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The news media always broadcasts the unsolvable circumstances within several continents, such as, poverty, gender equality, and even mention that clean water is becoming scarce. However, Human Centered Design is the ability to realize and believe that all problems have a solution despite the odds. It is the opportunity to invent and create a solution to where it seemed as if there was no way out.

           Furthermore, Human Centered Design does not only discover solutions to problems that have been neglected, but practice empathy towards others. This is part of the design process to conclude with a successful solution. According to the article, The Field Guide to Human Centered Design, one has to be inspired, generate ideas, and implement the solution to the problem. Primarily, inspiration to solve the problem is where a design team will begin by understanding the people’s wants, needs, and by stepping into their shoes. This will allow the designers to understand their lives and their perspective towards their current situation. Ideation will be the following step which the designer will generate ideas, identify their opportunities for design, test, and refine solutions. At last, the implementation to solve the problem occurs! This last step of the process allows the designers to bring their solution to life by figuring out how to get their idea into the market, and how to maximize its impact onto the world. Nonetheless, failure is also part of the design process because certain ideas may seem like a great solution, yet once it was implemented it may not have caused the expected outcome. Thus, the designer will continue with the process by keeping an iterative approach after a failure by creating more ideas, and trying a variety of approaches towards the problem.

           For instance, IDEO.org developed a Clean Team working along with Unilever and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor (WSUP) by providing a solution to Ghanaians without in-home toilets. The resolution to their basic need problem impacted their lives by establishing a cleaner and healthier lifestyle. Their process began by becoming inspired in helping Ghanaians with such a basic need through interviews, “talking with sanitation experts, shadowing a toilet operator, digging into the history of sanitation in Ghana, and talking to scads of Ghanaians” (160). During this stage of the process, the Clean Team had to understand how the toilets will take form by their appearance and how they would collect and dispose of waste. To further the process, the team had to generate ideas and create prototypes in order to have a complete solution to the problem. The Clean Team had to undergo through a variety of questions, such as, “what aesthetics did people like? Would a urine-diverting toilet work? Would people allow servicemen into their homes? Where would the toilet go?” (160). These questions facilitated their research to create and idea of how the toilets should function, look, and where to place them within the Ghanaians’ homes. The implementation process for the Clean Team was a success because they were able to manufacture toilets as of 2012 that have helped the lives of thousands of people. Yet, at the beginning of the implementation process difficulties emerged because the materials needed for the project were expensive, but WSUP “used off-the-shelf- cabin toilets, which approximated about 80% of the toilets that IDEO.org would design” (161). The Clean Team practiced the Human-Centered Design process to solve the basic need of a in-home toilet for Ghanaians.

           Overall, Human-Centered Design is a process where the designer needs to be confident in believing that every problem has a solution by following its process- inspiration, ideation, and implementation. Such as, the Clean Team that successfully provided in-home toilets for millions of Ghanaians that can now experience a cleaner and healthier lifestyle.

Org.IDEO. “The Field Guide to Human Centered Design.” 2015, pp.1-161

“We’re always looking, but we never really see…it’s the act of attention that allows you to really grasp something, to become fully conscious of it.” 

-Milton Glaser, designer of the I <3 NY logo

What is design thinking? Design thinking is a process of applying creative thinking towards traditional business problems. The process was coined by David Kelley and Tim Brown of IDEO, who combined methods and processes that had been around for years into a unified framework. Design thinking ideology approaches problem solving with a user centric focus with the belief that this leads to innovation and thus a competitive advantage. The design thinking process is comprised of three stages of thinking which include understanding, exploring, and materializing which are then further broken into six phases that are empathize, define, ideate, prototype, test, and implement. 

Design Thinking revolves around developing a clear understanding of the user and addressing the problems that need to be solved. In order to accomplish this, the understanding portion of design thinking is broken into two phases: empathize and define. Empathizing is the preliminary phase of the design thinking process, this stage is crucial to understanding questions such as: who is the user? how do they feel and what do they do? Once this is done, use the gathered information to determine what needs and problems remain unaddressed for the user. For example, when considering the user base for a specific product, ask the question, “Is there an unsolved problem across many different users?” Empathizing with the user and defining unaddressed problems leads to innovation.

Once the users’ needs and unsolved problems have been identified, the second portion of the design thinking process is exploring potential solutions. This portion is again broken into two phases: ideation and prototyping. The ideation phase is brainstorming as many ideas and new angles for problem solving as possible. This phase is the no judgment zone, ideas should challenge the status quo and it is encouraged to explore alternatives. By the end of this process, ideas should be narrowed down before moving forward to the second phase: the prototyping phase. Prototyping is the phase where ideas finally turn into tangible products. During this step, flaws and product constraints can be easily identified and the prototypes may go through several iterations before landing on a solution ready to move on to the next phase of the design process. 

The third and final portion of the design thinking process is broken into two phases: testing and implementing. In the testing phase, product prototypes are put in front of real users to gather feedback. Ask questions such as, “Are users’ needs being met?”, “Has this improved the users’ experience?”, “Has it made a positive change in how the user accomplishes a task?”. In most instances, the results of the testing phase will mean revisiting the prototyping phase to make changes or redefine specific challenges. Once this phase is complete, the final step is implementation. This is where the solution materializes and affects users’ lives.

In summary, the design thinking process is simply one approach by which problems can be solved. It is a framework of thinking that is user centric with advantages such as addressing user problems not previously addressed, utilizing collective and collaborative expertise through teamwork, and creating innovative products that solve problems in new and unique ways. 

Works Cited

I did some research on a book called Design Thinking: Understand, Improve, Apply, and I found some interesting assertions in the chapter called The Co-evolution of Theory and Practice in Design Thinking. I discovered that there are many experts on the field of “design thinking” that do not approach the actual subject of design thinking in the same manner. There are many differing expert opinions on design thinking methods, and in the way to implement design thinking in the process of creating new innovations that benefit the users of the product or design. I will attempt to dissect some of the differing approaches, as well as highlight the commonalities between them.

In one example, when some experts on design thinking were interviewed for the book, there were widely varying opinions on whether innovative design work should be outsourced or not. For many of these experts, it was held truth that they should try to collaborate outside of their respective field in order to avoid getting “trapped” in their own methods and routines of design thinking. They argued that creative thinking should be expanded beyond the specific field, so the development of original design ideas should be done by an outside designer(s). However, there were other opinions that an integrative “in-house” approach was more beneficial, and that the designated team (comprised of representatives from different departments) could oversee the creative process from beginning to end stages. This approach is where the collaborative team from fields within the business would be responsible/oversee their respective steps in the design process like research, ideation, and implementation, etc. 

Although there are many differing opinions in the leading experts in the field of “design thinking,” there are some common themes that they mostly agree upon. One commonality that most design thinkers agree upon is the benefit of the diversity of disciplines within the design team. It is important to have many different leaders in any collaborative team in order to keep the ideas and innovation flowing. Another one of these commonalities is the idea of focusing on “user needs” as the central focus of designer innovation.

 A great design team should not just try to come up with a solution to the first obvious problem, but they should be trying to identify and improve the issue that is at the heart of the users problem. By rethinking or “reframing” the initial design challenge, they can begin to understand what the users actual needs are. Once this is identified, the team can approach the design challenge and apply the problem within their chosen design procedure. This procedure should include many different methods, both unusual and common. Finally, by keeping an open dialogue with the user, the solution will eventually come to fruition. 

Since taking part of some of the communication design classes at Texas State University, I have come to understand the vast importance of collaboration with others in the field of design. When creating a unique design solution to an issue (professional or otherwise) it is SO important and helpful to have outside influence and opinions in the refining process. Regardless of the “expert” opinions of the “right way” to be involved with/or direct the creative and design thinking process, the importance of collaboration is paramount.

When researching human centered design and the thought of creative origination, I came across David Kelley’s belief that creativity lies within anyone and everyone. Kelley is the founder of IDEO, a community of designers, entrepreneurs, engineers, teachers, researchers, and more. In his younger years, he went to a psychologist (Dr. Bandura) at Stanford where he discovered the thought process behind phobias and the confidence to overcome them. Bandura presented a concept to Kelley known as “self–efficacy”: “the belief in one’s capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to manage prospective situations.“ In other words, self–efficacy is a person’s belief in his or her ability to succeed in a particular situation. Bandura described these beliefs as determinants of how people think, behave, and feel.

For wanting to work in a creative environment surrounded by people he liked, Kelley created IDEO, and made a commitment to making great things happen in the world. His passion is to “help unlock creative confidence in everyone from students to business executives.” He is a jack-of-all-trades; he received his masters in engineering as well as product design, and was awarded an honorary recognition that “distinguishes contribution to design education.”

After reading articles about Kelley and his accomplishments, his ideas about design thinking and human-centered design cannot go unnoticed. His communities of designers in multiple places around the world focus on helping their clients and partners at the individual, organizational, and societal level. They assist clients by building their creative capacity and ability to grow, adapt, and routinely innovate. Human–centered design is a large contributor to the process of innovative advancements in our modern world, and a quote from IDEO’s website that draws my attention is that “you can move forward faster if you take a look back.” Meaning, we advance in the design world by looking back at previous concepts and constantly push the idea that they can always be evolved into something better than before.

As humans, we always want more, or the next big thing—this is where the designers come into play and reflect on whether something needs to be revisited. As the technology of the modern world continues to be ever-advancing, human needs seem to accelerate. Therefore, complex problems are best solved collaboratively. “Even as our methods evolve in response to new, complex challenges, we’re always designing solutions for people first. We’re building to learn, and learning as we build, through inspiration, ideation, collaboration and implementation.” Nevertheless, we must not forget how important the past is helping us shape the intention for the future.

Kelley, David, and Tom Kelley. “Creative Confidence.” IDEO Is a Global Design and Innovation Company., Oct. 2013, www.ideo.com/post/creative-confidence.

Tillman, Ashley, and Chelsea Takamine. “Open Reflections: Looking Back on a Year of Impact.” OpenIDEO, 2017, www.openideo.com/content/open-reflections-2017.

Cherry, Kendra. “How Self Efficacy Helps You Achieve Your Goals.” Verywell Mind, Verywell Mind, 7 Oct. 2019, www.verywellmind.com/what-is-self-efficacy-2795954.