What is Design Thinking?
What is design thinking?
Is it about creativity?
Is it just about designing or designers?
Or is it a process of doing something?
Yes, it is everything that is listed above and much more. Design thinking has enabled many multinational companies like Coca-Cola, Apple Inc, Pepsi Co. to perform phenomenally well. Design thinking is all about the problem at hand rather than a fixed set of process. It is a creative and research-based approach. Design thinking is not just about designing but the experience created for the end-user.
“Most people make the mistake of thinking design is what it looks like. People think it’s this veneer — that the designers are handed this box and told, ‘Make it look good!’ That’s not what we think design is. It’s not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.” — Steve Jobs
Imagine a big black box in your hand. The box opens fluidly. When you open the box, there is a small dangling piece of black paper and the crisp words 'Thank You' printed in fine copper colour. Inside this mother box there are smaller boxes very similar to the mother box with hand-drawn calligraphy texts on them which reads, Home-made chocolates, Macadamia nuts, Arabian Dates and more.
This box creates a sense of style and provides the user with much happiness. This is one part of design thinking. Creating an experience for the user which connects to him at an emotional level. The opening style of the mother box, the smooth textures of the inner boxes, the crisp hand-drawn calligraphy in each box connects to the user and elevates him and makes him feel special.
This process of Design Thinking is complex because the tonality of the black, the hue of the copper, the style of engraving or foiling, the font used on the box are some of the finer details which differs from one person to another in their visualisation process.
Image: Packaging visualisation by Eighty Twenty Design & Communication | For Pleasant Days Resort
To understand what looks and feels nice, to differentiate from personal choice to choosing what works for the brand, to assemble different things from different places and yet maintain harmony are some of the finer and important factors in design thinking. The style, design language, product choice, visual appeal discussed above are only part of the example in hand. We can now imagine the amount of research, creativity, knowledge which has to go in, in creating something from ground up. The Research, analysis, trial and error involved, reflect on the end product.
Image: Packaging visualisation by Eighty Twenty Design & Communication | For Pleasant Days Resort
Design thinking has much broader capabilities and usage in the world. A lot of companies from small scale to multinationals have started adopting and thinking like designers to scale up the product / service offered by them.
