What is design thinking?
A “beginner’s mind” as the basis for our attitude:
Design thinking? •• Free of prejudices about how something works
•• Free of expectations about what will happen
•• Filled with curiosity to understand things more deeply
“The beginner’s mind” •• Open to a world of possibilities since we do not yet know at the
beginning of our “journey” what is possible and what is not
People who have never dealt with design thinking often ask for •• Fail early on and often; learn quickly
simple analogies to help envision it better.
We have had good experiences with taking these people on
an imaginary trip to their childhood. Especially at the age of 4,
all children have something in common – they ask many 5W+H I k I wo
questions in order to learn and understand situations. it ho
Nor do children know any zero-error culture. For them, doing,
learning, and trying again stands in the forefront. This is how
children learn to walk, draw, and so on.
Over the years many of us have forgotten this ability to explore
and this type of experimental learning, and our education in
schools and universities has taken care of the rest so that we do
not question and investigate facts and circumstances in a big way.
With the “beginner’s mind,” we want to encourage people to ask
questions as though we didn’t have the slightest idea as to their
answers. Like an alien from outer space who sets foot on Earth
for the first time and asks himself why we throw plastic into our
oceans, work during the day and sleep at night, why we wear ties
all the way to rituals that seem strange indeed to an outsider,
such as looking for eggs at Easter time.
How we behave in order to apply design thinking
successfully:
•• We bid farewell to prejudices on “how things work.”
•• We put aside expectations about what will happen.
•• We strengthen our curiosity to understand facts and problems in depth.
•• We open ourselves up to new possibilities.
“If your mindset is unprejudiced...it is open to everything. “In the •• We ask simple questions.
beginner‘s mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert‘s mind •• We try things out and learn from it.
there are few.” – Shunryu Suzuki
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Success factors of design thinking 5. Be mindful of process
For the work on the team, it is crucial that all members know
In addition to the “beginner’s mind,” which constitutes an where the team stands in the design cycle; which goals are
excellent starting point, a number of core propositions and currently to be attained; and which tools are to be used.
success factors have become established in the design thinking
community. We will describe them briefly. 6. Visualize and show ideas
The value proposition and vision of an idea must be
1. Starting with human beings communicated as needed. In so doing, the needs of the user must
People with their needs, possibilities, experience, and knowledge be addressed, memorable stories be told, and pictures be used
are the starting point for all considerations. People know pleasure while telling a story.
(gains) and frustration (pains) and have tasks to be fulfilled (see
Jobs to be done, page 75). 7. Bias toward action
Design thinking is not based on lengthy considerations by
2. Create awareness of the problem somebody who sits alone behind closed doors. Instead, it lives
from doing (e.g. building prototypes and interaction with potential
In design thinking, it is of crucial importance to understand what users).
we work on and what greater vision ought to be pursued. In order
to find a solution, the team must have internalized the problem
8. Accept complexity
and have understood it in depth.
Some problem statements are quite complex since we want to
integrate different systems and react to events agilely and with
3. Interdisciplinary teams purpose. Thinking in systems is more and more becoming a
Collaboration on the team and of teams of teams is vital for the critical skill, for example, in the case of digital solutions.
holistic consideration of problem statements. Team members
with varying skills and specialist knowledge (T-shaped) help in the 9. Co-create, grow & scale with varying mental states
creative process and with the reflection upon ideas.
Design thinking helps us in solving problems. For market
success, however, business ecosystems, business models, and
4. Experiments and prototypes organizations must also be designed. This is why we combine
different approaches with design thinking, such as data analytics,
Only reality shows whether a function or solution will last. The
systems thinking, and lean startup, as the situation requires.
implementation of simple and physical prototypes helps in
getting feedback from potential users.
The mindset and the success factors are crucial because each makes us
capable of acting and helps us pose the right questions. It is the small
changes in our mindset that enable us to pose questions in a different
way and look at problems from other points of view.
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With design thinking, we usually want to solve complex problems,
From the user‘s point of view taking into account that the complexity can vary greatly from
company to company and from one technology to another. The
The focus on human beings and the potential users of a solution
user/customer, especially if he is not technically savvy, always has
is another key element of design thinking. Then there are the
a desire for a simple and elegant solution.
questions of feasibility and economic viability. This balancing
act usually accompanies us to the final prototype and often Thus we have developed a number of methods and tools over
beyond it. the years that help us to simplify, for instance, the interaction
between human beings and technology.
Successful innovations therefore evolve from the needs of
the customer/user (desirability), a solution that is profitable A design team uses the design thinking process as a guide for the
(viability), and technical implementability (feasibility). design of such solutions. The process is described on page 22.
Des
In
“Design thinking is a human-centered approach to innovation that draws
from the designer‘s toolkit to integrate the needs of people, the
possibilities of technology, and the requirements for business success.”
Vi Fe
—Tim Brown, president and CEO of IDEO
Why are the three dimensions important?
•• They reduce the risks associated with the launch of new solutions.
•• They help teams, organizations, and companies learn faster.
•• They lead us to solutions that are innovative and not only incremental.
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It is like working on a puzzle, only dynamically
In the context of The Design Thinking Toolbox, the tools can be
Use
used flexibly so that we achieve a balance between desirability, cu
feasibility, and economic viability. Like with each Tetris level,
the arrangement, the speed, and the sequence change with each
Pro Use
design challenge. We need to be able to adapt the relevant tools
to the given situation. In Tetris, we can also rotate the tiles at a cu so
90-degree angle. In the same way, there are additional variants of
each tool that we can use in such a way that they ultimately lead
to the optimum result. If we do not agilely adapt the methods
Val
and tools in the workshop, there will be a quick “game over” for p
our project. What the snapshot below shows happens all the
time, that is, in each micro-cycle, it will be new and adjusted to Pro
the situation. Various tools and methods are used from an initial
problem definition or the formulation of a point of view all the Pro
so Sol
way to the final prototype.
id
After all, we want to achieve a fit between the
problem and the customer (problem/customer
fit) as well as a fit between the problem and
the solution (problem/solution fit). Today, we
also have the possibility of generating individual
Ref experiences and offers for customers by means
of artificial intelligence and big data analytics,
thus achieving an individual user/solution fit.
Po Val Pro The derived value proposition should optimally
harmonize the three elements of problem, users/
Cus te
customers, and solution. In a digitized world, the
complexity increases again, making it all the more
important to solve the problem in iterative steps.
Pro In general, we don’t want to see the very first
idea or assumption as the solution. Design
Ide thinking makes it possible for us to realize
Sol
solutions that meet the wishes of the customers,
Bus solve a genuine problem, and thus provide value
for the customer.
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The design thinking process Pro Sol
In this book, we follow the six phases of the design thinking
micro-cycle: understand, observe, define point of view, ideate,
develop prototype, and test. In the end, we can add the phase of Un Ob
Defin
Ide Pro Tes Ref
po
reflecting, which we consider to be important in order to learn of
from our actions. In this section, we would like to explain briefly
the phases of the micro-cycle. In the double diamond model of
the British Design Council, the first three phases encompass the
problem space and the next three the solution space.
Understand
In the first phase of the micro-cycle, we want to learn more about Define point of view
the potential user, his/her needs, and the tasks that he/she must
In this phase, we focus on evaluating, interpreting, and weighting
complete. At the same time, we define the creative framework
the findings we have gathered. The result eventually flows into
more exactly, for which we want to design solutions. For the
the result synthesis (point of view). Methods such as context
definition of the design challenge, we use, for example, “WHY”
mapping (see page 133), storytelling (see page 129), or vision cone
and “HOW” questions in order to broaden or limit the scope.
(see page 141) are used for the presentation of the findings. The
Tools such as Interview for empathy (see page 57), Extreme users
point of view is usually formulated as a sentence (see “How might
(see page 79), and the 5W+H questions (see page 71) support this
we...” question on page 125), for example, to make a statement on
phase. The following phases and tools help to ensure that we
the basis of the findings according to the following scheme:
learn more and more about our potential users.
Observe Name of the user/persona: (who)
needs: (what is needed)
Only reality can show whether our assumptions, for example, in order to: (his/her need)
presented in a persona (see page 97), will be confirmed. This is why because: (insight/finding)
we have to go to the place where our potential users are located.
Tools such as AEIOU (see page 107) help us with the observation
Ideate
of users in their real environment or in the context of the
respective problem. A trend analysis (see page 119) also sheds Once we have defined the point of view, the ideate phase
light on technological and social trends that help us recognize “Ideation” begins. Ideation is a step toward finding solutions for
developments. The findings from the “observe” phase help us in our problem. Usually, different forms of brainstorming (see page
the following phase to develop or improve the persona and the 151) and specific creativity techniques, for example, working with
point of view. When we speak to potential users in order to learn analogies (see page 171), are applied. Dot voting and similar tools
more about their needs, we should ask questions that are as open (see page 159) help to select and cluster the ideas.
as possible, working with a question landscape, for example. A
structured interview guide can also be helpful. Often, however, it
just confirms your own assumptions.
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Prototype
The building of prototypes helps us to test our ideas or solutions,
quickly and without risk, with our potential users. In particular,
digital solutions can be prototyped with simple paper models
or mock-ups. The materials are very easy: craft materials,
paper, aluminum foil, cords, glue, and adhesive tape are often
sufficient to make our ideas tangible and come alive. Various
kinds of prototypes are presented in the Toolbox section under
the heading “Prototyping” (see page 187 and what follows). The
prototypes range from critical experience prototypes all the way
to a final prototype. Ideation, building, and testing must each be
seen as one sequence. They cover the so-called solution space.
Test
Testing should take place after each built prototype, even if
individual functions, experiences, or forms were developed.
When testing, the most important thing is that interaction with
the potential user takes place and that we document the results.
The testing sheet (see page 213) comes in handy here. In addition
to a traditional test, it is possible to use digital solutions for
testing, for example, online tools within the scope of A/B tests
(see page 233). This way, prototypes or individual functionalities
can be tested quickly and with a large number of users. The tests
provide us with feedback that helps with the improvement of
our prototypes. We should learn from these ideas and develop
them further until we completely convince the users of the idea.
Otherwise: discard or change.
Reflect
Reflection is a constant companion in design thinking since this is
how we learn. Tools such as the “retrospective sailboat“ (see page
243) or feedback rules based on “I like, I wish, I wonder” (see page
239), support the mindset.
How do we apply design thinking?
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