Overview of Post: This is a blog entry from Dan Saffer a designer in the San Francisco CA area on what he believes are the distinctives of Design Thinking.
Thoughts on this Post: This makes a lot of sense from the designers point of view, but the things that Dan says are “givens” are not “givens” to non-designers. As this field continues to define itself, it is important to remember that a large percentage of the people who are getting interested in Design Thinking are not familiar with any of the terms and methods that designers use. [ Again that is one of the primary purposes of the dTblog!]
Thinking About Design Thinking
Probably the phrase in design circles I’m hearing the most these days is “design thinking.” As in, “We need to bring some design thinking to this project.” Or “What sets designers apart is their design thinking.” It’s even on the main image of Stanford’s new d school website. Interestingly, I haven’t seen much about what “design thinking” really is though.
I’ve heard it used in any number of ways, some of which are vague enough and/or general enough so that they are insulting to other professions. Are we saying other disciplines aren’t creative or aren’t problem-solvers? I didn’t really become a designer until I was 30 years old: does this mean I was thinking differently before then? Read the rest of this entry »