Design thinking

Abstract

Design thinking is understood as an approach to implement creativity into problem-solving areas and develop new ideas. To address problems, a combination of creative techniques and the consideration of business factors such as the inclusion of stakeholders and the conversion capability of the idea into the company are used.

1969, Herbert A. Simon first brought up the idea of design as a way of thinking in his book with the title ‘Sciences of the Artificial’. 1990 the process of design thinking was developed by the design school of Stanford and the design and innovation company IDEO was established to communicate it to the market.

The approach consists of 5-coordinated phases where the focus is on the customer and its benefit, well-being and needs. In doing so, it is important to involve them already at an early stage to identify their real problems and continuously draw the conclusion to them.

The basis is built by an interdisciplinary team with members out of different fields, departments and hierarchical levels which differs in their experience, background, and point of views. One main method of design thinking is the use of abductive thinking which means that the problem needs to be recognized with observations. Instead of the common way to build up a solution for the problem, it is more about first identifying the problems which disrupt the customer's well-being and as a next step to search for possible solutions. Team members are asked to challenge themselves with thinking outside the box. (Design Thinking – Business Innovation 15-16)