What is the importance of Design thinking and how to learn?

Introduction: What is Design Thinking?

Design Thinking refers to a human-centered problem-solving methodology that seeks innovative solutions to a variety of issues and creates more possibilities by starting with the needs of people. It also considers the feasibility of technology or business. Many people are joining design thinking training so as to meet the need of the new trend.

It is a more "emotional analysis" and focuses on the process of "understanding," "thinking," "conceptualizing," and "executing" compared to analytical thinking. Most of the current teaching has condensed the design thinking process into five major steps: "empathy", "requirements definition", "creative brainstorming", "prototyping", and "actual testing".

Design Thinking is a creative problem solving process that uses elements of design thinking tools, such as empathy and experimentation, to achieve an innovative solution. Decisions made through the use of Design Thinking are based on what the potential customer really wants, not just on historical data; or risky decisions based on evidence rather than intuition.

To gain insight into innovative problem-solving techniques, you first need to know the definition of design thinking and why it is so sought after. Originally used only to create new technologies and products, Design Thinking is now widely used around the world by private companies, government departments, and even personal projects to optimize their internal workflow. Understanding Design Thinking, you can start with the "What", "How" and "Why" aspects.

What: What is design thinking?

The focus of the design thinking process is to analyze the needs of consumers in order to solve business problems. Using the principles of empathy, we observe how people interact with their environment and use iterative interaction to design innovative solutions.

An important part of user-centered design thinking is to observe how consumers (humans) actually use a product or service, rather than guessing how consumers should use a product or service from the perspective of others or other organizations. In order to be "human-centered," designers need to directly observe how people use a product or service and continue to refine the product or service to improve the consumer experience. Design Thinking is one of the key components of Iteration, which tends to produce prototypes quickly and then test them with users, rather than iteratively researching or revising ideas. 　

Unlike traditional linear solutions that use problem identification followed by brainstorming, design thinking must be maximized through an "iterative" process. There is no "one and done" design solution. Compared to thinking about a single solution, design thinking is an evolving thought process that continues to meet consumer needs.

How: How to learn design thinking?

As a "people-oriented" concept, we must think from the following perspectives

1. Empathy

In the first stage, designers will observe consumers to understand their interactions with the product. Because the observation stage is very empathetic, the designer will not rush to conclusions, and will not be preoccupied with the needs of consumers. The advantage of this approach is that designers are able to uncover issues that consumers themselves do not know or cannot articulate, making it easier to understand consumers' needs.

2. Defining needs

In the second stage, you use your previous observations to define the problem - what difficulties consumers encounter, what difficulties they encounter again and again, and how they are affected - and synthesize the answers to integrate the consumer's problems and needs.

3. stimulate creativity

The next step is to conceptualize a solution. As the saying goes, "There are three of us, but there are also three of us". Gathering several people in an innovative workspace for discussion is more conducive to innovation and teamwork. Of course, you can also come up with different ideas by yourself. After this stage, you should have some idea of how to create a solution. 4.

4. Produce a prototype

In this stage, you need to turn your ideas into actual solutions. A prototype does not necessarily have to be a perfect finished product. The point of making a prototype is to develop the idea into a concrete solution in a short period of time so that you can see how it will be received by consumers. For example, use a product interface to test what consumers want from the product or to demonstrate a simplified process.

5. Practical testing

As you begin to have consumers test the prototype of your solution, you must continually observe their interactions with the prototype. This testing phase allows you to collect consumer reactions to the prototype.

Why: Why is design thinking important?

Unlike "fast food culture," design thinking creates long-term value for consumers, and it plays a pivotal role in any complex system, not just design, for several reasons.

Addressing specific needs

By taking a "human-centered" approach to observation, teams can identify blind spots in thinking directly from consumers, including parts that even consumers themselves don't notice. When the team uncovers these overlooked points, design thinking can tailor solutions to address them.

Often, consumers do not know what problems they have to solve, and even if they do, they cannot articulate them. By identifying problems through careful observation of actual consumer behavior, rather than just guessing at consumer behavior, teams can help define abstract user problems and plan solutions more easily.

In addition, design thinking can help increase our productivity, for example.

Build more innovative solutions

Imagination limits our ability to solve problems. When we can't imagine a problem, we can't design a solution. However, design thinking can help solve these unknown problems, and using an "iterative" approach to problem solving is likely to lead to higher level innovations.

Faster and more efficient business operations

Once you adopt design thinking, instead of staying in the research phase for a long time, you will tend to produce prototypes first and then evaluate the efficiency of the solution through user testing. This will be covered in most of the design thinking training as well.

What industries and roles require more design thinking?

Design thinking originated with designers but is now widely used across industries and fields, even in design organizations where it is used by members in different roles: IDEO and similar organizations hire non-designers, such as chefs, engineers, social scientists, biologists, etc., to broaden the vision of their research teams.

Conclusion: The Importance of Design Thinking

Design Thinking is increasingly used across industries because it can be used to solve business problems in complex systems, whether in business, government, or social organizations, not only to explore how to deal with technology and globalization, but also to analyze how to deal with major issues such as rapid transformation.

Design thinking can be used in every department of a company, and a welcoming, bright and airy workspace can facilitate the adoption of this innovative mode of thinking. To incorporate design thinking into all programs, leaders should first define the "target consumer" and then use the 5 steps of design thinking mentioned above to define and solve potential problems. In summary, the design thinking process makes brands more innovative, creative, and most importantly, more human than traditional solutions.