💻Advanced Design Strategy and Software Unit 2 – Design Thinking Methods & Processes

What's Design Thinking?

• Human-centered approach to innovation combines creative and analytical thinking
• Draws upon logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning to explore possibilities of what could be
• Focuses on understanding the needs, behaviors, and motivations of people through empathetic research (interviews, observations)
• Aims to reframe problems in human-centric ways to identify alternative strategies and solutions
• Involves ongoing experimentation through prototyping, testing, and refining concepts
• Encourages "outside the box" thinking to discover new solutions to problems
• Applicable across various fields, from product design to business strategy and social innovation

Key Principles of Design Thinking

• Empathy is the foundation involves understanding the user's needs, wants, and context
• Define the right problem before solving it by questioning assumptions and reframing the challenge
• Ideation generates a wide range of creative ideas without judgment
• Prototyping builds rough, rapid representations of concepts to test and refine
• Testing with users provides invaluable feedback to iterate and improve solutions
• Iteration is a continuous cycle of refining ideas based on user feedback
• Embrace ambiguity and view constraints as opportunities for creative problem-solving

Stages of the Design Thinking Process

• Empathize gain a deep understanding of the user's needs and context through research
• Define clearly articulate the problem statement or design challenge based on user insights
  • Create a meaningful and actionable problem statement
  • Capture the user's perspective and needs in the definition
• Ideate brainstorm a wide range of creative ideas to address the problem statement
  • Encourage wild ideas and defer judgment during ideation
  • Build on others' ideas to create new and unexpected solutions
• Prototype quickly build rough representations of selected ideas to test with users
• Test gather feedback from users to refine prototypes and solutions
  • Identify what works, what doesn't, and what could be improved
  • Iterate based on user feedback to create better solutions

Popular Design Thinking Methods

• User interviews engage in one-on-one conversations to gain deep insights into user needs, behaviors, and motivations
• Observation watch users interact with products or services in their natural context to uncover unmet needs
• Empathy mapping visualizes user attitudes and behaviors to create a shared understanding of user needs
• Journey mapping illustrates the user's experience across touchpoints to identify pain points and opportunities
• Brainstorming generates a large quantity of ideas in a short period of time
• Bodystorming acts out scenarios or uses props to explore and generate ideas
• Rapid prototyping quickly builds rough representations of concepts to test and refine
  • Includes paper prototypes, wireframes, storyboards, and physical models

Tools and Techniques for Each Stage

• Empathize stage: user interviews, observation, empathy mapping, journey mapping
• Define stage: problem statement, design principles, "How Might We" questions
• Ideate stage: brainstorming, worst possible idea, SCAMPER, sketching, mind mapping
• Prototype stage: rapid prototyping, storyboarding, role-playing, user scenarios
• Test stage: user testing, A/B testing, surveys, usability testing, interviews
• Throughout all stages: visual thinking, storytelling, co-creation with users and stakeholders

Real-World Applications

• Product design creating user-centered physical products (Apple iPhone, Nest thermostat)
• Service design improving customer experiences across touchpoints (Airbnb, Uber)
• Business strategy uncovering new market opportunities and business models (Intuit, PepsiCo)
• Social innovation addressing complex societal challenges (d.light solar lamps, Embrace infant warmer)
• Healthcare designing patient-centered care experiences and services (Mayo Clinic, Kaiser Permanente)
• Education creating engaging and effective learning experiences (Ideo's "Design Thinking for Educators" toolkit)
• Government innovating public services and policy with citizen engagement (Singapore's "Design Thinking in Public Service" program)

Challenges and Limitations

• Requires a significant time investment and resources for research and iteration
• May generate ideas that are difficult or expensive to implement
• Relies heavily on qualitative data, which can be subjective and open to interpretation
• May not be suitable for all types of problems or contexts (technical engineering challenges)
• Requires a shift in mindset and culture, which can be challenging for organizations
• Needs buy-in and support from leadership to be successfully implemented
• Can be difficult to measure the impact and ROI of Design Thinking efforts

Integrating Design Thinking with Other Strategies

• Agile methodology iterative approach to project management and software development
  • Combine Design Thinking and Agile to create user-centered products incrementally
• Lean Startup method for developing businesses and products with minimal resources
  • Use Design Thinking to understand customer needs and Lean Startup to test and validate ideas quickly
• Systems thinking holistic approach to understanding complex systems and their interactions
  • Integrate Design Thinking and Systems Thinking to address systemic challenges and unintended consequences
• Business strategy process of defining an organization's direction and making decisions to allocate resources
  • Apply Design Thinking to uncover new market opportunities, inform strategic decisions, and create innovative business models
• Change management approach to transitioning individuals, teams, and organizations to a desired future state
  • Leverage Design Thinking principles of empathy, collaboration, and experimentation to facilitate organizational change and adoption