from products, services, processes etc., can be
improved through design thinking. It all depends on the designer’s
way to create, manage, lead, and innovate.

Use of Design Thinking

The basic principle of design thinking is that innovation can be

disciplined. Innovation is not an elusive entity that only a few
genius people can experience. It is, rather, a practice that can be
systematically approached by a set of practical tools,
methodologies, and frameworks.

Design thinking helps you learn the following.

• How to optimize the ability to innovate?

• How to develop a variety of concepts, products, services,

processes, etc. for endusers?

• How to leverage the diverse ideas of innovation?

• How to convert useful data, individual insights and vague ideas

into feasible reality?

• How to connect with the customers and end-users by targeting

their actual requirements?

• How to use the different tools used by designers in their

profession for solving your customers’ problems?

Design thinking helps people of every profession to arrive at

solutions in a planned, organized, and systematic manner. The
step-by-step process helps to create solutions with both the
problem statement and the required solution in mind. Design

Thinking vs. Scientific Method

Design Thinking vs. Scientific Method

The design thinking approach is altogether different from the

scientific method. The scientific method begins with rigorously
defining all the parameters of the problem, so as to arrive at a
solution. But a design thinker is supposed to identify both the
known and the ambiguous facets of the problem statement
along with the current situation. This method of thinking helps
to unearth hidden parameters and open alternate paths to reach
the solution.
Iterative approach: As design thinking is an iterative
approach, intermediate solutions in the process of developing
the larger solution to achieve the end goal can also act as
prospective starting points for chalking out alternative paths.
This can, at times, also lead to redefinition of the problem
statement.

Analysis vs. Synthesis

Analysis refers to the process of breaking down something

substantial into multiple fragments or components. Synthesis is
the total contrast of analysis. In Synthesis, we combine
fragmented elements to form an aggregated and coherent
whole.
It is to be noted that analysis and synthesis are complementary
to each other and go hand in hand. Design thinkers have to
synthesize based on the analysis they have done and the
analysis will then follow based on what has been synthesized to
verify the results and to measure the parameters.

Divergent Thinking vs. Convergent Thinking

Divergent thinking involves finding many possible solutions in

the first stance. This is the essence of design thinking process.
The design thinkers are required to think of as many solutions
as strike their brain, even if some of them don’t look viable.
Convergent thinking is a method of narrowing the available
solutions to a final solution. Divergent thinking is the ability to
come up with various unique ideas adherent to a single theme.
Convergent thinking is the ability to find the correct solution to
the given problem. Design thinking delves on divergent thinking
in the beginning to ideate many solutions and then resort to
convergent thinking to zero-in on the best solution.

Analysis + Synthesis = Design Thinking

Analysis and synthesis, thus, form the two fundamental tasks

to be done in design thinking. Design thinking process starts
with reductionism, where the problem statement is broken
down into smaller fragments. Each fragment is brainstormed
over by the team of thinkers, and the different smaller solutions
are then put together to form a coherent final solution.
 Design
thinking involves two types of thinking, viz. convergent thinking
and divergent thinking. One needs to think of many solutions to
a common problem statement and then arrive at the correct and
the best solution.
Divergent thinking is the process of devising more than one
solution for a problem statement. It refers to the thought process
of generating creative solutions. The main features of divergent
thinking are:
• It is a free flowing chain of ideas.

• It happens in a non-linear manner, i.e. it does not follow any

particular sequence of thinking. Moreover, multiple ideas can
emerge at the same time, rather than one idea coming up only
after the other has occurred.

• Non-linearity also means that multiple solutions are thought

of and explored at the same time. This happens in a very short
amount of time and unexpected connections are developed
between the ideas.
 Free flow of
ideas

Unexpected Divergent Non linear

connections thinking thinking

Multiple
ideas

The Principles of Design Thinking

According to Christoph Meinel and Larry Leifer, there are four

principles to design thinking.
• The Human Rule - This rule states that all kinds of design
activity are ultimately social in nature.

• The Ambiguity Rule - This rule requires all design thinkers to

preserve ambiguity in the process design thinking.

• The Re-design Rule - The re-design rule states that all designs
are basically examples of re-design.

. The Tangibility Rule - The tangibility rule states that making

ideas tangible always facilitates communication between design
thinkers.
These four principles form the foundation of the design thinking
process. A design thinker needs to form his ideas and put them
forward based on these principles.
These four principles form the foundation of the design thinking
process. A design thinker needs to form his ideas and put them
forward based on these principles.

Human
Rule

Tangibility Ambiguity
Rule Principles Rule

Re-design
Rule

These four principles form the foundation of the design thinking

process. A design thinker needs to form his ideas and put them
forward based on these principles.

The Five-step Process of Design Thinking

The design thinking process or method has five steps in all to

be followed. The process starts with empathizing with the
problem of the customer or the end-user. The process then
 moves to ideate on solutions using divergent thinking. The
prototype is developed after convergent thinking and then the
design thinkers resort to testing the prototype. We will learn
more about each of these steps in the subsequent chapters of
this tutorial

Design Thinking Stage 1: Empathy

At this stage in the design thinking methodology, designers sit down with
real people and absorb their points of view, world, and introspections without
bias.

Without attempting to master empathy, designers face an uphill climb when

solving human-centric problems. When designing a product or service,
empathy in design thinking builds a crucial and necessary bridge between
the target user or audience and the product, project, or service being
designed.

Some steps that are often taken during this stage of the design thinking
methodology are:
 • Consulting subject matter experts about their insights
• Engaging more personally with an issue to gain a better understanding
of a user’s POV
• Having in-depth conversations about the topic with other designers
• Immersing oneself in a physical environment

The empathy stage is a crucial moment in the design thinking journey, as it

helps to uncover the motivations and experiences of an audience that will
ultimately be engaging with a designer’s product. Without the empathy
stage, truly solving a user problem is nearly impossible.

Design Thinking Stage 2: Define

This stage of the process involves designers succinctly articulating the

challenge or problem they need to solve with their design. After empathizing,
a designer integrates their researched understanding into the human-centric
issue at hand and outlines the problem statement.

In this stage, designers will analyze their observations completed throughout

the empathy stage, and work on synthesizing that information. Forming a
problem statement that is succinct is an important part of this phase that
ensures a human-centered approach by focusing on the end-user. So,
instead of focusing on what the company might need to do, the definition
stage of the design thinking process should help state what the user needs
as a way of defining the problem.

For example:

• Company-centered thinking: "We need to increase our educational

software sales by X%."
• Human-centered thinking: "Students need great technology in order to
successfully master tech concepts."
 Design Thinking Stage 3: Ideate

The ideation stage leans heavily on the ability to invent. Designers who have
captured the human experience fully during the empathy stage set out to
ideate around creative solutions for solving the defined problem. Thinking
outside the box is the name of the game, as, during this stage, designers
often don’t worry about budget or scalability.

At this point, designers should have a workable understanding of their user

base, so this is an excellent time to get creative and not dwell too much on
limitations. An example of a popular technique in the ideation phase is an
exercise called "worst possible idea." By inverting the search for a solution
into a brainstorm of what would not work, this process sets the design team
up for success by helping build up trust and confidence. Since no idea can
technically be "wrong" in this process, designers build up good practices of
sharing their thoughts with confidence.

In this stage, the more ideas a team can put together, the more opportunity
is created to investigate and test to see if they work to solve the user’s
problem.

Design Thinking Stage 4: Prototype

Without testing a newfound ideated idea, designers would have a tough time
actually solving the problem comprehensively. At this stage, the prototype
of an idea is required—but the ramifications are still flexible. Prototypes can
be sketches, models, or digital renders of an idea. (Professional designers
and design firms usually put budget towards prototyping something more
comprehensive.)

Prototyping will usually involve the creation of small-scale, inexpensive

versions of the product. These can include specific features in order to target
individual problem-solution scenarios, and set the stage for decision-making
conversations around what works and what doesn’t.

In the prototype stage, the goal is to fully understand all ramifications or

roadblocks around making the product come to life completely. Ideally,
prototyping should also uncover additional user experience problems and
set up designers with a clearer view of user behaviors, reactions, and
expectations.

Design Thinking Stage 5: Test

The testing stage of the design thinking process requires real users to
generate real data. However, the final stage of design thinking is not
necessarily the last thing designers will do. Remember, design thinking is
built upon a foundation of iteration, so many designers roll out multiple
prototypes to test different change factors within their idea. Without a
comprehensive testing stage, user experiences and solutions have difficulty
scaling.

Testing is often an iterative process. Designers can expect to go through a

series of changes, edits, and refinements during the testing stage. For this
reason, it’s not uncommon for the testing phase to “restart” some other
design thinking processes such as ideation or testing, as newfound ideas
might spark additional potential solutions that require an entirely fresh
approach.
 Definition of Creativity

Creativity is the characteristic of a person to generate new ideas, alternatives,

solutions, and possibilities in a unique and different way.

Creativity is the ability to conceive something unpredictable, original and

unique. It must be expressive, exciting and imaginative. It is the mirror of how
beautifully a person can think in any given circumstance.

It is not genetic but can be developed if someone keeps on learning and

comprehending things with a rare and exclusive perception. Creativity is a
brainstorming and mind-blogging activity in which a person has to think
beyond his imagination for bringing something worthwhile. It is an activity of
unveiling something which was previously hidden.

Definition of Innovation

Innovation is an act of application of new ideas to which creates some value for
the business organization, government, and society as well. Better and smarter
way of doing anything is innovation. It could be the introduction of:

• New technology.
• New product line or segment.
• A new method of production.
• An improvement in the existing product.

Innovation is closely tied to creativity i.e. putting creative ideas into action is an
innovation, whose consequences should be positive. It is the process of doing
something better for the first time, which was not previously done by any
entity. It can also be termed as a change which can bring a new edge to the
performance and productivity of the company. It is of two types i.e.
evolutionary and revolutionary.

Key Differences Between Creativity and Innovation

The following are the major differences between Creativity and Innovation:

1. The quality of thinking new ideas and putting them into reality is
creativity. The act of executing the creative ideas into practice is
innovation.
 2. Creativity is an imaginative process as opposed to innovation is a
productive process.
3. Creativity can never be measured, but Innovation can be measured.
4. Creativity is related to the generation of ideas which are new and unique.
Conversely, Innovation is related to introduce something better into the
market.
5. Creativity does not require money. On the other hand, innovation
requires money.
6. There is no risk involved in creativity, whereas the risk is always attached
to innovation.

Example

The invention of the motorcycle was the biggest innovation over scooters. In
early centuries, people used to travel with scooters, for which they have to
make lots of efforts to start it like they need to strike the kick and knee down
from either side if it doesn’t start. So, years and years passed away, and nobody
even thought for the invention of bikes. The invention of the motorcycle make
them realize that they can also ride bikes without making any extra efforts, they
just have to click the switch and its starts automatically.

In this example, the thought of creation of a new traveling motorcycle is

creativity, but the actual invention of it is innovation.

Steps to Implementing
Design Thinking at Your
Organization

Design thinking isn’t about your knowledge of design concepts or color

palettes, but rather it’s about designing tools and processes with the end-
user in mind. When we design programs or platforms directly for the
users and employees, we can increase engagement, adoption, and
employee satisfaction.

Using the design thinking process, everyone is a designer and design is

everywhere. This skill isn’t as far out of reach as you might think. You
practice design in the way you plan out your day, arrange furniture, build
spreadsheets, or create training programs.

The most important foundational piece of design thinking is integrating

the end-users’ needs before you begin creating, so time isn’t wasted
solving the wrong problems. It’s a mindset of relentlessly trying to
understand the user and the problem at hand.

Here are four actionable steps to implement design thinking and bring its
benefits to your organization:

1. Focus on the problem

Companies often fail at effectively solving problems or meeting goals

because they don’t correctly identify the user or problem initially. Here
are a few tips for identifying your problem:

• Listen. Put yourself in users’ shoes and think through their lenses.
• Ask questions. Who encounters this problem and why? Why did
past attempts fail to solve the problem at hand?
• Have collaborative conversations. Working in silos is an easy
trap to fall into. Engage with everyone, not just those on your team.
 • Stay unbiased. Don’t assume you immediately understand the
problem, nor the solution. By being open-minded you might find
something else you weren’t expecting.

2. Develop design thinking skills on your team

Traditionally, the ideation phase of the design thinking process was

saved for project managers or engineers, but that doesn’t mean it can
only be used by that department or function. Since design thinking is the
mindset of asking questions, understanding, and testing, everyone can
and should participate in this practice. Here are a few tips for developing
your team’s design thinking skills:

• Practice the mindset. Start implementing the process in your role

whenever you can. For example, if you oversee onboarding, think
about ways you can test a new approach or understand the new
employee mentality by gathering feedback through a survey.
Remain open to new outcomes.
• Foster interests in design thinking. If you have team members
who want to take initiative and expand their skill sets, make sure to
nurture that interest, whether it is encouraging experimentation or
reimbursing costs for design thinking classes.
3. Have (or start having) more debriefs

It’s important to understand that design thinking is continuous. It’s a

process of iterating on previous experiments so that the product or
outcome can improve and become better. However, learnings can’t be
implemented if there’s no feedback process. Here are a few tips for
creating a learning culture through gathering feedback:

• Be open about what went wrong. Set an example by

demonstrating that failure is an expected part of design thinking.
Openly discuss what tests failed and why.
• View failure as learning. Trying and failing a new approach
serves the crucial function of narrowing down the list of possible
 processes. This gets you and your team closer to the approach that
will work best. Encourage failure!
4. Embrace the feedback loop

The goal of design thinking isn’t perfection, but the best answer possible.
And the best answer likely won’t be the first answer. Thus, a constant
feedback loop is essential. Here are some tips for implementing a
feedback loop:

• Test and iterate as much as possible. Find new ways and angles
to test your assumptions, you might come across something you
would’ve never thought of otherwise.
• Have feedback sessions often. When you embrace feedback, not
only does it create a safe space to innovate but it also prevents the
same mistakes from happening again.

Design thinking can help you and your team identify and solve
meaningful problems for your organization. The process is like a muscle
that you need to build and use. With a design thinking mindset, you can
spend time effectively solving the right problems and building processes
that will impact your organization’s success.