Design Thinking

WORLD CHANGING IDEAS AND INNOVATION

Chapter outline
1. Learn about the process of Design Thinking
2. Apply what they have learned to a real-world issue - bullying
Learning objectives
Upon completion of this chapter, you will:
1. Understand and be able to apply design process. 
2. Create viable solutions to a real world problem by utilizing the design process. 
What is Design thinking?
Design thinking is a methodology for creative problem solving. (
Stanford University's d.school K-12 Lab wiki).
Design Thinking is an approach to addressing challenges in a thoughtful and fun way, where
you get to apply the 4Cs -- collaboration, creativity, critical thinking, and communication
–- to your own work as you develop new solutions for your classroom, school, and
community. (Edutopia's article describing Design Thinking)
Apply design thinking to the design of a
business or communication project plan
Design Thinking Process:
Project subject
Apply design thinking to the design of a business or communication project plan:
Your Design Thinking challenge will be to come up with creative solutions to a new business
solution for any product, or a communication solution for a product or a current prominent
problem in society in order to change human perception and behavior on that issue.
Get started!
Start by forming groups of 3-7 students

Before starting, take a few minutes to get calm and focused.  

The Embodiment Foundation calls this the Lizard Push-up.   It is the action of
uplifting  and taking a long exhale breath, then expanding your energy out a bit
more and relaxing/settling.
The Lizard Push-up
Inhale and lift up your body and spirit, exhale and soften your chest and shoulders
connecting to the earth. Expand your personal space to fill the room and beyond. Invite
the spirit of your teachers and mentors to empower all that you do. Throughout the day
you can take five seconds to do this
Design Thinking Process:
1. Empathize—Interview
Interview
Interview 2–5 people, asking the following questions:
- What are their favorite products? What makes them love that product?, etc…
- They have been exposed to the media about consumer products via TV, Social Networks, which
media program is their favorite? What do they like?, etc…
- What social issues do they think are currently prominent and need to be changed? If they
could wish for one thing, how would it change?, etc…
Why interview?
We want to understand a person’s thoughts, emotions, and motivations, so that we can
determine how to innovate for him or her.
By understanding the choices that person makes and the behaviors that person engages in, we
can identify their needs and design for those needs
ACTIVITY 2: PREPARE FOR THE
INTERVIEW

a) Brainstorm questions
b) Identify and order themes
c) Refine the questions
d) Conduct the interviews in teams of at least two
people
e) Appoint one person to take notes
Brainstorm questions:

oWrite down all of the potential questions your

team can generate.
oTry to build on one another’s ideas in order to
flesh out meaningful subject areas.
How to interview
Ask why. Even when you think you know the answer, ask people why they do or say things.
Never say “usually” when asking a question. Instead, ask about a specific instance or
occurrence, such as “tell me about the last time you ______”
Encourage stories. Whether or not the stories people tell are true, they reveal how they think
about the world. Ask questions that get people telling stories.
Look for inconsistencies. Sometimes what people say and what they do are different. These
inconsistencies often hide interesting insights.
Pay attention to nonverbal cues. Be aware of body language and emotions.
Don’t be afraid of silence. Interviewers often feel the need to ask another question when
there is a pause.
How to interview (cont.)
Don’t suggest answers to your questions. Even if they pause before answering, don’t help them by
suggesting an answer.
Ask questions neutrally. “What do you think about buying gifts for your spouse?” is a better
question than “Don’t you think shopping is great?” because the first question doesn’t imply that
there is a right answer.
Don’t ask binary questions. Binary questions can be answered in a word; you want to host a
conversation built upon stories.
Only ten words to a question. Your user will get lost inside long questions.
Only ask one question at a time, one person at a time. Resist the urge to ambush your user.
Make sure you’re prepared to capture. Always interview in pairs. If this is not possible, you should
use a voice recorder—it is impossible to engage a user and take detailed notes at the same time.
Interview for empathy
End of interview
After the interview process, your teams will have data in the form of DIRECT QUOTES from &
OBSERVATIONS of the interviews.
Share the results with other students.
Design Thinking Process:
2. Define—Sort through the data
Activity 3—Empathy Map
Create an Empathy Map.
Start by drawing a large head in the middle of a whiteboard or flip chart paper. 
Draw lines to create the following sections:
HEAR on the upper left 
THINK in the upper middle 
SEE in the upper right  
SAY in the lower right  
DO in the lower middle  
FEEL in the lower left  
Relying on your interview notes, write
what you heard, saw, and (on sticky
notes or directly on the
whiteboard/paper... just remember to
capture it for future reference!).
 Consider what the bully, bullied, or
bystander is trying to accomplish, what
they is struggling with, and what are
their challenges.
Design Thinking Process:
3. Ideate—Generate Ideas
STOKE
Each group can choose one of the following methods to help you ideate.  Or, your
teacher can introduce another method.
First, though, in order to loosen up and feel team spirit, STOKE!
WHY stoke? Stoke activities help teams loosen up and become mentally and physically active.
Use stoke activities when energy is wavering, to wake up in the morning, to launch a meeting, or
before a brainstorm.
Activity 4.1—Brainstorming when
you have too few ideas
You have permission to be silly! In the ideation phase, QUANTITY is encouraged. Become savvy,
silly, risk takers, wishful thinkers, and dreamers of the impossible...and the possible!
Activity 4.2 —Brainstorming when
you have "too many" ideas
"How Might We?" Statements.  
◦ In order to "ideate" a potential solution that addresses the needs that were identified in the Define
stage of this process, try the "How Might We?" statements.  A "How Might We?" is a statement that
asks how you could/would do something.  This method can help to narrow a group that has
solutions that seem to be drifting far from the issue. 
Method “How Might We” Questions
Begin with your Point of View (POV) or problem statement.
Break that larger challenge up into smaller actionable pieces.
Look for aspects of the statement to complete the sentence, “How might we…”
It is often helpful to brainstorm the HMW questions before the solutions brainstorm.
Example
Design Thinking Process:
3. Prototype—Make Your Idea Real
ONE SOLID IDEA
From the previous process, each group should have at least ONE SOLID IDEA. 
The solutions that are most suitable for a quick physical mockup are the ones to bring alive in
this process.
Activity 5 —Build a Prototype (or
two or ten)
Be focused.  Do another Lizard Push-
up exercise to get centered.  Choose a
single aspect of your idea and make a
physical object that addresses a specific
task or two.  Do it quickly and stay
focused on how the end-user will feel
with the object.
Use some inexpensive materials and use
your imagination and bring along your
own motley collection of old toys,
aluminum foil, pipe cleaners, clothes
pins, and anything else you can imagine.
Design Thinking Process:
4. Test—Fail, fix, test, repeat
Activity 6—Write about the process
After your group has created the prototype, write an explanatory text that outlines
the process of moving from the idea to a physical prototype.
Activity 7—Show the rest of the
class your prototypes
Each group will present its prototype to a potential user of the prototype in front of the class.
Later, the group can explain what it does and how they came to the idea, but the testing phase
is intended to show how the prototype works and fails.
 Ask for feedback.
Activity 8—Giving feedback
When commenting on a prototype, bear in mind that it is a "quick and dirty" specimen, NOT A
POLISHED RELIC.
This is a work in progress and every comment can potentially improve the final design solution.
Use the phrases "I like" and "I wish" when testing others' prototypes. Keep the comments
positive! Instead of saying, "I didn't like the red box" you could say something like, "I wish the
box had a more subtle color.“
Consider is the prototype an appropriate response created from the information gathered and
the research that your team has done. The question to ask is: "Will it be an effective tool for
addressing the problem of bullying?"
Activity 9—Apply changes to the
prototype and test again
Repeat as many times as possible!
Report your results
Presentation your Ideas & your design thinking process.