Design Thinking Blog

Original Post and Comments HERE at Archis.org

Thinking through Design Thinking

IDEO /Tim Brown, Bruce Nussbaum and Stanford d.school call it Design Thinking.

Michael Speaks, Michael Shamiyeh, Bruce Mau talk about Design Intelligence,

Nigel Cross writes about Designerly ways of knowing (one of the best books i’ve read so far on design thinking).

All these ideas deal with design as process rather than object. They all articulate and confirm the idea that there is a ’specific way of thinking that is unique to design’ and ‘that this way of thinking is applicable on any problem’ It is a way of seeing, understanding and making the world, and the ‘design way’ is a universal way, there is no problem that can not be solved, … or so it seems (this is one of the claims of Bruce Mau’s Massive change exhibit and book anyway).

Although one has to acknowledge a certain naivety behind this idea, it is non the less very appealing, especially for a designer, or well … an architect like myself.

Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of this Post: The d.school at Stanford has a bootcamp for students of Design Thinking. This article is an update on the projects and experiences of the participants.

Thoughts on this Post: It is interesting to see the process play out with those who are just learning the concepts.  This update also crosses into social uses of Design Thinking.

Original Post and Comments HERE at the d.school projects site

Redesigning Retirement

Our Bootcamp students wrapped up their second design projects this week, and the results were spectacular.

Twelve teams spent three weeks using the design process to re-invent “the Golden Years” for rebellious Baby Boomers. Students were asked to give particular focus to the empathy phase of the process, and develop a strong user Point of View (POV). Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of Video: David Kelley talks with BusinessWeek about what Design Thinking really is and how they teach it at the d.school.

Thoughts about this video: The best point in the video is that Design Thinking is a method that really isn’t just thinking like a designer.  It can be applied to any area (even a dinner party!)

Overview of Post: The d.school at Stanford has a website for their k12 group that is focused on teaching design thinking to school aged kids.  This is a graphic from that site.

Thoughts on this Post: This graphic and yesterdays video are from the same source (d.School) and are both really good resources.

Original Post and other content HERE

UNDERSTAND

Understanding is the first phase of the design thinking process. During this phase, students immerse themselves in learning. They talk to experts and conduct research. The goal is to develop background knowledge through these experiences. They use their developing understandings as a springboard as they begin to address design challenges. Read the rest of this entry »

Overview of Video: This is a video of an online learning experience that was offered at the McKay School of Education on the basics of the Design Thinking Process.  The leader for the project is facilitator from the d.school at Stanford.

Thoughts on this Video:  This may be the best “short” look at what Design Thinking is and how to do it that I have come across.  If you can, find a way to participate in the activities that the facilitator leads.

This is a complex post in that it contains many links and embeds. I have done my best to keep the integrity of the original post.
Overview of Post: This post looks at how the Design Thinking process impacted a group working in the area of Journalism / Print Media.
Thoughts on this Post: I like having the opportunity for insight into the process and challenges of putting Design Thinking into action in real world situations.

Original Post on PBS.com IdeaLab

by Chris O’Brian March 26, 2009

I had the great privilege to be invited to sit on a panel earlier this month at the Institute of Design at Stanford to provide feedback on an effort called, “Redesigning Journalism.” I’ve been wanting to visit the “D School” for some time now. So I jumped at the chance to participate.

In this case, design refers to the fundamental way a product is conceived and built. The D School teaches something called “design thinking”. It’s a powerful method and I’ll be writing more in the near future about using it to find new ideas for journalism.

In brief, a design driven approach to creating something new favors a qualitative approach over a data-driven approach. Rather than amassing mounds of data from customer and marketing research, you go out and observe people to understand their lives and needs and how products could fit into them. Folks who embrace design thinking commonly refer to this as building empathy with the customers.

Read the rest of this entry »