SEMINAR PRESENTATION ON DESIGN THINKING

Submitted by: Sara Begum

Hall Ticket Number: 130124172058

Under the guidance of

Ms. S Akhila

DEPARTMENT OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

ANDHRA MAHILA SABHA SCHOOL OF INFORMATICS

(Affiliated to Osmania University, Hyderabad)

2024-2026
 Table of Contents

Serial Number Index Page Number

Introduction on Design Thinking

1

2 Definition of Design Thinking

3 Core concepts and Terminologies

4 Evolution of Design Thinking

5 Types of Design Thinking

6 Areas of Application

7 Advantages and Disadvantages

8 Challenges faced in Design Thinking

 INTRODUCTION OF DESIGN THINKING:

Every day, we make many decisions. Some are small—like what to wear or what to eat. Others
are bigger—like choosing a career, deciding where to live, or figuring out how to solve a
problem at work. These choices shape our lives.
Decision Thinking is the skill of thinking clearly before making a choice. It’s not just about
picking something quickly. It’s about stopping, asking questions, and thinking about the best
option. Decision Thinking helps us avoid rushing into choices that we may regret later.
Imagine you are standing at a crossroad. You have many paths in front of you. If you pick one
without thinking, you might get lost. But if you stop, look around, and think carefully, you’re
more likely to choose the path that gets you where you want to go.
Decision Thinking helps us to:
1) Make better choices
2) Solve problems in smart ways
3) Feel more confident about our actions

It is useful for everyone—students, parents, business owners, and even leaders of countries.
When more people use Decision Thinking, the world becomes a smarter, more thoughtful place.
Design thinking is a problem-solving framework that is ideal for tackling ill-defined or unknown
problems. This makes it very effective for addressing the multifaceted problems faced by today’s
increasingly complex organizations. In the words of IDEO Founder, Tim Brown, for businesses,
“design thinking is all about upgrading within constraints” – meaning companies must innovate
without disruption to drive growth and stay relevant. The successful ones are those which are
always seeking new ways to compete in their sector – and design thinking is one framework that
can help them achieve this.

In this article, we will first discuss in depth what design thinking is. Then we will cover the
design thinking process, whereby we will also go through the five stages of the design thinking
process: Empathize, define, ideate, prototype and test.

In simple words,

Design thinking is a human-centered, iterative, and non-linear problem-solving approach. It

emphasizes understanding user needs, generating creative solutions, and prototyping/testing
those solutions. It's a valuable methodology for tackling complex challenges in various fields,
promoting innovation and user satisfaction.

A Simple Example:
Imagine you are buying a phone.
1) If you just pick one because it looks cool, that’s decision making.
2) If you compare prices, check reviews, ask friends, and think about what you need,
that’s decision thinking.
Conclusion of this section:
Decision Making is the final step.
Decision Thinking is everything smart that you do before that.

DEFINITION OF DESIGN THINKING:

1. According to Philip Kotler ,Marketing Expert
“A decision may be defined as a conscious choice among alternative courses of action.”
 2. Herbert A. Simon – Nobel Laureate in Economics & Pioneer of Behavioral Decision
Theory described design thinking as selecting the alternative that results in the more
preferred set of all the possible consequences.

3. According to Tim Brown, 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.

4. David Kelly defines Design Thinking as a methodology that imbues the full spectrum of
innovation activities with a human-centered design ethos.

5. Sheena Ayenger, describes design thinking as making choices influenced by culture,

values and personal context and not just facts.

CORE CONCEPTS AND TERMINOLOGIES:

CORE CONCEPTS:

1.Human-centeredness: Design thinking prioritizes understanding the needs and perspectives of

the people who will be using the product or service.
2.Collaboration: Design thinking often involves teams with diverse perspectives and skill sets
working together.

3. Iterative: The process is not linear; teams often revisit earlier stages as they learn more about
the problem and potential solutions.

4.Creative confidence: Creating tangible representations of ideas, even if they are simple,
allows for testing and learning early in the process.

5.Problem-Framing: Encouraging experimentation and learning from both successes and

failures is crucial.

Terminologies:

1.Be empathetic: Empathy is the ability to place yourself, your thinking and feelings in another
person’s shoes. Design thinking begins from a deep understanding of the needs and motivations
of people—the parents, neighbors, children, colleagues, and strangers who make up a
community.

2.Be collaborative: No one person is responsible for the outcome when you work in a team.
Several great minds are always stronger than just one. Design thinking benefits from the views of
multiple perspectives and lets others’ creativity bolster your own.

3.Be optimistic: Be confident about achieving favorable outcomes. Design thinking is the
fundamental belief that we can all create change—no matter how big a problem, how little time,
or how small a budget. Designing can be a powerful process no matter what constraints exist
around you
4.Embrace ambiguity: Get comfortable with ambiguous and complex situations. If you expect
perfection, it is difficult to take risks, which limits your ability to create radical change. Design
thinking is all about experimenting and learning by doing. It gives you the confidence to believe
that new, better things are possible and that you can help make them a reality.
 EVOLUTION OF DESIGN THINKING:
The Beginning (1957–1964) –
1.John E. Arnold was a psychologist and engineer.
In the 1940s and 1950s, he:
o Held seminars
o Worked with big companies
o Taught Product Design at MIT and later at Stanford (from 1957)
He worked with many well-known people, including:
o Psychologists like Abraham Maslow and J.P. Guilford
o Designers like Buckminster Fuller and Robert McKim
o Researchers like William J.J. Gordon
--> In 1959, at Stanford, Arnold teamed up with:
o Robert McKim (engineering)
o Matthew Kahn (arts)
Together, they started the Joint Program in Product Design (JPD):
o It combined engineering and art
o It was seen as a new and different kind of program
 In 1963, the JPD became an official Bachelor’s and Master’s program

2. Arnold also started the Design Division at Stanford and hired:

o Robert McKim
o Bernard Roth
o Peter Bulkeley
o Robert Keller

DETAILS OF DESIGN THINKING :

Design thinking is a strategic and practical process in which we use to tackle many complex
problems that are ill-defined or unknown. This is because this process reframes these problems
in a human-centric way. The process involves us to approach the user and understand their needs
in an attempt to identify the solutions of the problems. It also offers us to think outside of the box
in the effort of generating ground-breaking solutions. By using this process, we will make
decisions based on what they want instead of only relying on assumptions and making risky bets.
Based on the Hasso Plattner Institute of Design at Stanford (d. school). There are five phases of
Design Thinking.
The five phases are as follows:
● Emphasise – approach your users.
● Define – state your user’s need, problems, and your insights.
● Ideate – generating ideas based on problem-solving.
● Prototype – adopting a hands-on approach.
● Testing – solutions

Please find the detailed information about the Design Thinking:

PHASE 1 – Empathise
The first stage of Design Thinking is to empathise. This is where you are required to observe
and engage yourself with the users to uncover their needs and then try to understand their
problems. Empathy is very crucial in developing a human-centred process because it allows us as
the thinkers to think logically and set aside our own assumptions.

PHASE 2 – Define
On this specific phase, we will analyse the information and observations that we have gathered
in the previous phase. We will then try to synthesise all of them to define the core problems or to
be more precise, a human-centred problem statement. This define phase will subsequently help
us to gather great ideas to solve the problems or at the very least, it allows the users to resolve
their issues with minimum difficulty.

PHASE 3 – Ideate
This is the phase where we start generating ideas following the previous phases. At this point,
we have already had a solid background in generating brilliant ideas. The reason is that we have
grown to understand our user’s needs in the empathise phase, and created a problem statement in
the define phase. There are many methods in ideation techniques such as Brainstorming. In this
phase, we will need to come up with as many ideas as possible in developing the solutions and
applying the concept of ‘thinking outside of the box’.

PHASE 4 – Prototype
This is the phase where we turn the chosen ideas into a physical form of products as the
solutions. This is also known as the experimental phase. The idea is that we need to find the best
possible solution for each of the problems that have been identified in the previous phases. The
prototypes are investigated, improved and re-examined. With this, they are either accepted or
rejected based on how many problems that has been successfully tackled. At the end of this
stage, we as the thinkers should be able to have a clearer view of the product and how the users
should interact with the final product.

PHASE 5 – Testing
The last phase is testing. This is the phase where we try to get feedback on the chosen solutions
from the users. This is a very important phase because it allows us as the thinker to identify as
many flaws as possible as well as making improvements on the products to make it better. On the
other hand, is also important to note that we can always return to the previous phases to make
further refinements and alternative solutions.

TYPES OF DESIGN THINKING:

1. Stanford University D.school model :

 Stage1: EmpathizeEngage in a conversation with a partner to understand their personal
experiences and perspectives. This is the first step to gaining insights into their challenges
and needs.

 Stage2: DefineReflect on the collected information and insights from the conversation.

 Stage3: IdeateClearly state the problem you’ve identified.

 Stage4: PrototypeTaking your refined idea, create a tangible representation or model of

the solution. This can be as simple as a paper mock-up or a basic physical representation.

 Stage5: TestPresent your prototype to your partner and observe their interactions and
reactions.

2. 3I model of IDEO
 Inspiration
Inspiration in design thinking emerges from a deep dive into the human experience,
understanding people‘s needs, desires, and motivations.
 Ideation
Ideation is the heart of the creative process in design thinking. It‘s about dreaming wildly,
generating a plethora of ideas without the constraints of feasibility initially.
 Implementation
This phase is about taking the best solutions derived from ideation, refining them, and
making them tangible.

3. Herbert Simon: 7Stage design process

 Define: Determine the primary issue and audience, ensuring project urgency is
prioritized.
 Research: Examine the issue’s history and understand past solutions.
 Ideate: Focus on understanding end-users’ needs and motivations.
 Prototype: Refine and expand on brainstormed ideas, creating multiple drafts.
 Choose: Revisit the project’s goals, objectively evaluating the ideas.
 Implement: Outline and allocate tasks, ensuring resources are available.
 Learn: Collect consumer feedback post-implementation to assess if goals were met.

4. The Double Diamond Model

 Discover: The first diamond helps people understand, rather than simply assume, what
the problem is. It involves speaking to and spending time with people who are affected by
the issues.

 Define: The insight gathered from the discovery phase can help you to define the
challenge in a different way.

 Develop: The second diamond encourages people to give different answers to the clearly
defined problem, seeking inspiration from elsewhere and co-designing with a range of
different people.
  Deliver: Delivery involves testing out different solutions at small-scale, rejecting those
that will not work and improving the ones that will.

5. AIGA: Head, Heart and Hand

 The American Institution of Graphic Arts (AIGA) emphasizes the holistic approach of
modern design, merging head, heart, and hand.
 Designers use their intellect to tackle intricate challenges.
 They employ empathy in initial stages to comprehend human emotions. Their distinct
skill lies in hands-on creation.
 This combination of attributes ensures a comprehensive and successful design process.

AREAS OF APPLICATION:

1.Business & Innovation

 Product development: Creating user-friendly, innovative products that meet real customer
needs.
 Service design: Enhancing customer service experiences across sectors.
 Business model innovation: Rethinking value propositions and customer relationships.

2.Technology & Software Development

 User Experience (UX) design: Creating intuitive and effective interfaces.
 Agile development: Integrating empathy and user feedback into iterative development.
 App & web design: Ensuring usability and desirability of digital products.

3.Healthcare
 Patient-centered care: Designing better patient experiences, from hospital layout to
treatment plans.
 Medical device design: Developing tools and devices that are easier and safer to use.
  Public health campaigns: Crafting communication strategies that resonate with
communities.

4.Education:
 Curriculum design: Creating more engaging, student-centered learning experiences.
 Learning environments: Designing physical or digital spaces that enhance learning.
 Educational technology: Building tools that support teaching and learning.

5.Public Sector & Policy Making

 Public service design: Making government services more accessible and efficient.
 Community engagement: Developing solutions through collaboration with citizens.
 Policy innovation: Designing regulations with a deep understanding of stakeholder needs
.
6.Social Innovation & Nonprofits
 Solving complex social problems: From poverty to sustainability challenges.
 Co-creation with communities: Building solutions together with beneficiaries.
 Impact-driven design: Ensuring solutions are sustainable and meaningful.

7.Architecture & Urban Planning

 Human-centered urban design: Planning cities around the needs of people.
 Sustainable building design: Creating environments that are both functional and eco-
friendly.
 Community spaces: Designing inclusive, accessible public areas.
8. Marketing & Branding

 Customer journey mapping: Understanding and enhancing the end-to-end customer

experience.
 Campaign development: Creating engaging, user-informed marketing strategies.
 Brand identity: Designing visual and emotional touch points that resonate with target
users.

ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES:

Advantages

1.It is comprehensive & holistic

Design thinking includes the number of individuals from a wide range of offices. With more and
more number of contributions from different individuals with changing degrees of abilities and
expertise, more points of view for handling the current problem occur in design thinking.

2.. It is logical and scientific

Such type of thinking requires investigating how audiences connect with items and looking at the
conditions in which they will utilize the product or service. This way of thinking involves
exploring questionable components for uncovering inventive methodologies for solving
problems.

3. It is non-linear
The designing team can utilize the outcomes at each step to survey and analyze their notions,
lessons, and results because of the non-linearity of design thinking. This reclassifies the issue and
opens doors to new experiences that can further be utilized for showing up better choices.

4.It is for everyone

This form of thinking is best-suited for UX/UI companies, freelancers, inventive employees,
leaders, managers, and all others who wish to take care of a wide scope of issues.

5.It empowers testing

Design thinking suggests performing a wide range of testing for reexamining solutions again and
again.

Disadvantages

1.Time-Consuming Process:
The iterative nature of design thinking can be time-consuming, especially when multiple rounds
of prototyping and testing are required.

2.Potential Lack of Focus on Implementation:

While effective in generating ideas, design thinking may not always have a strong focus on the
practical implementation and scaling of solutions.
3.Risk of Over-reliance on Prototypes:
Overemphasis on prototyping can sometimes lead to neglecting other important aspects of
product development, like technical feasibility or business constraints.

4.Requires a Supportive Culture:

Design thinking thrives in a collaborative and open-minded environment. Organizations that lack
such a culture may face challenges in implementing design thinking effectively.

5.Potential for Groupthink:

If not managed carefully, design thinking can sometimes lead to groupthink, where individual
ideas are suppress

CHALLENGES FACED ON DESIGN THINKING:

1.Lack of Understanding
Stakeholders may lack proper understanding about what design thinking is and how it functions.
Misunderstandings can result in weak implementation or resistance.

2.Resistance to Change
Organizations or people who are used to classic problem-solving can be resistant to the iterative
and user-centric nature of design thinking.

3.Time Requirements
Design thinking necessitates time for research, ideation, prototyping, and testing.
Teams in high-paced settings can feel compelled to cut corners, making results less effective.

4.Inadequate User Engagement

Failure to engage actual users or collect inadequate user input can create solutions that do not
actually address user requirements.

5.Challenge to Accepting Ambiguity

The initial phases of design thinking tend to be chaotic and unclear.

6.Deficiency in Cross-Functional Collaboration

Design thinking gels from mixed viewpoints.
7.Ineffective Facilitation
Ineffectively facilitated workshops or meetings can sidetrack the process.

CONCLUSION:

Design Thinking is more than just a problem-solving approach — it is a mindset that places
human needs at the core of innovation. By emphasizing empathy, creativity, collaboration, and
experimentation, it empowers individuals and organizations to develop practical, user-centered
solutions to complex challenges. Whether in business, education, healthcare, or social impact,
Design Thinking fosters continuous improvement and meaningful change. Ultimately, it
transforms the way we understand problems and imagine possibilities — making innovation
accessible to everyone.

In today’s fast-changing world, where user expectations and market demands constantly evolve,
Design Thinking provides a flexible and adaptive framework. It encourages teams to learn from
failures, test new ideas rapidly, and keep users involved throughout the process. This iterative
nature not only leads to better outcomes but also cultivates a culture of innovation. As such,
Design Thinking is not just a tool but a necessary strategy for building sustainable, impactful
solutions in any field.