3 Simple Innovations That Bring Out The Value Of Design Thinking
How design thinking builds on anthropology to generate innovative ideas
“Always deliver more than expected”- Larry Page
You probably know about the famous Knorr cubes and may have used it to cook.
But you may not know about how this simple idea that has lasted for nearly two centuries came about.
In 1838, Carl Knorr recognized a problem with cooking in Germany. People wanted their soup to have certain flavors to make it spicy. They spent hours drying, grinding, and boiling vegetables to get the right taste.
Carl, sensing the need to make a difference, created the Knorr seasoning cube to solve the problem.
It instantly became a hit with families. Recent statistics show that they now sell it in over 90 countries with over 320 million people using it.
Carl Knorr exceeded expectations with his popular Knorr seasoning cubes.
This story, and others before it, confirms that design thinking has been around for long. It is simply thinking out-of-the box to come up with disruptive ideas.
The innovations mentioned below show the importance of understanding customers and providing them with new products.
IDEO: Improving a hospital’s patient experience
“If you want to improve a piece of software, all you have to do is watch people using it and see when they grimace, and then you can fix that,” — David Kelley.
The focus on human centered design process transformed Ideo into the most innovative company in the world.
The company’s strength is in its processes, not experts. It describes innovation in terms of 10 faces or roles grouped into 3 categories:
· Learning roles, anthropologists, experimentation and cross-pollination of ideas
· Organizing roles, and
· Building roles
This tenet of empathy for their end users has turned Ideo into a secret weapon of innovation for blue-chip companies worldwide.
In 1996, a large healthcare company commissioned Ideo to conduct a study on their patients’ experience and recommend improvements.
Ideo started the assessment by having one of its staff pretend to be a patient. It discovered that patients spend all day lying down in the hospital bed and staring at the ceiling. This fixed position was an unpleasant experience.
Considering this outcome, the company acted immediately by instituting four changes to change patients’ experience:
§ improved the aesthetics of the ceiling
§ installed whiteboards for visitors to messages for patients
§ added style and color to the rooms for patients to feel at home
§ attached rear-view mirrors to stretchers to enable patients see who they are conversing with.
Ideo believes that staying connected to the behaviors and needs of customers bring up solutions faster.
It has continued to use the human-centered design process to create products and experience that people love.
Go Gurt: freeze, thaw, and slurp
“There is a place in the world for any business that takes care of its customers — after the sale” — Harvey Mackay.
This was not a reinvention of the yogurt. What changed was the packaging, new flavors and the target audience.
What the motivation behind this unique innovation?
Working mothers raised concerns about the healthiness of their children’s breakfast. The children could not eat the bowls of yogurt and chopped fruit provided to them because they leave early for school.
Cereals packed in lunch boxes mixed with milk and turned blue, making it unfit for consumption. The children normally left the meals uneaten because of its messiness.
To resolve this problem, the company requested an anthropologist to investigate and report back.
The company wanted to know what the mothers would value much in their children’s breakfast.
Research conducted showed that insights collected helped in the development of the new product. It adapted to the needs of the families.
Today, Go Gurt still maintains remains big in the market 20 years after its launch. It recently sold over one billion tubes.
Its recent campaign, “freeze, thaw, and slurp” was in direct response to the needs of the customers.
Mothers preferred the yogurt as a healthy fun snack for their kids because they eat it frozen. It contained Calcium and Vitamin D nutrients, which added value for both mothers and children.
That they eat it without spoon or scissors was another selling point for parents and children. The children loved the slurpy glurpy tube yogurt for this reason.
As part of its growth strategy, Yoplait International now collaborates with other brands like Disney and Nintendo. The aim is to role play characters from movies and games to the Go Gurt brand.
Although the yogurt was for the American market, it is now the breakfast of choice in Canada, UK, Australia and Japan.
This unique development of yogurt in a tube was game-changing for the company.
Mobile Auto Car Wash
Car wash existed since the invention of the automobile. It was the practice to take your car for a wash most weekends.
Things changed, however, with people preferring the service brought to their doorstep. This was convenient for busy people that did not have time to drive to a car wash. It was this pain point that gave birth to the mobile auto car wash.
One car, taken for clean-up, consumes about 30 to 70 gallons of water. This differed from the Eco-friendly steam cleaning that uses only 2 gallons of water to clean 15 vehicles. It means only 2 cups of water can clean a car.
Water drainage poses a problem to the old car wash system. Soapy water mixed with dirt, filth and grease removed from the vehicle causes pollution. This affects drinking water, animals and crops.
Innovation changed this through the steam cleaning technology and Eco-friendly solutions that replaced the soap.
The mobile auto car wash is growing and some of its new offerings include the subscription-based membership model. This builds a loyal base of customers that stick with the company through thick and thin.
This service received positive reviews, as the benefits are driving more client success.
Bringing it all together
“What counts as innovation is also a product of social construction. Not everything that is new is regarded as an innovation,” (Welz, 2003)
This statement rhymes well with the innovations referred to above. They came about based on the need to improve quality of life and protect the environment.
These inventions were from existing businesses. With a growing number of cars, the queue became longer at the car wash. People did not have time and the patience to wait for the clean-up.
Innovation was taking place faster in the industry, therefore, customers wanted to enjoy this new service.
The growth of these companies, therefore, depends on the products they serve their customers.
According to Zoe Bray, “innovation has become critical, not merely for success, but also for survival,”
It is all about the customer.
