“Design Thinking”- a term that has started doing rounds recently, however, few know that this phrase was coined in the 1990s by David Kelley and Tim Brown of IDEO. In fact, if we dig deep into world history, we will find a host of examples that prove how a systematic approach to design has created masterpieces that speak for themselves. From famous monuments to rail-road networks, and automobiles to logo designs, it has displayed a well-thought, usercentric process that clubs engineering with creativity to produce practical and meaningful solutions.
When we talk about end-user products or services, it is imperative that the solution is designed keeping the consumer in mind. A designer must ask oneself the following questions: What problem am I going to solve with my solution? Does my solution align with the design philosophy? When the designer receives a satisfactory answer to both these questions, it is perceived as perfect design thinking. In brief, it is an amalgamation of design philosophy ideology with a consumer-centric approach that induces innovation-led competitive advantage. The process starts with questioning the user issue that may be well-framed or roughly laid down. Based on the problem definition and deep observation of user behaviour, assumptions are outlined. The further steps involve a lot of iteration where assumptions are repeatedly challenged, problems are redefined and the approach is redesigned until a feasible state is reached. It is believed to have been extremely helpful in situations where the challenge was not so well-defined or was unknown, by simply following the human-centric methods, and brainstorming sessions integrated with tried and tested concepts and ideas. In brief, design thinking is the method of providing a creatively high-end solution that defies potential risks and comes with low transition costs. It is a methodology that goes beyond the conventional ways as it encompasses research-based learning with the advantage of diverse input sets. The approach includes churning out an array of options, in fact, many times, cocreating with the user itself. Though preferably a structured process, it often goes astray for good, as it involves so much experimentation, idea testing, and redesigning.
The obsession with design thinking seems to be picking up quite a lot. Though not a new concept, its popularity has grown by leaps and bounds in the last few years. And why not, it is a technique to find newer, effective ways to deal with age-old issues, more so for complex problems that don’t have a definite goal statement. The science and art of artificial thinking involve approaching the solution in five well-strategized stages with an attainable goal associated
It is an amalgamation of design philosophy ideology with a consumercentric approach that induces innovation-led competitive advantage.
with each of them. This allows the executor as well as the user to draw some benefits that were historically far-fetched and sometimes unattainable
The primary and most fundamental step towards incorporating Design Thinking is the acceptance of the fact that consumer needs matter the most. Once an organization has learnt to keep the need element on a supreme pedestal, its work is half done. You would think why?! For a simple reason that need is the only constant in this whole scenario, however, its form keeps changing over time. And if that is the focal point of designing there would never be a dearth of innovative solutions to meet the same requirement in different ways. Besides, it provides a roadmap to attain certain competencies that a set-up may be lacking at the moment. In fact, with inventive technologies and alternative methods, one may actually end up creating a latently lying need that the consumer has bypassed all this while.
The primary and most fundamental step towards incorporating Design Thinking is the acceptance of the fact that consumer needs matter the most.
Phase 1:
Empathize and Analyse
This phase mostly revolves around observation and interaction with the identified users. By empathising, we understand that consumer behaviour is studied without prejudice. It involves understanding usage patterns, maintenance scenarios, spending decisions, etc. Once you think like a user, predicting responses gets smoother, which is a significant part of need analysis.
Phase 1:
Empathize and Analyse
This phase mostly revolves around observation and interaction with the identified users. By empathising, we understand that consumer behaviour is studied without prejudice. It involves understanding usage patterns, maintenance scenarios, spending decisions, etc. Once you think like a user, predicting responses gets smoother, which is a significant part of need analysis.
Phase 1:
Empathize and Analyse
This phase mostly revolves around observation and interaction with the identified users. By empathising, we understand that consumer behaviour is studied without prejudice. It involves understanding usage patterns, maintenance scenarios, spending decisions, etc. Once you think like a user, predicting responses gets smoother, which is a significant part of need analysis.
Phase 2:
Define and Synthesize
Before we move ahead with proving a solution, the most basic that still persists is – What is the problem that we are going to solve? Problem Definition, as it appears from conservative scientific methods is the simplest part of this complete exercise. In Design Thinking, though, it is a time-consuming task involving intricate detail synthesis. Further, details are analysed for each aspect of consumer challenges, struggles, and error occurrence at various stages including usage, transition, maintenance, or payment. This factor analysis helps define core issues at hand and generate ideas regarding expected utility features, functions, techniques and provisions that enhance user experience, and save time and cost.
Phase 3:
Ideate and Ideate
As they say “Well begun is half done”, your job as a designer has begun well once you have reached an appropriate problem statement. The next step is to sit together as a team or collaborate after going over the concept individually. The motive of this phase is to utilise as many brains as possible and apply all permutations and combinations so that most of the ways to tackle a single problem are exhausted.
• Brainstorming
• Brainwriting
• Mindmap
• Assumption Challenge
Phase 4:
Prototype and Tune
With a creative design team brimming with superbly conceived new concepts, the next thrill comes when these designs take real form. At the end of the design approval stage, the best solutions are shortlisted, which then move to prototyping stage. During this phase, multiple low-scale versions of the proposed product design or feature are created, which are usually shared and tested within the team. This stage is critical in evaluating whether the new design is capable of solving the problems discovered in the first three stages. Additionally, they are studied for possible constraints, and accordingly rated as approved, rejected or that needs rework.
Phase 5:
Test and Validate
Upon thorough testing by a multi-disciplinary team and fine-tuning by technical experts, the approved prototypes finally make it to the user’s table. Important to mention, this may be the final stage of product/service design but not the end of the design process, as design thinking is an iterative process and continues to redefine itself throughout. So, once the newly designed reaches consumers, feedback is collected such as for feature usability, ease of operation, and grievance control their user experience is gauged in the form of non-vocal cues such as traffic on the website, time spent online, features explored, etc. Once creators are satisfied with testing and validation results, the implantation and roll-out come into action. The game has just begun! This is the most appropriate phrase that can describe Design Thinking.
