What is design thinking?

There are five stages involved in understanding the design-thinking process. The first is to empathise with the people’s perspective and context. Next is to define the problem given the people’s circumstances. Empathising and defining the problem can be further illustrated in design thinking through mapping. For example, a user journey map visually represents customers’ interactions, shown by their thoughts, emotions, acts, and touch points. Immersing oneself in people’s everyday lives creates insightful data and opportunities to deliver an exceptional outcome.

The subsequent stage requires ideating techniques and innovations to address the problem. Ideas shift to acting and establishing a prototype to assess the effectiveness of a certain product, service, or process. Ideation and prototype creation may involve facilitating a design-thinking workshop to discuss user-centred solutions and establish tactical solutions. The last stage is testing to determine the target users’ interaction with the prototype and documenting results.

 

Through an empathy-driven approach, the design thinking process uses the following tools that create an advantage in identifying growth opportunities:

• Visualisation
  • Thinking beyond the use of language by unlocking the potential ideas in images
• Value-chain analysis
  • Examining the value-chain process and stakeholders involved to create more value for customers’ needs
• Mind mapping
  • Discovering a central idea, connecting insights, and classifying thoughts through visual diagrams and structured maps
• Rapid concept development
  • Creating hypotheses on business opportunities
• Assumption testing
  • Identifying assumptions about business ideas and assessing their results through experiments
• Prototyping
  • Creating techniques and ideas for developing new products and services while evaluating stakeholder feedback
• Customer co-creation
  • Engaging consumers in generating business ideas and reducing risks towards innovation
• Learning launch
  • Conducting a learning experiment on product rollout to gather market-driven data
• Storytelling
  • Narrating compelling, fresh ideas, whether analytical or design-oriented

The design-thinking process is pivotal in every industry. It helps determine what is desirable from a human perspective, what is technically viable, and what is economically sustainable. As design thinking is a human-centred approach, entities can develop ground-breaking products, services, processes, and system that focuses on their purpose. Through design thinking, entities can manage risks and opportunities, generate revolutionary solutions, and collaborate effectively with multiple stakeholders.

GHD is invested in creating impact and innovation through a human-centred approach to commercial, engineering, and digital transformation. We provide advisory services that empower clients’ and communities’ performances in delivering value and generating firm decisions.

Adopting a new business perspective, we craft maps through design thinking and conduct workshops to generate value for our clients and communities. We have a reliable team of advisors to redefine challenges and drive competitive edges in industries like energy, water, transportation, real estate, telecommunications, the environment, industry, and government. Through innovative design thinking and data-centric solutions, we create pathways towards sustainable growth and achieving their objectives.

Articles referenced

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^{Designograte 2022, ‘Design thinking tools and methods complete guide’, retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www.designorate.com/design-thinking-tools-and-methods/}

^{Harvard University n.d., ‘Design thinking in education’, retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://tll.gse.harvard.edu/design-thinking}

^{IDEOU n.d., ‘What is design thinking’, retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www.ideou.com/blogs/inspiration/what-is-design-thinking}

^{Stevens, Emily 2021, ‘What is design thinking, and how do we apply it?’ retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www.invisionapp.com/inside-design/what-is-design-thinking/}

^{Tuttle, Graham 2021, ‘What is design thinking and why is it important?’ retrieved June 14, 2023, from https://www.wework.com/ideas/professional-development/creativity-culture/what-is-design-thinking}