Module 1: Design Thinking Overview

Introduction:
Design thinking originally came about as a way of teaching engineers how to approach
problems creatively, like designers do. One of the first people to write about design
thinking was John E. Arnold, professor of mechanical engineering at Stanford University.
In 1959, he wrote ―Creative Engineering,‖ the text that established the four areas of design
thinking. From there, design thinking began to evolve as a ―way of thinking‖ in the fields of
science and design engineering—as can be seen in Herbert A. Simon‘s book ―The Sciences
of the Artificial‖ and in Robert McKim‘s ―Experiences in Visual Thinking‖.
With the rise of human-centered design in the 80s and the formation of design
consultancy IDEO in the 90s, design thinking became increasingly popular. By the start of
the 21st century, design thinking was making its way into the world of business. In 2005,
Stanford University‘s d.school began teaching design thinking as an approach to technical
and social innovation.
Indeed, many of the methods and techniques used in design thinking have been borrowed
from the designer‘s toolkit. Even though design thinking and user-centered design sound
similar, they are very different from each other. In the early design stages, a user-centered
design creates solutions based on users‘ needs and feedback. The user-centered design
focuses on fostering empathy with the people you are designing for. However, design
thinking is different from user centered design. While design thinking considers user
knowledge while creating a product, they also look at business goals and technological
feasibility. The design process doesn‘t solely focus on user problems but combines user
knowledge with other facets to create well-rounded products that benefit the company and
the user.

Design Thinking Meaning & Definition:

Design thinking is an approach to creative problem solving that is widely recognized as a
valuable course to human-centered product innovation. It has been called a methodology, a
culture, and a philosophy. Design thinking, fundamentally, recognizes that design should
achieve purpose and business goals, not just beauty.
Design thinking was born out of big corporations‘ lack of ability to be creative and create
new products and services that serve the unmet needs of their customers. At its core, the
methodology arises from and revolves around the customer. The design thinking process
considers people‘s ethnographic background, behavior, thinking, motivations, habits, and
needs. Think of a person in their everyday life and all of their interactions with a variety of
products and services throughout their day.

Design thinking shifts the focus from a business-centric engineering solution (we invent a
product based on a bunch of assumptions and cross our fingers that it will work for
customers), to a customer-centric solution (we explore cultural phenomena, observe how
people behave and think, gain insights into what they need, and design a product around that).
Design thinking puts understanding context and continuous engagement with people at the
heart of the practice for determining what problem to solve, what metrics drive success, and
what business will emerge from solving the problem.
Designers have hundreds of tools and ways to ascertain problems, conduct research, ideate
solutions, and explore use cases to find the best path forward. While designers study and train
to create value for the product and for customers, the design thinking methodology can be
used anywhere, from product development and finance to customer service.
 According to Charlie Cannon, Chief Design Officer at Epic Decade, design thinking is ―the
application of design techniques, design methods, and design frames of mind, not for the
production of new artifacts or objects, but to the application of developing new models of
business value, potentially new business themselves […] from the design of things to the
design of ideas.‖
According to Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO Design Company ―Design thinking is a human-
centered 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.‖

Design thinking is both an ideology and a process that seeks to solve complex problems in
a user-centric way. It focuses on achieving practical results and solutions that are:
 Technically feasible: They can be developed into functional products or processes;
 Economically viable: The business can afford to implement them;
 Desirable for the user: They meet a real human need.
The ideology behind design thinking states that, in order to come up with innovative
solutions, one must adopt a designer‘s mindset and approach the problem from the user‘s
perspective. At the same time, design thinking is all about getting hands-on; the aim is to
turn your ideas into tangible, testable products or processes as quickly as possible.

The design thinking process outlines a series of steps that bring this ideology to life—
starting with building empathy for the user, right through to coming up with ideas and
turning them into prototypes.

Characteristic of Design Thinking:

1. Human Centered Creative Problem Solving Technique
Design thinking is a human-centered problem-solving technique that puts real people
at the center of the development process, enabling us to create products and services
that resonate and are tailored to the audience‘s needs. The goal is to keep users‘
wants, pain points, and preferences front of mind during every phase of the process.
In turn, we will build more intuitive, accessible products that are likely to turn a
higher profit because the customers have already vetted the solution and feel more
invested in using it.
2. Solutions-based approach to solving problems.
Design thinking is a problem-solving approach to product development that places an
emphasis on the user to help teams identify issues, reframe them, and generate
creative solutions. It‘s a solution-based ideology, process, and collection of hands-on
methods to solve complex problems in a user-centric way. Design thinking is most
useful for addressing problems that are either ill-defined or unknown, by helping in
redefining the problem with a user-centric mindset, identifying the challenge worth
solving, developing ideas in brainstorming sessions and adopt a hands-on approach in
prototyping and testing.
3. An iterative, non-linear process.
Theoretically, a design thinking approach includes empathizing with the user,
identifying the problem, the ideation, and the implementation of the solution.
However, in reality, it is not always so linear. The process often runs in parallel, and
user validations happen iteratively. These are applied to understand users, challenge
assumptions, redefine problems and create innovative solutions to prototype and test,
and this is done in cycles until a desirable solution is derived. Due to its non-linear
 nature, design thinking ensures that the people involved in the process understand
every facet of the problem statement and arrive at the best solution possible, by being
equal contributors to the solution
4. Approach to creative problem solving:
Design thinking allows to create solutions for a specific problem without being
constrained by boundaries. Its methodology is problem-solving and solution-focused.
Design thinking is a creative way to connect people and technology by bringing the
best of human creativity together with the advantages of digital technology. Design
thinking has had a beneficial influence on modern organizations. It allows people to
use their natural, human capacity for creativity and apply these skills to problems in a
variety of fields including design, planning, technology, business and education. It
leverages creativity to create successful products that customers will love, which
increases the success for monetization. It‘s about creating meaningful experiences for
the users – Users who will spend more money.
5. A way of thinking and working.
Design thinking is a mindset and approach to problem-solving and innovation
anchored around human-centered design. Design thinking is applicable in any
industries as it is useful to break down problems in any complex system, be it
business, government, or social organizations. It can be used to explore big questions
about how to respond to the growth of technology and globalization, how to pivot in
response to rapid change, and how to support individuals while catering to larger
organizations. It has become a of thinking and working.
6. Supported by a collection of strategies and method.
The process of design thinking seeks to solve real-world problems in a real and
practical way, with critical emphasis on human needs and expectations. Design
thinking follows several different types of methodologies or approaches such as 4D,
double diamond, DeepDive etc.

Need/Importance of Design Thinking:

Design thinking enables organisations to create lasting blue for customers. The process is
useful in any complex system:
1. Aims to solve concrete human need:
Using an observational, human centric approach, teams can uncover pain points
from the consumers that they hadn‘t previously thought of, ones that the consumers
may not even be aware of. Design thinking can provide solutions to those pain
points once they are identified. Design Thinking centers the problem-solving process
on the end-user, ensuring that solutions are produced with the user‘s requirements,
wants, and motivations in mind. This user-centered approach contributes to the
development of solutions that are both desirable and usable.
2. Problem Solving:
It is an organized and effective method of problem-solving, helping companies and
people to solve difficult challenges. The process aids in the clarification of the
problem, the generation of alternative solutions, and the validation of the solution
through testing and iteration.
3. Tackles problems that are ambiguous or difficult to define:
Consumers often don‘t know what problem they have that needs solving or they
can‘t verbalize it. But upon careful observation, one can identify problems based on
what they see from real consumer behaviour rather than simply working off of their
 ideas of the consumer. This helps define ambiguous problems and in turn makes it
easier to surface solutions.
4. Leads to more innovative solutions:
Humans are not capable of imagining things that are not believed to be possible,
which makes it impossible for them to ask for things that do not yet exist. Design
thinking can help surface some of these unknown pain points that would otherwise
have never been known, using an iterative approach to tackle those problems often
lead to non-obvious innovative solutions.
5. Makes organisation run faster and more efficiently:
Rather than researching a problem for a long time without devising an outcome,
design thinking favours creating prototypes and then testing to see how effective
they are.
6. Solves highly complex problems:
Design thinking solves highly complex wicked problems, which are difficult to
solve using standard methods and approaches. The problems ranges from global
issues such as climate change, poverty, to challenges that affect almost all
businesses such as change management, achieving sustainable growth or
maintaining competitive edge.
7. Develops creativity:
Design Thinking develops creativity and helps produce unique ideas by encouraging a
wide variety of potential solutions and embracing experimentation. Design Thinking,
through fostering creative thinking, assists organizations and people in finding fresh
and unusual solutions to complicated challenges.
8. Promotes collaboration and cross-functional teams:
Design thinking promotes collaboration and cross-functional teams by bringing
individuals from many backgrounds and disciplines together to work toward a shared
objective. This diversified team dynamic contributes to a broader range of ideas and
problem-solving methodologies, resulting in more successful solutions.
9. Iteration
Design Thinking is an iterative approach that allows for the refinement and
improvement of ideas based on user feedback and testing. This method enables rapid
iteration and testing, which aids in identifying the optimal answer more quickly and
efficiently.
10. Business Value
Design Thinking may produce business value by creating solutions that satisfy the
demands of users. This increases consumer happiness and loyalty. Furthermore, by
encouraging innovation and creativity, Design Thinking may assist firms in staying
ahead of the competition and achieving long-term success.

Principles or Pillars of design thinking:

There are certain principles that are pivotal to design thinking. These are reflected in the
design thinking methodology. The following are the important principles of design
thinking:
1. User-centricity and empathy
Design thinking is all about finding solutions that respond to human needs and user
feedback. People, not technology, are the drivers of innovation, so an essential part of the
process involves stepping into the user‘s shoes and building genuine empathy for the target
audience.
2. Collaboration
The aim of design thinking is to pool a diverse variety of perspectives and ideas; this is
what leads to innovation! Design thinking encourages collaboration between
heterogeneous, multidisciplinary teams which may not typically work together.
3. Ideation
Design thinking is a solution-based framework, so the focus is on coming up with as many
ideas and potential solutions as possible. Ideation is both a core design thinking principle
and a step in the design thinking process. The ideation step is a designated judgment-free
zone where participants are encouraged to focus on the quantity of ideas, rather than the
quality.
4. Experimentation and iteration
It‘s not just about coming up with ideas; it‘s about turning them into prototypes, testing
them, and making changes based on user feedback. Design thinking is an iterative
approach, so be prepared to repeat certain steps in the process as we uncover flaws and
shortcomings in the early versions of the proposed solution.
5. A bias towards action
Design thinking is an extremely hands-on approach to problem-solving favoring action over
discussion. Instead of hypothesizing about what users want, design thinking encourages to
get out to the customers and engage with them face-to-face. Rather than talking about
potential solutions, we will be able to turn them into tangible prototypes and test them in
real-world contexts.

Professors Christoph Meinel and Harry Leifer at the Hasso-Plattner Institute of Design at
Stanford University, California have suggested 4 key principles in design thinking. They are:
1. The human rule
Whatever the context, all design activity is social, and any design innovation should bring us
back to a human-centered perspective. All design teams should remember this phrase before
they start the design process. The human rule states that users should be the focal point in
designing products or service. Design teams must understand the user‘s needs and how they
behave and think. They should use this knowledge to create creative solutions to real
problems.
2. The ambiguity rule
The ambiguity rule refers to the phenomenon that ambiguity is inevitable; one cannot remove
or oversimplify it. This rule stresses the importance of experimenting at the limits of our
knowledge to see things differently. In a nutshell, the ambiguity rule is about exploring
different options to solve a problem. If design team lacks knowledge on a certain aspect, that
shouldn‘t be ignored. Try to hypothesize and test the ambiguity to create the best possible
solution.
3. Redesign all designs
Even though technology and social circumstances change, basic human needs remain the
same. Despite rapidly changing technology, basic human needs will always be the same, and
therefore design thinker should always remember them when creating the product. When we
redesign, we only change the means of solving the problem.
4. The tangibility rule
In this rule, designers must create tangible prototypes to communicate their ideas effectively.
Actual prototypes will help to realize which ideas work and which don‘t. This testing stage
will help to make a seamless design process.

Benefits of Design Thinking:

1. Promotes creativity and innovation
The philosophy of ―design, test and iterate‖ is at the heart of the process. This allows to
achieve those completely unexpected successes by creating multiple rapid prototypes and
encouraging rapid feedback from real users and customers before spending too much time,
effort or money on a single idea. With an emphasis on problem-solving and finding viable
solutions, design thinking can significantly reduce the time spent on design and development.
As human beings, we rely on accumulated knowledge and experiences to inform our actions.
We form patterns and habits that, while useful in certain situations, can limit our view of
things when it comes to problem-solving. Rather than repeating similar tried-and-tested
methods, design thinking encourages us to ditch our blinkers and consider alternative
solutions. The entire process lends itself to challenging assumptions and established beliefs,
encouraging all stakeholders to think outside the box, exploring new avenues and ideas. It
fosters a culture of creativity and innovation.
2. Significantly reduces the time-to-market
Design thinking significantly reduces your company‘s time-to-market because it focuses on
problem-solving and finding potential verifiable solutions. This allows to achieve those
completely unexpected successes by creating multiple rapid prototypes and encouraging rapid
feedback from real users and customers before spending too much time, effort or money on a
single idea. With an emphasis on problem-solving and finding viable solutions, Design
Thinking can significantly reduce the time spent on design and development.
3. Cost Savings and a Great ROI
Bringing successful products to market faster ultimately saves the business money. Design
thinking has been proven to deliver a significant return on investment; For example, teams
implementing IBM‘s design thinking practises have calculated ROIs of up to 300% as a
result. A recent McKinsey study identified significant financial benefits of a human-centred
design approach: 32% higher revenue and 56% higher total return. This comprehensive study
shows that there can be significant financial, measurable results and ROI that results from a
coherent design thinking approach to business.
4. Improves Customer Retention and Loyalty
The foundation of design thinking is empathy. Sometimes referred to as ―discovery‖,
empathy requires that we try to understand and identify people‘s needs and challenges),
experience. By focusing so heavily on empathy, it encourages businesses and organisations to
consider the real people who use their products and services – meaning their mark when it
comes to creating meaningful user experiences. But there is a higher chance of getting hit.
For the user, this means better, more useful products that actually make our lives better. For
businesses, this means happy customers and a healthy bottom line.
Design thinking ensures a user-centric approach, which ultimately increases user engagement
and customer retention in the long term. The goal is to develop useful products and solutions
that meet user needs, to see where their frustration lies and how we can make their lives and
experiences better and more fulfilling.
5. Can be implemented company-wide
Design Thinking is not just creativity and innovation for its own sake; It is specifically
directed towards creating value and solving problems. But instead of going about any of the
traditional methods, design thinking seeks to use design principles to solve problems in
almost any industry, from small to large. Another great thing about design thinking is that it
isn‘t just for designers. It leverages group thinking and encourages cross-team collaboration.
By building multidisciplinary teams and bringing to the fore multiple voices, we leverage our
collective knowledge, experience and expertise to step out of our respective fields and boxes.
Design thinking is often cited as the healthy middle ground of problem-solving – it is not
entirely steeped in emotion and intuition, nor does it rely solely on analysis, science, and
logic; It uses a mixture of both. Whether we are establishing a design thinking culture on a
company-wide scale, or simply trying to improve your approach to user-centred design,
Design Thinking allows us to innovate, focus on the user, and ultimately the actual user.
6. Improved Understanding of Customers
The principles of design thinking compel to understand the customer‘s behavior deeply. That
includes knowing their daily habits, fears, pain points, and motivation, allowing us to have
empathy for those who will use the product. As a result, we can create innovative products
that actually cater to the customers‘ demands. The design thinking tools like exploratory
research and interviews not only benefits the design team but also supports other business
departments, including: Sales, Marketing, Customer services
7. Elimination of Cognitive Fixedness
Cognitive fixedness is a state of mind that consciously or unconsciously creates an
interpretation of a given situation. Think of a time when we thought we couldn‘t build a SaaS
product because the model was too complex. So we gave up on it rather than finding ways to
defeat hurdles. Well, the principles of design thinking help us to overcome cognitive
fixedness. We get a new and more rational perspective to see the product. Likewise, it lets us
to explore more creative and much better ways to find solutions instead of following
traditional methods.
8. Enhanced Product Usability and Acceptance Rate
One of the benefits of design thinking is increased product usability. Remember, the
principles of design thinking encourage building programs through empathy. Therefore, it
enables to build products that customers love to use. And since the design thinkers hit the
core needs through the product, it automatically attracts more users and converts prospects.
9. More Focused on Experimentation and Creativity
The principles of design thinking revolve around design, testing, and iteration. When these
three factors are combined, they allow to build winning products. Why so? It is because the
design thinking approach helps to create numerous prototypes in a minimum time period. We
will be able to receive fast feedback from real users and continue experimenting until the
solution matches users‘ demands. Moreover, design thinking also helps to decide what
features to add, exclude, or modify in the current idea to make it more user-centric.
10. Offers Solutions to Customers’ Problems
The design thinking process is human-centered. In other words, it permits to identify and
solve problems for all industries at all levels. At the same time, design thinking principles
help business provide a way out of the most challenging obstacles once they are discovered.
11. Expanded Design Thinkers’ Vision
Design thinkers are people who are exposed to a wide range of problems and know possible
solutions. So what makes them so hawkeyed? It is the knowledge of the principles of design
thinking. These principles allow them to visualize situations through an observational
approach, letting them know what consumers look for in products. In fact, they can see
solutions which may not be visible even to users.

12. Overcoming Wicked Problems

A ―wicked problem‖ refers to a situation where teams cannot clearly point out issues that
prevent them from proposing a way out. It slows the product-building process and kills time.
Design thinking removes the veil from the missing puzzles and permits to find possible
solutions through constant testing.
13. Leading Team Towards Tangible Results
Paired with high technical expertise, the principles of design thinking enable teams to build
successful products. When we adopt design thinking for team building, it empowers teams to
create products which ensure user retention and fruitful results.
14. Promotes collaboration
It promotes collaboration and cross-functional teams by bringing individuals from many
backgrounds and disciplines together to work toward a shared objective. This diversified
team dynamic contributes to a broader range of ideas and problem-solving methodologies,
resulting in more successful solutions.
15. Tried and testing
The central process of Design Thinking is to ―design, test, and iterate‖. It provides
information about any kind of issues by creating several prototypes and taking actual users
and customers feedbacks before spending too much time, effort or money on any one idea.

Design Thinking Mind-set:

―If your mind set is unprejudiced...it is open to everything. ―In the beginner‗s mind, there are
many possibilities, but in the expert‗s mind there are few.‖ – Shunryu Suzuki
Design thinking, the incredibly popular approach to innovation, requires a certain type of
mindset. People who want to innovate their work and create better experiences, products and
services for their users or customers might benefit from applying certain attitudes that can
empower their thinking and creativity. The following are the design thinking mindsets from
leaders IDEO, Stanford d.school, and PDMA:

IDEO’s Human-Centered Design Mindsets

1. Learn from Failure
This mindset is all about the ability to learn from failure and use failure as a tool to improve
practices. As Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO explains, ―Don‘t think of it as failure, think of it as
designing experiments through which you‘re going to learn.‖ Design begins with not
knowing the solution to a challenge. Instead of being scared of failure, use every opportunity
to experiment and grow from the mistakes.
2. Make It
Design thinking is about experimenting with prototypes. Make an idea real in order to better
understand it and think through the problem. Only through building and testing we will be
able to know if a product or service is doing what it should do. Whether it‘s a simple
cardboard and scissors model, or a sophisticated digital mockup, creating a prototype will
allow sharing idea and gaining feedback early and often.
3. Creative Confidence
This mindset is about approaching the world like a designer. It‘s understanding that we have
creative ideas and the power to turn those ideas into a reality. Creative confidence allows
designers to make leaps and trust their instincts about real solutions to business problems.
4. Empathy
Empathy is not only a wonderful skill for understanding the customers better, it can also help
solve problems from their perspective and gain insight into the design process. Ultimately,
the product or service should be built to help improve other people‘s lives and experiences, so
never losing sight of an empathetic view of the world is key.
5. Optimism
IDEO describes design thinking as inherently optimistic. In order to take on a design
challenge, we need to believe that progress is an option. Optimism is this embracement of
possibility and knowledge that there is a better solution to the problem out there.
6. Embrace Ambiguity
Design thinking designers start from not knowing the answer to the problem. This ambiguity
may feel uncomfortable at first, but by embracing it, we will be able to open ourself up to
creative ideas and arrive at unexpected solutions.
7. Iterate, Iterate, Iterate
The final IDEO design thinking mindset is about iteration. In order to reach the right solution,
we need to receive feedback from customers early and frequently. By constantly improving
and refining our work, we will be able to produce better ideas and arrive more quickly at the
right solution.

Stanford d.school Design Thinking Mindsets

1. Show, Don’t Tell
Like IDEO, the Stanford d.school heavily promotes the idea of using prototypes and real
models to illustrate our creative ideas. The ―show, don‘t tell‖ mentality is about
communicating our vision through the use of experiences, visuals and stories.
2. Focus on Human Values
Empathy is another important mindset at play here. By focusing on the people we are
designing for, we can unlock new ideas we never would‘ve thought of without a human-
centered approach.
3. Craft Clarity
Take away all the clutter and explain our idea clearly and simply. Have a vision that others
can understand quickly and that can inspire action.
4. Embrace Experimentation
Prototyping helps to learn and think. It‘s not always just about validating an idea or gaining
evidence of the right solution. It can also simply help to take action on an idea to understand
it better.
5. Be Mindful of Process
Always remember where we are in the design process, what we are hoping to accomplish and
what we need to do next. Allow the design thinking process to guide our actions from start to
finish.
6. Bias Toward Action
This mindset means that we are more focused on action than thinking. Instead of talking
about an idea, we will take that idea and turn it into reality. By doing, we learn so much more
about the process and how to improve it in the future.
7. Radical Collaboration
This final Stanford d.school mindset is about the need for collaboration. Amazing designers
know that it takes many people from all backgrounds and experiences to truly understand a
problem and evolve the solution.

Design Thinking Mindsets from PDMA’s Design Thinking Book

In the book, Design Thinking: New Product Development Essentials from the PDMA,
Michael Luchs identifies six common principles of the design thinking mindset and
philosophy. The six are:
1. People-centric
This design thinking mindset is about designing and building for people. Keeping the
audience in mind during ideation is incredibly useful to find the right solution to overcome a
problem or challenge.
 2. Cross-disciplinary and Collaborative
Innovation is, by necessity, a collaborative endeavor. It should also cross disciplines and
areas to unlock new and creative solutions to challenge-based problems.
3. Holistic and Integrative
During the design thinking process, we may be looking to connect seemingly separate ideas
or concepts into one. By looking beyond the individual pieces, we can begin to analyze the
big picture and how everything can work together holistically as one.
4. Flexibility and Comfort with Ambiguity
Being comfortable with the ambiguous nature of ideation and the creative process is another
useful mindset. Flexibility allows us to look at proposed solutions from many different angles
and learn on the spot from the teachings of research, real-life experience, or simulated results.
5. Multimodal Communication Skills
Multimodal communication combines written, audio, and visual forms to convey an idea or
solution. The skill to think in different ways and to use all available tools and methods at our
disposal is part of this creative thinking mindset.
6. Growth Mindset
A mindset for growth means being comfortable with change. Innovation requires pushing
past the boundaries of how something has always been done to look at a problem in a new
light.

The list of mindsets related to design thinking keep growing and changing. Carol Dweck‘s
research and popular book on ―growth mindset‖ is a good general mindset view to learn
about before diving deeper into the specific innovative mindsets of design thinking listed
above.

Design Thinking Mindsets from The Design Thinking Toolbox

In the book The Design Thinking Toolbox: A Guide to Mastering the Most Popular and
Valuable Innovation Methods, the author outlines the beginner‘s mind as a useful design
thinking mindset.
1. The Beginner’s Mind
The beginner‘s mind requires participants to clear their mind and put themselves in the place
of someone who knows nothing about the subject at hand. We are essentially becoming
―aliens‖ from another planet who are viewing the situation for the first time. This mindset
allows us to:
 Remove prejudices about how something works
 Remove expectations about what will happen
As well as give the ability to:
 Understand things more deeply
 Be open to a world of possibilities
 Fail early and often to learn quickly

Other Mindsets
The book also describes a series of other characteristics essential for a mindset of design
thinking and innovation, including:
 Starting with human beings, their frustration and needs
 Collaboration with interdisciplinary teams
 Experimentation and prototyping
 Visualization and showing of ideas
 Accepting and embracing complexity
 Design Thinking Mindsets from Designing Your Life and Work Life
Bill Burnett and Dave Evans from the Stanford D School wrote the popular books Designing
Your Life and Designing Your Work Life. Here are a few mindsets they share as the most
valuable in innovation work:
1. Curiosity
Curiosity is all about exploration. Do something new, deviate from the norm, and try to
connect with things in life that wouldn‘t normally. This approach to life can help to find
solutions that didn‘t think of before.
2. Bias to Action
This is a commitment to building our way forward. Instead of just reading about something,
try it out. Prototyping and experimenting are essential to the innovation process.
3. Reframing Problems
Reframe a problem when we get stuck to help us move forward in the process. Avoid the
―woe me‖ framework and keep working at it. Don‘t worry about having all the answers just
yet.
4. Awareness
Be aware of the process and the nature of innovation as messy, complex, and unpredictable.
5. Radical Collaboration
The best innovators understand that they are not alone and know when to ask for help. Our
life, work, and design thinking challenges are collaborative processes.

Design Thinking Stages/Steps/Process:

The design thinking framework can be divided into three distinct phases: immersion,
ideation, and implementation. This framework can be further broken down into five
actionable steps which make up the design thinking process:
The five stages of design thinking according to the d.school, are: Empathize, Define, Ideate,
Prototype and Test
Although these steps appear to be sequential, it‘s important to point out that design thinking
doesn‘t follow a strictly linear process. At each stage in the process, we are likely to make
new discoveries that require us to go back and repeat a previous step.

Stage 1 – empathize
Empathy is a crucial starting point in the design thinking process. Design thinkers should try
to gain an empathetic understanding of the design problem at this stage.
Typically, design thinker will gain empathetic knowledge through user research. To create a
user-centric product design, try to understand users‘ needs, wants, objectives, and pain
points. At this stage, we should also get rid of any assumptions and preconceived ideas to
empathize with users fully. We should try to gain real insight into people on a psychological
and emotional level.
 What? During empathise phase, design thinker engages with and observe your target
audience.
 Why? The aim of this step is to paint a clear picture of who your end users are, what
challenges they face, and what needs and expectations must be met.
 How? In order to build user empathy, design thinker conduct surveys, interviews, and
observation sessions.
 For example: You want to address the issue of employee retention, so you ask each
employee to complete an anonymous survey. You then hold user interviews with as many
employees as possible to find out how they feel about retention within the company.

Stage 2 – Define
In the second stage of the design process, it‘s time to define the research into a problem.
Analyze and synthesize the observations to come up with user pain points. Empathetic
research in stage 1 will help to create a problem that many users experience. What barriers
and difficulties do users experience? What patterns are common challenges amongst several
users? These are some questions that we need to ask ourself when defining a user problem.
At the end of define phase, we should develop a problem statement. Remember to frame the
problem statement in a user-centric way. Once we have a clear problem statement, we can
start working on stage three.
 What? Based on what design thinker has learned in the empathize phase, the next step is to
define a clear problem statement.
 Why? The problem statement sets out the specific challenge that needs to be addressed. It
will guide the entire design process from here on out, giving a fixed goal to focus on and
helping to keep the user in mind at all times.
 How? When framing the problem statement, we will focus on the user‘s needs rather than
those of the business. A good problem statement is human-centered, broad enough for
creativity, yet specific enough to provide guidance and direction.
 For example: ―My employees need to be able to maintain a healthy lifestyle while working
in the office‖ is much more user-centric than ―I need to keep my employees healthy and
happy in order to boost retention.‖

Stage 3 – ideate
With a solid understanding of the target user‘s issues and a clear problem statement, we can
start working on potential solutions. At this stage, we can be as creative as we want to come
up with the best possible solutions.
Design teams can use multiple ideation methods such as mind mapping and brainstorming to
establish alternatives. Design teams should hold ideation sessions to develop as many angles
as possible to create various ideas. At the end of this process, we should have a shortlist of
potential solutions we will test out in the next stage.
 What? With a clear problem statement in mind, we will now aim to come up with as many
ideas and potential solutions as possible.
 Why? The ideation phase gets us thinking outside the box and exploring new angles. By
focusing on quantity of ideas rather than quality, we are more likely to free our mind and
stumble upon innovation!
 How? During dedicated ideation sessions, we will use a range of different ideation
techniques such as bodystorming, reverse thinking, and worst possible idea.
 For example: Based on what we have learned in the empathize phase, we hold several
ideation sessions with a variety of different stakeholders. With the problem statement we
come up with as many ideas as possible for how we might make our employees happier and
thus more likely to stay with the company.

Stage 4 – Prototype
This stage in the design process is all about experimenting and turning ideas into tangible
items. A prototype is an early iteration of the finished product, and it incorporates potential
ideas from the previous stage. At this stage, our goal is to test the prototypes and identify any
flaws or limitations. We should improve, redesign and remove our potential ideas depending
on how they work as prototypes.
 What? Having narrowed our ideas down to a select few, we will now turn them into
prototypes—or ―scaled-down‖ versions of the product or concept we want to test.
 Why? The prototyping stage gives us something tangible that can be tested on real
users. This is crucial in maintaining a user-centric approach.
 How? Depending on what we are testing, prototypes can take various forms—from
basic paper models to interactive, digital prototypes. When creating our prototypes,
have a clear goal in mind; know exactly what we want our prototype to represent and
therefore test.
 For example: During the ideation phase, one idea that came up was to offer free yoga
classes. To prototype this idea, we can set up a dedicated yoga room in the office,
complete with mats, water bottles, and hand towels.

Stage 5 – Test
After we build our prototypes, we must put them to the test. In this stage, we should collect
feedback from our testing process to improve our product design.
Even though this is the last stage in the design thinking process, it will often lead us to
previous steps. If our test fails, we will have to redesign our product and follow the previous
steps again to create a well-tested product.
 Why? The testing phase enables us to see where our prototype works well and where it
needs improving. Based on user feedback, we can make changes and improvements
before we spend time and money developing and/or implementing our solution.
 How? We will run user testing sessions where we observe our target users as they
interact with the prototype. We may also gather verbal feedback. With everything we
learn from the testing phase, we will make changes to our design or come up with a
completely new idea altogether!
 For example: We decide to test the yoga idea for two months to see how employees
respond. We find that people enjoy the yoga classes, but are put off by the fact that they
are in the middle of the day and there is nowhere to shower. Based on this feedback, we
decide to move the yoga classes to the evening.