IGSD Resilience and Sustainable Development

Becoming Innovators: Design Thinking and Innovation in Your Research with Dr Bo Kelestyn
June 2023

Design Thinking in action

Shopping Cart Design Challenge

A very famous news report on IDEO’s design thinking process. IDEO were challenged with the
redesign of a shopping trolley. There are so many insights on the process, the culture, and the team
dynamics here. You can find many versions on YouTube, but this one is quite concise and makes for
great reflection material for you and your team.

This Work Can’t Wait

IDEO’s website domain has been changed recently to reflect their philosophy around the need to co-
create and co-design a more sustainable and equitable future together. There are plenty of
interesting cases and stories of how design can be used to tackle interdisciplinary sustainability
challenges.

Turning Maslow’s Hierarchy on Its Head: Why international development should appeal to higher-order
desires.

Interesting article by IDEO.org about the need to design for joy and not just utility. It goes into more
depth on the Divine Divas design thinking case study you will find on the slides.

To get started

Design Kit by IDEO.org

It is a great website with some fantastic free and very accessible resources. The Field Guide to
Human-Centered Design can be downloaded as a PDF and contains a wealth of knowledge and tools
across all stages of the design thinking process.

The Wallet and the Gift Giving DP0 Guides

DP0 is an amazing beginner design thinking experience. With these easy-to-follow guides for
participants and facilitators anyone can be running their own workshops in no time. The team and
community behind these activities have translated the guides into multiple languages, making them
accessible for teams and individuals across the world.

Ten Exercises to Build Your Creative Confidence

Very practical and fun activities to try when growing your creative confidence, including the pencil
exercise used in the session.

Further readings

Creative Confidence by David and Tom Kelley

Wonderful starting point for anyone seeking to be more creative and to advance their design thinking
practice.

The Ten Faces of Innovation by Tom Kelley

Very accessible and interesting book on the value of diversity in design thinking and innovation.
Recommend to anyone working in, leading, or looking to build a high functioning innovation team.

Dr Bo Kelestyn for IGSD 2023

Mindful explorations

A visualisation exercise for Empathetic Creativity by Uniqorn Academy

Uniqorn Academy are a brilliant organisation on a mission to transform learning and are a source of
inspiration for all things creativity, wellbeing and joy. You will find this exclusive and beautiful
visualisation on creativity & empathy is a gift that keeps on giving.

IDEO’s Inspiration Walks

These are a great way to cultivate mindfulness, empathy and get out to seek the extraordinary in the
ordinary. All three walks are timed and will tell you when to turn back. Perfect for your lunchtime
break or any other time when you need to get unstuck.

Affirmations for Design Thinkers

Created by Dr Bo Kelestyn in collaboration with Uniqorn Academy, Affirmations for Design Thinkers is
a manual for unlocking your design thinking potential and removing any creative blocks. It contains
affirmations for several scenarios and guidance to help you make the most of them.

Tools to experiment with

Crazy 8s

Core activity and methodology from the Google Ventures Design Sprint methodology. By using the
‘together alone’ philosophy of the Sprint, participants are invited to each synchronously but
individually sketch eight distinct ideas in eight minutes. The goal is to push beyond the first idea and
make the most of cognitive diversity.

SCAMPER

SCAMPER stands for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify (Magnify, Minify), Put to another use,
Eliminate, Rearrange (or Reverse). It is the Swiss knife of design thinking. It can be used across all
stages and is particularly useful to gently nudge yourself and your team beyond your first idea, or
when innovating on an existing idea, product, or service. There is no need to follow all the questions
and you are very likely to draw out your own after a few uses.

Together alone

A crucial philosophy/principle for innovation. Created by AJ&Smart and used as part of their Design
Sprint, this notion has been adopted by many design and innovation communities around the world.
It is used when you do team exercises or activities. Instead of a conventional brainstorm where the
loudest person is the most successful in getting their ideas across, everyone gets time to first think
and create something alone, and then the team goes through it together. So, it’s creating alone and
then sharing and developing ideas together. This is a great way to make the most of diversity and
ensure ideas do not get lost in the ‘noise’.

AI & Ethics: Collaborative Activities for Designers

“IDEO’s AI Ethics Cards are a tool to help guide an ethically responsible, culturally considerate, and
humanistic approach to designing with data. The deck is made up of four core design principles and
ten activities, all meant for use by teams working on the development of new, data-driven, smart
products and services.” (IDEO)

Empathy map canvas

Dr Bo Kelestyn for IGSD 2023

 This exercise is a classic and the linked template is from Gamestoring.com. It is a downloadable
worksheet to help practice empathy and insights gathering. Gamestorming is a great resource to
browse, explore and share creative resources via. It is a great starting point! The Gamestorming book
is jampacked with their best tools.

Feedback capturing grid

Feedback capturing grid is a method for capturing feedback in a structured way that allows to make
the most of cognitive diversity. Draw a 2x2 matrix and give each participant 4 (preferrable different
coloured) post its. Each of the quadrants and coloured post it corresponds to the following:
Likes: What do we like? What is worth mentioning?
Wishes: What wishes do we have? Constructive criticism?
Ideas: What other ideas were generated?
Questions: What questions have cropped up?

Reflection and action setting

Confucius said the following about learning:

By three methods we may learn wisdom: First, by reflection, which is noblest; Second, by imitation,
which is easiest; and third by experience which is bitterest.

Experimenting with some of the tools from the session and this sheet is the best way to build on the insights
gained during the session. You might not get it right, you might get frustrated, you might get impatient. That’s
OK. Give yourself the permission to be a novice. Seeing something with new eyes in design thinking an
advantage!

Reflection is equally as important. By digging deeper into your mindset, how design thinking relates to your
work, your vision for creating change and impact, you will move your learning beyond imitation and into the
noblest. We started reflecting using Padlet and you are welcome to come back to the space anytime.

Here are some prompts that can be used to ponder, journal on, discuss with others:

 What is the one thing that you are taking away from the session?
 What is the one thing you will do or try as a result of attending the session?
 Were there any takeaways that you could apply to your professional, personal, spiritual growth?
 What challenged you?
 Was there a tool or an insight that you felt resistance or scepticism towards? Why? Is there additional
evidence you can seek to confirm or challenge your opinion?

If you have any questions, reflections, feedback, ideas or projects you would like to share or discuss, I would
love to hear from you!

Dr Bo Kelestyn SFHEA on LinkedIn

[email protected]

Dr Bo Kelestyn for IGSD 2023