Design thinking is more than just a buzzword. The approach has become a famous one with many people aspiring to acquire this valuable skill and aiming to incorporate their learnings in their many professional contexts. In spite of its popularity, people have different opinions on what it actually means to be a design thinker. One misconception is that design is about beautification. On the contrary, one does not need to be an artist or designer to apply design thinking in their areas of work or daily routines. Design thinking is a human-centered, systematic approach to innovative problem-solving. Through the design thinking process, we are guided to overcome our self-imposed constraints and are encouraged to think outside the box in an attempt to create new solutions and strategies. This post discusses my experience while engaging in the design thinking process, as well as my learning curve, and how I identified and corrected my misconceptions, and hence shifted my mindset to embrace the true essence of design thinking.
There are a variety of different design thinking models that describe key phases of design thinking. I explored the five modes of design thinking as described in Stanford d.school's model, which is shown in the image to the right.
In a nutshell, here is what I learned about each mode. The goal of the first mode is to empathize with users and understand their needs. During this step, engaging with your specific target audience allows you to ‘step into their shoes’ and gather useful insights. Analyzing the collected data then prompts you to define an actionable problem statement, or even re-define a previous problem. The third mode is most connected with creativity. In order to effectively ideate, two processes come into play. These are active brainstorming and passive incubating, which both lead to generating diverse ideas that address your problem. In the fourth mode, you make decisions on which ideas you will bring to life to build your prototype. As a next step, you should test your prototype to see what works and to find out what needs fixing, or what should be changed completely. This will allow you to gain valuable insights with regard to whether you are on the right track for implementation.
Science has always been my passion. Therefore, when I first read about the five modes of design thinking, the natural thought that popped into my head was the scientific method. The scientific method discovers cause and effect relationships by asking questions, constructing a hypothesis, conducting tests, and collecting data to come up with a logical answer. Even though design thinking and the scientific method are different processes they are both approaches for learning and solving problems. They are similar in a way that both methods revolve around experimentation and exploration, continuous testing, and validation. The scientific method tries to find the explanation for an occurrence already existing based on data, whereas the design thinking process allows for innovative problem-solving to create solutions for problems based on human needs. Design thinking can be a permutation of the scientific method if data collection includes both synthesis and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data in order to understand the user and create successful solutions.
When reflecting on the different cognitive tools and processes that constitute design thinking, one can argue that many are not new. In one way or another, we are all designers and have previously designed tools, strategies, and/or materials to solve obstacles in our everyday lives. When I first read about design thinking I thought that the process was linear and by-the-book, which was only one of my misconceptions. Then I applied Stanford’s design thinking model to an actual problem of practice I faced in my classroom and I learned that this systematic approach can lead to useful results.
Unlike traditional methods that aim for perfection, the design thinking process allows us to iterate and revisit different stages while developing a product. This means that at any point during the five modes, you can find yourself going back to the previous mode or working on two modes in parallel. Hence, the design thinking process is not limited to applying the modes in order but applying each mode as each offers important and valuable information in reaching an effective solution.
Growing up I was taught to fear failure and I’m certain I wasn’t the only one. When I became an educator, I saw first-hand how so much depended on standardized test scores. The performance of both the students and the teachers was determined by the students’ test results. Many of my superiors encouraged teaching to the test methods, and hence students were pushed to focus on test-taking strategies and practicing mock exams. In the end, those students who had mastered the so-called ‘cookbook strategies’ would get ‘A’ grades, but despite their excellent achievements grade-wise, they lacked creative qualities. But how is this personal experience linked to the topic of design thinking? Well, instead of focusing on creating innovative problem-solvers those teachers were encouraging students towards rote memorization. Learning about design thinking has reassured me that as educators, we need to make a shift in teaching towards prioritizing creativity and design thinking in our classrooms and beyond as this would allow us to transform ‘A’ graders into ‘X’ graders. This would allow educators to classify students also on their ability to take risks and develop their own ideas. I am convinced that this shift can be done if we move away from the false mindset that creativity can’t be taught and that only a small fraction of the population is creative. Teaching through design thinking will allow students to understand the importance of exploring different perspectives without being scared of failure. They would further learn that achieving the highest score and reaching the correct answer the fastest is not always directly linked to success. Had I been taught this way when I was younger, I would have enjoyed school more, and I would have been better prepared for the years to come.
I am a firm believer that learning is not only about understanding the content matter but also about being able to develop students’ 21st-century skills. In the classroom, it is important that we provide flexibility to our students and therefore build a relationship based on trust. This will allow teachers to become a catalyst for creativity with students feeling more comfortable to step out of their comfort zone. Being a risk-taker is a much-needed quality for any student to possess and beneficial to them beyond their formal school years. Some might argue that design thinking increases the risk of failure, but this is yet another misconception. As a student and well into my adult life, I always learned best from my mistakes. I was hard on myself as I thought I had failed, but while learning about design, I now understand how my mistakes have allowed me to grow. Salvador Dali, who revolutionized art in the twentieth century, couldn’t have said it any better.
“Have no fear of perfection - you’ll never reach it”.
Therefore, teaching students to be design thinkers allows them to value their work, creatively express themselves, and learn from their mistakes. In turn, incorporating design into the classroom teachings and materials will motivate and engage students to take ownership of their learning.
Learning about design has allowed me to pay more attention to details. It has made me appreciate the well-designed features that meet the wants and needs of my students. In my professional context, my goal is to create learning materials, implement effective teaching strategies, and create a positive learning environment that will increase students’ understanding. Design activities nurture students’ skills such as communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. These are the skills that I would like my students to develop as they are essential in any work environment. Since I am responsible for designing my students’ learning experiences, the cognitive tools involved with design thinking are also valuable to my work. Therefore, understanding my students’ perspective, actively brainstorming with colleagues, and creating solutions to implement in the classroom are all elements that are meaningful and useful.
As I reflect on what I have learned in the past couple of months, I realized that the benefits of design thinking are not limited to my work but can also impact my personal life. I look around me and I see how I have already made decisions that would ease my everyday routines. I think about how I can redesign my everyday surroundings, like my office at work and my living room at home. Learning about the different strategies of each mode of the design thinking process has definitely introduced a new way of looking at all kinds of situations in my life. I now understand the true value of letting ideas incubate and also appreciate actively discussing ideas with others. I now find value in my mistakes and that being wrong is not the worst thing that can happen as long as I learn from them and do not unnecessarily repeat them. From the science lab to the real world, I like to think of the design thinking process as a human-centered approach to the scientific method, the designtific method.