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Sahithi Kavili writes a brief summary of a famous article on Design Thinking, originally written by Tim Brown. Tim Brown is an accomplished design thinker, who has been the CEO of IDEO, a world-renowned design consultation firm. The original article was published in the Jun 2008 issue of Harvard Business Review. Link: https://hbr.org/2008/06/design-thinking

Design thinking transforms the very strategy used to create and develop products, services and processes. During Thomas Edison’s time, the electric light bulb was revolutionary, but as a good designer he knew that one brilliant invention without subsequent context to support and render it truly useful to the masses was little more than a shot in the dark. His foresight to develop a working marketplace around the light bulb is what set in motion a wholesome and human-centered design thinking model for aspiring designers to follow.

Another interesting aspect of Edison’s design thinking is that he surrounded himself with diversely gifted thinkers and experimental thinkers. He introduced a team-based approach to innovation along with endless rounds of trial and error. He believed not in creating out of an echo-chamber of one’s own validations but a culmination of experiments and many failings. Moreover, aesthetics and brand perception should not be separate from the functional value of a product or service. Rather than making already designed products more attractive to consumers, designers should aim to strategically incorporate all aspects of the design from the very beginning of the design process.

A short case study on the heath care provider Kaiser Permanente is an example of strategic design thinking to enhance the quality of care given to the patients as well as the experiences of the practitioners. By teaching them the design theory, they could then themselves propose and implement solutions to impending problems in the workplace. This sort of innovative environment encouraged the workers to explore potential solutions to better their service through rapid brainstorming and prototyping. They achieved a convenient shift-management system in which they logged the details of their shifts into a database and had more time to be productive with the patient, increasing their own work satisfaction as well as the quality of their patients’ stay.

Prototypes should not be a burden for an excited, quick thinker. It shouldn’t be expensive or require complex attention or extensive resources which would hinder the fast-paced trial and error process. Prototypes should only take as much time and effort required to generate ample feedback and proceed with a refined prototype going forward. The goal of a prototype isn’t to have a “finished” product but a malleable manifestation of ideas.

Tim Brown strongly believes that people have a natural aptitude for design thinking, which is only developed further with the right design training. Design thinkers should be able to envision the impact of their creations from various viewpoints by taking a people-first approach, dramatically improve existing alternatives by taking into account both the obvious as well as the obscure aspects, maintain a positive outlook despite failed attempts, pose questions that lead to evoke new ideas and have significant experience in more than one discipline while employing thinkers from different educational backgrounds.

The design process is not a series of milestones that one must cross to successful come up with a brilliant idea but rather a systematic set of stages that together form a cycle of creative thinking and implementation of those ideas. The process must ultimately cycle through the stages of “inspiration” which may arise from a problem, a demanding situation, or opportunity which motivates the search for solutions. The next stage would be “ideation,” the testing of ideas, and last but not least “implementation,” for the execution of the vision and paving a path to the market. Projects will particularly run through the first two spaces more than once as original ideas are refined and improved upon multiple viewings.

Another short case study of IDEO and Shimano’s team worked on a market of high-end casual bike that appealed to the older generation. They came up with a simple, fun coasting bike that was made for pleasure rather transport. They achieved this by spending time with all types of customers and understanding which particular qualities of the present bike market was repelling its customers. This human-centered exploration through surveys and detailed questioning is what precisely urged a smart and far-reaching innovation that paved the way to a widely untapped and neglected market.

Many of the world’s most successful brands are renowned for their products and services due to their empathy and sensitivity towards the consumer’s needs. Parallel to their human-centered approach, they also make good use of the design principles to innovate uniquely and garner value to their product/service.

A good application of design thinking to overcome socioeconomic constraints is India’s Aravind Eye Care System which might even be the world’s largest eye care provider. In one year, Aravind served an approximate of 2.3 million patients and preformed more than 270,000 surgeries. Its aim was to eradicate avoidable blindness among Indians, including its rural population. Aravind’s holistic approach of not only providing ophthalmic service but creating a system of eye care that would reach India’s poorest areas is reminiscent of Edison’s human-centered agenda. Since 1990, Aravind has held ‘eye camps’ in India’s rural areas, taught eye care, established a bus system, screenings, and free service for those who cannot afford it. It even built its own solution to the problem of extremely expensive intraocular lenses from $200 per pair to $4 per pair through a manufacturing plant in a hospital basement. In this way it created an attainable and accessible solution to a social and medical problem.

A successful design thinker must aim to have a cumulative portfolio of short-term ideas as well as long-term ones. They must invest effort in both ends of the spectrum and expand their ability to work with both ideas that are still in progress and ones that are closer to entering the market. They must be able to re-track their funding process if circumstance demands it. Hiring from various disciplines will allow them the experimental advantage of diverse ideas and innovations. It is beneficial to construct and encourage the design thinking process so projects can go through the three stages efficiently.

Many times, the products in the market that appeal to the consumers are not the ones that are the very first of their kind but the ones that attract through both their emotional appeal and functionality. A new savings account service called “Keep the Change” was widely successful because it was founded on an emotionally satisfying aspect of human behavior of saving money without even trying. Once the savings account was a success among the public, it naturally acquired a value in the business world as well.