Explore Design Thinking: Benefits and Origin of Design Thinking

Design thinking is a methodology for identifying and solving problems seen through a consumer, user, or participant’s eyes. This iterative approach allows design teams to take a more hands-on approach to problem-solving by adapting, generating new solutions, and constantly issuing new prototypes to solve a problem. Design thinking takes a human-centric perspective to problem-solving by putting human needs first and achieving an outcome instead of focusing solely on the problem.

The design thinking process looks at how people engage with a product or service rather than how a company thinks they engage with it. Design thinkers watch real people interact with a product and then use that information to rework the product to meet the user’s needs and improve the user experience. Design thinking is the opposite of traditional problem-solving, which seeks a linear, start-to-finish way to an answer that may not be applicable at a later date.

There are many benefits to applying design thinking to problem-solving:

• Creates innovative solutions. Human beings can’t solve problems if they don’t believe a solution exists. The iterative approach allows for creative problem-solving in cases that were previously considered impossible to correct.
• Expands design thinkers’ knowledge. Design thinkers are exposed to a broader and more diverse array of possible solutions and new ideas than in traditional, linear approaches, which favor a single answer.
• Foresees new problems. By taking an observational approach to consumers and products, design thinkers can uncover potential solutions to issues that may not be immediately evident, even to the user.
• Prioritizes the clients’ needs. The iterative approach requires constant testing and retesting to find possible solutions and ideas related to the product or service, generating new products and innovation.
• Tackles “wicked problems.” A wicked problem is an issue that is not clearly defined because team members don’t have all of the information needed to solve them. Design thinking reveals the missing parts of a problem and allows for possible solutions.

There are four principles of design thinking, written by Christoph Meinel and Larry Leifer of Stanford University’s Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design:

1. 1. The human rule: This rule is based on the idea that a human-centric perspective will always solve technical problems in ways that will satisfy human needs.
2. 2. The ambiguity rule: Designers have to think outside the box and give up the need to control a problem altogether. That will allow them to think and experiment more freely and have the creative confidence to consider fresh new solutions.
3. 3. The re-design rule: Designers must look to the past to see how technology has previously addressed human needs. By understanding these methods, they can then look at ways to meet human needs in the future.
4. 4. The tangibility rule: The newest of the four rules at the time of the principles’ publication, the tangibility rule suggests that prototyping is the best way to gain insight into how a new product can meet human needs by inspiring experimentation, discussion, and creative criticism.

There are five phases of design thinking. To solve a problem with this methodology, follow these rules:

1. 1. Empathize: Understanding the consumer’s point of view and, in particular, the problems they face is a crucial part of problem-solving. This phase involves observing and noting what they consider essential in their lives and what they may need to make their lives better.
2. 2. Define: This phase involves identifying a problem that needs solving and relating it to a human-centric perspective. This phase is an example of how design thinking deviates from traditional problem-solving: the definition must be flexible enough to allow for creative solutions and focused enough to explain the issue clearly.
3. 3. Ideate: Rather than a brainstorming session that involves finding a single answer to a problem, ideation sessions produce many ideas and then focus on creating as many possible solutions or uncovering additional ideas, which, in turn, can produce different concepts and solutions.
4. 4. Prototype: The best ideas from the ideation session are then produced as prototypes. This experimental phase allows for constant refinement of the product or idea and prompts further discussion between team members as they collaborate to identify flaws and possible solutions.
5. 5. Test: The testing phase is where the best idea is researched, tested, and either rejected or promoted to the next production stage. In design thinking, testing is part of a continuous circuit of iteration: testing, correcting, refining, and retesting as each new solution presents itself through the five steps.

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