#DesignThinking

Frequently Unanswered Questions…

Overwhelmed with all the talk about Design Thinking? It seems to be everywhere; where do I start, you ask? We’ve put together answers to some of the frequently asked and unanswered questions for you to get started.

| February 2017 2

What is Design Thinking?

The “Definition”

“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.”

– Tim Brown, CEO & President, IDEO

Design Thinking is a quick way to solve problems in new and innovative ways by

exploring new alternatives – something that designers already do because designers are

problem solvers. The difference between Design Thinking and other types of problem

solving is that while others are more analytical and logical, Design Thinking focuses on

humans and quick ways of coming to solutions that are tested with what the users have

already used.

Design Thinking simply adds the third dimension – the user side of things. We’re taking

for granted that the first 2 dimensions of technological feasibility and viability are

already taken care of by businesses. Design Thinking brings the user into the equation.

Image source: Laurea University of Applied Sciences

| February 2017 3

Why do we need Design Thinking? The emotional disconnect

In the industrial age, everything was based on mathematics, logic and analytical

thinking. The reason – methods of production at the time were expensive. Products

once built could not be rolled back quickly, so all disciplines focused on moving towards

ensuring that problems were solved without making mistakes. This led to a search for

the ‘right answer’ and the ‘best method’ for achieving ‘optimum efficiency’. The

education system, accordingly, was designed to keep up with this thought process,

resulting in an industry that had an analytical mindset and where investments were

made only when data had proven success.

Consumers, however, are not analytical. They're subjective. Their purchase and

behaviour is driven by an emotional connect. This is the huge gap between what

companies/brands have been trying to do and what consumers expect. Design Thinking

bridges that gap. Start with the user. Emotionally connect with them.

The empowered customer

Technology (especially mobile) has disrupted and changed life very quickly. Customers

can converse amongst themselves as well as with brands easily; they’re highly

empowered to talk about their own preferences. This was never the case before.

Earlier, communication was always one-way – from the brand to the customer. The

customer could keep screaming at the top of his voice but there was no communication

channel between him and the brand.

With the user thus empowered, brands are constantly under pressure to revaluate the

way they've been designing products and services for the market. Brands can no longer

impose their vision of a product the user. They need to take the user into account at

the design stage.

New technology and the higher level of connectivity have increased consumer

expectations. With disruptions happening at an ever increasing rate, consumers now

expect brands to move faster. Design Thinking enables brands to keep up with this pace

of change. Brands can now more easily listen to their users and incorporate their

feedback and rapidly deliver better experiences.

| February 2017 4

Design – the driver of change

Design has always been the driver of change in society. Irrespective of whether Apple

used Design Thinking, the iPhone revolutionized telecommunication. Steve Jobs was

able to create something that connected deeply with the emotional side of consumers.

The main principles of design that were initially considered to be the prerogative of

designers/artists etc were pulled into mainstream business.

How is Design Thinking different from the way we've always solved problems? Trick question: we've never solved problems

What we have done is simply solved problems that we believe technology can solve and

that can make money for us. Whether we've actually solved problems or not is a moot

point.

From the perspective of technology and business, problems have always been solved

the right way. The reality of today, however, paints a different picture. For instance,

damage to our environment has happened because of the focus on consumption, and

production for consumption, not on where the material comes from – taking things

from nature without worrying about whether that needs to be replenished or not. To

compound matters, the way we produce and consume results in toxic by-products. That

means that we have neither been thinking about the consumer nor the environment.

Business and technology have only been thinking about their job and what they have to

do.

Designers are the only people who could have arrested the kind of mess we see in this

world today. Designers have actually not taken the responsibility they ought to have

taken. Design Thinking actually starts bringing all these things together and puts a large

share of the responsibility on the designers to fulfill the responsibility for which they

became designers – which they have not been doing.

| February 2017 5

What’s the difference between Design Thinking and Design? Design ≠ Design Thinking

1. Design is a function, while Design Thinking is a set of activities which can be

performed by anyone – not just designers.

2. While designers look for the right answers, Design Thinking encourages people

to ask the right questions.

3. The design function focuses on giving a definite shape to a solution – ‘doing’;

Design Thinking is more about ‘thinking’ and about understanding the problem

at hand.

What is the difference between Design Thinking and UX design? Design Thinking is a philosophy. User Experience (UX) is the outcome of that philosophy.

So you're not really designing a user experience. What you're trying to do through

Design Thinking is to understand what is it about the product or the service that is going

to create a great experience for the user. And if that UX does get created, you've used

the methodology or the iterative process or the tools that are available in design

thinking to have been able to create that as the output.

One of the mistakes people are making is saying that they can design the user's

experience. UX designers are talking about a skill that has to do with aesthetics and

usability both put together. What you're actually doing is that you're using Design

Thinking to understand what could be a good experience and the way to measure that is

to ask for feedback after putting it out. So in a sense, one can say that Design Thinking is

the journey to the destination that is UX design.

Can everyone design think? Can everyone play the piano?

Any ability can be broken up into 2 pieces - innate talent and skill. The skill can be learnt.

The innate talent cannot be acquired - because that's inborn.

| February 2017 6

“Not everybody can be a Michael Jordan”

– Carl Bass, CEO, Autodesk

Yes, everybody can play the piano – mechanically. The skill can be learnt, the talent

can't. That's true for Design Thinking as well. Everyone can learn and acquire the skills of

Design Thinking but not everyone can turn that into gold.

Who benefits from Design Thinking and how? It helps everybody (even in personal life). Maybe the question can be asked - who can

Design Thinking never help? From the perspective of a company, everybody benefits –

even the employees. Design Thinking can be applied to the operations of the

departments itself.

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Ideafarms is a Gurugram based

Design-in-Tech Consulting &

Advisory that first brought the value of

Industrial Design approaches to

software, keeping the user’s experience

at the centre of all its thinking.

Smartphone-powered solutions are a

key strength the company invested in

and developed as early as 2010.

The company’s ethos combines

empathy with strong technology

competencies to highlight the value of

interdisciplinary work and prototyping.

Ideafarms has the distinction of

partnering with some of the largest

global corporations to help drive

strategic value through its proven

approaches to problem solving.

Ideafarms designs and executes short-

cycle business mock-ups for its clients

and customers—labelled Design

Fiction—as a tool to help them arrive

at quick and accurate investment

decisions.