DESIGN THINKING CLASS
ENT3607
Design Thinking is a human-centered Framework and mindset that guides a team through deeply understanding a problem, framing it effectively, and ideating, and building impactful innovative solutions.
The Design Thinking Mindset
Design Thinking has the power to transform a workplace into a creative environment where people thrive and empathy and innovation combine to provide the foundation of the culture.
While Design Thinking is a practice that can be carried out from beginning to end to solve a problem, it is also a mindset and a way of working on a daily basis.
The fundamental pillars of Design Thinking, that can build an innovation culture are:
Collaborate: The most innovative solutions are generated from the synergy created between imaginative, open-minded people with wide-ranging perspectives working collaboratively.
Ask the right question: A problem must be thoroughly understood through empathy and research before a truly innovative and impactful solution may be derived.
Visualize: Bring ideas out of your head into the real world through prototypes that allow others to understand and evaluate them.
Iterate: Effective design requires an iterative process in which assumptions are questioned and tested at every step until an optimal solution is reached.
The Design Thinking Process for Problem Solving
At the highest level, Design Thinking is a 3-stage process that can loop back and iterate through any stage as needed to understand the problem and develop a viable solution.
Design Thinking always begins with a problem statement, sometimes called the Design Challenge, stated in the form of a How Might We question. For example: How might we help new college students navigate the complexities of college life, in order to smooth their transition into higher education.
1. Empathize
The problem is studied and thoroughly understood from the perspective of the people experiencing it. The Empathy stage concludes with reframing* the problem based on the insight gained.
2. Ideate
The team works through a variety of brainstorming activities designed to get at unique, new, and effective solutions by escaping hardwired assumptions and bias.
3. Build
A variety of simple prototypes are created, tested and refined until the final solution is revealed. Working with stakeholders, telling the story of your solution, and gathering feedback is key!
Design Thinking in Detail
While Design Thinking can be viewed as a simple three stage process, there are subdivisions of these stages and additional steps in prep and follow-up that extend it to a nine stage process. Each stage containing several activities. This is why Design Thinking requires a full semester of study.
Stages of Design Thinking
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1. How Might We
Every Design project begins with a design challenge - a problem that must be addressed. This problem is formatted as a How Might We (HMW) question that identifies who you are trying to help, what you are helping them accomplish, for what ultimate goal. Establishing the perfect HMW is an art form unto itself.
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2. Teaming
Design Thinking relies on the synergy and energy of team work. A Design Thinking Team is ideally made up of five individuals with different perspectives and skills. Great team dynamics may be the most important contributor to innovation.
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3. Planning
Before beginning the Design Thinking Process, it’s important to understand the context of the challenge, the people involved, and important factors for a successful solution.
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4. Empathize
The Empathy stage is the first stage of Design Thinking. It is critical that your team thoroughly research and understand the problem from the stakeholders viewpoint prior to considering solutions.
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5. Synthesize and Reframe
After collecting insights through empathy research, it’s time to synthesize those insights to discover an area of the problem that is ripe for innovation.
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6. Ideate
Ideation involves utilizing creative activities to come up with many solution ideas from obvious to wild, prior to whittling them down to the best solution in terms of impact and feasibility.
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7. Selection
Deciding the optimal solution, from a wide array of good solutions, can be the most challenging task in the Design Thinking process. These methods are useful in helping you in the process.
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8. Build
Building your solution requires an iterative process of prototyping and testing. There are several types of prototypes you can employ to bring your solution out of your head and into the physical world for critique.
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9. Pitch
Developing your brand and communicating your value clearly, thoroughly, and persuasively in a pitch is the most important step in making your solution a reality.
Design Thinking Materials and Tools
Design Thinking tools allow for teams to work fluidly together and for each person, each insight, and each idea to to be seen and evaluated equally.
Traditional Materials List
3” x 3” Post-It pads
Sharpie fine point black markers
Poster sheets or butcher paper
Expo colored markers
Prototyping materials as needed
Virtual Tools
Miro software and this Design Thinking Template
Activities
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Design Thinking Crash Course
This exercise uses paper sticky notes, Sharpies, and poster paper.
Work through the stages of Design Thinking - Empathize, Synthesize, Reframe, Ideate, Prototype, and Pitch in a mini 60-minute design sprint.
[08 minutes] Empathize using pair-up interviews on a design challenge
[15 minutes] Pair-up pairs into quartets to synthesize what you learned using an Affinity Map.
[05 minutes] Use your most interesting insite to reframe the How Might We question.
[15 minutes] Ideation Brainstorming and Affinity Mapping to develop solutions
[17 minutes] Prototyping your best solution by developing a poster infographic and Pitch it to the class.
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Introduction to Miro
Setup an account at https://miro.com/ and login.
The Facilitator should make a copy of this Miro Personality Map. Set the Map to be editable by anyone with the link and share a link with participants.
Learn how to use the virtual sticky note tool to place your name on a sticky note, and place it on the personality map where you feel your personality lies.
Notice the wide range of personalities in the class. Each with something unique to contribute and areas for growth.
Free play with the other tools on the toolbar.