Design Thinking and Innovation

• Design Thinking uses a designer's sensibility and methods to match people's needs with what is technologically feasible, converting a viable business strategy into customer value and market opportunity.
• Tim Brown is credited with this definition of Design Thinking

Design Thinking Defined

• Finding innovative solutions to problems through deep understanding and empathy for the target user is the basis of Design Thinking

Key Aspects, the "What"

• It is a human-centered approach to innovation.
• It draws from the designer's toolkit.
• Design Thinking integrates people's needs, the possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.

Design Thinking in Practice: Paying in Stores Example

• A company aims to create an alternative payment method for in-store purchases, eliminating the need for cash or credit cards.
• Utilizes design thinking to devise a solution that customers find appealing, aligns with existing technology, and demonstrates strong business potential.

The 5 Step Process

• Step 1: Empathize: Understand People's Needs
• Step 2: Define the Problem
• Step 3: Ideate: Generating Ideas
• Step 4: Prototype: Building a Basic Model
• Step 5: Test: Getting User Feedback

Applying Design Thinking: Payment Method Example

• Empathize: A team interviews customers and observes how they pay and notes that many dislike carrying cash, are worried about credit card security, and want quick and efficient transactions.

• Define: The team defines the problem: "How might we create a fast, secure, and convenient way for customers to make purchases without using cash or credit cards?"

• Ideate: The team brainstorms potential solutions, including smartphones, facial recognition, and wearable devices, ultimately deciding to explore mobile payments due to the widespread use of smartphones.

• Prototype: The team develops a basic mobile app that allows users to link their bank accounts and make payments by scanning a QR code, creating an inexpensive prototype to test the idea.

• Test: The app is tested with real users in stores, and while they appreciate the convenience, they express concerns about the setup process and data security. The team takes this feedback and improves the app.

• Design Thinking is an approach for creative problem-solving

• Design Thinking is considered outside the box thinking

Six Unique Characteristics

• Human-Centered: A focus on understanding and addressing the needs and desires of people.
• Highly Creative: A push beyond the obvious solutions and existing alternatives to get to breakthrough ideas.
• Collaborative: Working as a team to view and implement solutions to improve people's experiences
• Interactive: Each phase is repeated backwards and forwards to arrive at each outcome
• Hands-On: Tangible ideas are made through prototyping to to learn how to make ideas better.
• Show, Don't Tell: Using actions, words, thoughts, senses, and feelings rather than pure description

Design Thinking Is NOT

• Exclusively for creative individuals or product designers.
• A narrow equation focused solely on aesthetics and craft.
• Just a brainstorming session.
• A quick fix that solves a problem in 24 hours.
• A replacement for analytical problem-solving.
• A one-size-fits-all solution for every type of problem.

Benefits of Design Thinking

• Elevates the customer and employee experience.
• Deepens and widens customer relationships.
• Improves customer retention.
• Reduces inefficiencies by identifying and eliminating wasted time, resources, or efforts.
• Develops new business models.
• Increases value to society by improving lives, communities, and the environment.

Starbucks: A Success Story

• Starbucks adopted a "global reach and local relevance" approach, tailoring store designs to reflect the neighborhood's architecture and offering beverages based on local preferences.

GE Health Care: A Success Story

• GE created Kid-friendly MRI to create simple commands to get the scan done accurately and part of an adventure

The Design Thinking Process: Visualized

• The Design Thinking Process can be visualized with a diagram showing iteration through these stages: Empathize, Define, Ideate, Prototype and Test

Step 1: Empathize, User Needs

• This process requires gaining real insights into users and their needs.
• Conduct observations to engage and empathize with users.
• Immerse in the users' physical environment to gain a deeper understanding of the issues involved, their experiences, and motivations.
• Understand the user's needs, experiences, and challenges
• Observe users, conduct interviews, and immerse oneself in the user's environment.
• Its purpose is to discover which problems are worth solving by gaining deep insights into the users' perspectives and context.
• Empathy of customers requires a deep understanding of their jobs-to-be-done, pains, and gains.
• Popular tools include the Persona and Empathy Map.

Step 2: Define, User Needs

• Organize information gathered during empathizing
• Analyze observation to define core problems.
• Clearly articulate the problem; analyze and synthesize data from the empathize stage to create a clear problem statement.
• Frame the challenge based on real user needs to generate relevant and impactful solutions.

Step 3: Ideate, User Needs

• The goal is to generate a broad range of ideas and potential solutions.
• Look at the problem from different perspectives.
• Identify innovative solutions to the problem statement.
• Conduct brainstorming sessions, explore different approaches, and encourage creativity.
• Create a variety of innovative solutions.
• Generate a broad range and potential solutions to a defined problem
• Brainstorming sessions, exploring different approaches and encouraging creativity without limitations,
• To create a variety of innovative solutions that address the problem, increasing the change of finding the best possible approach

Ideation Techniques

• Brainstorming: Participants spontaneously share ideas.
• Brainwriting: Participants write their ideas in silence.
• Worst Possible Idea: Team members seek the worst solutions.
• SCAMPER: A creative brainstorming technique standing for Substitute, Combine, Adapt, Modify, Put to another use, Eliminate, and Rearrange.

Step 4: Prototype, User Needs

• Produce several scaled-down versions of the product to investigate key solutions.
• Identify the best possible solution for solving the identified problems.
• Build simple, experimental versions of ideas
• Create basic models and simulations of solutions that are quickly tested and improved.
• Make ideas tangible, allowing for quick feedback, insights, refine and improve the solution

Step 5: Test, User Needs

• Testing of solutions for a deep understanding of the product and users
• Validate the prototype with real users to gather feedback
• Test prototypes with feedback and observing interactions
• Assess the effectiveness of the solution
• Identify areas for further improvements

Traditional Thinking Vs Design Thinking

• Traditional thinking focuses on documentation, avoiding failure, and certainty. Design Thinking embraces ambiguity, focuses on human values, and iterates based on failure.

• Traditional thinking leads to "talking about" and Design Thinking leads to "making"

• Design Thinking transitions from uncertainty in research to clarity and focus in design implementation

• Design Thinking requires a specific mindset to ensure the application is successful

• To get there, avoid talking and making, Design Thinking relies on the power of tangibility

• Focus on humans as the path for innovative solutions

• It's okay to fail as failure is a tool when learning

• By learning and iterating, the goal is generating successful solutions

Two Approaches to Problem Solving (Left Brain vs Right Brain)

• Design Thinking uses both logical approaches and intuitive thinking for problem-solving

The Holistic Approach

• Human-centered design considers people, business, and technology for experience innovation

Challenges

• Challenges often include making a parachute with available resources such as a cutter, scissors, plastic, thread, and a coke cup