Design Thinking
We live and work in a world of interconnected systems, where many of the problems we face are dynamic, multifaceted, and inherently human. It makes us think about the basic problem we are trying to solve for our customers:
For us, our key bet has been on design thinking because it offers an approach for addressing these big questions and more.
Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation—anchored in understanding customers' needs, rapid prototyping, and generating creative ideas—that will transform the way you develop products, services, processes, and organizations. I encourage you all to upskill yourself with design thinking skills and apply them to innovation.
No one, not even expert mountain climbers or the Sherpas who live in the Himalayas, just shows up one afternoon and starts climbing Mount Everest. The effort takes years of experience, and months of preparation, and requires that many things go to plan. In the same way, design thinking cannot be embedded in a corporate culture without taking the time to build a stable foundation on which that change will rest. At SRG (Silicon Realization Group), Synopsys, we have been building this capability steadily and focusing on innovation and design thinking, which can tango together. The 5 pillars we are investing in, as a base, are – leadership mandate, infrastructure enablement, proprietary processes, customer centricity, and supportive culture. These pillars will ensure that our innovation pipeline is steady and delivering beyond expectations.
Design Thinking – An Approach to Innovation
Design Thinking is not an exclusive property of designers—all great innovators in literature, art, music, science, engineering, and business have practiced it. So, why call it Design Thinking? What’s special about Design Thinking is that designers’ work processes can help us systematically extract, teach, learn and apply these human-centered techniques to solve problems in a creative and innovative way – in our designs, in our businesses, in our countries, in our lives.?
Some of the world’s leading brands, such as Apple, Google, Samsung, and GE, have rapidly adopted the Design Thinking approach, and Design Thinking is being taught at leading universities around the world, including d.school, Stanford, Harvard, and MIT. But do you know what Design Thinking is? And why it’s so popular? Here, we’ll cut to the chase and tell you what it is and why it’s so in demand.?
What is Design Thinking?
Design Thinking is a non-linear, iterative process in which we seek to understand the user, challenge assumptions, and redefine problems in an attempt to identify innovative strategies and solutions that might not be instantly apparent with our initial level of understanding. At the same time, Design Thinking provides a solution-based approach to solving problems. It is a way of thinking and working as well as a collection of hands-on methods.
Design Thinking revolves around a deep interest in developing an understanding of the people for whom we are designing the products or services. It helps us observe and develop empathy with the target user. Design Thinking helps us in the process of questioning - questioning the problem, questioning the assumptions, and questioning the implications. This is extremely useful in tackling problems that are ill-defined or unknown, by re-framing the problem in human-centric ways, creating many ideas in brainstorming sessions, and adopting a hands-on approach in prototyping and testing. It also involves ongoing experimentation: sketching, prototyping, testing, and trying out concepts and ideas.
Design Thinking brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable.
A solution where all three aspects overlap has essentially hit the sweet spot and is conducive to innovation.
Distinctions Between Design and Design Thinking
Steve Jobs famously said, “Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer – that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”
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Tim Brown, CEO of IDEO, the design company that popularised the term design thinking, says “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.”
Thinking like a designer brings together what is desirable from a human point of view with what is technologically feasible and economically viable. It also allows people who are not trained as designers to use creative tools to address a vast range of challenges.
Design Thinking draws on logic, imagination, intuition, and systemic reasoning to explore the possibilities of what could be and to create desired outcomes that benefit the end user (the customer).
A design mindset is not problem-focused, it is solution-focused and action-oriented. It involves both analysis and imagination.
Design thinking is linked to creating an improved future and seeks to build ideas up – unlike critical thinking, which breaks them down. Problem-solving is making something go away. Creating is bringing something into being. Design thinking informs human-centered innovation and begins with developing an understanding of customers’ or users’ unmet or unarticulated needs. The purpose of design, ultimately, is to improve the quality of life for people and the planet.
According to the 2015 Design Value Index created by the Design Management Institute and Motiv Strategies, design-led companies such as Apple, Pepsi, Procter & Gamble and SAP have outperformed the S&P 500 by an extraordinary 211%. Design thinking, if executed properly and strategically, can impact business outcomes and result in real competitive advantages.?
When design principles are applied to strategy and innovation, the success rate for innovation dramatically improves. Great design has that “wow” factor that makes products more desirable and services more appealing to users.
Designing is more than creating products and services; it can be applied to systems, procedures, protocols, and customer experiences.
Design Thinking Process
"Design thinking is not limited to a process. It’s an endlessly expanding investigation." — Sandy Speicher, IDEO CEO
We teach the phases of design thinking as linear steps, but in practice, the process is not always linear—the phases combine to form an iterative approach that you can try out and adapt to suit your specific challenge.?
Some of these steps may happen several times, and you may even jump back and forth between them. Moving through the phases of design thinking can take you from a blank slate to a new, innovative solution.?
Curated from: Interaction Design Website, Ideou website, and Creativity at work website
Product Documentation, Principal Engineer at Synopsys Inc
2 年This is a good article for a quick overview of design thinking. It's been many years since I read the Art of Innovation and this blog serves as a reminder for me to rescan that book. Anyways, what I feel is that design thinking is not something you'd learn in a course, no matter how many taken. Rather, it is a skill that needs to be practiced often. For example, would you agree that creating a convincing or engaging PPT slide requires design thinking? Maybe your next blog could be about implementing Design Thinking in everyday tasks.
Hnnoix 6G AI Innovation Tech Lead | IEEE Senior member
2 年Great read,sir.Thanks
ASIC Physical Design Staff Engineer @ Synopsys Inc
2 年Very Good