You've heard about Design Thinking in Education. You've maybe even been to a workshop, read some resources or used it in your classroom. But what is it really? Here's a primer on Design Thinking, from it origins as a method for creating products for people, to a framework for innovating problem solving that allows individuals to embrace their creative confidence.
At the heart of all design disciplines - from Architecture to Graphic Design, Experience Design to Industrial Design - are people. While these designers are using traditional elements and principles of design, such as scale, pattern, colour, line and repetition, a designer’s primary goal is to solve problems for people. Graphic Designers solve the problem of communicating information effectively to people. Architects design spaces for people to live and work. Experience Designers design digital products and experiences for people. And Industrial Designers (the discipline where Design Thinking was born), design products and objects that make people’s lives better.
After the designer has an excellent understanding of the problem and has gained empathy for their user, they will set about interpreting this information. This often involves collaborating with other designers or experts from different disciplines to synthesize the user-research into one or many “How Might We?” questions. The term How Might We is used because it is inherently optimistic. Whereas how can we, could we, or should we imply that there is a right or wrong answer, How Might We implies that there are many possible solutions to any given problem. The We is also important, because all great designers must work collaboratively with other people, from their users to other experts, in order to solve the problem.
Next, the designer will enter the ideation phase. Here, they attempt to come up with many possible solutions to the problem. At this point, the designer is thinking divergently - there are no right or wrong answers, but rather the goal is to come up with many (sometimes hundreds) of ideas. The first idea is rarely the best idea, so it is important to keep an open mind and consider all options. It is also important to consider the needs of the user and keep your focus on their motivations, feelings, and needs.
Experimenting with some of the many solutions is the next step in the design process. Here, the designer might make rapid prototypes or models of their solutions and use them to gather feedback from their users. It is important to focus on the minimum viable product, or the concept of an idea, rather than worrying about creating a perfect finalized version of your idea at this point. The images below provide a great example of the process of prototyping. Here, Smart Design, the company behind the Oxo brand of household items, tested many possible concepts with users by making quick and cheap prototypes before settling on a final design. You can see how elements of each iteration of the prototype carry through to the final product.
The design process is cyclical and never-ending. Great companies are constantly iterating on their products to keep up with new technologies and the needs of their users or customers.
In that past twenty years, thought leaders in design began working with thought leaders in business to apply this design process to other problems in the world, beyond those which might typically result in a physical product, from experiences and services to systems and structures. The result has been the discipline known as design thinking.
Design Thinking is particularly relevant and applicable in education. Teachers are natural designers - we get to know our users (students), try to interpret their needs, and develop many possible ways to respond to their needs to achieve an outcome. We create lessons, learn from what works and what doesn’t, and iterate on our approaches for the next class, or even the next school year.
In addition, students can use the design process to develop solutions to real world problems. Because solving the problem requires students to understand an issue from multiple perspectives, empathize with other people, grapple with big questions, experiment with ideas, and learn from their successes and failures, a design-based approach to student learning can be leveraged to build core competencies in students such as problem-solving, creativity, resilience, and empathy.
At the heart of all design disciplines - from Architecture to Graphic Design, Experience Design to Industrial Design - are people. While these designers are using traditional elements and principles of design, such as scale, pattern, colour, line and repetition, a designer’s primary goal is to solve problems for people. Graphic Designers solve the problem of communicating information effectively to people. Architects design spaces for people to live and work. Experience Designers design digital products and experiences for people. And Industrial Designers (the discipline where Design Thinking was born), design products and objects that make people’s lives better.
For decades, great designers have practiced human-centered design. The first step in the design process involves learning as much as possible about the problem by understanding both the context of the situation and understanding the problem at hand from the perspective of the “user.” This is often referred to as the discovery stage of the design thinking process.
After the designer has an excellent understanding of the problem and has gained empathy for their user, they will set about interpreting this information. This often involves collaborating with other designers or experts from different disciplines to synthesize the user-research into one or many “How Might We?” questions. The term How Might We is used because it is inherently optimistic. Whereas how can we, could we, or should we imply that there is a right or wrong answer, How Might We implies that there are many possible solutions to any given problem. The We is also important, because all great designers must work collaboratively with other people, from their users to other experts, in order to solve the problem.
Next, the designer will enter the ideation phase. Here, they attempt to come up with many possible solutions to the problem. At this point, the designer is thinking divergently - there are no right or wrong answers, but rather the goal is to come up with many (sometimes hundreds) of ideas. The first idea is rarely the best idea, so it is important to keep an open mind and consider all options. It is also important to consider the needs of the user and keep your focus on their motivations, feelings, and needs.
Experimenting with some of the many solutions is the next step in the design process. Here, the designer might make rapid prototypes or models of their solutions and use them to gather feedback from their users. It is important to focus on the minimum viable product, or the concept of an idea, rather than worrying about creating a perfect finalized version of your idea at this point. The images below provide a great example of the process of prototyping. Here, Smart Design, the company behind the Oxo brand of household items, tested many possible concepts with users by making quick and cheap prototypes before settling on a final design. You can see how elements of each iteration of the prototype carry through to the final product.
The Experimentation phase often blends together with the Evolution phase of the design process. As the designers continue to iterate and test their ideas with users, their solutions evolve into more refined products. At some point in this process, the designer must decide to “ship” a product to market. They often continue to iterate and develop new versions of the product to be released later (this is especially common in Experience Design as digital products are constantly changing).
The design process is cyclical and never-ending. Great companies are constantly iterating on their products to keep up with new technologies and the needs of their users or customers.
In that past twenty years, thought leaders in design began working with thought leaders in business to apply this design process to other problems in the world, beyond those which might typically result in a physical product, from experiences and services to systems and structures. The result has been the discipline known as design thinking.
Design Thinking is particularly relevant and applicable in education. Teachers are natural designers - we get to know our users (students), try to interpret their needs, and develop many possible ways to respond to their needs to achieve an outcome. We create lessons, learn from what works and what doesn’t, and iterate on our approaches for the next class, or even the next school year.
In addition, students can use the design process to develop solutions to real world problems. Because solving the problem requires students to understand an issue from multiple perspectives, empathize with other people, grapple with big questions, experiment with ideas, and learn from their successes and failures, a design-based approach to student learning can be leveraged to build core competencies in students such as problem-solving, creativity, resilience, and empathy.