BATANGAS STATE UNIVERSITY

The National Engineering University

College of Engineering
Department of Chemical Engineering

ENGG 401
Introduction to
Engineering
Engr. Rejie C. Magnaye, Engr. Airra Mhae G. Ilagan
September 2022
DESIGN THINKING
Module 2
 Design thinking is not an exclusive
property
of designers—all great innovators in literature, art, music, science,
engineering, and business have practiced it.

Designers’ work processes can help

us systematically extract, teach, learn and apply these
human-centered techniques to solve problems in a
creative and innovative way.

Design thinking approach, and

design thinking is being taught
at leading universities around
the world
What is Design
Thinking? Some of the world’s leading
brands, such as Apple, Google,
Samsung, and General Electric,
have rapidly adopted the design
thinking approach.
What is Design Thinking?
What is Design Thinking?

It is a design methodology and iterative process that

provides a solution-based approach to solving problems.
It’s extremely useful in tackling complex
problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by
understanding the human needs involved, by
re-framing the problem in human-centric
ways, by creating many ideas in
brainstorming sessions, and by adopting a
hands-on approach in prototyping and
testing.
What is Design Thinking?

A design methodology
Design Thinking is a design methodology
and is more creative and user-centered than
traditional design approaches.
What is Design Thinking?
A problem-solving approach or process

A Creativity Approach A User-Centered Approach

Unlike analytical thinking, which is Design Thinking is a more creative and
associated with the breaking down user-centered approach to problem
(narrowing the design choices) of ideas, solving than traditional design methods.
Design Thinking is a creative process It is often used to explore and define
based on the building up (going broad, at business problems and to define
least during the early stages of the products and services.
process) of ideas. It combines empathy for the context of a
problem, creativity in the generation of
insights and solutions, and rationality
and feedback to analyze and fit solutions
to the context.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking
We will focus on the five-stage Design Thinking model
proposed by the Hasso-Plattner, Institute of Design at
Stanford.
Understanding these five stages of Design Thinking will empower anyone to apply the
Design Thinking methods in order to solve complex problems that occur around us.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

1. EMPATHIZE
The first stage of the Design Thinking process is to gain an
empathic understanding of the problem you are trying to solve.
This involves consulting experts to find out more about the area of
concern through observing, engaging and empathizing with people
to understand their experiences and motivations, as well as
immersing yourself in the physical environment so you can gain a
deeper personal understanding of the issues involved.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

1. EMPATHIZE
Empathy is crucial to a human-centered design process such as
Design Thinking, and empathy allows design thinkers to set aside
their own assumptions about the world in order to gain insight into
users and their needs. Depending on time constraints, a
substantial amount of information is gathered at this stage to use
during the next stage and to develop the best possible
understanding of the users, their needs, and the problems that
underlie the development of that particular product.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

Empathy Sympathy
Empathy is a term we use for the ability Sympathy refers to the ability to take part
to understand other people’s feelings as in someone else’s feelings, mostly by
if we were having them ourselves. feeling sorrowful about their misfortune.
Empathy can also mean projecting our Sympathy can also be used in relation to
own feeling onto a work of art or another opinions and taste, like when you say
object. that you have sympathy for a political
cause.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

Empathy vs. Sympathy

Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

2. DEFINE THE PROBLEM

During the Define stage, you put together the information you have
created and gathered during the Empathize stage. This is where
you will analyze your observations and synthesize them in order to
define the core problems that you and your team have identified up
to this point. Seek to define the problem as a problem statement in
a human-centered manner
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

2. DEFINE THE PROBLEM

To illustrate,
Instead of: “We need to increase our food-product market share among
young teenage girls by 5%”
Use: “Teenage girls need to eat nutritious food in order to thrive, be healthy
and grow.

In the Define stage you will start to progress to the third stage, Ideate, by
asking questions which can help you look for ideas for solutions by asking:
“How might we… encourage teenage girls to perform an action that benefits
them and also involves your company’s food-product or service?”
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

3. IDEATE
During the third stage of the Design Thinking process, designers
are ready to start generating ideas. You’ve grown to understand
your users and their needs in the Empathize stage, and you’ve
analyzed and synthesized your observations in the Define stage,
and ended up with a human-centered problem statement. With this
solid background, you and your team members can start to "think
outside the box" to identify new solutions to the problem statement
you’ve created, and you can start to look for alternative ways of
viewing the problem.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

3. IDEATE
There are hundreds of Ideation techniques such as Brainstorm,
Brainwrite, Worst Possible Idea, and SCAMPER.
Brainstorm and Worst Possible Idea sessions are typically used to
stimulate free thinking and to expand the problem space.
It is important to get as many ideas or problem solutions as
possible at the beginning of the Ideation phase.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

3. IDEATE
Brainstorming is an activity that helps your organization generate
more innovative ideas. Brainstorming is one of many methods of
ideation—the process of coming up with new ideas—and it occurs
during the divergent phase of the creative process. Brainstorming
helps you generate a large number of ideas so that you can
produce different options for solving your challenge.
IDEO Seven Rules of Brainstorming
1. Defer judgement
Creative spaces are judgment-free zones—they let ideas flow so people can build from each other's
great ideas. You never know where a good idea is going to come from. The key is make everyone feel
like they can say the idea on their mind and allow others to build on it. Nothing can kill the spirit of a
brainstorm quicker than judging ideas before they have a chance to gain legs.
IDEO Seven Rules of Brainstorming
2. Encourage wild ideas
Embrace the most out-of-the-box notions. There’s often not a whole lot of difference
between outrageous and brilliant. There are no bad ideas in a brainstorm, right? The
consultancy spurs wild ideas to stretch the bounds of thinking. Crazy, out-there thoughts
are the foundation for breakthrough innovation.
IDEO Seven Rules of Brainstorming
3. Build on the ideas of others
Being positive and building on the ideas of others take some skill. In conversation, we try
to use and instead of but. Leapfrog from idea to idea —remember the first rule to defer
judgment — and you’ll be amazed at what you can build from a just-OK idea.
IDEO Seven Rules of Brainstorming
4. Stay focused on the topic
By its nature, brainstorming encourages out-of-the box thinking. Ideas can go far afield
and be unrelated to the task at hand if you’re not careful. Keep your end goal in mind. And
for group work, consider asking someone to keep people on track.
IDEO Seven Rules of Brainstorming
5. One conversation at a time
Brainstorms work best when everyone contributes. However, the loudest voices can often
muffle the quieter ones, so keep side talking to a minimum. Introverts (many creative
types fall in this bucket) have a rich inner world of thoughts — fostering an orderly
environment can give them a greater opportunity to share.
IDEO Seven Rules of Brainstorming
6. Be visual
Instead of just writing the idea down, jot out a diagram or a sketch. Visual idealization will
challenge the more logically inclined to think differently. And different thinking facilitates
unique, worthwhile ideas.
IDEO Seven Rules of Brainstorming
7. Go for quantity
Scientist and author Linus Pauling once said, “The best way to have a good idea is to have
lots of ideas.” Pitching a multitude of ideas increases the odds that a few are worthwhile
to pursue after.
IDEO Seven Rules of Brainstorming
Engg401 - Introduction to Engineering
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

4. PROTOTYPE
The design team will now produce a number of inexpensive, scaled
down versions of the product or specific features found within the
product, so they can investigate the problem solutions generated in
the previous stage.
Prototypes may be shared and tested within the team itself, in other
departments, or on a small group of people outside the design
team. This is an experimental phase, and the aim is to identify the
best possible solution for each of the problems identified during
the first three stages.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

4. PROTOTYPE
The solutions are implemented within the prototypes, and, one by
one, they are investigated and either accepted, improved and re-
examined, or rejected on the basis of the users’ experiences.
By the end of this stage, the design team will have a better idea of
the constraints inherent to the product and the problems that are
present, and have a clearer view of how real users would behave,
think, and feel when interacting with the end product.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

5. TEST
Designers or evaluators rigorously test the complete product using
the best solutions identified during the prototyping phase. This is
the final stage of the 5 stage-model, but in an iterative process, the
results generated during the testing phase are often used to
redefine one or more problems and inform the understanding of
the users, the conditions of use, how people think, behave, and feel,
and to empathize.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking

5. TEST
Even during this phase, alterations and refinements are made in
order to rule out problem solutions and derive as deep an
understanding of the product and its users as possible.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking
Non-linear approach
We may have outlined a direct and linear Design Thinking process in which one stage
seemingly leads to the next with a logical conclusion at user testing. However, in
practice, the process is carried out in a more flexible and non-linear fashion.
For example, different groups within the design team may conduct more than one stage
concurrently, or the designers may collect information and prototype during the entire
project so as to enable them to bring their ideas to life and visualize the problem
solutions.

Results from the testing phase may reveal some insights about users, which in turn may
lead to another brainstorming session (Ideate) or the development of new prototypes
(Prototype).
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking
Non-linear approach
Designers or evaluators rigorously test the complete product using the best solutions
identified during the prototyping phase. This is the final stage of the 5 stage-model, but in
an iterative process, the results generated during the testing phase are often used to
redefine one or more problems and inform the understanding of the users, the conditions
of use, how people think, behave, and feel, and to empathize.
Phases or Stages of Design Thinking
Non-linear approach
Core attributes of Design thinking

Attribute Description Comment

Being comfortable when things are Design Thinking addresses wicked , ill-defined
Ambiguity unclear or when you don’t know the and tricky problems.
answer
Collaborative Working together across disciplines People design in interdisciplinary teams.
Creating new ideas based on old ideas, Design Thinking is a solution-based approach
Constructive which can also be the most successful that looks for an improved future result.
ideas
Considerable time and effort is spent on
Being interested in things you don’t
clarifying the requirements. A large part of the
Curiosity understand or perceiving things with
problem solving activity, then, consists of
fresh eyes
problem definition and problem shaping.
Seeing and understanding things from The focus is on user needs (problem context).
Empathy
your customers’ point of view
Core attributes of Design thinking

Attribute Description Comment

Looking at the bigger context for the Design Thinking attempts to meet user needs and
Holistic
customer also drive business success.
A cyclical process where improvements are The Design Thinking process is typically non-
Iterative made to a solution or idea regardless of the sequential and may include feedback loops and
phase cycles.
Creating ideas with no judgment toward the Particularly in the brainstorming phase, there are
Nonjudgmental
idea creator or the idea no early judgments.
Embracing design thinking as an The method encourages “outside the box
Open mindset approach for any problem regardless of thinking” (“wild ideas”); it defies the obvious
industry or scope. and embraces a more experimental approach.
Characteristics of a Design thinker

➢ Focus on human values and needs. Have empathy for the people, solicit user feedback, and use it
in their designs.
➢ Make experimentation an integral part of the design process, are active “doers”, communicate
through meaningful artifacts.
➢ Collaborate with people from various backgrounds and respects their viewpoints; enable
“breakthrough insights and solutions to emerge from the diversity”.
➢ Can deal with wicked problems, are curious and optimistic, are integrative (holistic) thinkers who
look at the bigger context for the customer.
➢ Are mindful of the overall Design Thinking process with respect to goals and method.
Design Thinking

Design thinking is essentially a problem-solving approach specific to design, which

involves assessing known aspects of a problem and identifying the more ambiguous or
peripheral factors that contribute to the conditions of a problem.

Design thinking is an iterative process in which knowledge is constantly being

questioned and acquired so it can help us redefine a problem in an attempt to identify
alternative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial
level of understanding.

Design thinking is often referred to as ‘outside the box thinking’, as designers are
attempting to develop new ways of thinking that do not abide by the dominant or more
common problem-solving methods – just like artists do.
Design Thinking

At the heart of design thinking is the intention to improve products by analyzing how
users interact with products and investigating the conditions in which they operate.

Design thinking offers us a means of digging that bit deeper to uncover ways of
improving user experiences. Companies are facing ill-defined and complex problems
every day—and bringing design.
References
https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/7-simple-rules-of-brainstorming
https://www.interaction-design.org/literature/article/5-stages-in-the-design-thinking-process
https://dilbert.com/
https://workwell.unum.com/2020/05/7-rules-for-mind-blowing-brainstorming/
https://medium.com/@forschooldanielleumali/technology-then-and-now-43ab538ed228
THANK YOU!
Engr. Rejie C. Magnaye, Engr. Airra Mhae G. Ilagan