Design Thinking — Day 2

1.0 Design Thinking: What does this mean?

At first, when I hear people talk about design thinking, I always thought it meant thinking about how to design a website, an app or a logo. But design thinking is a lot more than this. It’s more about how we solve complex problems(sometimes called wicked problems) by looking at the problem from a user’s perspective, taking into the account how users feel about the problem and thinking outside the box to solve that problem.

It also involves an iterative approach, meaning you have to do a lot of repeated tests to achieve the desired result.

Here is a pictorial summary of how I understand design thinking:

Some key terms that are usually associated with design thinking are:

• Users => Most of the time, we say humans. Humans are at the center of design thinking.
• Wicked problems => They are complex problems that should be solved by thinking really deep to find an innovative way of solving it.
• Empathy => It’s more about thinking about a problem from a user’s point of view and creating a solution that captures the user’s needs.
• Iterative process => It’s a repetitive process of testing ideas in order to find the best possible solution.

2.0 Models of design thinking

When faced with design thinking, there are 5 major aspects to note. There can be more to these models, and it may not follow the order I’ve listed them here, but it still circles back to the models below.

Design Thinking Model Illustration

In order for me to have a better grasp of these models, I thought about designing a house for my mum 😎. I’m using this analogy to help me understand design thinking better, so feel free to relate to it in your own way.

1. My mum is the user(Human) who needs to build a house. She has this perfect idea of how the house will look. And as a “rookie” designer, I understand and share her feelings(i.e Empathy).
2. I have to find a way to capture the user’s needs, my mum being the user. This is done by asking lots of questions about how she wants the house to look like.
3. I need to look at new ways of solving this problem of building the perfect house for my mum by thinking differently about it, and coming up with an innovative way of solving it(i.e Ideate)
4. A prototype or first version of the house design is needed to show to my mum. This usually, is not a final solution.
5. Rigorous testing of the prototype is required. This will allow us to make necessary adjustments based on user’s feedback, observation e.t.c.

3.0 Resources

1. https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/topics/design-thinking
2. https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/what-is-design-thinking

Also you can share any link with me regarding this topic.

4.0 Conclusion

I have come to realize that design thinking can be used to solve our everyday problems by changing our thinking patterns and allowing us to find new ways of looking at problems.

The best way to learn is by asking questions and letting people know how you understand the topic. Feel free to leave a comment, we will definitely learn from it 🙂