Innovation starts with design thinking
Cars, cellphones, sliced bread – it’s easy to think that life-changing ideas such as these were born as is alongside their inventors. Unfortunately, it is not that simple.
You see, good ideas are created as answers to problems. Over time, these ideas have to be revised to make them incrementally better. These revisions can happen one time, or hundreds depending on the project.
The process I just described is known by designers as “design thinking”.
To get one thing straight, design is not an object or a product. Rather, as Fast Company describes it, design is “a protocol for solving problems and discovering new opportunities.” So, in short, design thinking is the series of steps a designer or creator uses to create the best possible solution to a problem.
Depending on who you ask, design thinking will include five steps – empathize, define, ideate, prototype, and test. However, it is crucial to note that the process is not linear.
In an article for the Harvard Business Review, Tim Brown describes design thinking as a system of spaces rather than a series of predefined steps. So, in order to understand design thinking, know that you will have to go back to steps as many times as is necessary.
“If [people] stick with the process, if they stick with it, they end up doing amazing things. And they surprise themselves at just how innovative they and their teams really are.”
Design thinking starts with the “empathize” step, where you seek to understand the problem from the perspective of those who it effects. As stated by Robin Landa in her book, Graphic Design Solutions, “Knowing the audience and the brand helps you find an insight that could jumpstart ideas.” Drop your biases and preconceived notions of said issue and don’t simply revert to the way that similar issues have been solved in the past. Take the time to observe the stakeholders and how this issue affects them.
Next, clearly define the problem. Use the insights gained from the previous step to determine what really needs to be fixed.
Now that you know the problem, you need to consider how to solve it. This is where ideation begins. Dump every possible idea in your brain onto paper and think of all possible solutions, no matter how dumb. Don’t simply go for the obvious route, think outside of the box – I can’t stress how crucial this is. The ideation phase is truly about quantity over quality. You want to ensure that you have considered every option before going forward with one.
Once you feel like you have a few solid ideas to go off of, start creating. Make a prototype of each of the solutions and see how you and others respond to it. This is not the time to create completely refined work. Rikke Friis Dam and Teo Yu Siang from the Interaction Design Foundation put it best when they said that prototypes provide a “set of tools and approaches for properly testing and exploring ideas before too many resources get used.” Prototypes should only take as much time and resources as are necessary to get proper feedback.
I’m warning you now, this is where you will likely have to loop back around one or two steps. Prototyping your ideas is where you are going to see the flaws and have to go back to the drawing board. Don’t worry, this is okay! It is all a part of the process and will yield the best possible result in the end.
Once you have prototyped your ideas, pick one and run with it. Put all of your time and effort into make it the best it can possible be. Now you make be thinking this is the end of the process, but it’s not.
As mentioned earlier, this process is not linear. For that reason, most designs are never truly finished. Take time to test your work out with its intended audience and continue to reiterate on it and improve it.
This is the essence of design. You must immerse yourself in your work in order to figure out how to best solve issues. As Tim Brown mentions in his TedTalk, design thinking is about finding a new approach. So, don’t settle when a project seems done.
Hi! My name is Peyton McKenzie.
I am a professional graphic designer, photographer and content creator.
I encourage you to explore my portfolio to get a better idea of the work I create. If you are interested in working with me or have inquiries of any kind, don’t hesitate to reach out over email.
