Design Thinking
- Nigel Doel
- May 14, 2021
- 2 min read
Blog 3
My chosen area of study is Design Craft, as it historically originated from Craft roots, it should work well in my field. Design thinking is constantly changing, as is the process.
But do the best design performers beat their rivals? Designs are everywhere from beauty, fashion, interiors, Alexa, Google home page, exteriors, smart phones, usb sticks and engineering are just a few examples of where they are. Even design in nature.
In a five-year study of 300 companies the report by Mckinsey Design who are known for using their index performance which rates design in companies, concluded “that the best financial returns combined design and business leadership through a bold, design centric vision that clearly embeds the deliberations of top teams”.
In my designs I would put the customer at the centre by listening and iterating and for them to test my designs so I can experiment which works for them and find where my weakness is. This would measure my product in real time through, email, smart phone, skype etc and allow the customer to have an impact and ownership on new ideas. By working with the customer and solving their problems I should keep my competition at bay.
Stuart Pugh focussed on a concept called “Total Design”, where he identifies the market and user needs. He notes that “the increased awareness of the user and indeed user participation is one of the most critical lessons learned”.
Fig 1. Showing Design Thinking steps.
The good thing about the design process is you can always go back and repeat if necessary and it seems like this is how it works by going back and developing further until you finally reach the good prototype. This way of working is a well - known method, I wonder does it narrows down any other possibilities that have not been reflected upon. As a creative person who loves art, I question ideas, thoughts, and ways of doing things, in my class Design and Make we are always doing things that are past normal thoughts and ideas you imagine ways to do things in no order, which suits me, sometimes they do not work sometimes they are awesome. I can then reflect on my work and question why. Therefore, I would not stick to any particular method as I wouldn’t want to narrow down my thoughts and ways of doing things. “the most important innovations are these that change our thinking”.(Fleischmann et al.2020, p.442)
I enjoy being curious and believe that these methods are good and well tested successful means of getting to a solution but not to forget that there is always imagination.
Reference list
Fleischmann, A. et al. (2020) Contextual Process Digitilization. Springer Press
Available at: https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-design/our-insights/the-business-value-of-design#(Accessed 14th May 2021).
Figure 1
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