The Concept of Design Thinking - Assignment Example

Introduction Most organizations in this day and age face multiple problems that are part of today’s complex business models. Globalization of companies is becoming a reality faster than organizations can cope but there’s a bid to get ahead of time by the very expression of thinking ‘inside and outside the box’. This tremendous growth breeding enormous ecosystems presents a variety of opportunities as it does challenges. Multidimensional solutions are sought after to contain the growth and in turn deliver quality products and services and in a bid for these companies to stay relevant, companies are seeking to be innovative without disrupting their growth and profitability (Turnali 2013). Design thinking is a methodology used by designers to find solutions to complex problems by finding desirable solutions for clients. Tim Brown the CEO of IDEO, an innovation and design firm defines design thinking as an innovation approach centred on humans while still drawing from the designer’s toolkit. This paper seeks to show the concept of design thinking while giving specified examples and case studies to support the concept. It also seeks to give examples of design thinking application in the business world. My own definition of design thinking The appeal of design thinking for the business world was the possibility that it presented for creativity and innovation. It was also framed as a process which sold it to businesses as an era-defying approach. Design thinking emanates from the design processes that is a step by step process which requires a person to first define the problem, research in order to find out more about the problem, empathize through observation and listening, ideate that allows designers to brainstorm, mind-map and sketch out the possibilities, prototype that requires the creation of a practical model for experimentation and finally test to learn more about the impact of the prototype to the user and to assist in refining the designer’s point-of-view. Design thinking is a way of giving creativity and innovation a framework in which to work with (Kelly 2001). Figure 1: Design thinking integration chart From a personal perspective design thinking means creation through involvement. Designing any product or services or just seeking solutions to problems is an all inclusive affair that employs ideas just as much as it involves the user. An all round creation caters to a larger spectrum because building works alongside the thinking process. Figure 2: Design Thinking Process Design thinking is circled around people who provided basis of desirability of products and services, business that determine viability and technology that determines the feasibility. Innovation itself is then placed at the heart of it all conditioned to meet the needs of the three key entities. Design thinking application in a business world Design thinking has made strides from the backroom of designers’ lounges to the front office because of the need to keep innovation in running businesses and an appeal to deliver for the customer and in turn the company. Design thinking has been applied over the years by various companies to improve on existing products and services or to crate entirely new designs. Listed below are four examples that have explored the design thinking process for their products and services. EXAMPLE 1: CONTINUUM’S CONTRIBUTION TO REEBOK’S PUMPS AND PROCTOR & GAMBLE’S SWIFFER Reebok called in Continuum, an innovation firm, to help with creation of Pumps. The design approach that Continuum featured basically went to the people. Since Reebok was seeking alchemy similar to or even more functional as Nike’s Air invention, Continuum conducted a research with their focus being high school players. Parents were getting fed up with buying new kicks and players were constantly complaining about the shoes being too tight or too lose and even pros complained of injuries. The Reebok pumps recorded a billion-dollar product through development of a revolutionary technology. This just shows just how design thinking is of great potential if the people are put at the heart of product development. Reebok’s first pump prototype was released and it offered players greater comfort and customizability. Reebok’s Pumps are still a defining brand in the sportswear industry and this can be attributed highly to design thinking. (Stock 2015) Z Pumps are a great release that uses the pump technology with a comfortable shoe size and strategic placement of the pump for ease of access also coming in a variety of neon colours. (Ray 2015) Figure 3: 1989 Reebok Pump Figure 4: Reebok ZPump Proctor & Gamble also consulted Continuum regarding a product for their cleaning business. This meant creating an entirely new tool and the research led Continuum to discover that most consumers were cleaning their mops and floors with as much zeal. Continuum had in turn figured out a new problem and through that the Swiffer was born. (Baer 2013) This cleaning device offered portability and detachable cleaning cloth that trap dirt and grime. Swiffer’s also has a 360 degree Swivel head for swift cleaning and also an easy grip. Innovation and design consultancies such as Continuum and IDEO are gaining footing in the business world as businesses are broadening their innovation horizons to design thinking. New and more innovative solutions are arising from defining problems and practical approaches to these problems. . Figure 5: Swiffer Duster EXAMPLE 2: PROXIMITY DESIGNS, MYANMAR Proximity Designs is an award-winning non-profit company started in 2004 by Jim Taylor and Debbie Aung Din. It began as a country office of iDE in Myanmar with a minimal staff. Proximity Designs has grown employing a nationwide staff of 350 and is accessible to 80% of Myanmar’s rural population. Design thinking is employed by Proximity Designs in the kind of solutions that they provide for the Myanmar rural population such as their irrigation products, infrastructure services and financial solutions. Proximity places its staff as the company’s most valuable asset. After Cyclone Nargis hit the Ayarwady Delta in 2008, the company’s staff contributed greatly to identifying needs of Delta families and delivering the much needed solutions at that particular time delivering $16 million in aid to over a million families. Diversification of services was prompted after the cyclone hit the Delta area. (Proximity Designs 2012) Farm recovery services were made available to the farmers who had suffered crop disasters and infestations by pests. Embankments, canals, footpaths and bridges were also reconstructed to assist in transportation and water control. Relief services lessened and this led to newer problems that required immediate solutions and were still approached with the same required value for the consumer. Cash-for-labour opportunities arose and also Farm Advisory Services were set up to assist in sourcing for labour and what solutions would be practical for the Delta farmers. Proximity Designs’ financial solutions include crop loan services for farmers in need of input services. These financial solutions have contributed to a significant increase in incomes with over $200 accrued per season.(Proximity Designs 2012) Figure 6: Irrigation products, Proximity Designs Figure 7: Farmers using the Pyit Taing Taung water tank Figure 8: Baby Buffalo: Irrigation product EXAMPLE 3: APPLE’S PRODUCTS Apple and Google are large tech corps that use design thinking in delivery of products and services. Apples I-pod comes in colour, Mac computers are lightweight with an incredibly user-friendly interface and the latest release Apple watch which continues to fly off the shelves. Macs OS X was designed first with the architects keeping in mind what they thought people wanted or needed. Prototyping the design first shows that design thinking is a fluid process whose modus operandi is basically build to think. Achievement in terms of technicality was sought after later but the design processes allowed the Apple team to do a lot of things that were initially thought of as impossible. (Kahney 2014) Steve Jobs and the Apple team were keen on offering simplicity to the consumer with attention to detail given to trivial issues such as packaging. Steve Jobs was quoted saying that simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Apple products are associated a lot with what they do not contain as much as what their advantages are. When the company eliminated diskette slots, reviewers quick to criticize the move but it came back with introduction of external devices equipped with plug in ports meaning that even the littlest detail can still influence provision of better products and services. Apple used the simple-minded approach in delivering the I-pod. I-pod Minis had a design sense that took advantage of reduced storage capacity but capitalized on newer hard drive technology. Use of different material such as aluminium that was easier to dye unlike stainless steel propelled an attraction to the consumer hence the success of the product. I-pod Mini became a success despite the $50 dollar reduction from the original I-pod price, played less songs but yet came with colours. Design thinking created the possibility of having a consumer base based on product design and simplification.(Hernandez 2014) Figure 9: iPod’s evolution EXAMPLE 4: PEPSICO’S PEPSI SPIRE Among the world’s leading brands in food and beverage, PepsiCo has weathered storms to bring innovative and revolutionary products and services in the industry. Pepsi Spire is an array of fountain beverage dispensers that allow users to select customized beverages. The Pepsi Spire fountains come in a range of sizes and the interface provides an interactive experience for users. Pepsi Spire’s portfolio constitutes the Pepsi 1.1, Pepsi 2.0 and Pepsi 5.0. These three state-of-the-art touch screen fountains give users an opportunity to self-serve, interact and create personalized beverages. The interactive display on Pepsi Spire uses high end design of playful animations and custom illustrations as a representation of the brands personality and attitude towards the customer and products being presented. For customer appeal and captivation, high-speed footage was captured to create attractive animations. Simplicity in the user interface is evident for the audience as top-down flow is used with the pour selection set for the very end of the interaction. (PepsiCo Live 2014) Figure 10: Pepsi Spire fountains with animation detail The interactive display is ADA (American Disability Act) compliant with the disability button strategically placed that when pressed it drops selection for easier reach. Pepsi Spire design is award-winning and the overall designer that is meant to be universal plays a key role in the amount of consideration to the customer that was given to delivery of the design. Customer interaction with the dispenser extends the experience to future interaction in that when a user swipes their ID, it recognizes past flavour combinations. Design thinking for this service is wholesome as it incorporates user needs with technological advancements and customer experience while still maintaining the company’s product and service throughout the entire experience. (De Vries 2015) Figure 11: Pepsi Spire ADA compliant design Case Studies CASE STUDY 1: APPLE’S iPOD The iPod was first released in October 2001 and this rapidly changed Apple’s destiny. Its small unique design with 5GB storage was at the time as fascinating as it was revolutionary. iPod reception initially was underwhelming with people critiquing the device for being ‘just an MP3 player’ and small and yet too expensive as it was priced at $348. However, in 2002 iPod recorded sales of up to 600,000 following the release of second-generation iPods with 10GB and 20GB storage capacity. After Oprah announced the iPod as one of her favourite things in May 2003, a record 1,000,000 iPods were sold in June. Despite the increased sales records, iPod received backlash when Neistat brothers posted a video termed ‘iPod’s Dirty Little Secret’ that complained about the device’s battery. Apple went back to address their user’s concerns by starting a cheap battery replacement program. At the end on 2003, iPod sold 2 million iPods but the following year following the release of iPod Mini which was a basically an evolution that went back to the first iPod but in a smaller pack and the fact that it came with a range of colours, offered a user-interface for photos and also iPod in conjunction with PlayBoy saw the sales skyrocket to 10million iPods sales in 2004. (Kahney 2014) CASE STUDY 2: PROXIMITY DESIGN’S IRRIGATION PRODUCTS Proximity Designs is a non profit-organization based in Myanmar that essentially caters to rural farmers by providing them with low-cost products and services. Products are designed with the user at the centre of research and delivery of products. As a social enterprise, it offers a distinct line of innovative and creative products branded under the name Yetagon. Irrigation products evidently stand out with productions such as easy-to-assemble and operate pumps, drip and storage equipment. The first pump to be launched was the Red Rhino in 2004. It is priced at $35 and has managed sales of over 29,000. It has a suction depth of up to 25 feet with a flow rate of 1000 gallons per hour. Improvements on the design are made following user feedback which places empathy as an important part of design thinking for the company. Feedback shows that testing is key in order to acknowledge the strengths and limitations of the machine. Other irrigation products by proximity designs include Baby Elephant which is a plastic pump priced at just $17 with over 21,000 units sold since its launch in 2010, the Original which is a pressure pump and Baby Buffalo the newest of the pump collection that was designed with the help of IDEO, an innovation firm. (Proximity Designs 2012) Appendix DESIGN THINKING APPLIED TASK Design thinking is a broad and diverse aspect that is steadily being applied in the business world to effect significant change and increasing product value. Concept of design thinking is applied aesthetically and also practically for instance the Mac Monitors were initially made in various colour ranges to appeal to the customer. iPod Minis applied the colour aesthetic to their release and it worked great to prompt sales and discover better products that dye easily such as aluminium over stainless steel (Thomke n.d.). Design is no longer restricted to backrooms and making things pretty rather is placed at the forefront to effect change in presentation of products and services. People are placed at the heart of design and innovation comes about from following processes that allow designers to test products practically regardless of failure. Failure can also equal insight therefore the ‘fail early fail often’ policy is a driving force for developing quality company products and services. KEY THEORY READING Tim Brown CEO of IDEO a leading innovation firm and top advocate for design thinking rely on a build to think approach. Brown (2009) states clearly that the power of prototyping is a great contributor to building quality designs. Feasibility, viability and desirability are the three aspects that design thinking advocates for and working towards a unified goal using these thought processes give designers a competitive edge. Good design is about balance of those three aspects and evidently it delivered huge profits for companies like Nintendo. Design is not linear in any form or way and requires tremendous contribution from all aspects of the user and company alike. References Baer, D 2013, The Innovation Method Behind Swiffer Madness. Available from: . [27 November 2015] Brown, T 2009, Change by Design: How Design Thinking Transforms Organization and Inspires Innovation Harper Business. Continuum 2015, Redefining Sportswear. Available from: . [27 November 2015]. Cross, N 2011, Design Thinking: Understanding How Designer Think and Work Bloomsbury Academic. De Vries, J 2015, ‘PepsiCo’s Chief Design Officer on Creating an Organization Where Design Can Thrive’, Harvard Business Review. Available from: . [28 November 2015]. Figure 1 Design thinking integration chart - https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/design-thinking-systems-common-ground-part-2-john-reaves Figure 2 Design Thinking Process - http://www.innovationmanagement.se/2015/08/25/design-thinking-business-model-innovation/ Figure 3 1989 Reebok Pump - http://defynewyork.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/screen-shot-2011-01-26-at-1-17-00-pm.png Figure 4 Reebok ZPump - http://solecollector.com/news/reebok-zpump-fusion/ Figure 5 Swiffer Duster - http://cincinnatistockexchange.pbworks.com/f/swiffer.jpg Figure 6 Irrigation products, Proximity Designs - http://www.proximitydesigns.org/ Figure 7 Farmers using the Pyit Taing Taung water tank - http://www.virgin.com/unite/entrepreneurship/great-design-changing-the-world Figure 8 - Baby Buffalo: Irrigation product - http://www.proximitydesigns.org/ Figure 9 iPod’s evolution - http://www.flash-video-mx.com/blog/ten-year-evolution-of-ipod/ Figure 10 Pepsi Spire fountains with animation detail - http://frozenemotion.com/v3/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/pepsi_cover.jpg Figure 11 Pepsi Spire ADA compliant design - http://assets.firstborn.com/images/39/14/92223c4f2894c3a735-fbdotcom_pepsispire_interactive_module_05-accessible-for-all.jpg Firstborn 2015, Pepsi Spire 2.0: A Digital Soda fountain Experience That Turns Consumers Into Mixologists. 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