Design & Thinking

DESIGN & THINKING by Mu-Ming Tsai
Design Thinking is the ability to come up with creative solutions to solve complex
problems. The film by Mu-ming Tsai is not a ‘how- to’ tutorial on becoming a design
thinker. Rather, it goes deep into how design thinking is taking the world by storm, and why
we should all adopt it.
While the film pays homage to the design trade, the motivations and peculiarities of
designers, it has been made for a much wider audience. The film shares insights and stories
on the topic from some of design thinking’s leaders, up-and-comers, and outsiders while
exploring practices and events in our world that demonstrate the philosophy of Design
Thinking. “Everything in our lives is designed”.
Questioning the criticality of the film initially may cross the viewer’s mind. It delivers an
open ended impression of a relatively young approach to thinking, making and inventing. It
sets out to sensitize the viewer on the intention of design, to burst the bubble about design’s
existing notions, and the values that are important for both designers and non designers to
understand:
1. Change: In today’s world, there have been fundamental changes in the way people
think about problems that occur. This film is a call to the conventional minds to change
and collaborate, to adopt new business models, in order to grow with the changing
landscape of business, culture and society. “Design must evolve in the digital era.”
2. Design Thinking starts at the core of a product: Design Thinking attempts to

distinguish what others think of as design, which is usually just at the surface and an
afterthought, to the thinking behind it all. The challenges in the face of building a great
product need to be addressed by incorporating Design Thinking at the first step. It is
“not just about the aesthetics, but also thinking about the business and customer
experience beyond the product we design”. Someone once said “Designers aren’t in the
artifact business, they’re in the consequence business” to build a product that makes a
difference. Design Thinking is applicable everywhere and by everyone. It can happen
in marketing, design, accounting or any other field. It is about finding unconventional
solutions to a problem.
3. Learning by Doing: So any great ideas are scattered and bound only to the design
community. Learning by Doing is imperative to the creation of a ‘smart design’. Most
designs never see the light of day, but the output is a tribute to the profession. It is
doing by understanding the human needs of the user, brainstorming, wire framing,
prototyping, user testing and the improving on prototypes and validating through
constant iteration. The iterative nature of rapid prototyping is touched on frequently in
the film. Alex Osterwalder, co-author of Business model Generation notes “prototypes
fails all the time, but failing quickly and cheaply in order to succeed is very different
from the traditional business model of putting a lot of resources into one rigidly
structured idea”. Founfer of Code for America Jennifer Palhka shares that the put it out
there and see what happens nature is scary, and this fear limits the impact of
conventionally minded individuals, who become quickly outplayed by innovative
minds comfortable with launching beta versions of new ideas. We shouldn’t fall in love
with what we create, but improve wherever we can.
4. Embrace Empathy: The film talks about creating empathy in the minds of non-
designers an looking at the product from the eyes of the customer. Design Thinking is
all about actively finding solutions to pain-points people are struggling with every day,
while keeping in mind the user’s ability to absorb new technology or their context of
using it. If we forget about the people we are designing for, we are no longer designers-
we are makers of stuff. It could start with a question as simple as “How do we help
users to un-learn bad interaction behavior?” and end up with a product that can be used
intuitively.
5. Out of the Box thinking: Co-founder of Jump Associates Udaya Patnaik describes his
as an organization dedicated to helping clients, to “solve ambiguous problems around
growth”. And “so much of coming up with great ideas is really about giving oneself the
freedom to think crazy. To think wild, to not be constrained by what exists”.
6. It is incomplete without diversity of thought. This film shares interviews with
important practitioners and visionaries who have strong standpoints on the project. It
stresses on the importance of people from different disciplines, genders, generations
sharing their thoughts and the fact that conflicting opinions is not necessarily a bad
thing. IDEO and Standford D. School founder David Kelley highlights the importance
of actively collaborating with individuals from different backgrounds to solve
problems. This point is further illustrated in the ‘IDEO Shopping cart project’.
Together, these value will catalyse change, solve bigger and more complex problems
yet to come and make the world a more inclusive place.

Design & Thinking

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Design & Thinking

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Design & Thinking

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

DESIGN & THINKING by Mu-Ming Tsai

2. Design Thinking starts at the core of a product: Design Thinking attempts to

You might also like