Real World Application

Braun/Oral-B Smart Brush

Diana Budds May 27, 2016

Agency: Industrial Facility

When tasked with creating a smarter electric toothbrush, Kim Colin and Sam Hecht were presented with client ideas that included playing music and tracking users’ brushing performance.

“A toothbrush is already loaded with guilt, that you’re not doing it properly or enough,” Colin says. “The companies weren’t thinking about the customers’ experience. They were thinking about the toothbrush the same way you would an athletic activity tracker, that it records and processes information.”

Instead, they chose two key issues identified by users and made those the value-added features for the product. Charging the device and ordering replacement brushes.

This project shows how designers can go beyond just serving briefs to bring opportunity by having empathy for people using the end product. Had this team just taken direction and spit out a tool that met the brief, their client would have a lifeless product that customers didn’t value. Instead they focused on core frustrations and used available technology to solve those frustrations in a seamless experience.

Insight: Focusing on specific features that people actually need produced a better product.

SOURCE: https://medium.com/swlh/3-great-examples-of-design-thinking-in-action-a96461538c4a

Foot Activated Car Door

Golden Krishna Aug 17, 2013

In his 2013 presentation to The Conference in Malmo Sweden, Golden Krishna offered us a simple philosophy for how to approach the application of technology to solving problems for people. “The best interface is no interface.” Elsewhere you can find a similar idea described as Zero UI. Or in more pretentious circles you might find it described as “common sense”.

In a scenario where a person, any person really, lets say… Mitt Romney (?), walks with full hands to his vehicle. As his hands are full he is unable to easily open the hatch door. What to do? Perhaps, if the car is already unlocked, he could hold his precious cargo, tempt gravity, with a swipe of his foot under a sensor the door could then open. This is a spectacularly simple idea that for a number of people could be helpful. And no interface required!

The concept of No/Zero/Less UI suggests we stop trying to throw Graphical User Interfaces at every problem. A great philosophy, though we know our mobile “phones” will continue to be a source of identification validation and control for IoT devices and much more for years to come. Until Kurzweil’s predictions about nanobots in our bodies that are connected to the internetare realized, mobile devices and the interfaces they employ will continue to be useful.

Insight: Experience design matters. Removing unnecessary steps in our interfaces and sometimes the interfaces altogether can create better solutions for people.

SOURCE: https://medium.com/swlh/3-great-examples-of-design-thinking-in-action-a96461538c4a

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 communities stronger.

Design Thinking for Educators - How can educators use design thinking to improve learning in the classroom? This website provides you with resources for making the learning experience more creative.

Design Thinking for Social Innovation - The Stanford Social Innovation Review gives an in depth look into how design thinking can be used for social innovation.

Teaching Kids Design Thinking - Want to solve the world's biggest problems? Teach kids about design thinking and you'll be surprised (pleasantly, we hope) with the results.

Process Lab - The process lab showcased a design thinking exhibition on designing a better America. The challenge tackled issues such as poverty, income inequality, stagnating wages, rising housing costs, and other issues facing America today.

Meal Service for Holstebro - A new meal service in Denmark, created through design thinking methods, is improving the quality of life for the elderly.

Solar Energy in Rural Africa - There are 1.6 billion people world-wide without electricity. Mobisol set out to change this in rural Africa, using design thinking to create a sustainable and accesible energy source.

Airbnb - A great article on how Airbnb used design thinking to turn around a failing business, and why designers need to be patient to build better products.

Reinventing Ice Cream - Design thinking workshops based around creating better ice cream. What could go wrong?

Design Thinking for Social Innovation - How design thinking methods solved the problem of clean drinking water in the Indian countryside.

SOURCE: https://www.wethinq.com/en/blog/2014/11/25/examples-design-thinking.html