The power of design thinking

“I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand” - Confucio

The first thing that comes to my mind when I think of happiness is when I drew my first free style painting sketch. Since then I’ve always looked for ways to include design in my life. I have ended up not becoming a designer, but I am passionate about content, design and to learn why people make the decisions they make.

Before I started studying design I was actually quite confused about the main purpose and the implementation process. There is so much information out there about design thinking, user experience, UX design, UI design and interactive design that sometimes if feels like only designers can understand the benefits of using design.

Because of the complexity most people don't understand and consequently don't see the benefits of using design to help them. So what is design or design thinking? How can it benefit you or me? Design thinking prepares our mind to be able to explore, instead of trying to control by making decisions based on the things we already know. Design can be part of everything we do, and it can influence almost every decision we make on a daily basis.

What if you could do all your grocery shopping from your smartphone? Would you have a better experience than having to go to the supermarket?

Companies like Fjord and IDEO implement design thinking in everything they do. The Fjord's design rule of 3 shows fundamental rules and how organizations can transform people's experiences. Julie Zhuo from Facebook shares great insights on how she uses design at work, and how you introduce something new to a person, how they will understand its value and finally use it.

Whether you are launching a product, enhancing a service or implementing a new process, it is important to understand how customers use your product or service. This is so you know how to properly create, display and communicate about your product or service while creating positive experiences.

It is not about changing the design the way you want. It is about addressing different aspects of your product/service by learning how it is perceived by people. This will help you understand what matters to your audience and how to identify areas of improvement. While doing that you will provide not only solutions, but great experiences to your customers/users/consumers.

In summary, the end-user has to be at the heart of the process.

Here are some insights shared by experts on design and design thinking:

1) IDEO - how thinking like a designer can transform the way we develop products, services, processes—and even strategy

2) IDEO - Design kit: The human-centered design toolkit

3) UScreates - user experience design: the role of UX in communicating public policy

4) 2017 Web Design & UX Trends to Boost Conversions via @usertesting -

5) An interview with Scott Klemmer about Interaction Design

6) Desktop UX and mobile by Scott Jenson.

“If you want something to be seen and used, don’t make people look for it. Put it where they’re already looking”. Julie Zhuo

Please leave a comment if you have any tips or insights to share.

* This piece was previously published at Medium and can also be found in my blog