Design For All

The possibilities Design Thinking opens for transforming ideas, businesses and services.

This article is a contribution to the Design & Innovation Program Think Tank at ISDI Parsons, Mumbai.We are a bunch of crazy design enthusiasts wanting to apply thinking tools (design, systems change, social innovation, setting new ventures , creative visualization) to hitchhike the storms and pits of complex and wicked problems all around.

It’s been a month since the Design & Innovation Lab has been seeded and the journey so far has been nothing less than an adventure. In retrospect, the interactions have helped me reinforce the understanding of design thinking I have been using with my work so far and opened a door to applying this knowledge almost in every system that operates today. The widespread reach of this tool to simplify and humanize businesses and services resonates the passion within me to ease human life with the power of design thinking.

Working with the “Heart in Mind”

Having worked with children and youth from diverse backgrounds, design thinking was like the bread and butter of strategy and education innovation. The primary question one might first want an answer to is, What is Design Thinking? My philosophical self would go on with something like this….design thinking is a way of life, a way of being , is an art. But what does that essentially mean? Design Thinking is a method/tool/process of acquiring deep insights into user’s needs/problems, using these insights to formulate solutions that add value to a consumer or create a market opportunity that is feasible, desirable,viable and sustainable.

The Observer’s Hat

For a design thinker, every observation is an opportunity in disguise. An opportunity to see the unseen and articulate the invisible into needs that delight human life. A sixth sense of sorts that allows one to feel one with everything around: people, places, objects, trees and other beings. My collections of observations and stories so far have compelled me to stretch my design thinking competencies and understand complex issues/systems:

• Acceptance towards the diversity we experience on a day-to-day basis
• The youth today battles with alarming rates of suicide and depression more than ever. A friend’s classmate was found hung one fine morning who probably came across as the chirpiest personality. And one of our empathy exercise is to identify user pain points. Wonder what pain this person was masking behind the all smiles attitude! Is it poor social and emotional climate in learning and work spaces?
• Illnesses that go misdiagnosed or never diagnosed resulting in loss of a life. The seeming discomforts patients experiences with hospitals from administration to in-patient services to post diagnosis care are hot zones for design innovation.
• Increasing number of working professionals lost in jobs and quitting. It’s like a seeming rise of existential crises drawn from mid 40’s to early 20’s.
• A patterns of memes around boring classes, painful lecturers and no space to express oneself fully. No playgrounds to test imagination.
• People want to eat healthy, but what’s cheap is unhealthy and what’s healthy is too expensive!
• Mums who left their careers to be homemakers are now seeking a new purpose but are a little frazzled with how to cope up with what has changed!

The list could just possibly go on! And with our program director’s aim to build A-Class Agile Problem solvers, we have become a fishing nets for challenges.

Un-ruled

So one of the most important aspects of wearing the design thinker suit is to shed some previous skin and slide in a new one. That essentially means challenging the preconceived notions and beliefs to make oneself adaptable to the needs of an environment in constant flux, change and disruptions.

• Feel what the user feels
• Defy Gravity- challenge rules, make them or break them!
• From I-shaped people to T-shaped people- because its not just the depth, it’s also the width that matters ;-)
• We are the Map makers, data visualizers and insight sharpers!
• Say no to Biases and Judgement- they are detrimental to the potential of human mind
• Embrace ambiguity and navigate through uncertainty

The Journey

“Two roads diverged into the wood

And I chose the road less taken.”

Well, with the design thinking process we will be embarking on journeys that were probably never taken. This means visualizing road maps and strategies that will open doors to new ways of defining, structuring and organizing businesses(or services)!One the most simplest frameworks of Design Process is from my alma mater Riverside Foundation by Kiran Bir Sethi. Here’s the 4-step process:

FEEL — What the user thinks, sees, feels and does.

IMAGINE- Bring that solution, dont shy away from ideas! Make them scalable

DO — Be the Change and Make it Happen

SHARE- Inspire the surroundings with success stories

Why the process?

This is because every human activity is interconnected to a larger system and creates a huge ripple of impact. Times in transition need to move from “ego designs” to “eco designs”. No longer can the activities in businesses, products or services be designed in silos/isolation.

Hang on though….We are just kick starting! If you’re a seeking a bunch of designers to unlock insights and crack some pressing issues for your business or services, the Design & Innovation Lab creators are happy to be of help.

If you enjoyed the read, please let us know.Would love to hear your thoughts, suggestions and comments.

Megha Bhaskar

Design Strategist|Education Program Design and Management