2. Overview of Design Thinking

Origins and principles of design thinking

While design-as-a-thought-process was first discussed in the late 1960’s, Peter Rowe’s 1987 book, Design Thinking, popularized the term. It described approaches used by urban planners and architects. David Kelley, who founded IDEO in 1991, first applied Design Thinking to business opportunities.

Also referred to as “User-Centered Design” or “Human-Centered Design,” Design Thinking is solutions-based thinking, as opposed to problems-based thinking. It differs from the more analytical scientific method, which starts by defining the parameters of a problem to be solved. Design thinking begins by creating a picture of a desired future state. John Chris Jones, author of Design Method, put it in terms of timing:

Both artists and scientists operate on the physical world as it exists in the present… while mathematicians operate on abstract relationships that are independent of historical time. Designers, on the other hand, are forever bound to treat as real that which exists only in the imagined future and have to specify ways in which the foreseen thing can be made to exist.

Design thinking uses the following phase:

• Empathize with the end users of the anticipated product or service.
• Define the needs of your users, and understand their problems. 
• Ideate potential solutions, remembering to challenge assumptions.
• Build prototype so users can provide feedback.
• Test your potential solutions

For more on Design Thinking, check out this AIM Institute white paper, Design Thinking for B2B.

Keywords: design thinking, Peter Rowe, David Kelley, IDEO, user-centered design, human-centered design