Design thinking is an approach or strategy used to crack challenging problems and maximize the design impact of the spaces, services, and the products we use. It is used to create innovation within any industry application – technology, entertainment, healthcare, banks and financial institutions, education, aviation, and even in resolving critical social issues.
Without going into how the design thinking strategy works and its specific processes, I wanted to dedicate this article to provide some context in how design thinking fits within a business. A business could mean a company, organization, political group, neighborhood, club, or any entity that comes together to promote a common cause associated with an industry.
The graphic shown is explained in the text that follows.
Every business has a certain set of system elements, or essential building blocks, needed for it to function. Policies and regulations are set internal or external to the business. Processes are the steps taken to run a business. Brand is the determined image and culture of the business. User needs and values are a measurement of demand and determined through user research. Without demand, there would be no need for a business. Goals are the business objectives, such as making a certain amount of money, or being an environmentally sustainable business. Organization is the structure, including the talent provided by the employees or volunteers, and business partners needed for the business to function.
Every business also produces either stuff (products), services, and/or space & infrastructure. As an example, a coffee store produces coffee, provides coffee-making services, and provides a comfortable, social, and interactive environment with chairs and tables for their users to enjoy their coffee while talking with friends. The stuff, service, and spaces are referred to as impact elements because they are the most direct, user-interfacing element of a business. These impact elements can greatly impact a user’s perception of the business and influence its ultimate success.
Some system elements, such as branding, may also impact a user’s perception. However, they are considered system elements because they heavily influence the design of an impact element – stuff, service, space. System elements are important in supporting and setting the stage for what happens through application of a strategy. However, once the strategy is in motion, user perceptions could end up creating a need to change some of the system elements. In this way, impact elements could also influence system elements, with an arrow pointing from impact element to system element. It was excluded for simplicity sake in the graphic shown.
A design thinking strategy connects the system elements to impact elements. The design strategy is needed to identify how system elements should be created, used, or modified and how design should occur to achieve desired stuff (product), service, or space that will be positively perceived by users, resulting in business success.
There you go. I hope that helped provide some perspective in where design thinking applies and how it can potentially impact any industry. I welcome your thoughts.