From small start-ups to global multinational corporations, the need to innovate and adapt has never been more vital. In an increasingly competitive marketplace, innovation and transformation are crucial to unlocking your competitive edge.
Innovation is the ability to ideate practical solutions to real-world problems while pushing the boundaries of existing norms. And while most teams will have had an 'aha' moment or two, they need to produce innovative solutions daily, year after year. Even the biggest and the best in the business know this doesn't come easy.
This is where design thinking models come into play.
With its earliest iterations dating to the 1960s, design thinking is a methodology that aims to solve complex problems with innovative and user-centric solutions.
All jargon aside, design thinking has been behind some of the greatest innovations of our time. A design thinking process took Netflix from a small mail-order DVD business to one of the world's largest streaming platforms, forever changing how people consume content.
There are several different design thinking processes, each with its take on solving complex problems with creative solutions focusing on human-centred design. In this article, we'll break down the nuances of design thinking, explain the benefits and look at several models you can leverage to foster innovation and give yourself a leg up on your competition.
What is design thinking?
Tim Brown, one of the leading minds in design, describes the design thinking process as a "human-centred approach to innovation that draws from the designer's toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success".
But what does this mean in action?
Design thinking is an ideology and methodology that aims to solve complex problems. These complex problems are also known as wicked problems. Wicked problems are difficult to define and can't be solved using standard approaches and frameworks. The opposite of wicked problems is tame problems that can be addressed swiftly and through existing change models.
On a macro level, wicked problems include climate change, homelessness, pandemics, and natural disasters. On a micro level, they look something like this:
Imagine you are the mayor of a large city renowned for its urban development, inner-city design, and thriving business hub. As the city grows, residents demand more park and recreation spaces — places where families can breathe fresh air, exercise, and play.
The local university has a plot of land they aren't currently using. You ascertain that by applying the key principles of land management and design, you can easily turn the space into a large recreation area for your citizens. You think you have found the solution to a tame problem that seems easily fixed.
As the project gets off the ground and discussions continue, you realise that obtaining the land and just 'building a park' is nowhere near as simple as you thought it'd be.
There are multiple stakeholders involved, each with concerns that need to be addressed:
- The residents want an environment for exercise and recreation but have differing ideas on what that looks like.
- Environmentalists want to ensure that local fauna and flora are preserved.
- Surrounding businesses see an opportunity for increased footfall and propose opportunities for food stalls and adjunct business spaces.
- Cultural groups weigh in, wanting the design to encompass elements for performances and installations.
- The university wants the development to align with its future expansion plans.
The local government's finance department is concerned about ongoing maintenance costs and opportunities for revenue.
Suddenly, the problem is about more than just building a park. It is about managing competing demands, protecting biodiversity, considering long-term financial implications, and ensuring the space benefits a wide range of stakeholders.
You are now faced with a wicked problem. One that has no tried and tested solution and continues to present new issues as the project progresses.
You may feel like the challenge ahead is monolithic, with no end in sight. This is where you can leverage design thinking and innovative solutions to bring clarity of focus.
So, what is the key to design thinking? The essence of design thinking isn't about finding one magic solution — it's about continually iterating and improving based on feedback, evolving needs, and future challenges.
Why should you learn design thinking?
The design thinking process helps teams continually innovate and bring products to the market that meet user needs— often needs they didn't even know they had!
Design thinking focuses on finding practical solutions to these problems that are desirable to the user, technically feasible, and economically viable. In today's rapidly evolving business market, design thinking isn't a 'nice-to-have' advantage; it's an essential tool for gaining commercial success. The benefits of deep design thinking are wide-reaching. Here's why:
- It promotes innovation
- It reduces risks and costs
- It enhances team collaboration
- It leads to a faster time to market
- It gives a competitive advantage
- It builds organisational empathy
What are the five stages of design thinking?
As we've already touched upon, teams can take several different approaches to the design thinking process. Perhaps the most renowned model is presented by the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford University. Also called the 5D process, it breaks design thinking into five stages.
1. Empathise
The first stage in the design thinking process, the empathise stage, involves a deep understanding of users' needs. At this stage, teams need to set aside their beliefs and challenge assumptions and biases to find the best solutions. Your design team may consult with experts in the field and immerse themselves in the user environment to gain valuable insights into user needs.
The main aim of this stage is to build empathy to understand the needs of your users and the problems that underlie the development of the product or service you aim to create.
2. Define
In the define stage, teams take the learnings from the previous stage to develop a problem statement. Your problem statement will explicate the specific challenge you are looking to address. Rather than focusing on business needs, your problem statement will take a user-centric approach.
An effective problem statement is human-centred, broad enough to adapt to changing needs and creative approaches, but specific enough to provide direction and guidance. No easy feat, that's for sure. A well-written problem statement will guide the rest of the design process by offering a goal that keeps target users at the forefront of your ideation sessions.
3. Ideate
The third stage involves taking your problem statement and problem-solving, coming up with as many possible solutions as possible.
During the ideation phase, the team will hold ideation sessions to generate ideas focusing on quantity rather than quality. The focus here is on freeing the mind from rigid frameworks to inspire creativity and find actionable solutions to your problem statement. Ideally, you'll conduct several ideation sessions with various stakeholders.
There are a range of different ideation techniques teams use at this stage, including:
- Bodystorming
- Reverse thinking
- Worst possible idea
- Once you've focused on quantity, collecting as many ideas for the core problems as possible, you'll refine your ideas using your empathic understanding to choose a few potential solutions.
4. Prototype
During the fourth stage, or prototype stage, the design team will produce several scaled-down potential models of the product in question. These will then be shared and tested within the group, other departments, and a small section of the target audience to determine how each prototype presents solutions to the problems identified in the first three stages.
Throughout this experimental phase, solutions will be implemented in the prototypes individually and accepted, rejected, or improved based on your team's new insights.
5. Test
The final stage in this design thinking model is the testing phase. The design team now rigorously tests and evaluates the top prototypes that emerged in the previous step. While the aim is to find the best prototype to solve the issues presented in your problem statement, it is imperative to remember that design thinking is an iterative and non-linear process. The testing phase may elucidate problems not presented in the previous stages. This may mean looping back to the ideation phase, brainstorming new ideas, and then trialling these in the prototyping phase. Staying flexible and open is crucial in design thinking.
Top four design thinking models
While there are dozens of iterations of design thinking, all of them have one thing in common — the focus on addressing human needs. Furthermore, regardless of the applicable framework, design thinking is an iterative process whereby teams take a series of steps that they continually repeat, tweaking and improving the product or service with each cycle.
4D or Double Diamond design thinking process
Popularised by the British Design Council, the 4D or Double Diamond design thinking process is a collaborative framework that addresses design from the user's perspective. It involves the following four stages.
- Discover: The discovery phase involves extensive research of real users to understand their pain points and develop insights into the user problems you are trying to solve. This stage also involves researching new opportunities, markets, information, trends, and insights.
- Define: The define stage involves refining the ideas and information gathered in the discovery stage. Design teams then develop project ideas in the broader context of the project overview.
- Develop: Multi-disciplinary teams within the company then develop, iterate, and test design-led solutions using Design Thinking tools like brainstorming, sketches, scenarios, renderings, and prototypes.
- Deliver: The final product is tested, signed off on, produced, and delivered to market.
AIGA
The American Institution of Graphic Arts (AIGA) bases its design thinking model on designers' strengths of head, heart, and hand. In the early stages, the design team uses the heart to empathise and understand human needs. They then use their heads to ideate solutions to these human needs. Finally, they dive in with their hands to create practical prototypes that reflect the solutions developed through their empathy and intellect.
IDEO HCD
Initially launched in 2009 and re-envisioned in 2015, IDEO Human Centered Design (HCD) is focused on building empathy for real users to find innovative solutions that users can embrace. IDEO developed a free-to-download toolkit focusing on how human-centred design impacts the social sector. This design thinking process has been leveraged by IDEO 'to create products, services, experiences, and social enterprises that have been adopted and embraced' by keeping human desires and needs at their core.
The IDEO HCD model involves a three-stage process: hear, create, and deliver, which aligns with the HCD acronym.
DeepDive™ methodology—IDEO
Another design thinking process from the groundbreaking IDEO group, the DeepDive™ methodology, was designed to rapidly immerse a team into an environment to facilitate accelerated problem-solving and idea generation. This design thinking process became widely adopted after being featured on ABC Nightline in the 1990s.
The methodology includes the following stages:
- Understand
- Observe
- Visualise
- Evaluate
- Implement
How to learn design thinking
Design thinking is more than just a methodology; it's a mindset that places human needs at the centre of the problem-solving process. In today's ultra-competitive business world, design thinking is essential to transform complex, wicked challenges into actionable solutions.
But with so many methodologies and design processes in the mix, it can be challenging to know where to start.
At UTS Open, we offer Design Thinking: The Essentials, a professional development course to teach your team foundational design thinking skills and transform good ideas into sustainable and improved outcomes.
Delivered by expert practitioners, your team will learn how to generate creative and relevant solutions and make better strategic decisions.
Alternatively, you can work with UTS to co-design a design thinking course tailored to your employees. Contact us today to learn more.
