What is Design Thinking exactly?

Design Thinking is the application of the way a designer thinks to solve problems that a designer isn’t usually asked to help solve. The term itself is as confusing as it is explanatory. Because the way in which designers think is by doing. Designers explore the problem-solution space by making and reflecting, by learning about the problem through the testing of possible solutions. Design Thinking is about transferring the problem solving approach of designers to other fields. This is why “thinking” is attached to “design”: to transport the designerly ways to other fields. If you look at design and other fields of problem solving, thinking is what they have in common, thinking is the corridor through which design can enter the problem solving in other fields.

The problem solving approach of design

If you look at what it is that designers do to solve problems, you can identify a couple of elements that can be transported to problem solving in other fields:

• Design is solution focussed. By coming up with possible solutions as quickly as possible, designers learn about the problem and create a concrete common language that all stakeholders can understand.
• Design is iterative. The first solution that is put on the table is not meant to be the final solution. It is intended to learn and communicate with stakeholders in order to understand the problem better and to improve the solutions in iterations.
• Design is visual. Designers use visual thinking to solve problems. Next to verbal thinking, visual thinking is also a powerful way of solving problems. Adding visual thinking to the problem solving approach increased the problem solving capacity with a 100 percent.
• Design is not afraid of a lack of information. Designers are used to working with incomplete information about the problem. In design you cannot think up a solution and then just make it. You start designing and in the process you uncover the needed information. The design process is a much analysis as it it synthesis.
• Design embraces complexity. The traditional reaction to complexity is reducing the complexity by scoping. Creativity is connecting previously unconnected dots. So designers want as many dots as possible, because that increases the opportunities to uncover new connections.
• Design is not afraid to try something crazy. To find creative solutions, designers look outside the boxes. The best solutions might not lie there, but it might give you a new perspective. Designers try crazy stupid things to get unstuck and find inspiration in unlikely places.

Three challenges for designers in applying design thinking

These are all super valuable capabilities a designer can bring to other fields. But before designers can pack up their designerly ways of solving problems and move to the business problem solving table, there are some hurdles to be taken.

1. Make design big again

The first challenge designers face is to let go of the small definition of design. The word design is etymologically linked to dasein, the German word for being in the world. In Dutch design is called ontwerpen. This tells us design is a reaction to us being thrown into this world. So on a philosophical level design is fundamental to the way we deal with the world, how we are, how we shape the world we are placed into. Over time design has been reduced to an aesthetic skin, to making eye candy. The original idea of solving fundamental human problems has been erased from the word design. This has reduced the power of design. Now more and more people are rediscovering the primal potential of design as a way to solve problems, not only as a way to put a layer of icing on the cake. Companies that are embracing design as a way to solve problems are outperforming their competition. For designers to use the full power of design to add value to business, this means leaving the safe haven of the studio where you retreat to make beautiful stuff and venture into the world of problem solving.

2. Make design an open process

This brings us to the next hurdle: collaboration. Design is not collaborative per se. Design by committee is never a good idea. Design requires vision, boldness, stubbornness and leadership that is lost when too many people can have their say. Most designers like to retreat after the briefing only to return when the golden egg is found. They don’t like other people interfering with their creative process and exposing their trashcan of failed iterations. That would destroy the idea of the creative genius. But transporting the ways of the designer to help solve problems in other fields requires opening up the design process. When you add design thinking to the problem solving mix, design is just one of the elements that has to interact with the business elements. By opening up the design process, the ability to learn for both the designer and the other people is greatly enhanced. And this is the whole point: to create better and more robust solutions by increasing the problem solving capacity by adding design into the mix. But if design is not open, it will not mix.

3. Learn to think and talk business

When you want to contribute to solving business problems by introducing designers capabilities into the mix, you have to understand the game that is being played: the rules, the concepts, the mental models, the language. For design thinking to mix with business thinking, the designer has to know the depth of the problems that have to be solved. As a designer you can be hugely valuable because you have an outside-in perspective to the business problems and you can break the rules. But this requires knowing the rules first.

Everybody can do design thinking

I believe anyone can benefit from learning from how designers solve problems. If you start making things visual and concrete before you know everything, don’t shy away from ambiguity and work in iterations toward a solution by stepping outside the box now and then, your problem solving capacity will increase. Designers come from a different starting point. They have years of experience with designing so their brains are trained and wired to these skills, mindset and tools. So a non-designer doing design thinking is totally different from a designer doing design thinking. But they both have their challenges. The designer has a head-start in experience with designing, but he also has to let go of things and learn new skills to fully benefit from the power of design thinking.