Joy ride to Design Thinking – Part 2

Joy entered a little coffee shop.

The walls were filled with photos from around the world. Each had a person with a distinctive look, clothes and background. The coffee shop owner was behind the counter and when she ordered coffee, Joy asked “Where did you get all these photos?”

He answered “I love travelling around the world, meeting different people and hearing stories from diverse cultures. People’s stories are influenced by a multitude of factors - upbringing, gender, personality, culture, age, values, beliefs, skills and more. Hearing their different stories and perspectives help me understand their views on life and this influence my thinking.”

Joy thought to herself - how wonderful it is to learn about the lives of different people.

Joy wanted to sit down with her coffee and there was only one available seat next to a woman who was reading a science magazine. In front of this woman few more magazines were lying on the table. One was a psychology magazine, another one was about history and the last one was about urban design. Joy got very curious. She sat next to that woman and said “I am sorry to bother you but I have to ask. Are you actually reading all these different magazines?”

The woman looked at her, smiled and said “Few years back I got fascinated with creativity and started to explore it. I discovered I can nurture my creativity by investing time in learning across multiple fields. Having cross fields knowledge enables me to take a concept from one field and place it in a different field, making connections which might not be obvious. The ability to fuse concepts helps me generate innovative ideas.”

Joy was amazed by what she just heard and said “Wow, I never thought I can train myself to be more creative. I thought one is born with some level of creativity and this is it. Please tell me more, how can I do it?” 

The woman leaned towards Joy and said “Train your brain to make such connections. When you learn a new concept, think about what it reminds you and how it relates to your life and the world. Then think about why you have made these connections.”

With that, the woman got up, handed all her magazines to Joy and left.

Joy sat there for a while, digesting everything she just heard. She was so excited by this new revelation.

Joy opened the urban design magazine. There she found…..

To be continued….