Apply Design Thinking

Three Key Takeaways

1. Low Fi Prototypes (pen, paper, tape) are a great way to think through ideas before committing to them.

2. Putting “crazy” ideas on paper is a great way to lead you to innovative ideas that could work.

3. No one learns in a vacuum. Sharing ideas, discussing topics, working together brings about the best ways to solve problems.

Process Map

Applying Design ThinkingAs a User Experience professional, I have been using design thinking at work to design end-user web

experiences. I took this class to sharpen my skills for that purpose, but what I was surprised to learn was

how we could also be using Design Thinking to solve other problems. Here are a few examples:

• Shipping – Our customers want to order today and get it ... today. They want delivery of their items

even faster than overnight. I could work with the Fulfillment department to help them solve this

problem using the Design Thinking methodology.

• Store Associate Training – Our largest asset is our store associates, and training is tricky – especially

over the holidays. I’m not sure we really understand what they need and how they need to learn it.

By stepping back and applying Design Thinking, especially talking to associates and empathizing, we

could create superior training and that would result in exceptional store associates and therefore

better customer experiences than our competitors.

• Returns – Customers often buy things online and then go to a store to return unwanted items. Our

initial research tells us this is because making a trip to the store is perceived as easier than one to

the post office. This is often a very sore spot for customers. We could apply Design Thinking to truly

understand our customer’s mindset, what the problem is and how to best provide return solutions.