Defining Concept Design Thinking - Essay Example

DEFINING CONCEPT DESIGN THNINKING By Defining Concept of Design Thinking Definition of Design Thinking Design thinking refers to the process by which companies manage to draw more and more attention to them both in the real world, as well as in the business world. This is a competitive concept gaining fast growth across the world especially owing to the fact that design thinking is a key promoter of innovation across different platforms, as well as providing solutions to a number of complex problems that business face within the modern day world. As such, a number of top business schools across the world, as well as engineering and design schools are undertaking an active uptake of the design-thinking concept in order to instill these skills among the students so that by the time they graduate from school, they are already qualified experts and professionals in the field (Cox and Rigby, 2013). Design thinking incorporates a high level of creativity and innovation in an effort to bring solutions to modern day problems, or come up with new products and services that bring about a transformative change to the world. A company that employs design thinking in its products and services ends up gaining a competitive edge over other industry players as it produces products designed to meet the tastes and preferences of its target customers. On the other hand, it also instills into the product an element of surprise thereby taking the market by storm once launched or introduced into the market sphere. A good example of a company that incorporates design thinking in the development of its products and services is the Apple Technologies. Design thinking is the key driver of success behind the massive profitability and success recorded by the apple corporation. Other cases of successful application of design thinking is the reason for the reduction of the rates of malnourishment among the children in Vietnam, which reduced by half after application of the concept in the management of children’s health and nutrition. The process of design thinking incorporates a number of steps and procedures. The first step is immersion, which is the process of gaining a clearer understanding of the aspect at hand that requires intervention. The second step is the ideation stage, which incorporates creation of a credible solution to suit a given situation or to solve a given problem. The third stage of prototyping, a procedure that entails testing the designed solution, product or service to the targeted problem, audience, market, or consumers to see whether it works or not, such as bringing about the solution for the problem. The fourth and last step of design thinking incorporates the development processes, which entail the application of the determined solution, product, or service to the issue at hand. It is imperative to note that the process of design thinking takes on a human centered approach, whereby the key focus of the design process is on the people, the customers, or the problems that these people are facing, as well as their specific needs rather than focusing on a specific technology or other conditions. As such, the key aspect of design thinking is to develop a workable solution to address the issue at hand rather than to develop a new technology just for the sakes of it. Furthermore, the process of determining this human centered approach follows the methods of development such as interviews, observations, prototyping, as well as brainstorming. It also incorporates undertaking innovation at the businesses’ intersections, technological aspects, and people thereby leading to the radical development in a new experience of innovation. As such, the user of the product of a design thinking procedure is the one who decides on the need for existence or establishment of a product, or service, especially through defining the concepts that the product will cover (Leidtka, 2013) Another key element of the design thinking process is the fact that it involves an iterative process of learning. This is because the teams involved in design thinking always adopt an iterative approach at every moment while undertaking their projects. This iterative process incorporates procedures such as the four main steps of design thinking already discussed above. These include the redefinition of the problem at hand, the need-finding process to establish the need of the design thinking procedure, the process of ideation, followed by the process of building or development or prototypes, and lastly testing the finished product with the users or the targeted market. As such, the application of this iterative process enables the development of a higher level of expertise in the field of human needs, as well as supporting a wide variety of results that might emerge from the process. The other major element of the design thinking process is the fact that it comprises of both converging, as well as diverging phases. As such, the process of design thinking empowers the design team members to think on a diverse platform, with a clearer and much open platform concerning their approach to a given issue at hand. From these diverse thoughts, the design team members come up with results that form the basis for the converging finalization phases of the entire process. Consequently, it so appears that the process of design thinking is a clearly outline and structured method that defines elaborately all the milestones that a project has to go through over a given project outline. This is because the buildup of projects is usually on a particular goal defined at the beginning of the design process. However, the projects undertaken through the process of design thinking on the other hand, incorporate a large portion of ambiguity as relates to the to the expected outcome. This process remains open until the final process of the project development process. This gives room for the incorporation of new ideas and creativity during the implementation of the project (Mootie, 2013). It is also imperative to note that the process of design thinking is prototyping. This is because of some of the essential basics incorporated in the design thinking process, such as the tangibility aspects, experiencing, as well as the testing of the results obtained in the design process. As such, these prototypes developed allow end users to take part in the early steps of the innovation process. In addition, the surface feel also gives room for the design team to employ at the earliest opportunity a clearer understanding of some of the major complex challenges that can come up in a given procedure. Design Thinking As a Strategic Tool in Business Leadership The process of design thinking is very imperative in business, especially in today’s modern world whereby there is a high level of competition, as well as a wider market to serve in the wake of an informed and empowered consumer. As such, the concept of design thinking forms a strategic tools for the leadership of any business operating in any given market or industry as it enables the business entity to develop a competitive edge over its competitors, as well as gain a large and controllable market sphere. This makes the design-thinking concept very suitable for these businesses as it enables them to grow and become bigger, stay on top of their market platforms, as well as remain in charge of their consumer purchasing trends and behaviors. As such, the process of design thinking provides industry players an avid avenue to tackle some of the major problems that it may face in the wake of the competitive global economy. These challenges include development of new services and products prototypes, undertaking an idea boost from the outside, establishment of new and innovative business models, changing the real or actual working structures of the business operations, as well as improving on the innovation and creativity culture of the business. Adoption of the concept therefore forms a strategic platform for the business to come up with the right procedures of maintaining business leadership and growth, especially in relation to the high competitiveness of business markets as they emerge on a global scale (Holston, 2011). Nowadays, it not just enough to produce a high quality product or service and then avail it to the market and expect is sales to hit the rooftops. This does not happen easily especially in the new economy whereby consumers are more after the solutions a given product or service will provide to their normal life challenges as opposed to the high standards of quality put into their design. In the wake of a crushing economy, consumers want options to save an extra coin rather than spend it on a high quality commodity. This brings into space the concept of design thinking, which creates an enabling platform for the companies to design products and services that meet the specific needs of their potential customers. Taking the Apple Corporation’s approach into perspective, it is evident that the company did not design products according to the demand within the market. In fact, the founder of Apple Technologies, Steve Jobs did not consider the opinion of his target consumers while designing products. On the contrary, it created products first, then send them to the market for them to create their own demand and sale massively. The key behind these massive sales recorded by the Apple Corporation lies in its diligent application of the design thinking concept, whereby the design team would retreat to come up with an extremely creative product tailored to meet the needs and wants of the customers. As such, the designers did not wait to ask consumers what they wanted, but rather thought forwards to come up with what the consumers might want later, and started manufacturing the product. Therefore, when they presented the product to the customer, it sold greatly because the customer felt appreciated and considered in the design process engaged in by the manufacturer. This is the best strategic fit that the process of design thinking provides for these companies, thereby forming an essential tool for the leadership of an organization (Goodwin, 2011) Through the adoption of the design-thinking concept, companies can manage to stay in the leadership zone of their industries, just like the way the Apple Corporation is on top. Defining Concept of Design Thinking The concept of design thinking is a very important aspect to the development of business strategies and the innovation process. As such, the incorporation of design principles in the development of a strategy of an innovation undertaken by the company improves significantly the rate of success for any given format of innovation. Designers use the design thinking methodology to come up with critical but workable solutions to some of the complex problems faced by companies in the modern world economy, as well as design desirable solutions that meet the needs of their clients. Consequently, the concept of design thinking draws upon various platforms of innovation and creativity, such as systematic reasoning, intuition, imagination, and logic in an effort to explore what could be, or to create outcomes that are desirable and beneficial to the end user of the product, in most cases the target or potential consumer. Therefore, the process of design thinking incorporates the development or invention of a new and desired product into existence. As such, this proactive stance leads to the resolution, or the dissolution of problematic situations through the application of the design concept. This concept is a compound of adaptive, routine, as well as design expertise brought together in order to bear on complex dynamic situations. Some of the distinguishing characteristics of the design-thinking concept include aspects such as finding simplicity within complexity, creation of elegant solutions to prevailing challenges and problems, serving the desired needs and wants of the people, improvement of the quality in experience, and developing beauty, as well as functionality in desired solutions. Therefore, design thinking forms the basic strategy for creativity and innovation within modern day corporations (Cox and Rigby, 2013). In conclusion, it is imperative to note that the process of design thinking is the key driver for growth and development in the modern world economy, driven by innovation and creativity. References List Cox, D. & Rigby, J. (2013) Innovation Policy Challenges for the 21st Century. London: Routledge. Goodwin, K. (2011) Designing for the Digital Age: How to Create Human-Centered Products and Services. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Holston, D. (2011) The Strategic Designer: Tools & Techniques For Managing The Design Process. Oregon: HOW Books. Leidtka, J. (2013) Designing for Growth: A Design Thinking Toolkit for Managers. Washington, D.C: Columbia University Press. Mootie, I. (2013) Design Thinking For Strategic Innovation: What They Cannot Teach You At A Business School Or A Design School. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley and Sons. Read More