Design Thinking

What is it?

A process that designers use to create meaningful and creative solutions to tough problems, like the affordable housing issue. Design thinking is based on the framework above. As you can see, empathy (research, interviews, observation) is a critical first step. That's why I'm beginning this project by interviewing as many community members as possible.

Why use it?

Design thinking helps people to break out of ordinary ways of thinking. It encourages creative solutions, even among people who don't consider themselves to be "creative". It is a way of addressing tough problems that have been hard to solve. It helps us design solutions based on actual human needs. Ultimately, well-designed solutions will fit the needs of the community better than those that are a "shot in the dark".

Here is an outline of how the housing project could go using the framework above:

• Empathy: Interview community members about their experience with housing on the island
• Define: Based on interviews, decide which aspect of housing to focus on. I.e. are we looking at workforce housing? Family housing? A mix?
• Ideate: Hold a community brainstorming session where people generate creative solutions to the housing dilemma
• Prototype: Choose the best ideas and create sketches or plans, fill in the details as much as possible.
• Test: Gather feedback from community members. Which solutions would work for them? What would they change or add? If the prototype is a sketch of a house, would they actually live there? Why or why not?