What did I learn from design thinking?

As "design thinking" is becoming a buzzword, I keep asking myself what design thinking really does and what magic it holds? Having watched many YouTube videos and listened to lectures online, I was still not confident about applying design thinking in my life, only until I embarked on this learning journey Exploring Social Innovation (ESI) a few weeks ago in San Francisco, thanks to VIA Programs' generous sponsorship. It’s no doubt that the most valuable part after learning is application and practice. In my first LinkedIn article, I share my learning experience about design thinking.

What is design thinking?

In short, design thinking is an iterative and non-linear process to solve problems with the focus on users’ needs. It helps to generate many crazy ideas and some of them are the potential solutions ready for testing. There are five key elements: empathy, define, ideate, prototype and test. You may find any two of them are inter-connected. 

What do each elements mean?

1.      Empathy

When you are trying to solve the problem, do you trust what you see or experience and then make assumptions on users’ needs? Or do you seek stories and immerse yourself in the physical environment to have a deeper understanding of the issue? Do you differentiate facts and personal opinions? Sometimes you intended to be objective but your thinking might distract you away? In retrospect, we utilized some key strategies to gain empathy.

(1)      Use of your senses

Take homeless issue as an example. I was shocked by the severity of homeless issue in San Francisco on the first day upon arrival. Downstairs the hostel, I saw heaps of Hispanic and black young people with their belongings sleep on the street. The air was filled with weed smell. Some of them were shouting in the accent that I couldn’t understand. I felt empathetic for them, but I was also scared when I passed by, because it was unknown... Immersing in the environment and use five senses, this is one way of gaining empathy.

Homeless young boys are wandering on the street in San Francisco

(2)      Simulation

During the beginning of the program, we played an empathy game. We simulated the society that people were born from different classes. Everyone must satisfy their needs: food, shelter, work, government service. In the game, everything costs so as society does. Some people can never afford a house even if they work hard. Some of them embrace the idea of sharing... In order to have a deeper understanding about the homeless issue, we experienced ourselves.

(3)      Interview / engage in conversations

After serving food to homeless people at Glide Memorial Church, we broke down the psychological barrier and approached to them. We were so curious how these people thought about the problem. Putting ourselves in their shoes, treating them as friends, not just asking whether they would need any help, we had a deep conversation. Their opinion was completely different from an outsider’s view. They enjoyed living on the street with their friends. Question time: do you solve the problem that addresses users' needs?

My teammate and I are engaging in the conversation with a homeless woman in San Francisco

2.      Define

After empathizing the problem, now it comes to the stage of defining. Ask yourself. Can you summarize the problem you are trying to solve in one sentence? Can you construct a point of view based on users’ needs and insights? This step is critical. If you failed in testing, you may come back and redefine the problem. Don’t go too far if you are not clear about the problem. If you are ambiguous, try to phrase the problem and reconfirm. The concrete and actionable problem statement should be human-centric and synergistic.

World renowned Stanford Design School (design from students acknowledgement goes to students on the wall)

3.      Ideate

This is the most creative yet challenging part. Think from users’ perspective and brainstorm as many ideas as you can to address the problem you stated above through mind mapping, sketching, etc. It’s not about coming up with the ‘right’ idea, it’s about generating a broad range of possibilities that you can select later on. Don’t think about the feasibility just yet. It’s good if you can think of ideas out of the box to combine rational and irrational thoughts with imagination. It’s easy that you adapt your crazy ideas into more practical solutions, but not vice versa.

Prototype anywhere and anytime you want @ Stanford Design School

4.      Prototype

Prototype is also iterative where you can build to think and later on test to learn. There are lots of resources you can use. Prepare a toolkit with different materials such as stickers, foldable paper, iron, string, scissor, glue, clay, markers, sticky notes, tape, paper money, LEGO, balloon, etc. You can also try role play, storyboard and so on. The important thing when you build prototype is to keep your users in mind, whether you are addressing their needs and insights, whether your prototype has answered particular questions. Don’t spend too long on one prototype and don’t invest too much up front.

Everyone has their own say about prototypes

The trick is to create a low-resolution solution that are quickly and cheaply made, so that you can test it by interacting again with your users. I didn't have a clear picture in mind what I really want to build when I try to solve my peer's problem. Nonetheless, I just put my hands on deck and trying to utilize those materials. After 7 mins time limit, I presented the solution to my peer and he said he got inspirational thinking... What you are going to test and how you are going to test are critically important while building a prototype. 

Stanford Design School students' solution to the 'limited seats in the lecture room' problem (how many people can they fit now?)

5.      Test

Transiting to the testing, it’s the stage that you can make alterations and refinements by gaining valuable feedback from users in order to make solutions more polished for users’ needs.

HOW to test:

·      Show don’t tell, observe, ask questions and listen

·      Create experiences for users to react and evaluate

·      Ask users to compare with multiple prototypes

How users can give you the most natural and honest feedback determines how you test, as the result is to improve and develop the solution. For example, when I was preparing for the case competition, what we need is data, so our team created a survey to collect users’ feedback. There are many other ways that you can test the solution. Keep trying and after that, go back to the previous steps for refinements.

Yes, you can sit on the recyclable cardboards @ Stanford Design School

Design thinking provides a methodology to solve problems but it doesn’t mean that it has no flaw. No matter how much you can talk about it, it will come to the practice in the end. Practice daily individually or with your team. Don't look down the power of co-design. You may fail many times before you can find the right solution to the problem. Lots of successful enterprises started from small, such as Google working for Yahoo initially. At times the craziest idea which no one believes in may change the world. If you keep this iterative approach and let users prove it’s working, keep it up and you will reap the rewards in one day. We together can make an impact!

This is my first LinkedIn article, please "like" or "comment" below to share your thoughts and suggestions (thank you :) I acknowledge the VIA Programs and Stanford University in helping me understand better about design thinking. Please follow me for more upcoming articles from a life-long learner!