REVISITING DESIGN THINKING

UNIT I

IV YEAR I SEMESTER

[DESIGN THINKING]
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1.WHAT IS DESIGN THINKING ?

It is a process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge the assumptions & redefine
problems to identify strategies and solutions to problem.

It is simply a solution based approach to solve the problem.

The designer need to go to Client shoes & understand the problem, analyze the issue, and
provide solution with backup plans if needed.

1.1 Origin of Design Thinking:

First of all what is Design thinking?

This is a Polish astronomer by the name Nicolas Copernicus, his main contribution as seen in
the European continent was that he proved that the centre of the universe is not Earth as it was
thought at the time in Europe, but is actually the Sun.
But In Design thinking, we do the opposite of what Copernicus did in his entire life, we
are going to put the centre back on us and that is what is sometimes referred to as human
centred design. So where we start is the human, the human is the first place where we start
thinking about how can we help this person,
First the history of design thinking is that it started off as a discipline may be in the 60s, by a
Website ideo.com, they were the ones who made it popular.

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1.2 Design Thinking – Features:

Find
Simplicity

User Appealing
Requirements Product

Client Innovative
Experience Solutions

Following are the benefits conferred by design thinking. These are incidentally
also the distinguishing features of design thinking.
Finding simplicity in complexities.
Having a beautiful and aesthetically appealing product.
Improving clients’ and end user’s quality of experience.
Creating innovative, feasible, and viable solutions to real world problems.
Addressing the actual requirements of the end users.
1.3 Design Thinking – Applications
Design thinking finds its application across a variety of professions. From sports,
education and research to business, management and design, It is widely used by
professionals around the globe.
1. Business
Design thinking helps in business by optimizing the process of product creation,
marketing, and renewal of contracts. All these processes require a companywide
focus on the customer and hence, design thinking helps in these processes
immensely. Design thinking helps the design thinkers to develop deep empathy
for their customers and to create solutions that match their needs exactly. The
solutions are not delivered just for the sake of technology.
2. Information Technology
The IT industry makes a lot of products that require trials and proof of concepts.
It needs to empathize with its users and not simply deploy technologies. IT is not
only about technology or products, but also its processes. The developers,
analysts, consultants, and managers have to brainstorm on possible ideas for
solving the problems of the clients. This is where design thinking helps a lot.
3. Education
In the education sector, the best use of design thinking is done by taking
feedback from students on their requirements, goals and challenges they are
facing in the classroom. By working on their feedback, the instructors can come
up with solutions to address their challenges.
For example, a Instructor from New York, realized that his students would be
more comfortable with bulletin boards lowered. He also found the idea of
creating comfortable semi-private space for working students as it provided them
space to study. As a result, his students became more engaged and felt free to
move.
4. Health Care
The expenditure on healthcare by the government and the cost of healthcare
facilities is growing by the day. Experts worldwide are concerned about how to
bring quality healthcare to people at low cost. A Family Clinic in Venice, California
has come up with innovative solutions to the challenge of opening a low-cost
children’s clinic to serve the low-income families. Problems of finance,
transportation, and language barriers had to be solved. And all this had to be
done at low cost for the poor kids. Fostering good health along with profits was a
challenge, as it does not sound sustainable. Using design thinking, the
inefficiencies in the system and the perennial crises were addressed. This was
followed by mind-blowing innovations to serve the children.
1.4 Design Thinking – Principles
There are four Principles of Design Thinking and they are always inter-related to
each other

Empathy : Empathy means Understanding the Person and the pain, what he/she
is going through and offering them solution after analyzing the issue.
For Example suppose you are in a bus and seated comfortably and suddenly an
elderly lady gets into bus and stands beside you, in all probability you get up and
offer her your seat. By doing so, you are displaying empathy you understand that
it is difficult for the lady to stand.
User Centric : User Centric means thinking in User point of view by empathizing
the user.Lets discuss a story about this.
I think you all know that in October 2001 a new product was launched into the
market. A product that fits into everyone’s pocket and it set to change the way
the people store and play music which is IPOD.This was the most happy news for
the music lovers and this happened because the APPLE Company empathized the
users and understood what they want.When you create a product by keeping
user in mind, It becomes user-centric.
Observation : This Phase is interlinked with Empathizing and User centric ness. If
you observe what the user the going through then you can understand what the
user wants. Lets discuss a story regarding observation
In Bangalore on a rainy day RATAN TATA is travelling on the road, he saw a family
of four were going on a scooter and suddenly fell down thankfully nothing
happened and because of this observation the low budget car “NANO” was born.
Creativity : If you understand the user problem by observing the user and
thinking from user point of view you can provide a solution by using creative
ideas.
Let’s go with an example: In Kenya, South Africa the young Richard Turere was
looking after his family cattle and every day the lions attacks the farm and he
started observing the problem and taught of the solution. He observed that the
lions are afraid of approaching farm when someone carrying flashlights or torch.
So, he built a model by attaching a light to old car battery and charged using solar
panel and this flickering of light made lions to go away from the farm.
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1.5 Design Thinking – A 5 Step Process :

Design thinking is a five-step process, where each step focuses on a specific goal.
Each of the steps is independent of the next step but is borne out of the previous
step. Design thinkers are expected not to think of the following steps when
working on one step.
1.Empathize :
This step involves putting oneself into the shoes of the customer or the end-user of our
solution. We need to understand the problems faced by the customer and we, as design
thinkers, need to empathize with the customer. This step is carried out in the form of
requirement gathering, which involves interviews and sometimes, even field visits.

2.Define :
Now, we have learnt the problems of our customers and the context as well. It is time to define
our problem and arrive at a problem statement. This statement will give us the necessary
direction to proceed towards the issue faced by the customer.
As a design thinker, we need to cover all the points and the answers that we got in the
‘empathize’ phase. The first step towards defining a problem is to find who the user is, what is
his/her/their needs and then develop insights from the answers. Think of ‘How might we?’
questions. For example, ‘how might we motivate the employees in DT?’

3.Ideate :
The third component of design thinking process is the most interesting and perhaps, the most
rigorous as well. In this section, called Ideate, a design thinker is supposed to bring to the table
as many ideas as possible. While brainstorming for ideas, it is not checked whether the idea is
possible, feasible, and viable or not. The only task of thinkers is to think of as many ideas as
possible for them.In this process, design thinkers also resort to the use of boards, sticky notes,
sketching, chart papers, mind maps, etc.

4. Prototype :
This step deals with building the ideas and checking for their feasibility to arrive at the final
solution. The step of prototyping is the one in which the end user comes into picture. The end
user is actively involved in this component of design thinking. All the feedback is taken from the
customer, and based on the criticisms, suggestions, and appreciations received, the design
thinkers create a better solution after iterating the process of design thinking’s first three steps,
viz. Empathize, Define, and Ideate.

5. Test :
This phase is also called as 'Execute’. This is the phase where the final solution is tested on a full
scale basis.

Testing will help to understand what actually works and what does not. This step can be the
most rewarding, if the prototypes succeed to give positive results, or can be the most annoying,
if the prototype fails. After testing, the entire process of design thinking may have to be
repeated. If the end user approves the solution, then the process of design thinking stops here.

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THE MARSHMALLOW CHALLENGE :

As a part of Design Thinking Course, there is a group activity which can be done in 30 minutes.
It is a very simple activity which can be done at home also, that reflects the creativity in the
students.Kindly follow the guide through link mentioned below

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I have made the Students perform this activity in the Classroom, where they enjoyed a lot.The following
are some snapshots of the model.
MULTIPLE CHOICE QUESTIONS :
Choose the correct one
1. Why should design thinking human centered?
a) Every method talks about product centricity, so there is a need for human centered

b) Design thinking was after all created by humans,so it be better about humans

c) All disciplines & sciences are human centered so design thinking should be no different

d) We should start with human being,since the product and services benefit humans

2. What are the five steps of design thinking as taught in this course?
a) Empathize, Analyze,Prototype, Solve and Test

b) Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype, Test

c) People, Problems, Ideas, Concept, Solve

3. Design thinking is something you use all the time

a) True

b) False

4. The Test phase does NOT deals with

a) Iterative process with many customers will help you figure out the strength of the concept

b) Get in the shoes of the customers and understand the situation from their perspective

c) Validate the assumptions from previous stages

d) Prototype a concept and check if it stands the test of the market

5. The Principles of Design Thinking are different from each other

a) True

b) False
Design Thinking as a Strategy
for Innovation
Design Thinking as a Strategy for Innovation -
Design thinking is also considered to be a strategy for innovation. It leads to dramatic
improvements in innovation. This is why design thinking forms the core of effective
strategy development and seamless organizational change. Anything that involves
human interaction, from products, services, processes etc., can be improved through
design thinking. It all depends on the designer’s way to create, manage, lead, and
innovate.

Design-led companies such as Apple, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble and SAP have
outperformed the S&P 500 by an extraordinary 211%. This article highlights the
distinctions between design and design thinking and how the latter, if executed
properly and strategically, can impact business outcomes and result in real
competitive advantages.

When design principles are applied to strategy and innovation, the success rate for innovation
dramatically improves. Design-led companies such as Apple, Pepsi, IBM, Nike, Procter &
Gamble, and SAP have outperformed the S&P 500 over a 10-year period by an extraordinary
211% according to the 2015 Design Value Index created by the Design Management Institute
and Motivational Strategies.
Design is transforming the way leading companies create value. The focus of innovation has
shifted from being engineering-driven to design-driven, from product-centric to customer-
centric, and from marketing-focused to user-experience-focused. For an increasing number of
CEOs, design thinking is at the core of effective strategy development and organisational
change.

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Challenges of Design Thinking :

The next attribute is called as the ‘wicked problems’. These are the challenges that are faced
by the design thinkers. Design thinking helps the designers in almost all professions to tackle
these wicked problems. These challenges are supposed to be ill-defined or tricky.

Horst Rittel was the first person to refer to such problems with the word ‘wicked problems’.
In the case of ill-defined problems, the problem statement and the solution are both unknown
at the beginning of the design thinking exercise. In well-defined problems, at least the
problem statement is clear and the solution is available through technical knowledge.

In wicked problems, the design thinker may have a general idea of the problem, but
significant amount of time and effort goes into requirement analysis. Requirement gathering,
problem definition, and problem shaping are major parts of this aspect of design thinking.
Distinctions Between Design and Design Thinking

Design Thinking is a methodology that is used to innovate and solve business problems.

VS

Design is about applying design thinking and design methodologies into im-material products.

Steve Jobs famously said, “Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks
like. People think it’s this veneer – that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look
good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is
how it works.”

Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, the design company that popularised the term design thinking, says
“Design thinking can be described as a discipline that uses the designer’s sensibility and
methods to match people’s needs with what is technologically feasible and what a viable
business strategy can convert into customer value and market opportunity.”
What is the driving force behind design thinking?

The biggest driving force is the accelerated rate of change in business and society caused by
advances in technology. As companies become more software-driven, and the rate of change
increases, so does complexity.

Implementing design thinking :

Design Thinking is a journey of learning and discovery. It’s also a way of being.

If you are strategising/ designing, the following are few steps you need to follow ..

● Start at the beginning.

● Learn how to be a design thinker

● Look for ways to add quality/value to your offerings.

● Build your creative confidence by conducting low-risk experiments, such as designing

a meeting with your team.

 Ask questions which you don’t have answers for.

● Learn how to coach and facilitate for creativity, co-creation and collaboration. This is
crucial for creating a safe space for conceptual risk-taking.

● Stay focused on the users’ experience.

● Help teams unlock provocative insights, reframe existing problems, and generate
ideas in response to your research.

● Encourage multiple perspectives. Reframe constraints into opportunities and check

assumptions.
Stanford’s Design Thinking Model

The five practices that enable innovation include:

(1) The development of a deep empathic understanding of user needs and context;

(2) The formation of heterogeneous teams;

(3) Dialogue-based conversations;

(4) The generation of multiple solutions winnowed through experimentation;

(5) The use of a structured and facilitated process.

Scaling Design Thinking
SAP, P&G, IBM, and Cisco are integrating design and design thinking throughout
the organisation, by creating their own frameworks, educating employees at all
levels, hiring professional designers and design researchers, as well as acquiring
design companies in order to operate at scale.

Cisco was the first company to launch non-tech HR hackathon in 2016. They used
design thinking to “break” and then re-imagine HR solutions for 71,000 global
Cisco employees. The “Breakathon” gave birth to 105 new HR solutions covering
talent acquisition, new hire on-boarding, learning and development, team
development, and leadership.

“SAP” A German Multinational Software Corporation has

identified four critical success factors when implementing design
thinking:

1. Leadership : ​ Link​ design thinking initiatives to your strategic goals. Provide

direction, resources, and commitment.

2.​ People : ​Enable champions to lead the change through successful lighthouse projects.
Build up an internal design thinking community where best practices are shared.
3. Process ​:​ Use​ the generic design thinking framework, but evolve the method and tools so
they support your company’s objectives.

4. Environment ​: ​Develop and create collaborative workspaces for your workforce. Use to
co-innovate with your customers and partners.

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Design Thinking Is Not A
Process
It's A Mindset
How is a Mindset Different From a Process ?
A mindset is based on experience and teaching.

Vs

A process is purely based on teaching.

You cannot successfully follow a mindset because someone taught you the rules but you can
successfully follow a process after being taught the rules.

Acquiring a mindset requires to understand the Why of all the things the other carriers of said
mindset do. In the case of a process understanding why you do something is not really important.
You can still use it and be successful.

A mindset will grow stronger and become more and you will defend it more and more once you
make enough positive experiences of applying it. That is when a mindset starts to morph into a
belief. A process is easily abandoned. After all it is just a bunch of rules to follow and after
changing employers you can quickly learn to deal with a new set of rules.

What is Design Thinking Mindset ?

Design Mindsets are the lenses that we wear to be more creative, user-centered, and agile.

Design mindsets are about how we can work, and how we can tackle problems.
These three principles can be your lodestars as you navigate the design process to create
something new, innovative, and successful.

 Be user-centered. Do things and provide things that your intended audience can use, that
are useful to them, and that they want to use. Be experimental. Open yourself to new
ways of doing things, and trying them in quick and thoughtful ways to see
 if they work.
 Be intentional in how you operate. Be conscious of what kind of process you are using,
what space you’re in, what might be going wrong, and what might be made better. Be
ready to change and adapt to make for better outcomes.
Qualitites You Need To Get Design Thinking Mindset:
1. Be curious and observe

2. Create and harbor empathy

3. Don’t just optimize- challenge to innovate

4. Consider the big picture.

Lets go through ever point clearly-

1. Be curious and observe -

If you look deep into design thinking, you will see that it is actually all about being curious. It’s
about being a keen observer of things around you. You need to be curious about why things are
the way they are, why things don’t work, or why people behave the way they do.

Once you nurture the mindset of being curious, you let go of judgment, and seek to better
understand everything around you. Being observant is about paying attention to the finer details.
It is not just looking at things looking underneath the top layer is what you need to learn.

Observation and curiosity go hand in hand- ask questions when you start assuming, and seek to
understand what you don’t know. Curiosity will ultimately lead you to gain empathy for both the
people and systems in place, help you connect with individuals and deepen relationships, and see
problems from new perspectives.

2. Create and harbor empathy -

The next important thing that follows curiosity is empathy. When you are designing
products/solutions for someone else, the biggest challenge is to understand the people you are
designing for. We often take users for granted, or worse, we tend to assume how they experience
the world. We think that they experience it as we do and that is where we go wrong. The key is
to get an understanding of user’s mental models, and how the world looks from their perspective.
This is where empathy comes in handy to understand how they think, feel, and behave every day,
especially in environments and situations that relate to your product or service.
How, and most importantly, why do they feel and behave the way they do? Empathy allows you
to understand this. So, how do you gain empathy and get those insights? The best way to gain
empathy is by engaging directly with the people. Methods such as co-design sessions,
ethnography/user research, and interviews can help you uncover how and why they see any value
in your product. All this information put in an experience map is the way where you can analyze
digital behavior, and it can help you understand how people behave, as well as what they might
expect from your product or service.

3. Don’t just optimize- challenge to innovate

There is always a first time for everything. It is applicable to all of us. Henry Ford once said, “If
I asked what people wanted, they would say faster horses.” Or like Steve Jobs said: “Often
people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” Before the iPhone, we simply did
not know how to use a phone without a dial pad. Every day, we make assumptions based on
previous experiences, and a lot of those are based on a ton of experiences, are more or less
accurate, and also help lower our cognitive load. However, when solving problems in new and
innovative ways, a designer must challenge assumptions and constraints that are often
unconscious.

The assumptions of what you can and cannot do, how it’s done today, unwritten rules you set up
for yourself, and so on. Challenging your assumptions helps you challenge the status quo, and
ask: “How can this be done better?” What we call a “problem” is often more a symptom of an
underlying cause. When we dive in too quickly to fix a symptom, the effect will eventually come
back or happen again. Instead, we need to address the cause to create a more permanent change.
Innovation happens when the inspiration comes from the underlying cause.

4. Consider the big picture -

Design is about understanding the little details about the users we are designing for; however, the
big picture is just as important Your users are part of many technological and social systems that
already have a significant impact on their belief systems and mental models. So, looking at the
bigger picture means you consider how these systems in play will influence the innovation, and
how the innovation will influence these systems.

We need to keep in mind that customers don’t use your product merely for the sake of using it,
but for the value it provides. When you focus on the bigger picture, you focus on the value, you
focus on the why- and that will allow you to make better and more relevant decisions around the
things you design. Focusing on the value enables you to create something that customers want to
pay for, share, and come back for. By keeping the big picture in mind, we can better set the right
constraints, tap into the right values with solutions that fit in seamlessly and make an effort not to
create new problems when solving the current.

Conclusion :

I believe designing anything new starts with a mindset. One we shouldn’t confine to business
context, but in everything we do –family, relationships, culture, politics, society - we need to
have a positive impact to create change. If more of us got a little better being empathetic and
curious, we could also get better at providing value in other people’s lives.

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The Innovation Triangle
 The innovation triangle

“We will use the innovation triangle to understand what Innovation is and how it
is linked to creativity, intelligence, invention and design”

The Innovation Triangle Consists of Four Parts -

 Intelligence
 Creativity
 Invention
 Innovation

Lets discuss about them Clearly

 What is Intelligence?

Intelligence is the
ability to see
relationships

“Intelligence is the ability to see relationships”

When you are intelligent, you are able to see relationships between people, things,
problems, ideas.
 What is Creativity?

“With that definition of intelligence, what do you think creativity is?”

“Let’s take a step back, and ask ourselves if we are creative”

Let’s do a small activity called “30 Circles Challenge” to know

about Creativity

“Do you have to be able to draw to be creative?”

Let’s find out –

Make sure everyone has the 30 Circles Challenge worksheet before

starting the activity
  Turn as many Circles as possible into recognisable objects in 3 Minutes.
 Set a 3 minute timer on you phone’s clock app and start.
 It is better to check every 1 minute
 When time is up stop drawing and drop your pens/pencils

The below figure is an example of the activity

 Check how many of you 5 circles, 10 circles,15 circles and so on.

 “What did you Experience? Did it get easier or harder as time passed? ”
 “Did you let the problem statement limit you or did you think out of box”
 What is Creativity?

Creativity is the
ability to see more
relationships

“So, creativity is the ability to see more relationships”

“When you were doing the challenge, you saw uncommon relationships between
circles and drew motorcycles, cars, glasses, etc., right?”

“Everyone can be more creative, given the right set of tools. We are going to learn
the mindset and many tools to help us achieve this during this course.
 What is Invention?

Invention is the ability to

see meaningful
relationships

“Invention is the ability to see meaningful relationships”

“The relationship between fire and food was meaningful because it allowed
cavemen to cook”

“The relationship between electricity and tungsten filament was meaningful

because it allowed us to create the lightbulb”
 What is Innovation?

Innovation is the ability to see

meaningful relationships in
social, cultural and business
contexts

“Innovation is the ability to see meaningful relationships in social, cultural and business contexts”

“Many inventions cannot be commercialised because they don’t make business sense”
Commercialisation is the process by which a new product or service is introduced into the
general market.

The iPod wasn’t the first portable music device (Sony had popularized the “music anywhere,
anytime” concept 22 years earlier with the Walkman); the iPod wasn’t the first device that put
hundreds of songs in your pocket and Apple was actually late to the party when it came to
providing an online music-sharing platform.

Is the iPod still a defining example of innovation? Absolutely.

What made the iPod innovative wasn’t that it was the first portable music device or *first MP3
player* or that it was the first company to make thousands of songs immediately available to
millions of users. What made Apple innovative was that it combined all of these elements design,
ergonomics and ease of use in a single device, and then tied it directly into a platform that
e ortlessly kept that device updated with music. It took an existing invention - a portable music
player and commercialised it.

Apple invented nothing. Its innovation was creating an easy-to-use ecosystem that unified music
discovery, delivery and device. And, in the process, they revolutionised the music industry.
 What is Design?

Design is the journey.

Design helps you solve
problems.

“Design is what helps us go from intelligence to innovation”

“Design is the Journey”

“We are going to learn through Design Thinking,on how to go about the Journey”

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 Creative Thinking Strategies

What is Creative Thinking?

 Creative thinking is the ability to look at things differently, and find new ways of
solving problems. Creative thinking skills are definitely not just for 'creative types'
like artists and musicians. Everyone can benefit from creative thinking from time to
time.

Examples of creative thinking skills include: problem solving, writing, visual art,
communication skills, and open-mindedness.

Five Strategies to Become a More Creative Thinker:-

 Develop Creative Courage:

Many people lack the courage to use a creative approach in their workplace. Almost all creative
people feel inadequate in some way, but it is how they deal with that feeling of inadequacy that
is important. For example, artist Chuck Close was paralyzed from the neck down but used this
disadvantage to transform the way he worked and make his paintings even more interesting.
Almost everyone suffers from some kind of disadvantage, but creative thinking can show you
how to have the courage to transform it into an advantage.

 Be a Life Long Reader:

The pace of change in our culture has an enormous benefit—we must constantly change and
reinvent ourselves. Those who remain static sink. Because everything is constantly being
updated and modernized, we must constantly update ourselves to keep up.

 Achieve a Work/Life Balance:

Creative people choose a lifestyle and then try to work out what they have to do to achieve it.

 Listen to feedback:
Creative people are able to listen to criticism, assess it and then act on it.

 Steal ideas:
Creative people often remake a work that has inspired and impressed them. In remaking it, they
transform it into something new. Creative thinkers are not magicians who conjure ideas from
nowhere. They have processes and methods.

Let’s Go Through Some Activities Regarding Creative Thinking-

 6 Thinking Hats
 Problem Finding-How Might We?
 The Round Robin Exercise
 Opposite Thinking
 Nobody is smarter than everybody because groups create more options than individual ideas
that are aggregated. Any group or individual is known to make a higher quality decision
when provided with more options.
Lets take a Topic For Example : “Hunger” and then work on this Hats

White Hat: with this thinking hat, you focus on the available data. Look at the information
that you have, analyze past trends, and see what you can learn from it.
Look for gaps in your knowledge, and try to either fill them or take account of them.

Set the context that we will be looking at this problem in India.

Write down all the facts you know or need to know about the problem. For hunger, it could be
as simple as “Number of children sleeping hungry at night”, “Number of malnourished
children”. Don’t google this information.
DON’T WRITE DOWN PROBLEMS YET.

Red Hat: "wearing" the Red Hat, you look at problems using your intuition, gut
reaction, and emotion. Also, think how others could react emotionally.* Try to
understand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.
How do people feel about the problem that you have picked? How did they feel when they
encountered it. How will they feel if they overcome it? For example, for hunger, children
feel “weak”, people who throw away food feel “guilty”, etc.

Black Hat: Using Black Hat thinking, look at a decision's potentially negative outcomes. Look
at it cautiously and defensively. Try to see why it might not work.* This is important because it
highlights the weak points in a plan. It allows you to eliminate them, alter them, or prepare
contingency plans to counter them. Play the devil's advocate.

Now write down all the specific challenges surrounding this problem.

For example, for hunger, Food is thrown away that could be given to poor. Children go to school
for midday meals but don’t get dinner.

Yellow Hat: This hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you
to see all the benefits of decisions and the value in it.* Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep
going when everything looks gloomy and di cult.
Think about what happens when you solve this problem and its specific challenges.
For example, for hunger, less food would need to be wasted, the economy would benefit, etc.

Green Hat: The Green Hat represents creativity. This is where you develop creative solutions to a
problem.* It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas. (You can
explore a range of other tools to help you.)

Write down your ideas for solving these problems and achieving the yellow hat outcomes

Blue Hat: This Hat controls the Start and End of remaining Hats
Now Connect this all Hats in the form of Mind Map.

A mind map is an easy way to brainstorm thoughts organically without

worrying about order and structure. It allows you to visually structure
your ideas to help with analysis and recall.

Source : https://mgrush.com/blog/debono-six-thinking-hats/
 How Might We

How Might We Action What for Whom in order to Change Something

“How might we” (HMW) questions are short questions that launch
ideation. They’re broad enough to include a wide range of solutions but
narrow enough to impose helpful boundaries.
 How Might We

Challenge: Redesign the ground experience at the local international airport

Picture this: Troubled mother of three, rushing through the airport only to wait hours
at the gate, needs to entertain her playful children because “annoying little brats”
only irritate already frustrated fellow passengers.

How Might We
Amp up the good: HMW use the kids’ energy to entertain fellow
passenger? Remove the bad: HMW separate the kids from fellow
passengers?

Explore the opposite: HMW make the wait the most exciting part of the
trip? Question an assumption: HMW entirely remove the wait time at
the airport? Go after adjectives: HMW we make the rush refreshing
instead of harrying?

ID unexpected resources: HMW leverage free time of fellow passengers to share the load?
Create an analogy from need or context: HMW make the airport like a spa? Like a
playground? Play against the challenge: HMW make the airport a place that kids want to go?

Change a status quo: HMW make playful, loud kids less annoying?

Break POV into pieces: HMW entertain kids? HMW slow a mom down? HMW mollify delayed
passengers?

How Might We Action What for Whom in order to Change Something

 Problem Finding

Vote for the top 3 How Might We questions

 Round Robin
 Take your HMW and come up with a wild idea
that could be an unconventional solution
 Pass the Post to the Person on your Left
 Write down a reason why the proposal
will fail
 Write down a way to resolve the
critique

 Opposite Thinking
 Describe the assumption you have about your concept or domain
For instance, when designing a chair, you can list the
assumptions of a chair
(it needs to have Legs)

 Now think the opposite of the assumption- what would

happen if this were no longer true/necessary
…think of its opposite (no legs?!)…

 Describe a new service, o ering, improvement out of the opposite

to trigger additional ideas: what if chairs were hangi are from the
Ceiling

Google Quiz :
Click on Below link –
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdH6fpStHnz66sDOFmBQ
vP0AY2kf2g3FEa1-AoQs_e5A9DV2w/viewform?usp=sf_link
IDEATION PROCESS
UNIT II
IV YEAR I SEMESTER
[DESIGN THINKING]
Design Thinking | B.1.3 - Critical Reading & Reflection | Individual Activity
🕒30 minutes

The Design Thinking Process

This process or method was developed by IDEO and it’s taught at the d.school:
Institute of Design at Stanford. It involves massive collaboration and frequent
iterations. It has five very clear phases: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and
Test.

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Design Thinking | B.1.3 - Critical Reading & Reflection | Individual Activity
🕒30 minutes

The end goal of the process is to create a product, service, or experience that
people want (desirability), has real potential to become useful (viability), and can
easily or conveniently be built in terms of technology (feasibility).

It’s important to stay focused on one phase at a time. And iterate fast.

Phase one: Empathy

Empathy is the ability to put yourself in someone else’s shoes to start “seeing” things
through his/her eyes.

There are 3 ways to build empathy: 1) interviews, 2) observation and 3)

experience.

1) Interviews

We regularly have customer meetings where we investigate current workflows,

how each designer thinks, the environment in which they work, pain points,
expectations, and more. Our interviews are not limited to the US, we conduct
interviews in different parts of the world. It’s fascinating to see how people see and
tackle challenges differently. It’s important to wear an anthropologist’s hat during
interviews and stay neutral. Even if you think you know the answer, ask why.

if you ask “Why?” 5 times, you can get to the root of any problem. It’s as if you’re a
curious kid who is eagerly interested in learning why things are the way they are.

A good strategy to execute interviews is to establish rapport, a strong connection with

the interviewee, instead of influencing the answers. Never ask, “This is good, right?”
Instead, ask, “What do you think of this?” Even better, “Tell me a story where you had
a challenge when working with X.”Seeking stories is a very powerful technique that can
give you a lot of valuable information. For instance, if you need to understand what’s

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 Design Thinking | B.1.3 - Critical Reading & Reflection | Individual Activity
🕒30 minutes

trending with teenagers, try asking them what they would buy with $150.

Telling and seeking stories during interviews is a good way to establish rapport and
connection. A recent Human Tech podcast presented a research study that measured
brain activity during storytelling. The research showed that during the climax of a
story the listener’s brain activity is closely similar to the storyteller’s brain activity —
creating almost like a real connection between the two.

When you ask a question, give your user the time they need to think. Silence is okay!
Even if it’s awkward, never interrupt or influence the interviewee.

The Design Thinking process recommends quality over quantity in general. This means
fewer people in your interviews, but selecting people that you think can represent
different audiences of your product or service. We’re looking for insights, not truths.

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Design Thinking | B.1.3 - Critical Reading & Reflection | Individual Activity
🕒30 minutes

The concept of extreme users can also benefit your research. For instance, if you need
to interview shopping cart users, also interview a homeless man who uses the cart as a
vehicle to move his stuff around or collect recyclables — an extreme user. It will give
you important insights.

2) Observation

Give your user a task and just watch. If you ask, “Do you have issues buying things
from Amazon?”, you will probably hear, “No, it’s very easy to buy things there.” But if
you watch a person using it from behind their shoulders, you will see pain points
along the way.

3) Experience

Use what your customer uses. It can be your own product, or it can be a competitor’s.
This will give you direct access to the pain points and feelings of enjoyment your users
experience.I test all the design and prototyping tools that I can. Not only to build new

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Design Thinking | B.1.3 - Critical Reading & Reflection | Individual Activity
🕒30 minutes

mental models, but also to identify, as an anthropologist, whether a user suggesting a

feature is being directly influenced by an existing tool or service. Adopting new
mindsets and avoiding existing mental models are probably one of the hardest things
to do!

Phase Two: Define

After building empathy, it’s time to revisit the initial design challenge and re-define
the problem.

To define, or re-define, the problem or challenge, a point of view (PoV) formula can
help: PoV = persona + need + insight

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Design Thinking | B.1.3 - Critical Reading & Reflection | Individual Activity
🕒30 minutes

There are different tools tackling different parts of the problem. There are tools for
low fidelity design (information architecture and wireframes), tools for high fidelity
design, and separate tools for prototyping, etc. Users have to jump from tool to tool
in order to design, prototype, and validate.

There’s a lot of friction in the process, especially after testing a prototype, when
changes are necessary. And friction limits creativity. We saw that designers are fast
paced and like to explore different options, iterate and move fast.

Most of the tools used by designers suffer from scope creep, build features on top of
features, don’t maintain a holistic view, are buggy and sometimes slow.

So very easily, we were able to define some of the XD pillars:

● Design at the speed of thought

● Performance and quality
● Meaningful workflows
● Contextual interface

Phase Three: Ideate

After building empathy and re-defining the challenge, problem or need, it’s time to
put our brains to work.

In my opinion, ideation is the best part of the process because it’s fun and exciting.

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Design Thinking | B.1.3 - Critical Reading & Reflection | Individual Activity
🕒30 minutes

The Ideation Phase has two clear sections:

1. Diverge (Create Choices)

The same multidisciplinary team who built empathy and re-defined the problem,
gets together during a pre-specified time frame to “vomit” ideas without any
judgment! Why? Because by focusing on quantity we quickly leave obvious solutions
behind and enter the unknown where true innovation can be found. To accomplish
this, follow the rules of brainstorming:

● Defer judgment
● Go for quantity
● One conversation at a time
● Be visual
● Build on top of other ideas (“Yes, and…”)
● Stay on topic
● Encourage crazy ideas

During all the Design Thinking sessions I’ve run, teams were able to come up with
over 100 ideas in just an hour!

2. Converge (Make Choices)

With a ton of ideas to choose from, the team gets to select which they will work on. A
good technique is voting with stickers: each team member gets a set of stickers and
individually each team member marks the ideas they would like to work on.
After this process is complete, it’s easy to democratically select the top ideas.

It’s important to have these two clear and separate phases: 1 hour for brainstorming
(diverge) and 1 hour for making choices (converge).

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Design Thinking | B.1.3 - Critical Reading & Reflection | Individual Activity
🕒30 minutes

Phase Four: Prototype

Let’s build to think and to feel. A prototype transforms an idea into something
tangible and “experiment-able”.

“A prototype is worth a thousand meetings”, is a saying at IDEO.

There are three stages in this phase:

1. Inspiring — “What could it be?”

2. Evolving — “What should it be?”
3. Validating — “What will it be?”

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Design Thinking | B.1.3 - Critical Reading & Reflection | Individual Activity
🕒30 minutes

A prototype is an amazing tool to help you fail fast to learn fast. It’s a lot cheaper to
fail early (during the initial stages of a project) than later, after lots of resources are
allocated and working on executing tasks. We build prototypes to learn, solve
conflicting ideas, start conversations and manage the building process.

Scrolling, symbols, layers, libraries, are some examples of prototypes we have

created to test, validate and learn fast.

Phase Five: Test

When prototypes are created, test them with real people. We test to refine
prototypes and solutions, to learn more about the user, and to test and refine our
PoV.

When testing, let users play with your prototypes, watch and listen. If small tweaks
are easy to make, do them and test again. Get close to your users and most
importantly, never fall in love with your ideas.

In Conclusion

Design Thinking is a method or process that starts with a design challenge, moves
to the empathy phase (interviews, observation or experience), then to definition (or
re-definition) of a problem or challenge, embraces ideation (diverge first and
converge later), uses prototypes (build to think and learn fast) and continues with
testing.

10
Challenges in adopting a Design Thinking Process:

To adopt a Design Thinking approach leaders will not just have to do

a cognitive shift but also meet business challenges. Some of the
business challenges that companies face while aligning their
businesses for a design culture are:

1. Short-term thinking

Most times Design Thinking is applied only while developing a

particular product or in the execution of a particular project.
However, Design Thinking should be inbuilt in the longterm
strategy of the organization. Organizations will have to envision the
entire ecosystem around the consumer and apply principles of
Design Thinking to every phase. One example of such an approach
is, Paytm which started as a mobile recharge platform to one of the
largest mobile payments platform with over 7 million merchants and
300 million registered wallet users, and now a major e-commerce
platform. Paytm reached at this point by envisioning the entire
ecosystem and possibilities around consumers that their platform
could solve, and then created a delightful solution around it.

2. Challenges of scale and pace

Digitization has exploded the number of touchpoints through which

businesses interact with consumers. Today enterprises have to
interact with their consumers at numerous channels, in a world
where the time to respond has come to near zero. It can be a
challenging task to apply Design Thinking at every touch point and
innovate and engage at a fast rate. Businesses should prioritize the
channels and then apply Design Thinking principles to their
channels in a phase-wise manner.

3. Building a design culture

In most organization Design Thinking is limited to product teams.

Either there is a team of designers that are rotated across teams or
having a designer for every product team. While organizations have
to identify their own approach basis their organizational culture, to
reap the true benefits of Design Thinking businesses will need to
ingrain a Design Thinking approach across every function. For
instance, Airbnb has identified a unique approach where every
project team at Airbnb has a project manager whose explicit role is
to represent the user, not a particular functional group like
engineering or design. According to Alex Schleifer, product head at
Airbnb

“Conflict is a huge and important part of innovation, this structure

creates points where different points of view meet and are either
aligned or not.”

4. Designers’ and product stakeholders’ perfectionist block

One of the basic principles of a Design Thinking approach is that it is

iterative, agile and data and analytics-driven. However, in most
cases, product stakeholders get stuck with wanting to launch a
‘perfect’ product. And, that is one of the major roadblocks in the
Design Thinking approach. To adopt a Design Thinking approach
enterprises should be prepared to launch a Minimum Viable Product
and then iterate it basis consumer feedback and data and then scale
further in a step-by-step manner.