Week 1 – Reflective Blog
Design thinking is a repetitive process in which one tries to understand challenge presuppositions, the user, and reevaluate issues with the intention of identifying alternative solutions and strategies that might be instantly questionable based on the initial level of understanding. Design thinking is connected with the strong concern of establishing an understanding of the individuals whom we are designing the services or products. It assists in developing and observing empathy with the target consumer. Besides, it assists in the questioning process: questioning assumptions, problem, and implications.
On the first week Doctor Mike introduced himself to us, share his experience and connection with CQU. He further shared his contact details and consultation hours and gave us an in-depth overview of what will be covered in the unit. Before the unit started I had a preconceived perception of how the unit was going to be but when Dr. Mike involved us in the first activity my perception changed and I realized that design thinking is actually fun and involving. I agree with Orthel, (2015) that design thinking is a kind of thinking that is based on coming up with constructive solutions. It involves coming up with solutions that makes the interaction among the various world aspect more constructive and meaningful. The first design thinking activity that I undertook was visualization where Dr. Mike a chance to visualize on certain topics. This activity gave me more confidence in my imaginative strengths and helped determine the weaknesses in my creativity and think outside the box. This changed my perception as we engaged deeply with the visualizing process. I really enjoyed this activity because it was an active approach as learning by imagining and doing made the entire experience more fun conforming to Knippers, (2013). This activity left me wrapping my head on how visualizing can be used many problems. I used this design thinking technique to figure out what an entrepreneur is and described innovation concept (Raff and Melles, 2012).
Figure 1: Innovation as Design Thinking process
(Source: Raff & Melles, 2012)
As believed by Mosely, Wright, and Wrigley, (2018), the notion that innovation is a design thinking process which improves progressively reminded me of the beginner’s Mind meditation concept which describes not to give up on a solution even if you have tried many times and failed by indulging and adopting the idea of open mind, lack of preconceptions, and enthusiasm to a particular problem, task, or solution. The idea of beginner’s mind thrilled me especially in education because it motivated me to keep trying always, keep my ears and eyes open for fresh ideas, and consider different perspective of seeing things. Innovation perspective keeps reminding me that ‘I can do better’ and there is no limit to innovation and is a concept to hold on to for a long haul.
Activity: Visualizing
In week 2, Doctor Mike defined design thinking. One of the definitions explained was thinking like a designer. I learnt that designers live in the future. Designers are well updated with emerging trends and they embrace change. They give shape to an ambition or vision, drawing an image of what good looks like to others. In addition, designers think in the round. They think comprehensively on how to develop and innovate new services and products without interfering with the current business. Besides, I learnt that designers are willing to solve issues. They understand that design goes beyond providing solutions and options. It involves engaging shareholders, acquiring more knowledge through iteration and testing, and adapting new outlook as the project progresses.
As we progressed with the design process topic, I realized that to create something new we need to develop skills of critical thinking and think outside the box. Some of the critical thinking skills that I learned include:
- Analyzing: breaking or separating a whole into sections to discover their functionality, nature and relationships.
- Employing standards: deciding according to developed professional, personal, or social criteria or rules.
- Discriminating: identifying similarities and differences among situations or things and differentiating carefully as to rank or category
- Information searching: looking for facts, proof, or knowledge by recognizing important sources collecting subjective, current, objective and historical data from those sources
In the week three, Dr. Mike introduced us to the design thinking and the various design thinking theories. The diagram below describes the design thinking process.
Figure 2: Design Thinking Process
(Source: Eune, 2012)
One of the theories that I was introduced to was the logic of reasoning. The various examples that Dr. Mike gave made it seem like there is nothing impossible. Referring to Eune, (2012) logical reasoning gave me the understanding of using procedural and rational steps using mathematical expressions to come to a solution. Convergent thinking however, thought me on how to determine a well-established single solution to a challenge. I was able to note that this kind of thinking is a creative problem-solving tool. In the opinion of Oxman, (2017), solving a problem using critical thinking approach requires careful use of probabilities and standards to make judgement. Contrastingly, in divergent thinking finding solution requires that judgment is deferred.
Week four was one of the most interesting one. Dr. Mike introduced us to problem finding and solving, identifying problems by spotting the obvious, using the Persona and visualization as design thinking tools. I agree with Hocking and Vernon, (2017) that there exist many methods that I can use to find and analyze the problems and design thinking is more focused on identifying problem more than solving it. One of the activities that I participated during this week was spotting the obvious where the faculty grouped as into teams and was tasked to find problems in the picture on the screen that relates to the topic a day at the beach. Before one can solve a problem, you need to first identify it and they better be worthy of solving them. We were able to point out some problems but everyone had a different solution. This confirmed to me that human beings look at things from totally different perspectives and they all believe they have the most relevant solution which is an idea that Santovec, (2012) inferred in his article.
Entrepreneurs?
Visualization is all about using pictures, this is the technique that technique that we used to imagine how the master program will be like in 2050. This is a visual thinking technique and drives us beyond the use of language and word alone. It enables people to think nonverbally by unlocking the various parts of our minds that we do not usually utilize argues Hidayat, Susilaningsih and Kurniawan, (2018).
Designing a persona can be fun because you visualize yourself as another person and try see things from their perspectives. When my team was given the task to design a persona of an Australian citizen who joined the workforce in 1990 after completing schools and that the employer would fire the employees who did not have a degree yet he had not attended a university. If he would not enroll to an undergraduate he would lose his job.
Before starting week five workshop I decided to go through some available resources to seek to understand the unit better. When I watched IDEO video I realized that ideation is actually how brainstorming works and how the entire process of ideation stimulates the feelings and thinking of a person to come up with new innovation ideas as mentioned by Volkova and J?kobsone (2016). The design process is better described using the four what’s, that is, what if? what is? what wows? And what works. This approach gave me a well-ordered method of coming up with new ideas to solve a problem. According to Kristensson and Magnusson (2010), ideation actually involves the entire process of coming up with ideas and solution by engaging in activities such as prototyping, brainwriting, brainstorming, sketching, ideation wealth, and worst possible idea (Sofiana, 2014).
In consonance to Sofiana (2014) work, what is? Focuses on the current challenge or problem that needs to be solved. This entails being keen and observing what frustrates or what the users are struggling with. What if? Focuses on new trends, possibilities, and uncertainties that the future may bring. What wows? Focuses on the ideation process wealth that makes the user happy. This process is repetitive until the most ideal solution that hits the sweet spots of the users is achieved. What works? Is actually the best solution from all the prototypes that is presented to the user.
Week six introduced me to the business world and all the time I used to think that the customer was interested in the product quality and after sales services but actually that is not the case. The real deal is the way a business transforms raw materials to finished products, that is, the value chain (Endmann & Keßner, 2016). The faculty gave an in-depth explanation of the porter’s generic value chain that give a business competitive advantage. Preparing the value chain for Wollworths was quite a challenging task to me but after Dr. Mike gave us the idea of approaching it from bottom-top approach made the entire process so easy (Leeds, Kudrowitz & Kwon, 2018). This all boils down to how we see things and my skills of seeing problems from different perspectives. The value of the product is added at every stage of the value chain which offers an in-depth understanding as why the business sets the various prices of their products and the reason for using one service or product to substitute another.
What is innovation?
One of the activities that in undertook during this workshop is thinking outside the box. I had 4 unsuccessful attempts in creating the value chain but I was able to apply my critical thinking skills to think outside the box and it did actually work (Bonner, 2010). My team mates appreciated my effort and I was happy with myself. The interesting activity was 5 why’s where we persistently ask why a particular problem is happening until we get a reason. This made me discover that my weaknesses and problems are actually two different aspects.
Mind mapping is another activity that I participated in and it actually requires immense mental thinking. Mind mapping gives better results when done in a team based on the experience I got during this activity (Endmann & Keßner, 2016). Using mind maps requires several steps that radiates to a complex idea from a simple core idea as commented by Leeds, Kudrowitz and Kwon (2018). For instance, if am given solar energy as a topic of discussion I will first I will write the topic in the middle of the page and then come up with topics that is related to solar energy as shown in the figure below. In this example, related topics can be cost, consumer, barriers, delivery, and benefits.
Figure 3: Mind Map Example
On week 7, the professors began with a short introduction to research. The two types of data source were illustrated namely primary data and secondary data. I learnt that primary data also referred to as raw or first-hand data is information created by analyst for the first time through direct experiences and efforts, particularly for the aim of solving research problem (Lowry, 2015). Besides, I found out that primary data can be collected through different methods such as observations, mailed questionnaires, personal interviews, focus groups, surveys, physical testing, telephonic interviews, and case studies, among others.
In addition, I learnt that secondary data entails second-hand data which is already gathered and documented by any individual apart from the user for an aim that is different from the existing research problem. Secondary data is the readily available form of information gathered from different sources such as government publications, reports, journal articles, censuses, organization’s internal records, books, websites and others.
We later studied interview for design thinking. I learnt that as an interviewer, I need to have good verbal reasoning skills and be consistent with my questions (Kaul & Hanson, 2013). I should allocate adequate time to each question and employ open-minded questions to allow the applicants to put more input. While my colleagues are interviewing me, I realized that I need to be honest, confident and observe my non-verbal cues such as gestures, body movements, significant pauses, facial expressions, tone of voice, laughter, among others.
Week 3 Reflective Blog
In week 8, I learnt that a prototype is an early model, sample, or release of a product developed to examine a process or concept. I learnt that although a prototype can be represented in form of digital, partial, paper or miniature product, all of these can be grouped into various groups.
- Functional prototypes
- Display prototypes
- Miniatures
From the look and feel perspective, the prototypes can be grouped into:
- Throwaway prototype
- Evolutionary prototype
Besides, I learnt different techniques of prototyping. They include: storyboarding, wire framing, sketching and physical prototyping and paper prototyping (Schrage, 2010). The case study of Sunglass iPad App assisted me in realizing how brainstorming results to creation of new idea and how the feedback of a customer helps to boost the product. I learnt that brainstorming helps in minimizing distractions so that one can concentrate on the current problem, and consider utilizing Mind Maps to develop and arrange ideas.
In week 9 about a learning launch. It is a carefully structured prototype or experiment designed to examine the main basic value-creating presupposition of a potential new-growth ambition (Gainsburg, 2013). I learnt that a learning launch is learning prototype carried out inexpensively and quickly to collect market-driven information to examine whether a growth concept has sufficient merit to guarantee comprehensive investigation with the dedication of further people, time and resources. I learnt that the aim of learning launch is to learn (Henderson, 2015). The learning launch becomes a success when you learn important information, whether the specific idea is verified or not. The learning attitude defeats the stigma connected to failure or success that hinders growth and innovation in many businesses. The following are some of the learning launch principles I learnt:
- Establish tight limits
- Design paying attention on major assumptions
- Create a team that is adaptive and disciplines
- Operate in quick response cycles
- Secure back-up plans
- Make it feel real
The following are some of the action plan of major activities and events that can be carried out in the next 6 months to gain more knowledge about design thinking.
- Gather a planning group comprising of people from the community affected by the issue or problem and others who are willing to solve it. Look for other partners and involve them into your process of strategic planning
- Define the vision for the initiative or community
- State the mission: the why and the what
- Define the objectives: how much the group is hoping to achieve and by when
- Determine the strategies: how things will be achieved
- Clarify the action plan by declaring the particular system or community changes to be addressed that will lead to the achievement of your objectives and goals.
- Determine action steps for a single major system or community change in the action plan: who will be performing what and by when.
- Analyze critically the relevance of the action: the system changes or activities to be affected.
- specify how you will apply the action and strategic plans:
- Start implementing the steps of action planning
- Analyze the action plan frequently.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I learnt that design thinking is importantly a problem-solving method particular to design, which entails evaluating known problem aspects and determining the more peripheral or ambiguous factors that cause that problem. It is a continuous process whereby knowledge is consistently being acquired and questioned so it can assist in redefining a problem with the intentions of identifying alternative solutions and strategies that might be instantly questionable based on the initial level of understanding. Design thinking can also be called thinking out of the box, as designers are trying to create new thinking ways that do not follow the more common or dominant problem-solving techniques. The aim of design thinking is to boost products by assessing how end-users relate with them and examining the situations in which they operate. Design thinking provide us with ways of discovering that bit deeper to reveal means of boosting user experiences.
References
Bonner, M. (2010). Thinking Outside of the (Tool) Box. Psyccritiques, 55(13). doi: 10.1037/a0019111
Endmann, A., & Keßner, D. (2016). User Journey Mapping – A Method in User Experience Design. I-Com, 15(1). doi: 10.1515/icom-2016-0010
Eune, J. (2012). A Study of Open Collaboration Creative Thinking System Based on Design Thinking. Journal Of Digital Design, 12(3), 179-190. doi: 10.17280/jdd.2012.12.3.018
Gainsburg, J. (2013). Learning to Model in Engineering. Mathematical Thinking And Learning, 15(4), 259-290. doi: 10.1080/10986065.2013.830947
Henderson, B. (2015). Learning as Thinking and Thinking as Learning. Psyccritiques, 60(37). doi: 10.1037/a0039516
Hidayat, T., Susilaningsih, E., & Kurniawan, C. (2018). The effectiveness of enrichment test instruments design to measure students’ creative thinking skills and problem-solving. Thinking Skills And Creativity, 29, 161-169. doi: 10.1016/j.tsc.2018.02.011
Hocking, I., & Vernon, D. (2017). The right tool for the right task: Structured techniques prove less effective on an ill-defined problem finding task. Thinking Skills And Creativity, 26, 84-91. doi: 10.1016/j.tsc.2017.08.001
Kaul, P., & Hanson, J. (2013). Teaching Adolescent Interviewing Skills. Mededportal Publications. doi: 10.15766/mep_2374-8265.9456
Knippers, J. (2013). From Model Thinking to Process Design. Architectural Design, 83(2), 74-81. doi: 10.1002/ad.1558
Kristensson, P., & Magnusson, P. (2010). Tuning Users’ Innovativeness During Ideation. Creativity And Innovation Management, 19(2), 147-159. doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8691.2010.00552.x
Leeds, A., Kudrowitz, B., & Kwon, J. (2018). Mapping associations: exploring divergent thinking through mind mapping. International Journal Of Design Creativity And Innovation, 1-14. doi: 10.1080/21650349.2018.1463178
Lowry, L. (2015). Bridging the Business Data Divide: Insights into Primary and Secondary Data Use by Business Researchers. IASSIST Quarterly, 39(2), 14. doi: 10.29173/iq779
Mosely, G., Wright, N., & Wrigley, C. (2018). Facilitating design thinking: A comparison of design expertise. Thinking Skills And Creativity, 27, 177-189. doi: 10.1016/j.tsc.2018.02.004
Orthel, B. (2015). Implications of Design Thinking for Teaching, Learning, and Inquiry. Journal Of Interior Design, 40(3), 1-20. doi: 10.1111/joid.12046
Oxman, R. (2017). Thinking difference: Theories and models of parametric design thinking. Design Studies, 52, 4-39. doi: 10.1016/j.destud.2017.06.001
Raff, J., & Melles, G. (2012). Design without Designers: Thinking Everyday Design Practice. Design Philosophy Papers, 10(1), 23-33. doi: 10.2752/089279312×13968781797517
Santovec, M. (2012). Design Thinking: A Tool to Solve Challenging Problems. Women In Higher Education, 21(11), 7-7. doi: 10.1002/whe.10388
Schrage, M. (2010). SERIOUS PLAY: The Future of Prototyping and Prototyping the Future. Design Management Journal (Former Series), 11(3), 50-57. doi: 10.1111/j.1948-7169.2000.tb00030.x
Sofiana, Y. (2014). Pemahaman Critical Thinking, Design Thinking dan Problem Solving dalam Proses Desain. Humaniora, 5(2), 649. doi: 10.21512/humaniora.v5i2.3120
Volkova, T., & J?kobsone, I. (2016). Design thinking as a business tool to ensure continuous value generation. Intellectual Economics, 10(1), 63-69. doi: 10.1016/j.intele.2016.06.003
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