What is Design Thinking?

Designers solve problems for people. So what is design thinking? It is a methodology and a framework that helps people to use creativity to solve other people's problems regardless as to whether the problems are small or large.

Design Thinking is different to the methods used by other professions in that it is based on creativity, prototyping (failing fast and testing the solutions with end users early in the process) and a focus on understanding the needs of the user.

Most descriptions of design thinking will emphasize heavily on the process, however, when trying to understand what design thinking is, it is important to note that the process is only a small part of doing design thinking right. In order to be successful at design thinking it is important to understand that it is more of a mindset than a methodology and that it requires building skills in observing people, understanding their behavior and developing and exercising the creative side of your brain. Developing deep empathy with your user and really understanding what their problem is will result in far more effective solutions than following any given process. To understand what Design thinking is in depth requires that you understand people in depth. This is especially true when trying to help solve problems for people not from the same socio economic position as you or from different cultures.

If you are interested in the steps of the design thinking process, see the article Design Thinking Bootcamp Bootleg from Stanford University or Defining Design Thinking at IBM. In this article we will focus on understanding the principles that help you succeed in design thinking problem solving.

The main principles of design thinking

Over 4 years at university, designers learn experientially (by doing and making things) as compared to the academic professions, accounting or engineering. Design learning occurs more along the lines of art, ballet, architecture, film making etc. Designers learn through doing projects where they practice how to creatively solve problems. As a part of this learning process, they are given a lot of feedback in crit (critique) sessions where the lecturers, the designers peers and outside professionals spend time (every 6-8 weeks or so) to provide feedback on their design solutions and process, on how they are making decisions and on ways to approach particular problems (tools). This critical feedback loop is crucial to designers becoming more open to listen to and empathize with other people's ideas as well as learn about their own effectiveness.

The primary role of a designer is to use their creativity to solve other people's problems as opposed to artists, ballerina's and film makers, etc. who use their creativity to express themselves, their ideas and creative visions. This is not to say that designers do not express their ideas and creative vision. Of course they do, but their main role is to solve other peoples problems.

The design thinking methodology is based on the following:

Experiential learning - learning by doing. Designers are encouraged to develop drawing, prototyping and making skills. Ideas are cheap - people who can make them work and turn them into reality successfully are the ones who are valuable.
Empathize with users. Designers are taught that they are solving problems for other people, not for themselves. This implies that they have to understand other people and their problems, the context in which they are used and how those affect the users ability to solve their problem.To work with their users and share rough prototypes with them. Empathy is one of the main tools used to achieve this deeper understanding.
Collaborating: designing is a collaborative process. To look for feedback from the users in order to understand their real needs and issues interacting with your idea or solution, collaborate with engineers, coders, production, marketing. All stakeholders in the process have challenges, designers try to work with them all to solve as many of the issues as they can.
Develop critical thinking skills. Critique (crit) sessions encourage openness and a critical dialog about the issues users face, about ideas developed to solve their issues and the effectiveness of those ideas. The more commentary, feedback and interaction there is, usually, the better the result because it has been thoroughly tested as a concept early on in the process.
Build, test, fail, iterate. designers are taught to build rough prototypes to test with users - "Is this what you are looking for? How does this feel to use Ms. surgeon? Can you reach these controls easily when blasting off Ms. astronaut?" Engineers tend to calculate everything out first before they build. Designers are taught to build something rough to get the look and feel in the ballpark and then work with the user to see how well the solution actually fits the need. Prototypes are used as part of the dialog the designer has with themself as a part of their thinking process as well as helping them understand if they are really solving the users problems with their solution.
Visualize - make your ideas visual. Designers are taught to hone their visual abilities at college. A picture is worth a thousand words. Humans are attracted to beauty over randomness and ugliness. That might sound controversial, but it is backed up by a lot of research into the nature of beauty. The ability to visualize what is in their head is an important craft designers possess. In this way, they are capable of showing you the future. Whether that is the near future of what this present idea you are mulling could look like or thinking about the distant future 5-10-20-50 years into the future. That ability really helps when creating future strategies to bring ideas and thoughts to life. To see what could be allows for a much richer discussion and it's a powerful way to communicate and work.

Wrapped up in this description of the principles behind successful design thinking is the essence of how to achieve the goal. It stands to reason that if we are to solve other people's problems that we would therefore need to understand those people and their problems. This above all else is what design thinking is about. Few other processes in business are as heavily focused on the end user as design thinking. Empathy is one of the core techniques needed to think like a designer. Because designers are tasked to solve other peoples problems, they therefore need to spend time to deeply understand the context in which those problems exist. I.e. If you want to understand the problems rural dwellers face without electricity, it is important to go and experience what it is like to live in that way, to experience and understand what they miss out on and just as importantly what they gain by not having electricity!And then think of the context in which you are trying to help them. If it is that students time to study is cut in half because they can't easily work by the light of a fire or candle at night as compared to first world students, then that is the issue to deal with. What about cost? What type of light do they really need? Task light/general light, etc.

Schools such as the Stanford d.school and corporations like IBM have tried to show the Design Thinking process in terms of process charts. Businesses like process charts because they define pathways to control (reduce risk) and gateways to measure, but the reality is that creative thinking is a more messy process and needs to be respected as such, not distilled down to the simplest (and probably least effective version of itself in order to be understood). Process charts can be useful to help non practitioners understand the flow of a project. The problem with showing design thinking as a process chart is that in reality the process is much more iterative than the charts show, looping back on itself continuously until the right problem is identified and then the right solution is found based on continuous rounds of feedback. In general the Design Thinking process, like all other processes is somewhat like a funnel over time going from "everything is possible" and "what are we trying to do here?" down to "this is the solution that we need to implement."

The best way to understand and become good at design thinking is to run projects, look for understanding and solutions and make them through prototyping and testing them with your users. This is the only way to develop the sensitivity required to successfully create new ideas and solutions.

To learn more about what design thinking is, please refer to the resources section of the website.