Tag: Design thinking
02 Aug 2016
How innovation fuels design thinking
As we talked about in our last
post, design thinking is a holistic approach to business that,
unlike the rigid structure of business, utilizes both logic and
creativity. In order to effectively combine and focus these two
forces, design thinking is carefully guided by three
principles: inspiration, ideation, and implementation. With the help of
these three principles, design thinking encourages you to
recognize communities with complex problems that you can fix and
fuels innovation so you can do just that.
##How design thinking fuels innovation:
1. Encouraging creativity. Unlike the traditional
structure of business that analyzes the probability of failure
before a project is started, design thinking allows you to
explore an idea fully so you can see if the solution is
effective. Design thinking encourages you to cast the fear of
failure aside and let your creativity...
15 Jul 2016
The phases of design thinking
Design thinking, a term coined by
IDEO’s David
Kelley, refers to a set of three principles that can create a
successful path to innovation and solve complex problems. These
three
principles
are inspiration, ideation, and implementation. Rather than
following the rigid, traditional structure of business that can
negatively impact innovation by promoting rationality over
creativity, design thinking is a holistic approach to business
that integrates both logic and creativity together. Sadly,
design thinking is still not a mainstream practice and companies
can be reluctant to adopt design thinking in their ventures. So
why would companies be reluctant to adopt such a promising
technique for innovation? Because they believe some of these
common misconceptions of design thinking:
-
One common misconception of design thinking is that it is an
abandonment of good business thinking,
ignoring rationality and...
08 Jun 2016
“The main tenet of design thinking is empathy for the people
you’re trying to design for. Leadership is exactly the same
thing – building empathy for the people that you’re entrusted
to help.” – David Kelley, Founder of IDEO
When you’re leading a team of Design Thinkers, making sure that
everyone’s ideas are heard and recorded is a big part of design
thinking philosophy.
Design thinking is about creating products and services based
on empathy, and listening to the problems from your
community.
But you need the right design thinking tools to make sure that
all these ideas can be recorded, expanded on, and tested.
You don’t want to spend your time worrying about the
logistics of your project instead of leading your team to
create something exceptional. We recommend using the following design thinking tools to
keep your team, and your...
15 Mar 2016
The online world has changed the way we solve problems. Instead
of one person in charge, we now have a range of individuals from
different backgrounds that can solve problems in their
communities. Yet, when looking at big problems, finding a
process to keep everyone accountable is important. In this
article, I’m going to outline how (and why we think) design
thinking is the perfect process for solving the worlds biggest
problems.
We’ve talked about
what design thinking is, and the
human-centered approach
of design thinking. So today let’s look at practical solutions
to problems by using design thinking.
Design thinking means starting with observation, rather than a
problem, and learning by making.
When you start with observation, you give yourself the
flexibility to make sure that you’re asking the right questions.
The traditional method for problem solving...
23 Feb 2016
By Jacob Bøtter -
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jakecaptive/49915119 (CC)
05 May 2015
Photo by Ryan Tyler Smith
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ryantylersmith/
Design thinking is a different approach to problem solving.
Rather than planning first and testing with customers later,
organisations are learning to take a human-centered approach.
This means getting involved with your communities from the
beginning of a project, and learning about the problems they
face. Sounds simple, right? Yet organisations often come up
short when it comes to solving the challenges their communities
are facing. These design thinking courses will help you dive
into design thinking practice and theory. From free courses,
short courses, and university courses, we think you will find
what you are looking for here! If you have taken another course
you’d like to recommend, please leave it in the comments- we’d
love to check it out!
Design Thinking Courses:
Design Thinking for Business Innovation- This course provides an overview of the design thinking...
24 Apr 2015
Design Thinking For Open Innovation
When I was in University, I ran the campus food bank. I went to
a conference in Toronto, where I spent the weekend with others
running food banks from across the country. The conference was
full of hard-working, dedicated people passionate about
alleviating poverty and malnutrition. We exchanged ideas,
discussed new initiatives and brainstormed how we could run our
food banks better. Finally, the last session of the conference
arrived. Our hosts explained that the last speakers would be
people who had lived on the streets and who had used (or were
still using) food banks . To our surprise, the speakers each
described their negative experiences with food banks. They had
eaten pre-packaged bags of foods filled with things they or
their families did not like, or could not eat. They were sick of
eating the same canned carrots...
17 Mar 2015
“Design thinking starts with divergence, the deliberate
attempt to expand the range of options rather than narrow
them.”- Tim Brown
Design thinking is an ever-changing process that helps to solve
problems creatively. But where did design thinking come from and
how does it differ from other kinds of problem solving?
Design thinking in the business world originates from theories
in computer science, engineering, architecture, and design. They
started developing methodologies to help solve scientific or
design problems from a human centered approach. As design
thinking started to become more popular, people started to apply
it’s methodologies to different subjects like business and
education.
Principles Of Design Thinking
There are a few different methodolgies behind design thinking,
but the principles behind them are the same:
1. Human centered Using a humanistic approach
is an important part of design thinking. Gathering
information...
24 Feb 2015
The Design Thinking Process
We’ve kind of been geeking out over design thinking at WE THINQ
over the past few months. So much, so that we’ve re-designed our
whole platform to incorporate the concepts of design thinking.
We hope this will help make your projects more successful. But
what exactly is the design thinking process, and how does it
work?
The design thinking process varies depending on where you look
for answers. There are a few different theories out there, but
they are essentially similar. The design thinking process
contains 4-5 stages that take a human-centered approach to
innovation.
Discovery
Understand what the challenge is. Don’t think of the problem
only from your perspective, but also from the perspective of
your clients, customers and community members. The best way to
do this is to have some of your community members involved in
the...
17 Feb 2015
What's in your toolkit? Photo by: Pleuntje
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pleuntje/
We’ve had a makeover. If you’re using the
WE THINQ interface
you’ll notice we’ve added a little pizzazz to our tool for the
new year. Not only is the social innovation process laid out
more clearly, we’ve also given you the option to work on your
project using the design thinking process. The design thinking
process differs from traditional forms of open innovation. But
as that is a definition that is ever changing we are excited to
be giving you the options to choose the best method for the
project at hand.
1.
Innovation Flowchart
- The perfect place to start your project. Perfect for design
thinking or open innovation. This chart allows you to map out
your process before you begin. Set the stages, skills, and risks
that are relevant to your project...
25 Nov 2014
Workshop to design healthy places. Photo by: Ted Eytan
https://www.flickr.com/photos/taedc/
A couple weeks ago we discussed the differences between
design thinking and innovation. This week we are going to show you what design thinking looks
like in practice with these 9 examples of design thinking! We
love hearing about new projects and your experiments with design
thinking. So if you’re working on something leave it in the
comments, and we will happily add it to our list!
Happy reading!
Design Thinking Examples:
Proximity Designs
- Proximity Designs is an award-winning, social enterprise based
in Yangon, Myanmar. They design and deliver affordable,
income-boosting products and services that complement the
entrepreneurial spirit of rural families. Great example of
design thinking at work!
Design Thinking for Mobility
- Examples of design thinking projects that mobilized
communities and groups for the greater good. Mostly US based,
these projects are making...
28 Oct 2014
Photo by: Juhan Sonin: https://www.flickr.com/photos/juhansonin/
At WE THINQ, We work with a lot of change makers who are always
looking for new and better ways to achieve results. Open
innovation is our go-to process to see change, but there are
other methods used to inspire creative problem solving. Design
thinking is a widely used process based on the premise that
everyone can be part of creating a more desirable future. Both
design thinking and open innovation are used to create positive
changes in organisations and communities. So what is the
difference between these two methods and how can you choose
which is right for your project or organisation?
Design Thinking: The People Focused Approach
Design thinking outlines a 5 step strategy to innovation:
1. Empathy: Get to know your audience. The core
of design thinking involves focusing on the customer. Many ideas
fail because...