“Design Thinking” has traditionally been the proprietary practice of the design profession, but it’s now being taught as an approach to reform traditional educational and organizational practice. I’m happy to see the concept gaining popularity.
Tackling a question using design thinking creates new solutions for anything, not just design of the built environment. It can be applied to public policy, criminal justice reform, educational strategy, environmental challenges, advocacy campaigns. Design thinking can be shared, taught, and transferred from person to person, or from one aspect of a project to a broader application.
It can be a powerful personal force, helping individuals, organizations and communities when they are “stuck.” Because it encourages creative problem-solving (e.g. “Thinking Outside the Box”), I believe that design thinking can help address our most pressing cultural, social, economic and environmental issues.
Defining design thinking can be tricky, since it’s an approach rather than a concrete set of rules. It is both an internal and an external process. There are many academic descriptions for design thinking online, but here’s how I characterize the process step-by-step:
Observe and Define. Identify and understand the issue to be addressed. A problem to be solved? A project to be built? A policy to create? Establish and express the need.
Imagine. Picture a scenario where the issue is overcome or the project is complete. Generate possible solutions with little criticism, little critique, no squashing of creative impulse. There are no bad ideas during this part of the process.
Breathe deep and begin to experiment and explore the viability of potential solutions identified. Ask: Can we do this? What works? What doesn’t? Narrow your focus. Vet your ideas.
Test. Select and develop discrete potential solutions. Make them run the gauntlet. What parameters exist? Create a prototype. What needs to change for this concept to work?
Implement and evaluate. When you’ve found your strongest solution, put it into play. If you’re doing it right, the cycle continues. When an issue comes up, move back to step one. The whole point is to keep thinking.