Overview

What is Design Thinking?

Design Thinking is an innovative way to develop effective solutions to complex problems. The Design Thinking process helps you as the designer to understand how problems affect the people that experience them, get to the roots of the issue, and develop and test potential solutions rapidly and collaboratively.

Resources to Explore

• What is Design Thinking? (video) - The heart of design thinking is human-centred design by Stanford Business School
• Design Thinking: A Quick Overview (article) - The Interaction Design Foundation
• What is Design Thinking? (article) - A brief overview by Sean VanGenderen
• What is Design Thinking? by The Strategy Group (video). A brief overview of the parts of the process.

Key Insights

• Design Thinking is a human-centered approach to solving problems
• Design Thinking is used by designers and innovators all over the world
• Design Thinking enables you to be more creative and design better solutions to solve the root causes of problems
• Design Thinking uses divergent and convergent thinking and includes prototyping and collaborative teamwork

Questions to Discuss

• Think about a time when you used aspects of Design Thinking in your own life. How have you used it?
• Think of a time where you have seen Design Thinking used in other places? Why do you think it was effective?
• What are the key aspects of Design Thinking for you?
• What aspects of the Design Thinking process interest you most? Why?